The issue of identity is something that many people struggle with.  Countless individuals wonder who they really are, or why they even exist.  As Christians, it is important that we realize that our identity comes from God, the Creator of all things.  Revelation 4:11 lets us know that all things were created by God and that all things exist for His pleasure, so we exist because it pleased God for it to be so.  It also pleased God to not only bring us into existence, but to give us identity by adopting us into the family of God.  Romans 8:15 and 16 say, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (KJV).  Even as children who are adopted into a family take on that family’s name, so we who are adopted into the family of God take on our Father’s name.  We are now called the children of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

            Now, our adversary, satan, is a liar who perverts the truth of God (John 8:44).  One key area where he attacks believers is in our sense of identity, sometimes tempting us to become puffed up with pride so that we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, and sometimes conveying lies of condemnation to make us think much lower of ourselves than we ought to.  One way he makes us think lower of ourselves is by pointing out our mistakes to us; mistakes we made both before and after being saved; wrong actions and choices we made long ago, and errors and misjudgments we have made recently.  He points to these mistakes to make us feel like we are less than what God has called us, oftentimes mixing a bit of truth or Scripture into his lies to accomplish his ends (Genesis 3:1-5; Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:9-11).

            When the devil tempted Jesus Christ in the wilderness, he did not say to Jesus, “Since you are the Son of God, do such and such.”  He said to Jesus, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” and “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down [from the pinnacle of the temple]” (Matthew 4:3, 6, KJV).  As a part of his tempting Jesus, the enemy tried to attack Him in His identity as the Son of God.  Nowadays, the enemy attacks us in our identity as the children of God, saying things like, “If you were a real child of God, you wouldn’t have made that terrible mistake.  A good Christian would have been led by the Spirit, like the Bible says, and would’ve avoided making that error.”

            Now, as we gain knowledge of and experience with God as believers, we come to realize that God does not make mistakes.  So after a certain point in our walk with God, the enemy may not try to get us to think that God made a mistake when He created and saved us.  Instead, he will try to make us think that although God has never made any mistakes concerning us, since we have made many mistakes concerning Him and other people, we are now permanently MISTAKEN.  The enemy desires that we take “MISTAKEN” on as an identity, not only to make us feel disappointed in or ashamed of ourselves, but to make us fearful in seeking God and in our endeavors to advance His Kingdom.  When we feel MISTAKEN, we feel too unworthy to delve into the things of God, afraid that even in all our attempts to do right, we will still fail to please the Lord.  We feel that we might make too many more mistakes, and therefore hinder the plan of God, ruining our own lives and the lives of others.     Continue>>>

           
Being Led by the spirit     Ye Know Neither the Day nor the      Renewing the mind
Essential Doctrines      Kingdom of God