Colleen Orchanian

(Part 2 of a series on spiritual warfare.)

We often read about identity theft, where someone pretends to be you and spends all your money or sells your house. There is another kind of identity theft—a spiritual one. God wants to show us our true identity, and Satan wants to prevent that. He wants to steal the identity we have been given.

What is that God-given identity? We are beloved, not because we do good things, but because we belong to Him. We are desired. If we stray from the flock, God will come after us. We are precious in His sight. We are cherished. We are sons and daughters of the King, made in the image and likeness of God. We are important and we are made strong to fight the enemy. We are part of God's army.

Is that how you see yourself? Do you believe that is your identity?

Maybe you know your true identity in your head, but you doubt it in your heart. Doubt comes from the enemy. It is a spiritual attack on our thoughts, our self-image. Satan directs our thoughts to two extremes. One is self-condemnation, and the other is self-glorification. We either think too little or too much of ourselves.

When we think too little of ourselves, we might say or believe things like this: I am a victim. I am unloveable. I am unwanted. I am unimportant. I am a fraud/fake. I am worthless. I am too broken. I am unredeemable. I am undeserving. I am nobody. I am bad (a bad mother, sister, father, son, etc.).

All those "I am" words diminish my identity. They contradict the one given by God. If I know and receive my God-given identity, when I hear those "I am" lies, I don't believe them. They have as much power as hearing "I am a hamburger." That's ridiculous. Who would believe that?

The other extreme is thinking too much of ourselves. Satan wants to make us think we are "all that and a bag of chips." I am good with God. There's no need to change a thing. I did this great thing. Me! I'm amazing. I am independent and don't need anyone. I am in control. I can do all things through me (not through Christ who gives me strength).

This false identity is about confidence—not confidence in God, but confidence in myself. Self-confidence is not bad if it is directed properly: I am confident in God's love for me. But when I believe he loves me because of me, because of what I have done, that is a problem. My confidence should be in God's love rather than my work. It's about God—not me.

Those are the extremes of our identity that Satan uses as a spiritual attack. In each of them, we don't see ourselves as God does, which is a shame.

Why do we believe the lies of Satan about our identity? Why does this attack work? Here are some common reasons:

• Family history. If you did not experience unconditional love as a child, you will struggle to know it as an adult. You will hear an accusation and believe it without testing it because you already have a negative identity. If parents emphasized achievement and linked good grades to love, you might think God can only love you when you are perfect.

• Toxic relationships. Those are the people who make you doubt yourself, who manipulate to get what they want, who betray you, who say they love you with words when their actions say the opposite. We come to believe their lies about us. We are wounded and need healing to become whole again.

• Cultural beliefs. Society tells us what's important—status, money, power. We believe what we see and read in the culture and find that we don't measure up. For example, if we have anxiety or depression, our church friends might tell us we need more faith. If we have AIDS or a similar disease, we feel unclean, like the lepers in the Bible. If we don't look like the beautiful people on TV, we think we aren't enough. All of these are identity lies.

• An incorrect understanding of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My identity comes from God, and if I don't have a right image of Him, I cannot know who I am in relation to Him. It's easy for Satan to steal my identity when I don't know the One True God.

These are some things that make us feel "less than" our God-given identity.

Satan doesn't care if I think too much or too little of myself. Either one works because it keeps me from thinking of myself as God does, from receiving the powerful identity I have as a Christian. Why do I want that? Because I can do great things when I know who I am. And God calls us to do great things for the Kingdom.

So how do we fight against this attack on our identity?

1. Recognize that it is an attack. Wait a minute. I'm feeling selfish because I am too busy to help. I think I'm a bad Christian. That's a lie.

2. Be curious about why. Why do I believe this lie? Where did it originate? Why does it work on me? I heard that as a child and now I think it's who I am.

3. Reject the lie. Saying No doesn't make me selfish. Sometimes I am supposed to say no.

4. Replace the lie with God's truth. Jesus said, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. (Mark 6:31) God called the apostles to rest. He calls me to rest as well.

You may have to keep repeating the truth to believe it, and that's okay. Repetition helps belief. A child who is constantly told that they are stupid begins to believe it. An adult who is constantly told that Jesus loves them can come to believe that as well. Identity lies are effective because we are wounded. We need to do some healing work to overcome these kinds of lies.

God loves us. He loved us til the end. He loved us enough to die for us. This fact should humble us and at the same time amaze us. We know we are unworthy, and it's okay because God loves us anyway. I can reject the lies that tell me I am not enough. And I can receive the powerful identity bestowed by God on me in baptism. I am His beloved child. There is no other identity that matters.

Questions for Prayer:

1. How effective are spiritual attacks on your identity and why? What healing might you need to claim your true identity?

2. Ask God: Lord, how do you see me? Show me myself from your eyes.