Last Sunday, Pastor Gaby Salloum preached the second message in the series “Breaking Free” – “Identifying with Christ”.

Jesus wants to call us just like He called blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52): “Cheer up! Go …”
When we are in chains we can cry out to Jesus just as Bartimaeus did. Jesus is authorized to set us free. If we don’t identify with Christ but with our problems, we are being identified by others as such, too, e.g. “blind Bartimaeus”, “doubting Thomas”, “I am a diabetic”. People can become used to, comfortable with or attached to their problems, just like the Israelites were attached to their life in Egypt, although in bondage.

Bartimaeus was different. He threw his clothes (symbolizing his old life) away immediately after he had been called by Jesus.

We need to identify with Jesus, not with our problems (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). The enemy loves to attack your identity (see Luke 4:9 “if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…”). The enemy is after our authority (Genesis 1:26). If he succeeds, he’ll manipulate and displace you.

Jesus knew His identity because He called God “Father”, and for that reason, He obeyed His Father. As a believer, you didn’t only die with Christ, you rose with Him (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:4-7). God wants us to live as sons, not as slaves. A slave has no inheritance and no permanent place in the family (Jn. 8:35).

It is the greatest revelation to know who we are in Christ. If we don’t know, we live below our destined level. You need to be led by the Holy Spirit to live as a son (Romans 8:14-21, 1 Peter 2:24). As sons, we have been given authority (Matthew 10:8; Ephesians 1:21; Luke 10:19). Do we walk in that authority?