IDENTITY. . .WHO ARE YOU?

IDENTITY . . . WHO ARE YOU?

I once heard a child's folktale which narrated the story of a bald eagle's egg which was lost. It happened to roll over to the same place where a hen was trying to hatch her own eggs, so instinctively the hen took the egg under her wings and sat on it in an attempt to hatch it alongside the ones that were hers.

As time took its course, the eggs hatched all at the same time, the chicks altogether became a brood behind the mother hen, but as they all grew older, the now grown bald eagle found out that it was far bigger than his supposed siblings and as opposed to his siblings who were always not able to make good enough sustained flights at high altitudes, he was able to almost effortlessly. This sequence of realizations got the eagle thinking and eventually questioning its identity.

An identity is the difference or character that marks off an individual from the rest of the same kind, It could also be referred to as selfhood, a name or persona (the mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known).

Without mincing words, whenever any individual doesn't know his identity, he begins to travel the road to severe deprivation. Imagine the son of a king who was taken away at birth and was made to live with/amongst commoners not knowing that He is the heir apparent to the throne. Such child would suffer various levels of pain and hardship all until the day when it all is revealed and he ascends the throne of his father. By ascending this throne, all that seemed impossible and difficult become possible and easy.

JESUS fasted forty days and nights and afterward he was hungry (Matt. 4). The devil saw this and thought to himself to quickly capitalize and tempt Him. So he made a statement in Matt. 4:3 saying "If you are the son of GOD, turn these stones into bread". This statement was in itself a temptation. As if the devil meant to say "Are you even sure that you are the son of GOD, if you are oya turn these stones to bread so I can be sure", as if he ever doubted that JESUS is the son of GOD. Truth is many of us Christians today would immediately turn the stones into bread just to show that we have the power to do so, forgetting from whom the instruction came - the devil. Remember, we are not subject to the devil but unto GOD. HALLELUYAH.

If it were at all any doubt at any time in the heart of any one about the identity of JESUS being the son of GOD, Matthew 8:29; Luke 4:41; Mark 3:11 all tell us how even demons acknowledge Him as such and tremble. The Lord JESUS quizzed His disciples asking them of what way men used in referring to Him, they gave many answers but Peter in verse 16 of Matthew 16 was inspired by GOD to give the correct and accurate description of whom JESUS is - the Son of GOD.

Now, who am I really? What has the Lord JESUS called me or better still, how did I get to be so privileged to enjoy this exalted position? Simply put, we were aliens to the benefits that GOD had to offer from the time of the fall of man, since then we carried about an identity of death, people who had no life to offer, but for our sakes the Lord JESUS went all the way to Calvary, offered His precious blood as a perfect sacrifice for the remission of all our sins, wiping our old slates clean and freeing us from the old identity of sinful men, slaves of unrighteousness, making us well able to share in His glorious kingdom. (Rom. 6:6)

Romans  8:14-17 - "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 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: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

Herein lies who we truly really are as Christians, we are jointheirs with Christ in God. So it simply means that even as the Lord JESUS was faced with the temptation of jumping off the pinnacle as directed by the devil since it was written that angels would be placed in His charge so that He won't dash His foot against a stone (Psalm 91:11), but refused sternly we should also refuse the tests of the enemy, knowing who we have been called to be. (John. 1:12, Eph. 1:5, 1Cor. 6:17, Gal. 3:27, 1John.3:1-2).


1 Corinthians  6:19-20 - "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." My identity as a child of GOD is that I have become a temple of the Holy Spirit and I now have only one assignment left to do with my body, which is to honour the Lord with my body.

I saw a movie recently of how a woman who was a crook stole the identity of another man, an operation which was made possible simply because the man had a feminine name. As she was able to do this, she forged identity cards that suggested she was the bearer of the name, forged debit cards to enable her make withdrawals from this man's account and eventually ended up committing crimes such that the police went to arrest this man assuming that he was the culprit of the crimes. He had to go out on his own to find out who this woman was and drag her to face the penalty for the crimes she had committed.

Acts  19:13-16 - "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?  And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."

The scripture above (Acts. 19:13-16) gives a very funny but equally instructive lesson on the topic of identity. These guys were sons of the chief priest, Sceva. So they thought to themselves, seeing that we are sons of a priest, our father is one closer to the altar of worship, so if demons should respond to Paul and the other disciples it should normally respond to us too. So they went about the assignment of trying to cast out demins in a name that they were not even familiar with, a name which they didn't bear Its identity, such that they had to refer to that name as if one were referencing a prior author in an academic jounal. They first needed to have their identities changed from being merely sons of the high priest to being jointheirs with Christ and so as a result, they had no power, no authority, no identity and the evil spirit pounced upon them and gave them the beating of their lives.

You need to know exactly who you are, if for nothing but for the fact that that which is yours to enjoy both here on earth and in heaven above won't be deprived you. The agents of darkness would keep trying to create a picture of what you are not to you just so that you can forfeit your endless benefits in CHRIST and be subject to them but that would only happen if you really are not sure of what you have been freely called to be.

So who are you exactly? Are you one who decides to claim to be a son of righteousness but is everything but? Are you one who says the Lord JESUS has redeemed you but you still are a slave to unrighteousness? Are you one who has been called a jointheir with Christ in GOD but still operate as if he were not worth anything? Are you one who has been given power over every power of the enemy but still cannot sleep in the dark because of the fear of the unknown? Are you one who has been called to shine light in this world but even a single spark cannot be found in you yet? Are you the salt of the earth but you are not preserving the life of GOD here on earth neither are you making the earth any sweeter?


Find out who you are today in CHRIST JESUS and make it a point of duty to henceforth walk in that which GOD has called you.

GOD BLESS YOU.