In Christ - What Does It Mean To Be In Christ?

A Christian friend recently told me they felt separated from God because they have strayed from God and had gone back to some of their old ways.   

This "feeling" is the Holy Spirit drawing us back to the right relationship with the Father.  The Bible tells us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins.  

Once we have confessed our sins we exercise the same faith that caused us to believe we are saved as the faith that causes us to believe God has forgiven those sins we committed since we were saved.

Sometimes we "feel" a distance from God even though we may not necessarily be in a backslidden condition.  What causes this "feeling"?  I remember someone in my Sunday School class saying that they "felt" their prayers were bouncing off the ceiling and God was not hearing their prayers.   

This is the enemy of your soul trying to do the opposite of what the Holy Spirit does.  The Holy Spirit draws you to God and the enemy tries to draw you away.  He tries to make you "feel" discouraged, inadequate, and unworthy.  He wants to draw your attention from who you are "In Christ" to attention on yourself or your fleshly feelings.  This is where the enemy knows he can beat up on the Christian.  He knows he has no real power over the Christian except to trick him into the area of his feelings.

The message today is to not let "feelings" govern who you are as a Christian.  The best way to not let "feelings" control you is to know who you are "IN CHRIST".  If you know who you are "IN CHRIST" then will you take a stand and refuse to take the negative thoughts of the enemy.  

Instead speak out loud to the enemy something like, "Devil, in the name of Jesus I refuse to take your thought of discouragement."  Tell him what the WORD says about you, which gives you the authority to speak with the same authority Jesus spoke because he gave us HIS name to use as an authority.  

Say something like Roman 8:1 "Devil, you cannot condemn me because I am in Christ Jesus and HE is in me."  Find your own affirmations from the list of "IN CHRIST" scriptures below and speak them out loud, i.e.,  "I am a new creature in Christ" 2 Corinthians 5:17, etc.

Are you beginning to see that we have the power to accept or refuse the thoughts that come to our minds?  When you are feeling down and discouraged Jesus would rather you think about the things found in Philippians 4:8.  

When tempted to worry read Matthew 6:25-34.  Jesus said to not take the thought.  In other words, HE is saying to refuse to take the thoughts.  When you think of negative thoughts they become the words you speak.  

Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."  This is why the thoughts you dwell on are so important.  If you see yourself as low down and unworthy then that's what you will speak about.  We are what we speak.  This message is as much for me as it is for anyone.  I have to remind myself of my own teaching constantly.

The LORD has been dealing with me about sharing this article from my BLOG www.imwelldone.blogspot.com because it will bring an answer for someone that has been praying and seeking an answer on this subject.  

The message is simple and my words are very elementary so that all should be able to understand.  I would like to hear from you if this message was encouraging to you.  Please send me your comments or questions through the "Contact" form on the sidebar of this BLOG

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"In Christ" Scriptures: 

• Acts 24:24 But after certain days, Felix came with Drusilla, {1} his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 3:24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
• Romans 6:11 Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus
• Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
• Romans 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other {1} creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Romans 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit,
• Romans 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.
• Romans 15:17 I have therefore my glorifying in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.
• Romans 16:3 Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
• Romans 16:7 Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also have been in Christ before me.
• Romans 16:9 Salute Urbanus our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.
• Romans 16:10 Salute Apelles the approved in Christ. Salute them that are of the household of Aristobulus.
• 1 Corinthians 1:2 unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:
• 1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
• 1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
• 1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have glory, but we have dishonor.
• 1 Corinthians 4:15 For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel.
• 1 Corinthians 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.
• 1 Corinthians 15:18 Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
• 1 Corinthians 15:19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.
• 1 Corinthians 15:31 I protest by that glorifying in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
• 1 Corinthians 16:24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
• 2 Corinthians 1:21 Now he that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
• 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place.
• 2 Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as the many, corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.
• 2 Corinthians 3:14 but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.
• 2 Corinthians 5:19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
• 2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven.
• 2 Corinthians 12:19 Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
• Galatians 1:22 And I was still unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:
• Galatians 2:4 and that because of the false brethren privily brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
• Galatians 2:16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
• Galatians 2:17 But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a minister of sin? God forbid.
• Galatians 3:14 that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
• Galatians 3:26 For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus.
• Galatians 3:28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
• Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith
• Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:
• Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:
• Ephesians 1:10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,
• Ephesians 1:12 to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who {1} had before hoped in Christ:
• Ephesians 1:20 which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,
• Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved),
• Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:
• Ephesians 2:7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus:
• Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
• Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.
• Ephesians 3:6 to wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
• Ephesians 3:11 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
• Ephesians 3:21 unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever. Amen.
• Ephesians 4:32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.
• Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
• Philippians 1:13 so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest;
• Philippians 1:26 that your glorying may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again.
• Philippians 2:1 If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
• Philippians 2:5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
• Philippians 3:3 for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:
• Philippians 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith:
• Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the {1} high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 4:21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren that are with me salute you.
• Colossians 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
• Colossians 1:4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints,
• Colossians 1:28 whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ;
• Colossians 2:5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:14 For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews;
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
• 1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.
• 1 Timothy 1:14 and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
• 1 Timothy 3:13 For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
• 2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus,
• 2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,
• 2 Timothy 1:13 Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
• 2 Timothy 2:1 Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
• 2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
• 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
• 2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
• Philemon 1:8 Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting,
• Philemon 1:20 Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my heart in Christ.
• Philemon 1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth thee;
• 1 Peter 3:16 having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ.
• 1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.
• 1 Peter 5:14 Salute one another with a kiss of love. Peace be unto you all that are in Christ.