Identity - Who Are You?Sample

## System Corrupted The lies were presented to Eve. She gave in and ate the forbidden fruit and immediately put the death of everything in motion. I like to think of it as a computer program running and functioning well, but somehow a virus finds its way to the computer and presents itself as a solution to fix a non-existent problem. Without careful consideration of the authenticity of the presenter, one accepts the solution and downloads a virus and corrupts the whole system. It causes the computer to slow down; it destroys crucial information that sometimes can never be retrieved; and the purpose is to steal and destroy the hard-drive. Well, this took place with Adam and Eve their thoughts become corrupted, their souls became conflicted, and spiritual death and separation from God entered, ultimately leading to physical death. They gave up their identity, and now they saw themselves naked, ashamed. They were introduced to fear. But even in this state, we see the grace of God still being provided to them. God loved them, and I know it must have wrenched His heart to see the separation that would now come between Him and His beloved children. In His marvelous grace and mercy God did what He had to do to protect them, and now a life had to be taken to clothe and cover them. They had to leave the garden because the tree of life would now pose another threat to them. Had they eaten of the tree of life in their sin condition, they would have remained separated from God forever. And God's love could not bear to be separate from them forever. When God addressed them on why they disobeyed, the blame game started, and Adam blamed God for the woman he was given, Eve blamed the serpent, and no one would take responsibility for their actions. Only when we come to the place of taking responsibility for our actions would we be on a path to restoring our identity. I lived many years playing the part of the victim because my dad left when I was a baby. I was abused and rejected and I blamed the world, leaders, teachers and anyone I thought I could pass the blame to. Because of the blame game, I lost many years of my life trying to be someone else. I hated myself — the self I thought was worthless. But there was a day in my life I found the Savior, and He led me to accept the past, let the mistakes go and embrace who I am in Him. Today as you sit at your Father's feet, ask Him for the strength to let go of the victim mentality, the blame game and to take responsibility for the bad decisions and poor choices. Release it today because the God who created you is waiting to restore you to your true identity. "The major strategy of Satan is to distort the character of God and the truth of who we are. He can't change God, and he can't do anything to change our identity and position in Christ. If, however, he can get us to believe a lie, we will live as though our identity in Christ isn't true." \- Neil T. Anderson