The devil is the accuser, and he often uses other people to propagate his alias identities over us. My first stepfather used to call me “stupid” all the time. This resulted in me always feeling dumb, which really hindered my ability to learn.
The name became a mental block, which manifested as a difficulty with reading. When I finished high school, I only read at a third-grade level.
Words spoken over us become names we carry in our hearts. These names paint a portrait in our imagination and become the lens through which we view our world. Sticks and stones are breaking our bones, but names are taking away our future!
The Name You Call Yourself in Your Mind Matters
I have met many women who were called sexually derogatory terms by their fathers and then struggled with immorality their entire lives. Why? Because names can be prophetic declarations that define a person’s identity. We respond to our environment according to the way we see ourselves. Because we act according to who we believe we are, these lies are ultimately acted out in our behavior.
If you receive an “alias” name, you will spend your life trying your best to not be that name. Calling yourself a loser, an alcoholic, a dummy and so on relegates you to either act out your false “name” or build an accountability system to try to police yourself into purity or righteousness.
Your Names Determine Your Behavior
One place I see this playing out is the Alcoholics Anonymous program. I love this program, except for the standard introduction: “Hi, I’m John and I’m an alcoholic.” I understand what the program is trying to accomplish: confess your sins so you can be forgiven, and admit you have a problem so you can be helped. (You can’t help someone who doesn’t have a problem).
But you are not your behavior unless you believe you are. The truth about who God says you are is more important than how you behave. Consequently, AA, by its own admission, never cures anyone. At best, they simply modify their behavior.
You simply can’t cure a person by convincing them that they are one thing, and then building a system to help them behave differently. This relegates people to a lifetime of meetings that are designed to keep them from drinking. Of course, this is much better than getting drunk and wrecking your family, so thank you, AA. However, it never restores you to your true identity and freedom; it only shackles your bad actions.
Start Thinking the Way God Thinks About You
The kingdom you believe you have within you will be the kingdom you reproduce around you. Therefore, what you believe about yourself will determine how you behave.
When you get your inside world in line with the kingdom of God, you will live out your true identity in Him. This begins with how you think about and talk to yourself, and it will change your life!
So what names do you need to break free from in your life? What have people spoken over you that you’ve internally agreed with?
The Bible says that you are nobility, royalty and a child of God Himself. That’s the truth and it will set you free, instead of simply modifying your behavior.
Today, I want to encourage you to take some time with Holy Spirit and let Him search your thoughts. Take note of the names you’ve been speaking over yourself or the aliases others have tried to mask you in throughout your life. Then hand them over to God and let Him breathe the freedom-bringing truth over you. Write down who He says you are and choose it every day.
My Prayer for You
I want to pray over you today that all false identities would fall off you. I feel God’s compassion over you and I’m praying that as you read this that you would experience His supernatural love right now. I come against any assignment of false identity over you, and I break off any chains that have come with false names. I declare that God is setting you free right now. It is for freedom that you have been set free! May this be a day that you begin walking in your true identity as a child of God.
What are the false names people have spoken over you, and what is God saying over you instead? It may feel vulnerable to share but I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. {eoa}
Kris Vallotton is the senior associate leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and cofounder of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM). Kris travels internationally, training and equipping people to successfully fulfill their divine purpose. He’s a best-selling author, having written more than a dozen books and training manuals to help prepare believers for life in the kingdom. He has a diverse background in business, counseling, consulting, pastoring and teaching, which gives him unique leadership insights and perspectives. Kris has a passion to use his experience and his prophetic gift to assist world leaders in achieving their goals and accomplishing their mission.
This article originally appeared at krisvallotton.com.
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