Identity

Why is identity so crucial in our walk with God? Do you realize that the earliest attack of the enemy was based on identity? In Genesis 3, when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, he attacked their identity by getting them to question what God said to them. The enemy told them that they would be like God if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil when they were already made in the image of God.

The attack on their identity is also confirmed when God asks Adam, “Where are you?” after they ate from the Tree of Knowledge. God is omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (present everywhere), so why would he ask where Adam was? Perhaps it wasn’t about Adam’s physical location but rather his identity. Adam no longer walked in the confidence of the original design that God created him with due to a loss of identity.

We continue to see this attack on identity when Adam responds that he hid himself because he was naked and afraid, to which God replies, “Who told you that you were naked?” A loss of identity will have us operating from a place of fear or insecurity and cause us to hide from God.

We also see this same attack from the enemy after Jesus is baptized. When Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the enemy in Matthew 4, the enemy begins to tempt Jesus by attempting to get Jesus to question His identity. The enemy starts a series of questions with “If you are the son of God…” when in Matthew 3, the Spirit of God had previously said, “This IS my beloved son” after Jesus was Baptized.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit and secure in His identity as the Son of God, provides us with the example we need to follow to trust our identity in Christ. He rebukes the enemy through the word of God and shows that He trusts what the Heavenly Father has spoken over Him. As believers, we must know what our Heavenly Father has said about us in His word and remember that His word is true.

Our identity is only found in the one who created us...God the Father. No matter what lies the enemy tries to spew at us, we must never forget that we are made in the image and likeness of God. And because we are made in His image and likeness, we can be secure in who He has made us to be. Declare over yourself today that your identity is secured in the one who made you!