Church Healedনমুনা

IDENTITY

In my healing journey, I realized that one of the reasons why I experienced so much hurt in the church is because I placed my expectations and worth in pastors and leaders. Unfortunately, humans will let us down. For a long time, I looked for the validation of pastors and leaders when I did not have it I felt rejected and not enough.

The medicine to this painful disease of seeking the validation of leaders was knowing my identity as a child of God. In Matthew 4:1–11, Jesus Himself was tempted by Satan. But I don’t believe the temptation was in the things he offered to Jesus. The temptation was in the first question he asked. The devil asked Him, “If you are the Son of God…” The devil was coming for his identity as a son. As a child of God. Before the enemy can tempt us with anything, he’s always going to come for our identity as children of God. He knows that if he can take that away from your identity, he can take anything else.

Truth is, anything that can be taken away from you was never really yours from the beginning. So titles like wife, pastor, lawyer, doctor, preacher, and teacher can be taken away from you. The only thing that belongs to us is our identity as a child of God. But it is up to us to receive or give that identity away. The devil knew that if Jesus gave His identity as the Son of God to the devil, he would fill His heart with doubt and fear.

A heart full of doubt and fear is paralyzed from doing God’s will. When we don’t understand our identity as a child of God, we become prideful. We think it’s all on us when it’s not. Our faithful Father is a good Father who wants to fulfill every need in our lives and hearts. He wants to take that heavy yoke from our shoulders, and He wants to give us life, joy, and love! But how can He do His job as a Father when we don’t recognize that we are His children? How do we proclaim our identity as a child of God?

It is our choice to be His children and He is ready to give us that right! The only reason we wouldn’t have that right is if we choose not to have it and decide to reject God’s love and identity. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him” (John 1:10).

The enemy takes that away from us and we have to claim it back! “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (v. 11) The enemy makes us blind to our identity as God’s children, and he will use anything and everything to make us not claim our right as children of God!

Make that choice today! Choose to be a child of God! Claim your identity! Simply accept it and recognize that He is your Father and you are His child!

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your redemption, for Your forgiveness, for Your love. Thank You for being a good Father. Thank You for that privilege. I pray that in seasons or moments of doubt, You would help me remember my identity in You! Help me remember that anything can be taken away from me except my right as Your child unless I let the enemy take that right. I pray that You give me the strength, the grace, and the wisdom to always remember and own my right as Your child! I pray that You help me continue to seek You in spirit and in truth. I love You, Lord. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Journal Prompts

• Have I accepted my identity as a Child of God?
• In what ways have I allowed the enemy to deceive me from knowing my true identity as a Child of God?