KNOW WHO YOU ARE
Stand Firm in Your Identity in Christ - July 15, 2026
One of the greatest things a believer can settle is this:
Who am I in Christ?
Because when you know who you are, you do not have to spend your life trying to prove who you are.
Your identity is not rooted in your performance.
It is not rooted in your perfection.
It is not rooted in people’s opinions of you.
It is not even rooted in how strong you feel today.
Your identity is rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
And when that truth becomes established in your heart, it changes the way you stand, pray, respond to opposition, and carry the assignment God has placed upon your life.
STAND FIRM
Philippians 1:27–28 became a foundational passage during this teaching.
Paul calls believers to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ and to stand firm together in one spirit and one mind.
Then comes this instruction:
Do not be intimidated by your opponents.
That is important.
Intimidation attempts to make you forget what God has already established.
It makes circumstances look larger than Christ.
It makes opposition look more powerful than the One who lives within you.
But Scripture brings us back to truth.
Stand firm.
Not because you are powerful in yourself.
Stand because of Jesus.
Stand because of the Gospel.
Stand because your identity has already been established in Christ.
STOP TRYING TO BE ENOUGH
Sometimes we approach God as though everything depends upon our ability to get everything exactly right.
But our confidence before God cannot be based upon our perfection.
Jesus is the perfect One.
Our salvation rests upon His finished work.
That does not give us permission to live carelessly. Quite the opposite.
Grace frees us to stop performing for an identity and begin living from the identity we have received in Christ.
There is a difference.
I do not obey God so I can somehow earn the right to belong to Him.
I obey because I belong to Him.
I do not have to manufacture righteousness through human effort.
I surrender myself to Jesus and allow His life to be expressed through mine.
SURRENDER THE CONTROL
And that brings us to surrender.
There are things God cannot fully express through us while we insist upon controlling everything ourselves.
Our plans.
Our timing.
Our preferences.
Our reputations.
Our desired outcomes.
Sometimes we even want to control exactly how God will use us.
But Jesus showed us another way.
Philippians 2 describes Christ humbling Himself and becoming obedient.
That is the pattern.
Humility.
Surrender.
Obedience.
There is tremendous freedom in saying:
“Lord, I don’t have to control this. I belong to You.”
STAY CRUCIFIED
The Christian life is not about strengthening the independent self until we become powerful enough to accomplish God’s purposes.
It is about surrendering ourselves to Christ.
Our flesh wants attention.
Our flesh wants control.
Our flesh wants its own way.
But there are moments when we have to recognize the distractions being dangled in front of us and refuse to take the bait.
Not everything that gets your attention deserves your attention.
Not every invitation deserves a yes.
Not every argument deserves your participation.
Not every opportunity is your assignment.
Some things are simply distractions from where God told you to stand.
Stay surrendered.
Keep your attention on Jesus.
ONE MIND. ONE SPIRIT. ONE PURPOSE.
Philippians does not merely tell individual believers to stand.
It gives us a picture of believers standing together.
One spirit.
One mind.
Striving together for the faith of the Gospel.
There is tremendous power in agreement when God’s people come together around God’s agenda rather than personal agendas.
Imagine what could happen if we stopped competing.
Stopped comparing.
Stopped worrying about who gets the credit.
And simply asked:
“Jesus, what do You want?”
Unity does not mean everyone has the same personality, gift, assignment, or function.
It means Jesus remains the center.
Different gifts.
Different people.
Different assignments.
One King.
THE EARTH BELONGS TO THE LORD
Psalm 24 declares:
“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
This changes the perspective from which we pray.
The earth belongs to God.
The nations belong to God.
People belong to God.
So when we intercede, we are not praying as though darkness owns the world and we are desperately trying to convince God to intervene.
We pray knowing:
The earth is the Lord’s.
That is why we can pray boldly for nations.
That is why we can pray for cities.
That is why we can pray for families.
That is why we can pray for people caught in darkness.
And that is why I continue praying for billions of souls to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
BILLIONS FOR CHRIST
This burden continues to burn in my heart:
Billions for Christ.
Billions of people hearing the Gospel.
Billions encountering Jesus.
Billions coming out of darkness and into His marvelous light.
Billions discovering their true identity in Christ.
This is bigger than a ministry.
Bigger than a livestream.
Bigger than a platform.
This is about souls.
Acts 19 gives us a picture of the Gospel entering a region and confronting deeply rooted spiritual practices.
People encountered truth.
Lives changed.
Old practices were abandoned.
And the Word of God continued to spread and prevail.
That is what we are praying for.
Let the Word prevail.
In homes.
In cities.
In nations.
Across generations.
ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN LOVE
But God does not merely want us bold.
He wants us rooted.
Ephesians 3 contains Paul’s beautiful prayer that believers would be strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner person and become rooted and grounded in love.
That matters.
Because boldness without love can become harshness.
Knowledge without love can become pride.
Spiritual authority without love can become self-centered.
But when we are rooted in the love of Christ, everything begins flowing from the right place.
You need to know more than what you are fighting.
You need to know how deeply you are loved.
Root yourself there.
LET GOD UPROOT WHAT HE DID NOT PLANT
Jesus says in Matthew 15:13:
“Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”
There may be things growing in our lives that God never planted.
Fear.
False identities.
Old patterns.
Generational habits.
Insecurity.
Pride.
People-pleasing.
Compromise.
Wrong beliefs about God.
Wrong beliefs about ourselves.
Instead of decorating those things, let God uproot them.
Some of us have spent years trying to manage something Jesus wants to remove.
Give Him permission to deal with the root.
KNOW WHO YOU ARE
So who are you?
You are not your past.
You are not your mistakes.
You are not your opposition.
You are not somebody else’s opinion.
You are not the worst thing that ever happened to you.
And you are not required to construct an identity for yourself.
Look to Jesus.
Your life is hidden in Him.
Your confidence is in Him.
Your righteousness is found in Him.
Your strength comes from Him.
Your assignment comes from Him.
And your ability to fulfill that assignment comes through surrender to Him.
So when intimidation comes:
Stand.
When distraction comes:
Stay focused.
When your flesh wants control:
Surrender.
When God exposes something He did not plant:
Let Him uproot it.
When believers gather around God’s purposes:
Walk in unity.
And when you pray for the nations:
Remember who owns the earth.
The earth is the Lord’s.
The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.
Jesus Christ is still King.
And we are still praying:
BILLIONS FOR CHRIST.
A PRAYER FOR YOU
Father, in the name of Jesus, strengthen Your people with might by Your Spirit in the inner person.
Root us and ground us in the love of Christ.
Remove every false identity we have accepted and every belief You did not plant.
Teach us to see ourselves through the finished work of Jesus.
Give us grace to walk worthy of the Gospel.
Make us humble.
Make us obedient.
Make us surrendered.
Bring Your people into unity around Your purposes.
And when intimidation comes, remind us who we are and Whose we are.
We ask You for the nations.
We ask You for families.
We ask You for generations.
We ask You for the lost.
Let the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ shine throughout the earth, and draw multitudes to Yourself.
Billions for Christ.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Know who you are.
Know Whose you are.
And stand firm.
Charnette Kay ⚔️
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