You Are the Apple of God’s Eye

If we want to be fit for the kingdom of God, we must stop listening to the devil’s lies. When we discover our identity in Christ, the lies of the enemy are exposed and our true identity is revealed. We all have a sense of deep longing to discover our true purpose—to know who we are and what we’ve been created to do. But today, Christians seem to be experiencing an identity crisis. They know they’re saved, but they have yet to truly discover who they really are. In fact, if asked about themselves, most believers would agree that they are sinners saved by grace or they are saints who occasionally sin. Both statements are true, but depending on whom you ask, chances are the opinions would vary. But if you really consider the statement, the first one dwells on your identity of the past, whereas the second focuses on God’s current perception of you.

Some time ago, the Lord gave me a dream in which He showed me a very large auditorium filled with Christians with no names. Even on the church door it read, “The Nameless Church.” As I began to pray for understanding, the Lord said, “This is the orphaned church whose identity has been stolen.”

The word orphan comes from the Greek word orphanos, which means one who has been deprived of parental care. This means to be reared without love, affirmation, or sense of identity.

Shortly thereafter, I attended a conference at a church, and while passing by the visitor’s center, I noticed a display stand with a variety of colorful brochures. One that stood out was a brochure adorned with big, bold letters that read, “WHO AM I?” Having just recently dreamed about this subject, I stopped and picked up the brochure, and then my heart broke.

Sadly, it is commonly believed that prescribing megadoses of self- affirmation is the only cure. But I believe that the cure requires more than just prescribing books and CDs on personal development. After all, do we really believe that we will find our true identity by attending all the popular conferences with our fashionable self-help preachers and Christian talk show gurus? I mean, just how many free tickets can we win from our local Christian radio stations anyway? But nevertheless, it is a strange paradox if you think about it. Even Nicodemus asked the Lord, “Can a man enter his mother’s womb a second time?” Interesting, isn’t it? This was a man who was a highly esteemed and highly regarded religious leader in the Sanhedrin, and he was pondering what it means to be born again. I dare to state the obvious: one of the greatest tragedies in history has been the emerging of an orphaned church. Just as heartrending as it is to think about children being abandoned by their natural parents or newborns being dropped at an orphanage doorstep in the cold of night, it is equally tragic to think about Christians wandering through life not knowing who they are or who their Father is.

Over the years, I have talked to Christians who roam this Christian life on a past salvation experience but somehow have not been able to embrace their true identity that entitles them to a father-son or a father-daughter relationship. The Lord desires a close, intimate relationship with His people.

However, God can become an idol when we reduce Him to an image on a cross or when we allow Him to be some lofty God who can never be approached. We must accept the fact that the Father doesn’t like long-distance relationships. But oftentimes, our relationship with Him is hindered because we have some false imagination of Him being a brutal dictator or some

deranged tyrant who drools at the opportunity of destroying His creation.

As a result, some Christians are living under the heaviness of condemnation. They feel the Lord is always angry with them, or—worse—they feel that they don’t measure up. They might even feel they are unworthy to live in the blessings and affections of God. You see, an orphan spirit will mar and twist your Christian personality and turn you into a spiritual introvert.
This is why we have believers sitting in the church and not knowing what their purpose is, what their reason for existence is, or what to do or where to go in life. They have become orphaned—unable to draw from their godly inheritance. The orphan spirit is a stealer of destinies and an abuser of dreams and promises. The solution to this identity crisis is to change the way we think about ourselves. If we don’t, we’ll live life that is predicated by what we hear, what we see, and how we feel. As long as Satan is able, he will bombard us with reminders of our failures and sins. He wants to keep us focused on being sinners because he knows that the recognition of our righteous standing will indeed allow and lead us to live like saints. Only when we are motivated and empowered to obey God will the devil will lose his foothold on our lives.

God didn’t send His Son just to save us from hell; He wants to live His life through us. In Christ, we have a new identity that has replaced our old one. If we aim to discover who we are now, our actions will follow and we will begin experiencing the enjoyment of the authentic Christian life.