My God-given identity

We are all well acquainted with the story of Gideon. We find him here, hiding away from the Midianites, threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress so that they will not find him and steal the crop from him. Imagine his surprise when the Angel of the Lord (whom many ancient interpretations identify as the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ) addressed him as “mighty warrior” when he was acting in totally the opposite manner!

This is such a good illustration of the way God gives us our identity. He does not see us as we are in the present, but as He purposed us to be. He bases His identity of us not on our past, but on our future, on that which we are to become. Gideon did indeed became a mighty warrior.

There are more examples of this. Think about Abram, whose wife Sarai could not conceive, and yet God named him Abraham which means father of the multitudes. This only started to come into fulfilment twenty-five years later when Isaac was born. Joseph means to increase, and yet he had to face rejection from his family, false accusations and years in prison before living in the increase God had planned for Him all along. Peter means the rock, and before Jesus’ resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit, Simon (whom Jesus renamed Peter) was a passionate believer but not a very stable man. Yet he became the strong anchor and rock for the fledgling church, just as Jesus called him to be by changing his name years before.

Unlike God, we form our identity based on who other people say we are, and upon our life experiences up to now. This process starts at a very young age, and our enemy skilfully uses these adverse experiences to keep us from walking in our true God-given identity. Why? Because if we did, we would be the greatest threat to the kingdom of darkness, basically unstoppable!

Start proclaiming your identity in Christ today. Believe that you have a new identity and act as if it were so – it is not enough to just say it – fix your mind and focus on this new person you already have become. Keep exchanging your old habits/traits/beliefs for the new ones God has given you, even if it takes a few years for you to see them fully developing!

Pearls to ponder:

Read your Bible and start writing down what God says about you. Meditate on these truths and start proclaiming them over your life. Here are a few examples:  I am faithful. I am God’s child, adopted into His family. I have been established, sealed and anointed by God. I am holy and blameless. I am forgiven. I am raised up with Christ. I have peace. I have access to the Father. I am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. I have been justified. I belong to God.