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Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus

After four years of hiding my faith from my family, I knew that it was time. I wrote with shaky hands, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I refuse to deny him There was no turning back now. I had to get out of that house if I wanted to live. Was this worth risking everything for? Yes.

Rifqa Bary grew up in a devout Muslim home, obediently following her parents orders to practice the rituals of Islam. But God was calling her to freedom and love. He was calling her to true faith. He was calling her to give up everything.

I AM IN CHRIST

"In Him we live, and move, and have our being."
 (Acts 17:28 NKJV)

There are over 140 NT scriptures that declare that all born again believers are now dwelling in Christ.  We are now in Christ. We are now in Christ.  Christianity is not a religion about God, it is a loving, intimate, eternal relationship with God.

The most important thing you need to know is who you are and what you have in Christ. You need to know the reality of your forgiveness in Christ. You need to know the reality of your liberation in Christ.  You need to know the reality of your righteousness in Christ. You are a righteous new creation in Christ.  (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

Being in Christ means we are permanently united to God.  (1 Corinthians 6:17) Being in Christ means we can never be separated from God. (Romans 8:38-39) Think about the process of brewing coffee. When we add in the water we produce the finished product. What is the end result?  The water is in the coffee and the coffee is in the water – they become one property, one single liquid item.  Just like water is in coffee, we are now in Christ. We are now partakers of His life, His nature, His spirit, His righteousness, His Kingdom, His Word, His Glory, His salvation, His mercy, His grace, His love, His peace, and His joy.   (John 15:3-5)
 

RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD

"But we are all like an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags."
(Isaiah 64-6)

God is not impressed with our righteous deeds. He compares the best of them to filthy rags.  So, since He takes no pleasure in our righteousness, He did an awesome thing, He blessed His children with the gift of His righteousness.

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

Calvary was the great exchange:  Jesus became sin with our sin and we became righteous with His righteousness.
(2 Corinthians 5:21)

Fact: Jesus is our righteousness
(1 Corinthians 1:30)

Fact:  God blesses us with His gift of righteousness.  (Romans 5:17)

Fact:Righteousness comes to us by grace.
(Titus 3:7)


CONCLUSION

God has declared us righteous.
Our righteousness gives us right standing with God.

We do not have to earn our righteousness.  We cannot earn our righteousness. No NT person in the Bible ever earned their righteousness.  NT righteousness is a gift that comes to us by God's grace.

"A failure to properly understand and accept the reality of having been declared irrevocably righteous by God has stripped believers of the assurance of their standing with God and has crippled them into thinking they must be on an endless treadmill of works in order to maintain their acceptance.
"Hal Lindsey
The Liberation of Planet Earth p.164