This post may contain affiliate links from Amazon.com or other companies mentioned, which means that if you purchase through them, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful. I appreciate your support
There I stood during worship in our weekly Sunday service. My focus was solely on my beloved Jesus. I yearned to know Him more and more. Then suddenly, I heard someone in the congregation say, “Daddy God!” Contained in that short expression was so much love for God the Father. A love that I realized I couldn’t relate to.
As I thought about it, I the few times that I had called God “daddy” it had felt forced. It wasn’t with an understanding of who He was as a father to me. I loved Jesus, my Lord, and Saviour, with all my heart… but I didn’t know Daddy God. That “more” that I had been asking for, was a longing for a relationship with another part of the Godhead; God my Father.
As I stood there, a verse popped into my head. “… No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). I thought, you know, nobody knows the Father better than Jesus. What if I asked Him to show me the way to a relationship with His Father… my Father?
And that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t know it, but that was the first step to discovering my true identity. A father shapes the identity of a child. We find our true identity in our Father, the one who created us in His image and in His likeness (Gen 1:27). The One who created us out of love; the One who created us with a purpose.
Along the way, I got a better understanding of who God the Father is and the depths of His love for me. He showed me who I was truly created to be and revealed much of His plans for me. Knowing that His love for me is unconditional helped me to step out into my purpose even though I didn’t (and still don’t) have it all together.
You too can find your true identity and purpose in God. Here are the four steps I took along the way.
FIND TRUE IDENTITY WHEN YOU STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER
So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27 ESV
Finding one’s identity involves having an intimate relationship with God, the Father. Knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior is only the first step; Jesus is only one part of the Godhead. To find your true identity, you must understand God’s role in your life as a Father and understand that His love for you is unconditional. It’s this unconditional love that allows you to walk in your purpose without fear of failure.
You can’t fulfill your purpose unless you understand who you really are. There is an intricate bond between your purpose and your identity. Your true identity lies in the One who created you; who formed and fashioned you in your mother’s womb. Your unique identity births your unique purpose.
I can’t say for sure but I strongly suspect that the process of living victoriously in your true identity looks like this: after we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we then find our identity in God the Father and His perfect love. Then and only then, can we walk in the FULL power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill all that we were created to be.
If you don’t yet have a relationship with God the Father, why don’t you do like I did? Ask Jesus to show you the way to Him. It will be the beginning of a mind-blowing experience. I promise.
FIND YOUR IDENTITY WHEN YOU ACCEPT THE FATHER’S PERFECT LOVE
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
We talk about God’s love all the time. John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much that He gave us His only unique son. But deep down, I don’t think we realize that He loves us even with all our flaws. Most times, that understanding gets stuck in our heads and never really makes it to our hearts. We say it with our mouths but still find ourselves fearful that we will do something wrong to displease God.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 ESV
In his book, Hebrew Word Study: Revealing the Heart of God, biblical scholar Chaim Bentorah studies the word used for love in the verse John 3:16. As a Christian, you might be familiar with the Greek word “agape”, but Chaim explains that in the Aramaic version of the Bible (Peshitta), the word used is “chav”. It is the root for the Hebrew version “ahava”. The mean of “chav” as defined in the book is, “a love that’s not necessarily returned.” It is an open-ended love. An unconditional love.
God loves us with an open-ended love. His love for us does not ebb or flow based on whether we return that love to Him. When God gave His love to the world, He knew full well that we might never return it. He freely gives His love to us. There is nothing you nor I can do to change that.
We can’t ever mess up bad enough for Him to stop loving us. We can’t ever do enough for Him to make Him love us more. We can’t do anything to change the way God feels about us. His love for us does not change.
Jesus already paid for all the wrong things we could ever do. That doesn’t give us a license to sin deliberately but when we do mess up we know that we can acknowledge our sin, receive the forgiveness that has already been given, and try again. We know that it doesn’t change the way God feels about us.
God already knows your identity, including all of your flaws. When you accept His perfect love, you are free to walk in your identity and purpose even if there are some things that need fixing.
WHAT IS YOUR IDENTITY? SEEING YOURSELF AS THE FATHER DOES
And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.
Numbers 13:33 ESV
The problem with the first generation of Israelites as they approached the promised land was that they couldn’t see in themselves what God was seeing. They saw themselves as grasshoppers while God saw them as conquerors.
They had already fought the Amalekites in the desert and won. They could do it again. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who saw themselves and the Israelites as God was seeing them… as conquerors already set up to win. All they had to do was be willing to go.
To fulfill your purpose and live the life God has created for you, you MUST see yourself as He does.
After you’ve accepted God’s perfect love for you and that you can’t mess up enough to change how He feels about you, you start to see yourself through His eyes.
You see yourself as a person of value. Someone who has something to give to the world; something that no one else can give. Yes, you… and I, with all our flaws, have something to give to this world that someone out there needs. Maybe it’s an experience, knowledge you can impart, or something that you can share in a way that no-one else can.
You see yourself as a person with a purpose. You understand that you’re not here by chance. You are not a mistake. You have an assignment. You can change the world by simply being who you were created to be and doing what you were created to do.
You see yourself as victorious. God had an assignment for you even before you were born. No one can disqualify you from that assignment and you cannot fail at it because He designed it especially for you.
When you see yourself as God does, He shows you His plans for you. He’ll remind you of things you used to do as a child and reignite the fire for dreams long put on the back burner. You realize that your purpose is an important part of God’s bigger blueprint, and He wants to partner with you to change the world.
BEGIN WALKING IN YOUR TRUE IDENTITY – ALLOW HIM TO USE YOU WHERE YOU ARE
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
Focus on the light and not the darkness. Now that you are living with understanding in the Perfect Love of God, you focus on God-ness in you instead of the darkness. You look inward and see all the good things that God can use right now, instead of focusing on all the things you need to fix.
You’re not afraid to step out because you know that even if you mess up, He won’t be mad at you. As long as you’re willing, He will be right there to help you improve the next time.
The aim is not perfection. We can never achieve that this side of the earth, anyway. Only God is perfect. The aim is excellence. Excellence says that when you mess up, you learn from your mistake, try again and do better next time. When you mess up, as we all inevitably do, God is waiting right there with an outstretched arm, saying, “Come, my child, let’s try again together.”
You don’t have to worry about the areas that need fixing. Philippians 1:4 says, “… he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…”. It is He who began the work, and it is He who will complete it. Just surrender those areas to Him and allow Him to complete the work.
Remember, you cannot fail at your purpose. It is yours; designed for you. Any mistakes you make, God has already accounted for. The important thing is to go forward with a heart that’s willing to step out, willing to learn and willing to trust Him in all that He’s calling you to do. The only way you can fail is if you don’t try in the first place (like the man with the one talent).
To find your true identity and walk in your purpose, you must have an intimate relationship with God the Father, not just Jesus Christ. Surrendering to His unconditional love will help you see yourself through His eyes. Then, He will reveal His plans for you. If you allow Him to use you right where you are instead of waiting to fix what is wrong with you, He will help you step out, take action, and truly live your purpose.
If this post has helped you, let me know in the comments. If there is anyone you think needs to read this, please share.
Leave a Reply