I was not a fraud. The machine must have missed something. This was my card. The tension grew as I tried it again. The same process and prompts arose. I did everything again faithfully as asked and entered the PIN that was sent to my phone to validate it was me trying to make the request to withdraw funds. The second attempt failed. Well, you know the ol’ sayin’, “The third time’s a charm.” I tried again to activate my new card that had my long last name displayed on the front of the card. The same message displayed a third time. “The account use has been restricted due to suspicious activity.”
I am not sure what all that was about, but I was not engaging in suspicious activity. I called the bank and tried to keep my cool as my frustration grew. I am sure my voice was elevated slightly as I explained the situation. I gave them a few more personal details as they asked me for more targeted information. Questions like “When was your last transaction?” and “What was the dollar amount of your most recent deposit?” I answered them precisely and confirmed my identity. Who knew it would be so hard to prove it was me trying to get access to my own account? I understand the bank must put many safety measures in place these days due to the alarming rate of fraudulent activities that happen as data breaches hit record highs. Did you know that the Federal Trade Commission sees over 1 million cases of identity theft annually, and stolen identities have risen over 85 percent in the past 10 years. Some reports show there is a stolen identity victim approximately every 4.9 seconds within the United States.
We must work to protect our identity! A day is coming when we will prove our true identity to God the Father, when we meet Him face to face. The day is coming for all of us. No one is exempt. The enemy wants nothing more than to declare you as a fraud. Can you prove your identity is in Christ?
Can you confidently declare Galatians 2:20? It says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (ESV).
Are you living by faith in the Son of God who loves you and gave Himself for you? Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is honest enough with themselves to understand they have yet to fully surrender to Christ and be crucified with Christ, where they die to their old self and sinful way of living to accept Christ and allow Him full authority in their lives.
I know it was not an accident that I read Matthew 7:21-23 in the Message version as I contemplated being accused of being a fraud and a phony by my bank—a counterfeit Melissa. Read Matthew 7:21-23 out loud for yourself!
“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our super-spiritual projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here’” (Matthew 7:21-23, MSG).
You can know the correct password and all the right things to say. You can do godly things and know who is King, but are you walking in the required serious obedience to God the Father? Do you personally know the Master? Is Jesus Lord over every detail of your life? Are you doing what the Father says and what He wills? It’s more than knowing the correct password or plugging in the right answers. It’s about knowing the Master Himself and following Him in serious obedience.
Fraud is on the rise. Guard your identity and sound the alarm! Teach others what a life of truly knowing the Master looks like! Lead them directly to King Jesus so that their identity may be found in Christ alone!
How can you make Monumental Moments and live to multiply His movement today?
