Your Authentic Self...

[Kan]

2 minutes ago, angels4u said:

Without reading all the older post ,just to answer your question , who am I ?

Col.3:3

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

My life is in Christ after giving my life to Jesus Christ.

Amen ,I'm a child of the King!

Galatians 3:26

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

I absolutely love this answer.

Our "life is hid with Christ in God."

The authentic self can only be one that God knows, one which is apart from sin. It is sometimes called "the inner man" or soul. The hidden heart. God holds the key to who we are, who we would develop into without sin - because sin masks the real you, it covers us with pretense and lies.

Which still leaves us with the question how do we know if we are being authentic?

You said that your life is in Christ after giving my life to Jesus. Is that really true or were you in Christ all the time since the beginning of time for the world, and you just came to appreciate it?

What about the lost, are their lives in Christ?

[angels4u]

1 minute ago, Kan said:

I absolutely love this answer.

Our "life is hid with Christ in God."

The authentic self can only be one that God knows, one which is apart from sin. It is sometimes called "the inner man" or soul. The hidden heart. God holds the key to who we are, who we would develop into without sin - because sin masks the real you, it covers us with pretense and lies.

Which still leaves us with the question how do we know if we are being authentic?

You said that your life is in Christ after giving my life to Jesus. Is that really true or were you in Christ all the time since the beginning of time for the world, and you just came to appreciate it?

What about the lost, are their lives in Christ?

1

Well Kan, you have an interesting conversation going on here as I was just reading trough all the posts.

Yes ,Jesus knew me all along~~ 

I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations." Jer.1:5

Psalm 139:15
My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

Isaiah 49:1
Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.

Isaiah 49:5
And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength),

Romans 8:29And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. 29Forthose God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.30And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.…

The lost have the devil as their father and  need  to be rescued ,just as we are rescued:

 

The Children of the Devil
…43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. 45But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!…

 

 

You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

 

 

[enoob57]

Ro 8:15-16

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
KJV

This is a reality that can be experienced at any time... when after being converted, I was young, I did not feed myself on God's Word and
the flesh drew me away with the pleasures of sin! While pursuing the pleasure I was naturally among those whose lives were only of
this world and what was in it... there was always a tension of comradery; a not of sameness that is really not explicable... but they knew
it and I knew it! A born again child of God can desire pleasure, God has created, just as those not born of Him -yet- the child is grieved
in their heart when it is done in a rebellious out of order way -whereas the others not born of God don't have any angst whatsoever in
the pursuit in any order that advances the perceived pleasure... If you have ever noticed all their ways become a perversion of life and
ushers physical death more quickly. The greatest witness we hear of God 'IS' the Love He puts within us that allows us to abandon our
selves to the Worship of Him and the care for others - we actually wish to be hidden from our doing because it is not for us to be seen
but Him Who motivates us from within (we want God to have the credit for what He has given us within)...   Love, Steven

[Kan]

22 hours ago, angels4u said:

Well Kan, you have an interesting conversation going on here as I was just reading trough all the posts.

Yes ,Jesus knew me all along~~ 

I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations." Jer.1:5

...

What a precious collection of verses you posted. So we can say confidently that God chose to love us before the world began, and He knew us then. This is really good news.

So who was known before the world was created, was it you, as you are now or as you are in Christ? How much of the latter was there at birth, and before the world began?

[Kan]

21 hours ago, enoob57 said:

Ro 8:15-16

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
KJV

This is a reality that can be experienced at any time... when after being converted, I was young, I did not feed myself on God's Word and
the flesh drew me away with the pleasures of sin! While pursuing the pleasure I was naturally among those whose lives were only of
this world and what was in it... there was always a tension of comradery; a not of sameness that is really not explicable... but they knew
it and I knew it! A born again child of God can desire pleasure, God has created, just as those not born of Him -yet- the child is grieved
in their heart when it is done in a rebellious out of order way -whereas the others not born of God don't have any angst whatsoever in
the pursuit in any order that advances the perceived pleasure... If you have ever noticed all their ways become a perversion of life and
ushers physical death more quickly. The greatest witness we hear of God 'IS' the Love He puts within us that allows us to abandon our
selves to the Worship of Him and the care for others - we actually wish to be hidden from our doing because it is not for us to be seen
but Him Who motivates us from within (we want God to have the credit for what He has given us within)...   Love, Steven

So we conclude from this that the opposite to fear is love. 

Does love have anything to do with the authentic self? How?

[Ezra]

6 hours ago, Kan said:

Does love have anything to do with the authentic self? How?

Well if God is Love, and Love is the fulfilling of the Law, then Love has everything to do with Christian authenticity.

[Kan]

18 hours ago, Ezra said:

Well if God is Love, and Love is the fulfilling of the Law, then Love has everything to do with Christian authenticity.

That's right.

Love is first pure, or sincere/honest/truthful.

Anything which is not of the above is false, and therefore cannot be authentic.

The Devil cannot be authentically evil, because that would require a confession that he is evil, and he will not do that, because he doesn't want to, and therefore cannot and will not escape being false and self deceived. He has a wrong idea of who he is, so he cannot be authentic. Such is the nature of sin, it separates the soul from life, from staying in touch with reality.

It follows that the only religion which can produce authentic people is Christianity. The moment any person allows themselves to commit known sin, they are false and self deceived.

Sin causes us to have a wrong idea of who we are. It taints our sense of reality, the truth about our words and actions is painted in the colors we choose.

We think we are one thing, when in fact we could be way off track. This is where the work of the Dear Lord comes in, helping us to be real about who we are, giving us a true witness to our motives, and actions. 

Does the Lord help us to be authentic? 

Do the scriptures say how this is achieved? 

 

 

[enoob57]

On ‎6‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 5:26 AM, Kan said:

So we conclude from this that the opposite to fear is love. 

Does love have anything to do with the authentic self? How?

The Love God forms within us is a discovery walking forward and as we discover what we are in Him
He is magnified in our being  so that others see Him in us... we are becoming the what He intended...
That intention is as Ezra has said the fulfillment of the Law by Love...  I do not do a thing for the sake
of itself in doing but motives of love God has placed in me by His Word and Spirit!

[Kan]

On 6/23/2016 at 10:08 PM, enoob57 said:

The Love God forms within us is a discovery walking forward and as we discover what we are in Him
He is magnified in our being  so that others see Him in us... we are becoming the what He intended...
That intention is as Ezra has said the fulfillment of the Law by Love...  I do not do a thing for the sake
of itself in doing but motives of love God has placed in me by His Word and Spirit!

Yes, you've got it - it is about motive - the motives are changed - the source of thought and action. 

We become what He intended, what He knows He made in the first place. And you have made it clear how that is achieved, through receiving the Word of God by the Spirit of God.

Seeing that sin has removed that authentic personality which God intended, how is it reinstated and when is it reinstated?

You have said that motives of love are placed within by the Word and Spirit, which is the authentic self God intended, which was in Christ - by Whom all things exist - in the beginning before the world was created.

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself"

The world is reconciled to God, because Jesus is the source of every authentic personality, which is freely installed into every individual born and unborn, through the gift of Life in Christ, by which the gift of faith comes as a package deal. Sin disables that personality, and yet because the Spirit of God strives with every person, it remains on offer until the person is fully set in their ways or dead.

When we receive Christ as Lord and Savior we are no longer running from the truth, but accepting it and allowing its fulfilment and intention, which is to grant fullness of life and eternal life.

But the authentic self comes from the Personality of the Son of God, - everyone was intended to reveal some of His character in a unique way, different from others but never different from the Source.

So we are distinctly different and individual in Christ, and yet all the same.

We cannot fully know that, because only God knows the extent of those characteristics, and these differences are harmonized in a heavenly society by love.

This is the means by which God has made relationships eternally workable through variety and creativity, with interesting developments and ongoing potential.

[Kan]

Finding our true identity. (A summary)

As all of you have said from scriptures, our true identity exists within the Great Personality of God, in Jesus Christ.

He holds who we are and what we may become, within God, where it can never be replaced or lost if we wish that to be so.

This guarantees who we are from day to day, and who God will raise at the resurrection. Not a clone, not another like.

Our personalities are permanently preserved within the Life and Mind of God - day by day. And yet mysteriously, we have perfect freedom as to where and how we want to go about life.

Our potentials and choices of what we want to think and do, are infinite and not restricted, as only an Infinite God can produce, and that applies to the number of individuals which can be produced as well.

The only boundaries God has set are the Laws of God. But careful consideration of these principles indicate that they are the roots of an unlimited life and potential and not restrictions at all. For example, the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" does not stop you being creative, rather it protects what you have made from being damaged, misrepresented and stolen by others or another thing. It also saves you the trouble of living a double life and keeping track of your own lies, which if you had a life that never ends, you would wear out, make you sick and kill you after a few centuries if not a few weeks. And if you had eternal life because you ate from the tree of life, then your life would soon be torture of the worst kind.

So the Laws of God as expressed in the face of Jesus, are a decalog of love, and guarantee peace, liberty and an endless life.

By being friends with Jesus, we become changed.

We can only know Jesus as individuals, as we perceive Him, what He means to us personally, which is slightly different than anyone else. And this unique relationship is precisely what constitutes the authentic self that can only be found here.

It eliminates jealously and envy, and strivings to be something we have never been designed to be.