When Jesus came the first time, he did not come just to pay for our sins. He also came to allow us to participate with Him in His inheritance, identity and place with God the Father. In John 17:22, Jesus tells God the Father that the thoughts and opinions (glory) that the Father had for Jesus, Jesus gave to us. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them….” One of the things that Jesus has given to us, is an identity as a child of God. This truth is established in John 1:12. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name….”

One of the most important facets of the process of the renewing of the mind is to lay aside the mindset of sin and death, and put on of a mindset of a born again, redeemed, holy, righteous, Spirit-filled child of God.

So, why is it important to know who we are as God’s sons and daughters?: “For as he thinks within himself, so he is…” (Proverbs 23:7). What we think or believe in our hearts and what we speak about ourselves will determine what we do. If a person believes she is a failure, that person will have a tendency to fail at the things that she attempts. But if that person believes she is a success that person will have a strong possibility of walking in success. What a person believes about himself or herself will set in motion the course of their lives.

When we lay aside the mindset of defeat, sin and death that we received from our earthly ancestor Adam, and put on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), we will walk in victory. Here are some of the reasons why it is important for us to grasp the truth of our identity as children of God:

1. Knowing who we are in Christ activates our faith.

“…and I pray that the fellowship (interaction) of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake” (Philemon 6).

2. Focusing on what God says about who we are “in Christ” can enable us to relate to others more effectively.

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” (John 17:22).

3. When we do not know who we are as sons and daughters of God, we can easily slip into the sin and death of comparing ourselves to others and what others do.

“For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you” (2 Corinthians 10:12-13).

4. When we do not know who we are as God’s sons and daughters, we will have a tendency to compare ourselves to our obstacles.  We will shrink back in defeat and possibly not fulfill our destiny, like the children of Israel.

“So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:32-33).

5. We need to realize that we are soulishly and spiritually made to live off what our Heavenly Father says about us.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ ” (Matthew 4:1-4). Note: Focusing on what God says about us can help us face the temptation of performance-based acceptance/identity.

6. Focusing on God’s thoughts, opinions and recognition (glory) of us as His sons and daughters, transforms us into God’s image and likeness.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

7. If we are not saturated with God’s thoughts and opinions of and for us as sons and daughters of God, we will become dependent on the thoughts and opinions of the world; therefore, hindering our faith.

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” (John 5:44)

8. If we are not saturated with God’s thoughts and opinions of and for us we will become people pleasers.

“Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:42-43).

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

“The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted” (Proverbs 29:25).

Have you truly grasped your place in the family of God?  He sees you as a son or daughter, so you can have faith that your really are.

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