The Importance & Power of Knowing Your God-Given Identity
Do you know your God-given identity? No, I mean do you truly know? If you had asked me this question back in college or even at the start of my Master’s program, I knew exactly who I was…so I thought. If I had described myself to you, I would have described myself as a Type-A perfectionist and a first-class worrier. I prided myself for needing to have everything absolutely perfect, and when it wasn’t, I worried the heck out of it. And the best part about it, I attributed me knowing all of this about myself as being "self-aware."
Shortly after enrolling in my Master’s program I entered into a season of prayer and fasting, asking the Lord to reveal to me my purpose when He quickly busted my "self-aware" bubble. He said, “How do you expect to know your purpose if you don’t even understand who you are?” I retorted, “I do know who I am! I know that I’m your child.” And He quickly replied, “Well, why don’t you act like it? I don’t call my children to be anxious, perfectionists. I’ve called them to accept my Sacrifice and my peace.” Yeah, did that response smack you in the face too?
That conversation with God led me to further question my identity. I quickly learned that I, in fact, didn’t know who I was. I didn’t the know the truth of who I was as God’s daughter. In fact, I was experiencing identity theft because I was choosing to believe the lies of the Enemy. You see, He comes to still, kill, and destroy our identity too. I believe that destroying our identity is actually his starting point. He plants lies in our head about our identity that are contrary to the Word of God.
“You’re not good enough.”
"You’re not qualified. You’ll never be accepted.”
“You can’t change. That’s just how you are.”
What lies are you allowing to steal away your God-given identity? That is why it’s so important to know your God-given identity. It not only affects what you believe about yourself but it also influences the way you live your life. Let’s talk about the power of knowing your God-given identity.
Knowing your God-given identity gives you confidence, self-esteem, and awareness.
Knowing who you are and Whose you are changes everything. If you knew that you were fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), that would change the way you view yourself. If you knew that your body was a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19), maybe that would influence how you treat it. What if you were aware that you were royalty (1 Peter 2:9)? Would you then start boldly reigning with God as His daughter? What would happen and what would you do if knew that your identity was based on how God views you?
Knowing your God-given identity gives you validation and increases your faith.
When you know that God validates you, you’re no longer worried about your performance. You know that you’re already equipped to do what God is calling you to do (2 Corinthians 5:20), and you have faith that He will do the work through you. Gone are the days what other people think, or even what you think about yourself. Your faith and hope are no longer based on yourself or others, but God.
Knowing your God-given identity puts you in a better position to understand your purpose.
Until you know who and whose you are, you're going to have a hard time fully understanding why He created you: you're going to have a hard time understanding your purpose. Your identity and your purpose go hand in hand. Your identity is comprised of your gifts, talents, education, passions, upbringing, and so much more. All of these factors serve as supporting roles and tools in your purpose. Knowing your God-given identity helps you better understand how they all fit together and what role they will play in your purpose and assignment.
So, what mindset shift do you need to have in order to know and understand your God-given identity? In Life Designer Academy, I go into further detail on how you can specifically understand your identity by looking at the threads of your life. There are video trainings on Understanding Your God-Given Identity and Uncovering Your Purpose with supportive exercises and homework to guide you along the way, as well as other video trainings and resources created to help you design a purpose-driven life. Click the button below to learn more and enroll in Life Designer Academy today.
