PROPHETIC WORDS

THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING YOUR TRUE IDENTITY

by Lyn Packer

August 2023.

Over the past couple of years the Lord has been speaking to me about calling people back to knowing their identity.

We are in a Kairos moment in time – a critical and opportune moment where a huge part of what God is doing is restoring the church to the place where they know their true identity. If we are to walk in the fullness of who we are as sons and daughters of God, and bring others into that fullness also (including those in the world around us), we must know who we are.

Many of us are currently seeking God for our next season, our next step. But I believe that  God is not showing some of us our next step because it’s essential for this next season that we know this vital truth, “You FIRST need to know who I AM, and who you are; then you'll easily know what to do...  because .... identity determines action.”

There is a lot of confusion around the area of identity, both outside the church and inside it. I won’t speak into the confusion in the world here; that is not the purpose of this prophetic word. What I believe the Lord wants to speak into is the lack of knowledge and understanding that has led to confusion within the church in this area.

Two of the most important things in life for us to know as humans are…

• WHO IS GOD – what is He like, what is His nature and character?

• WHO AM I? 

Why is this important? Because identity determines action! That means, as Christians, these two things will form the basis of your every thought and action, in both conscious and unconscious ways.

The understanding of our identity is found in mankind’s origin. To understand who we are, to find our true core identity and our sense of worth and value, we must look at who God is. Genesis 1 tells us that God created mankind in His own image and likeness. To create mankind, God took aspects of Himself and put them into mankind’s fundamental make-up. When He created mankind, God reproduced after His kind, after Himself. Your true identity and nature, as well as your worth or value, is a reproduction of God’s identity, nature and value.   

Thankfully the Bible tells us in many places about God’s nature and character. I John tells us that God’s essential essence, His being through and through, is Love. We see an understanding of that nature and how it plays out in 1 Cor 13, where it tells us what love is like, and Gal 5, where it lists the fruits of the Spirit. The Bible also tells us in other places that God is good, kind, merciful, patient, creative, just, faithful, encouraging, and more. (Psa 25:8-9; Tit 3:4-7; Psa 103:8; Gen 1:27; Deut 32:4; Lam 3:22-23; Psa 138:3)

That means, as humans we were created with those attributes, too. What this means for you is – your intrinsic value and true identity come from your being created in the image and likeness of God.

The knowledge of true identity was stolen from mankind in the garden, when the serpent came and began to whisper words designed to deceive Adam and Eve into believing that they were not really made in the image of God. Mankind has lived with a distorted view of their identity since that time. The enemy’s goal is to destroy the likeness of God in you. He cannot destroy God, so he tries to destroy the image and likeness of God that is found in you. He wants to destroy the goodness of God, the love of God, and the power of God found in you. He wants you to feel like you are a failure, broken, and shameful. He wants to make you feel that you don’t fit, that you aren’t enough – aren’t talented enough, morally good enough, smart enough, able-bodied enough etc. He wants you to feel like God’s love and acceptance of you is performance-based, that you must prove yourself worthy of His love, favour, provision, etc. He also wants you to feel that your being acceptable to other people is dependent on you being someone who fits their image of a likeable person.

Is the image you have of yourself the same image God has of you? If not, you have a distorted image of yourself, a mistaken or false identity. That’s why our minds need to be renewed (Rom 12:2). As Christians we cannot know God in any deep way if we try to relate to Him from a false identity. And we cannot function fully as He intends for us to function in life if we live from a false identity. I can’t, and neither can you! 

Satan's desire is that you live your life making wrong assumptions and guesses about who you are, who God is, and what God's purpose is for your life. That’s not a great way to live.  We might survive, but not thrive!

To destroy the false identities that we live under, we must know our true identity – our true self, the ‘us’ that is made in the image and likeness of God and “hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3) where our true self is kept whole, safe, secure, and ready for us to walk in. Through Christ we have been reconciled to God, made part of his family – an even closer relationship than Adam and Eve walked in. And we are called to walk in even greater glory than they did. John 17:22 says that Christ gave us the same glory that He has – and all of Heaven and the spiritual realms recognise that. And the demonic just hope that we don’t catch on, believe who we really are, and walk in our true identity.

This true self, the image of God in us, becomes our touchstone, the standard by which we judge and assess everything relating to our life. Does this line up with who God says I am? Does this help me grow into a mature son or daughter of God, a mature ambassador of Christ? Does it help me display the glory of God through my life?

Now is the time to emerge from our places of hiddenness or hurt, from our places of false identity that have kept us imprisoned. It’s time to step out and be someone who changes society – to be an apostolic son or daughter who follows in the footsteps of those through the ages who have known God and done exploits (Dan 11:32). Age is not the determiner; ability is not (we can grow in ability). Being fearless is not a pre-requisite for God working through us; many of God’s people have been fearful, yet stepped out courageously and in obedience to His call.

Now is the time to allow the rich treasure and beauty that Christ has placed within you to shine.

God explains the process of change from false identity to living from true identity in Rom 12:2 “Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in His eyes” TPT.

Reformation of our thinking is a process – one where God shows us where we are thinking in a way that is not worthy of our true nature and challenges us to examine why we think that way. Then He and us work together to destroy the strongholds of lies those beliefs have built around our lives, replacing them with truth, and the truth sets us free to live from our true nature.

In this season, like never before, God is calling us to embrace the process, face the pains and hurts, expose the lies, and be set free from them. Don’t retreat into being a victim, one who lays the sole blame on others for their situation, or looks to another to be the sole source of their freedom. God doesn’t want that; He wants to partner with you, not control you. He wants to bring you into maturity, not have you stay as a child. And He wants this not only for your personal benefit, but so that you can become an ambassador that brings others into the knowledge of their true identity.

PROCESSING AND PRAYER POINTS

Prayer is not just us coming to God with a list of requests. As part of our relationship with Him, it is us having a conversation with the Lord, which involves talking and listening on both sides. The following prayer points are some things you can talk to Him about in regards to this prophetic word.

• Ask God to show you where you have false beliefs about who you are, to expose any lies you’ve lived under, and ask Him to set you free from false ideas you may have, and lingering doubts, as to your identity.

• Pray that the church would come into the full knowledge of their identity and walk in it – the world is longing for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:19-22)

• Pray that as the church gets set free, we would also become shining examples (Matt 5:14-16; Eph 5:7-14) and agents of freedom in the lives of those we meet in the world around us.

BIO