Christian women will often lump purpose, calling, and identity all together. We have a mistaken identity. As we jump into this blog, I want to be very clear:

Identity is different than your “purpose.” Identity is different than your “calling.”

I often hear women confuse the three, and even hear some say, “I need to discover my identity.”

And the truth is that your identity as a Christian woman has already been established and thus can’t be changed. Your identity is “Child of God.”

Your identity is not something you need to discover. The issue is that as women of God, when we don’t understand that our identity has already been established, we can get our identity mistaken.

We think that what we do determines who we are, when in fact, who you are determines what you do. Your purpose and calling don’t determine who you are; God determines who you are. God has established your identity.

In the midst of Christian influencer culture, and the buzzwords and popular teachings that surround it, this blog is about to set the record straight. Let’s first dive right into some signs that you’ve mistaken your identity…

SIGNS YOU DON’T HAVE A ROOTED IDENTITY

• You follow trends that are popular but that God never told you to follow.

• You feel like a failure if your projects fail.

• Enrolling in a major, taking a job, or starting a venture that someone else planned for you but you’re not passionate about

• Blindly copying everything that an influencer tells you to do

• Blindly agreeing with someone else’s interpretation of scripture

• You value being popular more than being holy

• You look to material things to assign yourself value

• You idolize the voice of a podcaster, influencer, celebrity, or pastor over the voice of God for your life.

• You’re slowly compromising your once-valued beliefs, morals, or character

• You feel like you have to “perform” to have value

If you’ve dealt with any of these things…

If I’m stepping on your toes…

Then keep reading.

Here are 3 Big Ideas that will help you root your identity in Christ:

#1: IDENTITY IS THE FIRST THING YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON, NOT THE LAST THING.

What you believe about yourself determines what you do because your behaviors are simply a reflection of your identity. The labels we give ourselves become the reality we live in. Think about it:

Imagine you had a horrible smoking habit. You kept trying to quit again and again, but on the inside, you truly believed that you’re a “smoker.” You’ve been a smoker for as long as you can remember, and a smoker is all you’ll ever be. You change your habits, but you don’t change your beliefs.

No matter how many times you tried to change the OUTCOME, your IDENTITY overrode your internal programming.

Let’s break this concept down even more simply.

Identity —> Process —> Outcome

What you believe about yourself (identity) determines what you do (process), which bears either good or bad fruit (outcome).

So let’s consider our identity as child of God. If we truly believe that we’re children of God, this is how it’d ideally play out in our lives:

Identity: You are a Child of God

Process: Because you’re a child of God, you pray, you fast, you read Bible, you love others, obey God, evangelize, and more

Outcome: Because you’ve done these things, you see the outcome of making disciples, walking in peace, authority, and power, and bearing fruit of the spirit

Do you see now how what you believe about yourself—your identity—determines what you do, and ultimately determines the fruit that you bear?

This is exactly why your identity must be the FIRST thing you focus on, not the last thing.

As a Christian woman, maybe you’re looking for a specific outcome—the last thing you’re supposed to focus on. Maybe this is an outcome, a dream life of sorts, that you see on social media. Maybe you see your favorite Christian influencer has money, prestige, connections, and perceived happiness.

You begin to focus first on achieving this outcome instead of standing in your already-established identity. Because you desire the outcome of this picturesque fairytale, you “try on Christianity for size.”

Here’s what’s true:

If you pursue God for the outcome, for the perceived benefit of what He could give you, you’ll give up when times get hard, persecution comes, or at the first sign of spiritual attack. Your faith won’t prove to be genuine. You’ll say, “Yeah, I tried that Christianity thing… and it didn’t work.”

Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 24:4-13 to expect hardship and persecution; expect to be hated. When you’re a child of God, your mere identity is a threat to the enemy. Who you are is a threat to the system of this world.

We can’t pursue Jesus because we want that outcome of some perfect Pinterest lifestyle that doesn’t exist. However, if we understand that we’re truly children of God, no matter what our circumstances are, we will have peace.

#2: PEOPLE CAN CONFIRM YOUR IDENTITY, BUT THEY CAN’T CREATE IT. 

 

Look at this cake. Imagine this cake was posted on Instagram, with the caption was “Now, take a guess… what kind of cake is this?”

We’d see all sorts of different comments.

Some would say, “It’s a birthday cake! Can’t you tell by the sprinkles?”

Others would say, “It’s a butter cream cake. Can’t you tell by the kind of frosting?”

Others would say, “It’s clearly an ice cream cake. Look at the center… it looks like ice cream in the middle!”

We all could speculate about whether this cake is a white cake or a chocolate cake, but the truth is this—the only person who knows for sure what the identity of this cake is would be the baker, the creator of the cake.

Don’t we do the same thing? We’ll post a photo of ourselves on Instagram, essentially hoping for others to define us or assign us value. What do people think about me? Who do people say that I am?

Some would say, “Oh, you’re a blogger.”

Others would say, “You’re a church girl.”

Others would say, “You’re the girl with the curly hair.”

Confirmation and creation are two different things.

Others can say, “you have confetti on you, so you’re probably a birthday cake,” to confirm your already pre-established identity as a birthday cake. In the same way, others can say, “You teach well, so you’re probably a teacher,” to confirm your already pre-established identity as a teacher. However, these people are not the ones who gave you your identity.

People can confirm your identity, but they can’t create it.

And if we don’t know the difference between confirmation and creation, then we’ll take others’ opinions as gospel. Subsequently, we’ll start to mold our identity into their image of us rather than standing in the identity that our creator gave us.

Let’s dive into some scripture:

John 1:19

Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.”

During the time period of this passage of scripture, it was common for people to believe in reincarnation. We see that Jewish leaders were speculating about the identity of John the baptist. Imagine how detrimental it’d be if John didn’t know his true identity. Imagine if John started to believe he himself was Elijah, or that he himself were the messiah!

He would have based his identity on what he was doing and what people were saying. He’d begin to become this god-like figure, building a cult as unto himself.

Instead, John did what he should have done in this situation—he rooted his identity in the Word of God.

Whenever the leaders asked John, “who are you?” John replied with scripture in Old Testament.

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.”

Remember, people can confirm your identity, but they can’t create it. Your identity is already written in the Word of God!

Like John, don’t look to the world to define you, look to the Word to define you.

#3: THE DEEPER YOUR FOUNDATION, THE HIGHER YOU CAN BUILD

A lot of Christian women think they’re too far along to focus on the fundamentals.

Think about it: If you’re a professional athlete, say you’re Lebron James, you’re not going to say to yourself,

“Ya know, I’m already an amazing athlete. I’m already a multimillion-dollar-earner, I’m already famous… so I don’t need to practice my dribble. I don’t need to practice my layup. I don’t need to practice my free throw. I’ve already mastered it. I’ve already arrived!”

How ridiculous does that sound?

No, you don’t stop practicing the fundamentals once your reach a place of maturity or mastery. It doesn’t work that way.

With anybody who’s very successful, they’re really good at their fundamentals. They’re really good a their routine. You don’t stop practicing your fundamentals just because you’re a pro. It’s actually because you practice your fundamentals that makes you a pro.

The same goes for buildings. Look at this photo:

The left side of the photo shows the shallowness of the foundation of a house vs. the depth of the foundation of a skyscraper.

When you think about it, the foundation is the most expensive thing to fix. If the foundation is off, the entire house or building is off. Your house can be pretty, it can have all-new cabinets, it can have brand-new floors, it can have shiplap and be beautifully decorated, but if the foundation is off, you’re not going to be able to close your door!

Things are going to be lop-sided! Do you see where I’m going with this?

If you’re laying the foundation of a house, it may take you 3 weeks to lay. However, if you’re laying the foundation of a skyscraper, it can take you 3 months+ to lay.

This holds true because the taller you want to build, the deeper you need to go.

For some reason, in our faith walks we think that talking about the gospel, reiterating the book of John, or rereading Ephesians or Psalms, or revisiting the passages of scriptures that got us saved… we thinks it’s “too fundamental.”

We want to talk about the four horsemen in Revelation or we want to exegete what all the prophecies mean in Isaiah. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to be deep and biblically literate. But the moment that pride puffs up in our hearts and we say, “oh I’ve made it! I’m a mature Christian! I already know the gospel! I don’t need to read that!” —that’s when we’re most susceptible to fall.

It’s not as if you need to spend less time with God the more you lead women and impact others. If God has called you to do great things, to become this amazing woman of God who pushes great advances in the kingdom of heaven, if you truly believe that, remember this concept: the higher you’re going to build, the deeper you need to go.

Your foundation needs to become MORE secure, not less secure. The more you’re operating in power and authority, the more you need to be spending time in God’s presence.

I’ll leave you with this scripture:

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

If your identity is Child of God, then you’re going to be diligent to spend time in His presence, studying His word, and praying. I

Study to show yourself approved. The higher you go, the deeper you need to spend time with the Lord.

Lastly, remember this:

It’s not the things that you do for God that make you a child of God; it’s because you’re a child of God that you’re able to go live for God, and stand tall upon the finished work—the firm foundation—of Jesus Christ.

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If this blog was a blessing to you, then I have two amazing resources for you! The first is my video recording of this same teaching! You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANiBVQO2lbE&t=882s

The second is Change University, a total spiritual growth curriculum that I’m building so that you can stand confidently upon the finished work of Jesus. Stage One—Belong—is all about strengthening our identity in Christ. You can join for 7 days free here: https://www.confidentwomanco.com/change-u

With love,