The Born Identity

The Born Identity by Phil Pringle

Published by PaX Ministries Pty Ltd ABN No: 97 003 162 392

Locked Bag No 8, Dee Why, 2099, Australia

Tel: +61 2 9972 8688 Fax: +61 2 9972 8640

www.philpringle.com

Cover Art and Layout by Sasha White

www.mrandmrswhite.net

E-published by Faris Digital Solutions Pte. Ltd.

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This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise - without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by Australian copyright law.

Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the New King James version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982.

By Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Living Bible, copyright ©1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA.

All rights reserved.

Words in capitals, in bold or in scripture quotations are the emphasis of the author. The words him, his, he, or man are sometimes used generically to describe people of both genders.

Copyright 2015 by Pax Ministries Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved

E-ISBN : 978-981-4645-93-5

1st Edition. Published 2015

CONTENTS

THE MESSAGE

IDENTITY AMNESIA

THE PRODIGAL SON FORGETS WHO HE IS

THE ISRAELITES AT CANAAN FORGET WHO THEY ARE

GIDEON FORGETS WHO HE IS

REVELATION KNOWLEDGE

HE KNOWS HIS HOUR HAS COME

JESUS KNOWS HE HAS COME FROM GOD

WHAT DOES OUR PRESENT LOOK LIKE?

HE KNOWS HE IS GOING TO GOD

WHO ARE WE?

WHAT DO WE HAVE?

WE HAVE DOMINION AND AUTHORITY

WE HAVE THE WISDOM OF GOD

WE HAVE POWER FROM THE SPIRIT

WE HAVE FREEDOM FROM THE DEVIL

WE HAVE GOD FOR US

WE HAVE THE PROMISE OF GOD

WE HAVE FORGIVENESS

WE HAVE JUSTIFICATION

WE HAVE REGENERATION

WE HAVE ADOPTION

WE HAVE SANCTIFICATION

WE HAVE REDEMPTION

WE HAVE AN INHERITANCE

WE HAVE BLESSING

WE HAVE AUTHORITY OVER THE DEVIL

WE HAVE PROSPERITY

WE HAVE HEALING

WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

CONCLUSION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE MESSAGE

I called this book ‘The Born Identity’, playing on the title of the movie of 2006 ‘The Bourne Identity’, when the main character, Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, forgets who he is after taking a blow to the head.

Gradually he recovers his skills but his memory is completely blank as to how he came to have those skills and to be in the situation he has found himself in, to be hunted all over the world. He has no idea who is chasing him or why. He scrambles throughout the movie to discover these facts, which remain obscure and patchy in his memory.

Our christian journey is much the same even when we discover who we are in Christ. Often we take ‘blows to the head’ that dislodge that information leaving us to live in our own strength rather than in the new creation person we have become in Christ.

Paul stated that his central goal was to work hard, even strive, to present every person complete ‘in Christ’ (Colossians 1:28). He prefaced this by saying his message was Christ Himself, ‘Him we preach’. He preached Christ, determining to not know anything else lest it obscure the simplicity and power of the message. Being ‘in Christ’ is the fulfillment of the entire New Covenant. Once we have this reality at the core of our experience with God, our entire approach to everything is revolutionised. The way and purpose of ministry, of pastoring people, of building the Kingdom and of our own personal walk with God is dramatically adjusted. Outside of Christ we are on our own, naked of power, attempting to accomplish God’s work with our strength. Impossible! In Christ we are empowered far beyond our abilities and capacities, super equipped for everything.

Every single person ever born on Earth has been predestined to be born again (Romans 8:29). This has always been the plan of God for every single person. Like the caterpillar that transforms into a butterfly, so every human is destined to be transformed from just being born of earthly parents into also being born of God. However, unlike the caterpillar which has no choice in the matter, the course of nature simply plays out, the creature incapable of doing anything to prevent it, we actually have a choice in whether or not we become ‘born of God’. We had no choice in our first birth. We simply just ‘arrived’. Our parents made that choice for us. We became infused with a self-aware personality and endowed with freedom of choice. Every inhabitant of Earth is to receive the opportunity to be born again. This is why every believer and every preacher must be engaged in bringing Christ to every person on the planet, so they are able to make that choice, receive Christ and become a child of God. Throughout nature, the process of conception depends on at least two agents being active. In the plant world, bees carry pollen from one part of the plant to the stigma causing fertilisation, thus the plant reproduces itself. We, the church must bring Christ to people so they make the choice to receive Him and are born again.

Billy Graham brought home the truth again and again, simply declaring that people must be born again. He reached countless millions with this message. Many years before him George Whitfield, a contemporary of John Wesley also preached ‘You must be born again’, relentlessly. He was asked why he always preached the message, ‘You must be born again’. Because, he replied, ‘You must be born again’. John begins his Gospel revealing how those who receive Christ, receive the power to become children of God. Very early in his writings John records an amazing interaction between Jesus and the religious leader, Nicodemus. The core of Jesus’ message to the man is, ‘You must be born again’. This was said to a religious man, a good man, a righteous man, a religious leader, a man secretly searching for truth. If this message applies to good, righteous religious people, then it applies to every person in the world. One could easily imagine that being good, or religious, or serving in the church, is enough, but it obviously is not. The man still needed to be born again!

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?

John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

The message is utterly clear. Unless we are born again, we cannot ‘see or enter’ the Kingdom of God. Unless we are born of the Holy Spirit, we are only born of the flesh. It is not an abnormal thing to be born again. It is the plan of God for every single person. All of us have been destined to be born twice. Once, of the flesh, then a second birth, from above, a spiritual birth, of God Himself!

Becoming a Christian is not about becoming religious, joining a particular denomination or subscribing to a belief system. It is about a complete transformation of nature, of motivation, of our reason for living, of our mindset, of our emotional attachments and of our spiritual awareness. It is becoming a ‘new species’ of person.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)AMP Bible. We receive a new nature, the nature of the Father. This nature comes from our spirit being made alive through connection with God Himself. Sin disconnects us;

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

This separation is finished when we receive Christ as our sacrifice for sin. We are forgiven, cleansed from our sins and so the separation is closed. We become connected with the Father, through which we are born of God by the Holy Spirit. Our natural genetic coding comes straight from our parents hence we carry the characteristics of our parents, physically, mentally and emotionally. The same applies when we are born of God. We receive the nature of God! The very nature of the Father is created within us. We become like our father in heaven, Jesus becomes our pattern man, ‘the firstborn among many brothers’ (Romans 8:29).

Since the beginning in the garden of Eden, God has purposed to make man in His image. This begins when we are born again. We become His child. He becomes our Father. We can’t pray the Lord’s prayer in reality until we are born again. We can’t say ‘Our Father’ when He’s not. Only after we have been born of God can we actually cry out, ‘Father’ (Romans 8:15).

Over the years Hollywood has produced a number of movies employing the ‘amnesia’ plot, such as ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’, The Bourne Identity’, etc. The theme is that after these people sustained an injury to the head, they then woke up completely unaware of the life they had been living. In both of the above movies the star was previously a highly skilled, assassin or spy. When they find themselves in a fight, their unconscious, automatic responses reveal they’ve got skills. They discover they can break bones and shoot to kill. They somehow know things they should not.

However, it’s not just these latent heroes that are suffering from amnesia. Most believers are living with a permanent kind of amnesia, forgetting who we are. Negative circumstances constantly send us the message that we are far less than what the New Testament declares us to be. Often theology has been twisted to conform to the defeated, negative thinking of people who are interpreting life and God by their circumstances. We need to submit to Scripture, not submit the Scripture to our thinking.

This book is intended to awaken and remind us exactly who we are and what we have. When we enter our battles with a clear knowing of who we are and what we have, we will win.

Another concept that’s become widely popular in movies especially of the ‘superhero’ kind is that when the star has certain clothing on (aka Spiderman, Superman), or when they get inside a special suit (aka Iron Man, Avatar), suddenly they are equipped to do way beyond anything they could ever have achieved on their own. They can fly, destroy whole armies just by lifting their hand, see through walls, use super human strength to pick up buildings, bridges, etc. The amazing thing is that these concepts are not far from Biblical history. Samson lifted the gates of the city, Moses parted an entire ocean with a stick. Elijah prayed a simple prayer and fire scorched the sky. Jesus Himself, walked on water, ascended in the sky, glowed on a mountain, cast out demons and even raised dead people back to life. The New Testament declares we are ‘in Him’, not just once, but scores of times we are told that our position in life now is ‘in’ that same person who lived supernaturally on Earth defying the odds on a regular basis. Our ‘Avatar’, our ‘Iron Man’ suit is Christ. Living ‘in Him’, we have skills. We have potential and abilities far beyond anything we could have ever achieved alone. This has always been God’s intention that we discover all of who we can be and what we can do, ‘in Christ’.

The New Covenant is activated only ‘in Christ’. Not by keeping rules, not by attending church, not by being religious, only by being ‘in Christ’. The Old Testament demanded that we keep laws that proved impossible to keep. Our flesh confirmed we were incapable of this. However, the New Testament is not about keeping law, but about receiving a new nature through living in Christ. God brought this to us from the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned suddenly they became aware they were naked. They attempted to cover themselves with leaves. God supplied them with the skins of animals for clothing. The animals had died as sacrifices for their sins and then their skin was used to clothe them. Our ache to be clothed with another is ancient. This act of God in Eden was a prediction of Jesus being sacrificed for us. Then God clothes us with His ‘skin’, His life. We are clothed with Him, His righteousness, His glory, His nature. We begin a new way of living, ‘in Him’.

In Him I am righteous with His righteousness, not mine.

In Him I have the mind of Christ, the wisdom of God.

In Him I have complete and utter forgiveness, deliverance and healing.

In Him I am completely protected from the attacks of the devil. That the evil one touches me not.

In Him I