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Who Are You as a New Creation?
Episode #688
02/09/2020
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
Special Guest: Jennifer Wentzel
God wants to tell you who you are and who you’ve become in Christ, in your new creation. And this is something that we quite desperately need to know!
Martha:
This morning at the Shulamite office church kind of happened. And Jennifer was sharing some really rich things and I was sharing some things with her that the Lord was showing me. So I just wanted to call Joan and Jennifer and John in and let’s just have this church meeting on the air. I’m… It’s not orchestrated but we do have a topic.
And Joan’s going to read a scripture.
Jennifer:
Mom got this scripture (Joan did) but she doesn’t have her reading glasses with her so she’s asking me to read the scripture. So this is me.
It’s Acts 2:43 and then 46 and 47. And we’re going to do it in the Passion.
“A deep sense of holy awe swept over everyone, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. Daily they met together in the temple courts and in one another’s homes to celebrate communion. They shared meals together with joyful hearts and tender humility. They were continually filled with praises to God, enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life.”
Martha:
Coming to life. Wow. That’s… That makes me not want to speak.
I think I’ve said on everything that we do that this year I want to learn warfare in a whole fresh new way. And so that’s been… I’m asking the Lord excitedly about that.
And so I think the first thing that He’s given me to, to think about and to see and to ponder and to realize is that we need to know who we are because that determines our warfare overcoming.
And I remember being some years ago in a group of women in Atlanta and they were really big on, “Who am I in Christ?” But they got scriptures about that. And that, that’s wonderful, that’s fine. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the fact that life is in the voice of the Lord. We… “We cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” We need to hear Him about who we are. And it’s individual; it’s highly individual. And when you have the knowledge of who you are with Him at this point or what your office is in, in the church, then you’re actually fortressed because the enemy comes to negate you individually. The enemy comes to hate you personally.
John:
Well, when you were saying this to me, I was driving and I was coming in, and, and you were telling me this and I had a, you know, a visual of it, that, you know, if God gives me the faith and says, “You’re, you’re a gladiator,” then I have the, the faith to live as a gladiator. But if I believe, personally, that I’m a seamstress, then, then, you know, I’m not going live my gladiator life. So the, the fact that Him having to relationally tell me, “Hey, you, you’re a gladiator. That’s who you are in the Spirit.” Oh, okay, well then, then I have the power and the faith to believe that and to live that out. I wouldn’t have it if, if I, if I lived in my Self concept. And that’s what you were telling me is that you want to know beyond your concept of yourself. You want to know what His concept of you is.
Martha:
That’s exactly it, John. Wow.
If you had a teacher in the classroom, you’d want to know when you had done well. You’d want to know when you didn’t get a good grade and why. And we are in a classroom. We’re in an eternal classroom. And we want to hear from the Lord by His individual voice.
There have been so many times that the Lord would give me something and I might see it and receive it for a while and then lose it and not believe it. I think we’re, most of us are prone to be like what I wrote on the back of the little booklet, The Joy Unequaled of Being Nothing. And on the back I say, “We’re terrified of being nothing.” And yet to be nothing with Christ is to have everything. It’s a paradox. The second booklet I’ll, I’ll flesh that out.
Some of us give ourselves a title way beyond what we are, in the delusional. But I’m not talking about that kind of person that claims what they haven’t heard. I’m talking about us ordinary sheep, us common, everyday sheep. And we’re well aware we’re common, everyday sheep. We’re well aware that we are as stupid as sheep and as gullible and frightened.
So John’s illustration shows exactly what I’m, what I’m going to try to express is that God wants to tell you in one way or another who you are and who you’ve become in Christ. And really and truly, this is the function of the body life. I can see things in all three of you people here that are just fantastic and I believe are from insights from the Lord. I believe we’re supposed to tell each other who we are, and you tell me who I am and you tell me how I’m, how I’m functioning even, and how I respond and it’s a tremendous help. We’re, we sheep are in this together. We’re a flock. We’re, we’re a tribe. We’re a group. We’re a church. And we can help each other enormously to be in touch with our identity and it is, it is a matter… When you are intact like that – I love the word intact! – where you know who you are, you know who you’re not called to be, and you are in His will—ultimately, specifically, beautifully in His will to be what He says you are.
Well, I, I knew from the day that Jennifer came to be with us that she had a very special heart. I’m sure the, your family knew it. But in the Spirit I could see her heart was capable of a huge love, and so I said that to her. And sometimes I think that works as a prophecy to call it forth, if it’s from the Lord and for you specifically. And so we’re seen that in her life vividly.
John:
I’m seeing the, the, it’s very much like John the Baptist. He knew exactly who He was. He had it from heaven who he was. He knew that he was a voice in the wilderness calling out, “Make straight the paths.” He knew exactly to the, to the letter of his, of his life what he was to eat, where he was to, you know… Not cutting his hair. Everything. He knew all of it. And he got that from the Lord. The Lord gave that to him and then he had the faith to do it. He had the faith to be able to stand in the face of the Pharisees on the banks, screaming at him and telling him that he’s worthless, and you know, whatever, “heretic” or whatever they were saying to him. So, you know, that’s, that’s why it’s so key and so important that we hear exactly what God thinks and what, what His mind is about me and about you and about you and you.
Martha:
In the movie, which is the literal Bible about the Book of John, that the Pharisees come and say, “Who are you? Are you the Christ?” “I am not the Christ.” “Are you the prophet?” “I’m a voice calling in the wilderness.” That’s it. That’s all he would tell them. But he had prophecy spoken over him by his priest father.
John:
Um hmm.
Martha:
And I’ve been in that prophecy. Usually I read that at Christmas. And it says so many things about what this child would be and do. And that’s why… And, and he became it because I’m sure he knew that prophecy. It was very specific. “You will, you are coming to prepare the way and you’re going to see that we don’t fear our enemies.” That’s one of the things that’s in the prophecy. And, and John the Baptist, though he was beheaded, he probably didn’t fear his enemies because it was prophesied over him. It was to be the voice of God planted in his being to create exactly what it says.
So it’s very critical that we be interested in our identity in Christ because it’s, it’s not… It’s corporate, yes; we’re all a child of God. We’re bought, adopted in the family of God. But that’s not enough! That’s not all He wants for us. He wants for us to know what we have so we can function in it and fully be filled with the Spirit. And I think it is a principal of, of being safe from warfare. If the enemy comes and says, “You’re not that.’ You can say, “I’m not that. Right.” And if the enemy comes and claims that you… The attack of the enemy is always personal. Is it not? So the victory begins with a personal confidence in who you are in His economy, in His life. And it, it takes time and experience and time listening and, and wanting to know. And I believe He will come to you and tell you who you are and how you function. We, we know each other better than we know our selves. Seems to me that’s true. When one gets discouraged, I will say, “Oh, no, no. That’s not, that’s not real.”
So that discovery…because the problem is, the reason this is so important is because if you are a child grown up with a, a heritage of some kind of negative parenting or even abuse, you’re going to live less…
John:
Um hmm.
Martha:
…than what you are. You’re going to live by another’s concept of you. And one of the purposes of this little booklet, that I am nothing, is to bring us to the acceptance of that but I’m going to go, God willing, beyond that to show that you are something but not… You’re something in Christ.
John:
Um hmm.
Martha:
You’re something He’s making and creating. You’re a new creation, you’re someone you’ve never known. You are what you never were and you don’t know yet what you are in the new creation. The new creation is a created being. It is not an inheritance or a transformation. It’s not taking the old man and fix him up. It’s not that at all. If you look into the languages, the Greek and Aramaic, it is a new creation made out of nothing prior. So you’re something that has never been on this earth. You’re someone that He has specifically created anew with a new heart and a new mind and a new being, a new ide— A personality, a new identity.
Who Are You as a New Creation? – Episode #688 – Shulamite Podcast
God wants to tell you who you are and who you’ve become in Christ, in your new creation. This is something that we quite desperately need to know! Finding out who you are is one of the functions of Body Life, and a key to overcoming in spiritual warfare.
I thank the Lord for the clarity in this podcast, like something hidden in plain sight that suddenly becomes distinct. I’ve no insights to offer, only a loud “Yes! Yes!” directed to Him. The Acts reference resonates deeply, His hand forming His Body and seems to show a “growing environment” for His expression in each one. Ps. 133 describes this as well: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing — life forevermore.” (HCSB)
Oh, Lord, to see Your full expression of Yourself realized in each of Your people–we say Amen! to that, and long for, ache for that. Each living stone, formed and placed, covered with Your Oil for perfect fitment, all to the increase of Your glory!
Thank you Douglas for sharing this. It is very encouraging indeed! I pray with you for His manifestation and say amen to His full expression. Love you Douglas!