Born again identity – Equipped and ready to go!

This is the last post in the Born again identity series which I started back in August this year. As I have been reading through the book of Ephesians it feels like I have had a bit of a born again experience when it comes to who I am in Christ. So while it was a personal study I was keen to share what I was learning here, as I believe that Christians who are not aware of their spiritual identity might as well be running around in circles, getting nowhere fast on their faith journey.

If you are new to my blog, and are interested in learning about what the bible says about who we are in Christ after we are born again, then I encourage you to read the other posts in this series. Born again identity Already Blessed! Born again identity – Dead and alive Relocated Born again identity – Bold and confident & You are the Church! My hope is to encourage and strengthen you with the truth. I’m not keen on writing long posts but this one is longer than normal so my apologies.

Taken as a whole, Paul’s exhortation to put on the armour of God is intended to convey the fact that all the resources needed by the believer to oppose the devil and his powers have been provided in the gospel of Christ. Putting on the armour means living according to the new life that God has provided in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. –  Layman’s Bible Commentary 

We have been given so much as members of the body of Christ already, but it doesn’t stop there. We are told in Ephesians to put on the full armour of God. Because we are new creations in Christ we can guarantee that there will be attacks, and God knows this so he has provided us with all the things that we need to be ready. I would say that the armour of God is a pretty important part of the Christians identity.

I haven’t really heard much teaching on this aspect of the Christian life, so I’m going to assume that there are many others who are probably not even aware that we have this armour available to us, or just don’t see the importance. Michael Youssef says in his devotional commentary on the book of Ephesians “If you and I try to go to war with Satan in our own strength, our own wisdom and power, we will surely be defeated. That’s why we need to put on the full armour of God, and we need to wear it 24/7“

• The Belt of truth -A bit of a no brainer really but we need to constantly be in the truth. Jesus said in the book of John that the devil hates the truth, and that there is no truth in him. Put him and the world that is pretty much at war with the kingdom of God and it makes perfect sense for us to put on truth.
• The breastplate of Righteousness – Not ours but Jesus’s Righteousness. Jesus Christ is SOLID and the foundation of our faith and we have been made righteous because of what he has done. That protection is his life, power and truth.
• Feet fitted with the readiness – The good news is that we now have peace with God, our relationship with God has been restored and that we can come to him with confidence because our sin has been dealt with. There are many who need to hear that news.
• The shield of faith – You have no doubt experienced flaming arrows of doubt, destruction and condemnation at different times during your faith journey. It’s when we believe what God says about who he is, what he has done for us and who Jesus is that we can hold up the shield of faith and be protected with his faithfulness.
• The helmet of salvation – One of the biggest areas of attack for Christians is of course on our minds. No wonder we are told in Romans 12 to not conform to the patterns of the world and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Jesus said that he is the way, the truth and the life, that no one can come to the father except through him. He also said that we must be born again.  Remembering that our salvation through Christ is pretty important.
• The sword of the spirit -Paul tells us straight up that sword of the spirit is the word of God. I cannot stress enough how important it is for followers of Christ to not just read the bible, but study it as well. We can interact with the word because It’s alive and its also Inspired by God. The Word is a powerful defence and can change lives.

So there it is. We have a born again identity, and its an amazing gift that we have been blessed with as Christians. Its crazy to ignore and very beneficial to understand and walk in these truth’s if you want to live and not just survive the Christian journey. Thanks for reading and if you got something out of anything that you have read please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.