The revelation of your true identity leads to the revelation of God’s true identity.  This leads to the revelation of your true destiny.  Whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, you’re probably like me and have spent most of your life trying to answer this million dollar question. “Who in the world am I?”  When we find out that someone has not been born again, our first reaction is to tell them about Jesus.  Perhaps in some cases the first step should not be to tell them about who Jesus is.  Perhaps we would be more effective in sharing our faith if we followed Jesus’ example and made our first step to tell them about who they really are.  I am fully aware that this might come off as some sort of humanistic false idea.  Easy… Allow me to explain.

Here are three examples from scripture.

1. Nathaniel.  The skeptic full of gold.  

If the story of Jesus’ encounter with Nathaniel is not fresh in your mind, then go read it. John 1:43-51

Jesus started off their encounter by prophesying to Nathaniel’s identity.

“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”

It was only after this declaration of his true identity and a word of knowledge about something that meant a lot to him, did skeptical Nathaniel receive a revelation of Christ.

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

And only after this did Jesus prophesy into his future and destiny.

“…you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

This makes me wonder how many more individuals would come to know Jesus if they were only told who they really are?

Jesus called the gold out in Nathaniel. He called out his true identity. He didn’t even rebuke him for his unbelief even though he had quite a “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude about this guy really being the Christ.

2.  You’ll know Me when I call you by name

Marry wept at the tomb when she saw that Jesus’ body was no where to be found.  The gospel of John.

Then she sees two angels in the tomb that ask her why she is crying.  At this moment she realizes Jesus was standing behind her but doesn’t recognize him.  Now Jesus joins the questioning and also asks her why she is weeping.  She thinks he’s the gardener and wants to know where he’s hiding the body.  Sometimes as you stand at the symbol of your greatest defeat, desperate for an answer, all you get is a question.

Marry only recognized it was Jesus standing right in front of her when He called her by name. That was all He said.  “Marry” And in that moment she recognized Him. Before that he called her “woman” and she didn’t recognize him.

3. The woman at the well.  Busted but ecstatic.  

What were the words of the Samaritan woman at the well after encountering Jesus? “Come, see a man that told me all that I ever did! Can this be the Christ?” In this case Jesus did tell her quite openly who He was, but the thing that struck her was that he told her about her.  Something profound happens deep in our souls when God calls us by name.  When He tells us who we are.

…I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1

4. My children don’t receive a revelation of their loving father by me telling them I’m their loving father.

Let’s face it. How often do you tell your children “child, I’m your loving father. You do know that, don’t you?” They receive a revelation of who I am from the love they experience and from me telling them who they are. “My beloved son, daughter in whom I’m well pleased”.

First you speak to a person’s identity. With prophetic insight from Holy Spirit you tell them who God says they are, and this unlocks a revelation of Christ.

This is where the combustion happens. The revelation of your true identity leads to the revelation of God’s true identity. This leads to the revelation of your true destiny. This is much like Kris Vallotton likes to say: “You have to be a human being before you can be a human-doing.”

A revelation of you you are + a revelation of Christ = revealed destiny and fulfillment.

Please comment below if you would like to differ, add something, or ask a question.

Image courtesy of Meme Binge on Flickr (image was cropped)