By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

As a believer, it is important that you are persuaded about your identity as stated in the scriptures. 1 John 3:1 (KJV) calls you a child of God. Don’t allow people who don’t know your God define you. If you do, they will take away the privilege of being yourself. When you allow someone who doesn’t know you determine your identity, you take on the identity they give you. This can bring disaster to your life.

Some Christians are living without their privileges as children of God. This is because they are not sure of who they really are in Christ. The phrase “children of God” is said so often that it has truly lost its meaning. It is easy to say we are children of God in a casual way, especially around other believers. But the real question is do we really believe this? How do we really see ourselves especially when we are alone with our own thoughts? The devil is very tricky. He tries to accuse the brethren by reminding them of their sins and insinuating that they are still sinners. The scripture says that we have overcome the devil already.

Rev 12:10-11 “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

The verse below describes our true privilege as sons/daughters of God.

Gal 4:6-7 “And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”

Our natural identity or the way we identify ourselves does not change because of our actions. It remains the same. For instance, our gender or the family we are born into doesn’t change. Suppose your natural identity changes every day depending on your actions, how can you live your life? In the same vein, our spiritual identity doesn’t change. This does not mean we can live and act in any way we want but it simply demonstrates that our identity is based on our birth, not on our actions. Again, having a particular identity does not give you the license to live a sinful life. Remember, we are sons of God by birth. We have a spirit identity by birth.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”

If you are confused about your identity, you will not have the faith or confidence to reach for all the blessings God has for his children. You also won’t have the courage to defend what you have already when the thief comes to steal from you. A confused identity will also make you afraid to relate with God as your father and enjoy all the inheritance you have in the family. This is because you have no grounded knowledge of your new identity.

Hos 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

A Christian that doesn’t know his true identity will let sin rule all over him. Some disguise this by saying “this or that is my weakness” This is a lie from the pit of hell. Any Christian that thinks like this doesn’t know his/her true self. Every Christian must know that his/her new self has no weakness. We have the life of Christ. The Lord is now the strength of our life.

 Rom 6: 10-14 “When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.”

This is how those who have received and know their true identity view themselves.

2 Cor 5:16-7 “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

When you know your true identity, you no longer live for yourself like before. You become controlled by the new life. You now have the new nature of the love of God because God is love.

Cor 5:14-15 “Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”

We must be mindful because not everybody knows your true spirit identity. Don’t be surprised that some people in this category might even be Christians. This is because unlike you, they still have a natural point of view. They are blind to spiritual realities.

1 John 3:1 “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.”

1 John 4:5-6 “Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.”

Allow the word of God to define you. We can only find our true selves in the word. The word of God calls us sons of God. We have an identity that is different from the natural. We are born spirit beings. This is our real identity! This is how we relate with God and this is how God sees us. So, see yourself as God sees you and act like who you are.

John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor of Fountain Of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.