True Identity

In the passages of Matthew 4:1-7 we see how Satan tempted Jesus. The first attack was against his identity – “if you are the Son of God.”

Jesus identity is the foundation of everything he was to do. His identity was crucial to everything that was to follow. Satan knows that an attack on our identity could have a devastating effect to everything else in our lives if we succumb to that attack. And so the devil did not give up on the first try. He went in for a second attack at Jesus’ identity, “if you are the Son of God…”

The way to stand firm against these attacks of the enemy is to know who we truly are in Jesus. We have to know our identity so that when these attacks from Satan come, and they will come, we can rebuke them immediately before they have any chance of taking root within us.

If we continue to read on through to verse 9 we see that when the attacks on Jesus’ identity failed, Satan’s attempt was to get Jesus to worship himself instead of God.

Satan will war against your identity more than anything else, because he knows everything you do comes out of who you are. A Christian who knows their true identity and walks in that identity is powerful. If the enemy can get you to question your identity, or produce confusion he can distract you away from your purpose and calling.

When these attacks against your identity do not prove fruitful for the enemy he will attempt to get you to worship something other than God. We must be on guard for this. These temptations will not come in an obvious way. They may even present themselves in ways that look as though they are from God.

If the enemy can keep you distracted enough by worshipping something other than God, he can use this to prevent you from fulfilling your calling and purpose too. The enemy uses the same tactics over again. When you walk with God daily, you have conversations with him, you know his voice, you know his character. These tactics from the enemy will be obvious to you. Make no mistake though, the enemy is aware and will try in more subtle ways to distract you away from your purpose.

The enemy has been in the presence of God and unlike us, whom have chance at restoring our relationship with God and being in his presence for eternity, the enemy lost that forever. He knows he can never get that back again. His fight is to prevent us from being able to walk in all the power and strength that we have in Jesus. The enemy knows what power there is in walking with God. What protection, grace and mercy we have. He knows that we have the ability to come to God directly, to communicate with him, to hear his voice, to follow our purpose for our lives. The enemy knows it, it’s about time we all really walked in our identity and authority we have been given.

The question now is how do we come to know our identity in Jesus. We do this through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals this to us through the Word of God. We have to renew our minds to who we are by the Word of God. We cannot focus on whether we feel it, or understand it. We must accept it by faith and believe it.

Let me encourage you to read all the study scriptures linked on the right which is by no means an exhaustive list but is somewhere to start in getting to know who you are in Christ. These things do not change, they are who you are. Meditate on them, accept them into your heart. When the enemy strikes I pray you will know who you are in Jesus and be able to rebuke any attack or negative thought that may come against your identity in Him.