Sinners or Saints?

I am reading a new book entitled "Victory Over the Darkness" by Neil T. Anderson. The book was given to me by my counselor in Alabama. This book has opened my eyes to so many new truths, but it has also shed light on so many lies that I have believed for countless years of my life. Before I begin, let me state that I am not in any way thinking or saying I have this thing figured out or that I finally have it all laid out in a pretty little picture, but I do know that something in my spirit is changing, and I feel as though this revelation that Neil Anderson presents through scripture is aligning my spirit in a more vertical position so that I can more fully hear and recieve who I truly am in Christ. My identity has been so scewed over the years.


In one of my counseling sessions I began to talk to Lisa, the counselor, about some of the things I was struggling with at one point I told her, "I get to this place where I am just crying out; I need you Jesus I NEED YOU!!!!!" She looked at me with a smile on her face and said, "You already have Him." This puzzled me. We then took this a step further and looked into my feelings of anxiety, of not measuring up, needing Jesus, and feeling like I am constantly crying out for Him. To summerize, I discovered something alarming. I was putting on a false sense of humility.



Here me out, and take a look at this diagram...

Thinking less -----------------------------------Thinking more
highly of self/----------- PRIDE-----------------highly of self/
False Sense of -----------------------------------Arrogance
Humility

I started to realize that by continually repeating to myself what a horrible, ugly, and wretched sinner I am and by continually confirming that I am so unholy and unworthy I was putting on this false sense of humility. I realized that I was so turned off by arrogance and thinking highly of one's self that I jumped to the entire other end of the spectrum. The bottom line is both ends of the spectrum are completely focused on SELF, and not on the blood of Christ. The truth is I WAS a horrible, ugly, and wretched sinner. I was also unholy and unworthy, but I was saved and washed with the blood of Christ. Through the cross, the blood, and the resurection I am now made beautiful and holy. I was completely missing this. This whole revelation became even more amplified while reading Neil Anderson's book....

So in Vicotry Over the Darkness I got to a section that talked about the difference between a sinner and a saint. The chapter begins by stating, "Have you noticed that one of the most frequently used words of identity for Christians in the New Testament is "saint"? When I read this statement...I had to say to myself "No! In fact I feel like I am constantly being labeled as a sinner not a saint" I then continued to read on. In the next couple of paragraphs it brings up all the references to sinner in the new testament and all the references to saint. In the New Testament when the word "sinner" is used it is refering to UNBELIEVERS. When the word "saint" is used it is refering to BELIEVERS. The chapter puts it much more elequently than I ever could, but basically after reading this I realized that there is a difference between a saint who still has the capacity to sin and ocassionaly sins, and a sinner who is an unbeliever and therefor spiritually dead. At this point a huge light when on in my head. No wonder I always feel like I am crying out, "I need you Jesus" it is becuase I have been viewing myself as a sinner. Sinner's don't have Jesus...therefor I continually felt as though I didn't have Jesus causing me to cry out for Him. The truth is I WAS a sinner, an undeserving mess of a person, and by the grace of God I have been saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, again not becuase of ANYTHING that I did, and now because I am saved I am a Saint, fully and completed connected to God through Christ. Do I still have the capacity to sin? Yes...have I? Yes, but with this new light on who I am in Christ I have been able to identify the authority I have through Jesus over the enemy. So I have stopped reffering to myself as a sinner, b/c I am now a saint who is becoming like Christ, and I have to say by understanding and examining who I am in Christ the attacks of the enemy have subsided, and my relationship with the Lord has deepened. Therefor I now cry out, "Thank you God for Jesus, thank you for the mercy that you have so freely given me and the freedom and authority I have through the cross over the enemy." I am going to close with my favorite paragraph from the book.

"As believers, we are not trying to become saints; we are saints who are becoming like Christ. In no way does this deny the continuous struggle with sin, but it does give the believer some hope for the future. Many Christians are dominated by the flesh and deceived by the devil. However, telling Christians they are sinners and then disciplining them if they don't act like saints seems counterproductive at best and inconsistent with the Bible at worst."