God spoke you into your mother's womb at just the right time for you to be here now. It wasn’t by accident, nor was it a pleasant surprise to God; he designed you on purpose to be on mission with him for such a time as this.

Your faith will grow stronger as you focus on your identity in Christ. What this means is that you abandon any image of yourself that is not from God. You stop believing what others have said about you; you stop believing how others have labeled you; you stop accepting how others have defined you.

Where I’m going is here – if you don’t know who you are, then you’re vulnerable to other people telling you who you are. But the concrete, solid, gospel truth is that you are who God says you are and no one else has a vote in the matter.

You are now identified with Christ and have the power of the Holy Spirit within you. You are God’s precious child and he created you in a way that pleases him.

This «identity issue» is an important part of living the abundant life. Jesus was able to face the incredible demands of his mission because he’d settled this identity issue. He knew exactly who he was; he knew that he mattered immensely to his Heavenly Father, and that gave him confidence to move purposefully in faith.

What does this mean?

· God wants you to be you – You can relax knowing that being yourself is exactly what God wants of you. A pencil brings glory to God by being a pencil. But, if you take a pencil and try to use it like a screwdriver, it won’t work and you’ll likely break the pencil. You will find the stress drained from your life when you stop trying to be somebody you’re not and instead start being who God purposefully designed you to be.

· Believe God calls you by name – God didn’t call you as part of a blanket invitation; he called you specifically by name. You are his masterpiece, a work of his own hands. Like many earthly fathers, God feels pleasure when he sees you just being you.

· Believe you are who God says you are – No one else has a vote on who you are. You are free to be you instead of imitating someone else. You are free to use your unique, God-given gifts and there is no need to compare your gifts to the gifts of others. No one else is in competition to be you!