When we become a Christian, every sin, past, present, and future gets nailed to the cross. We become engrafted into Christ's lineage and we are no longer "sinners," but saints. So when people say that they are a "sinner saved by grace," that's not right. We no longer claim sin as our own. It is no longer a part of our nature. We have a new nature and we have the mind of Christ. We have stepped into the "holy priesthood." We are adopted sons and daughters of God. To still claim anything from our old nature would mean that a)we don't believe that God's work on the cross was sufficient to cover all of our sins or b)we have forgotten what we lost and what we gained through Christ.
We need to know our identity. We live out of who we believe that we are. If we believe we are sinners, we are only going to see the multitude of sin in our lives. We won't see the incredible gifts God has placed inside of us, nor will we want to grow those gifts for His glory. If we believe that we were made for "greater things" than Jesus did (John 14:12), we will live to a higher standard of purity and of righteousness because we fully know and believe in who we are. We will see God's standard, and know that Christ in us makes that standard possible. Nothing is impossible with God.
The prophetic is hearing God's voice for someone else. The purpose of the prophetic is to call out the "gold" in people. To bring out who God has created them to be. To cast a vision for the anointing that they have and the call on their life. Scott Thompson tells a story about how purity was a big issue in his life around the time when he became a Christian. But he had all these people around him telling him that he was going to "break the chains off of a generation." We need people to remind us of the amazing things that we are called to do. Sometimes we are so bogged down in sin that we can't see the call on our lives. We're still in the "process" of realizing our call and vision.
In our homeless outreach, we don't point fingers and tell people what they're doing wrong. We tell them how great they are and what incredible things they are capable of. Having the gold in them called out reminds them that they are called to greater things. That they are better than their situation. They feel empowered and not defeated. They feel loved and encouraged. They start living like they believe they are awesome and worth it and capable of chasing after the big dreams God placed inside them. They want to believe that they are great and talented, but the world keeps shouting at them that they are worthless. Sadly much of the Church screams the same message.
"All creation is longing for the sons of God to be revealed..." (Romans 8:19). All creation is longing for us to start walking in the fullness of who we are. To rise up. To believe that we are called to do "greater things" than Jesus did. To heal the sick. To raise the dead. To love and give extravagantly. To know the presence of God and feel the shifts of His Spirit. To make earth as it is in heaven. Not to sit in a corner and say we aren't good enough, that we don't have the skills, to say that there is nothing good in us...saying that there is nothing good in the creation does not glorify the Creator.
We are saints that have been created in God's image. It's time that we live like we believe who God says that we are.
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