Dharius Daniels - Identity Crisis

How far you go and how much you grow is not just determined by what you believe about God; it is equally affected by what you believe about yourself. I’m going to say that one more time: how far you go and how much you grow is not just determined by what you believe about God; it is equally impacted by what you believe about you. A sage named Solomon framed it this way in the book of the Bible called Proverbs. Solomon says this: as a man or woman thinks in their heart, so is he. Notice now what Solomon did not say. He did not say, «as a man"—watch this—or «as God thinks about a man or a woman, so is he.» He says, «as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.» In other words, you will always behave in a way that is consistent with how you see yourself. This means there can be some inconsistency, some dissonance—a gap—between what God thinks about you and what you think about yourself. What God is attempting to do on our journey of spiritual growth is align what He thinks about us with what we think about ourselves so that we can behave in a manner consistent with what He thinks about us, not just what we think about ourselves. This may be the reason that God regularly, repeatedly, and consistently throughout Scripture reminds us of who we are. When you move from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it seems a bit excessive. You will see God repeatedly telling you who you are: salt, light, royal, chosen, peculiar, beloved, special, anointed, the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. Am I making sense? So, if I am that, why does He have to keep telling me? Because He knows who I am is my truth; that’s His truth. But His truth isn’t always my experience. So He says, «That’s who you are; that’s truth; that’s what I know.» But it doesn’t become what you experience until you believe it. If I’m making sense, say yes. What I want us to see here, when we get this revelation, should cause a revolution. Because when the enemy cannot change what you think about God, his next step is to try to change what you think about yourself. But I’ve got good news, Elevation! I said I’ve got good news, Elevation! They would say it this way in the church I grew up in: the devil is a liar. No, no, what that means is it doesn’t mean he just doesn’t tell the truth; it means he can’t tell the truth. Jesus said the truth is not even in him, which means whatever he is telling you about yourself can’t be true. So instead of panicking based on what he’s telling you about yourself, you ought to start praising based on what God says about you. Whatever he is telling you, the very opposite is true. If he’s telling you you’re not going to make it, you’re getting ready to make it. If he’s telling you you’re not coming out, you’re getting ready to come out. If he’s telling you it’s over, it’s just the beginning. I want to know if there’s anybody online, or at the locations, who will just pause and give God praise because the devil is a liar. He’s a liar! One of the things he wants to lie to us about is our identity. From that, there are some who embrace this principle of biblical interpretation—what we’ll call a hermeneutic—it’s called the law of first mention. This means that very often, specifically in the Book of Genesis, if you see something mentioned for the first time, that might be a picture or a pattern of how that thing will be seen throughout the thread of Scripture. When we see the enemy’s interaction with the human species for the very first time, what did he try to create? He tried to create an identity crisis. When he is engaged—watch this—whether this is literal or metaphorical, this is what’s happening in the garden. There’s a snake, and why is the snake significant in the garden? It’s significant because you wouldn’t be surprised to see a snake sometimes; the devil shows up looking like he belongs, right? So he’s engaging in conversation with Eve, telling Adam and Eve, «Listen, no, no, it’s okay; you can eat that.» This is what he says: «God knows if you eat that, you’ll be like Him.» That’s what he said, right? God knows if you eat that, you’ll be like Him. Well, you see this engagement happening in Genesis 3, but you go all the way back to Genesis 1. You’ll see that when God is having a conversation about creation, He says, «Let us make man in our image and likeness.» So Satan tells Eve, «God knows if you eat that, you’ll be like Him,» but in Genesis 1, when He created Adam and Eve, He created them in His image and likeness. They weren’t God, but they were like God in some ways. So she’s trying to become what she already is. Did you hear what I just said? She’s trying to become what she already is because what the enemy does is he can’t take your worth, but he can take your awareness of it. He can’t take your value, but he can take your vision. He can’t take your gift, but he can take your grit. But I just believe…