
A New Book from Pastor Mani Erfan
First Question – Who Am I? I am a Child of my Father
Chapter 1 – Identity Crisis
Understanding one’s identity is by definition the answer to the question “Who am I?”
That is a fundamental question that has to be answered for every believer. Most Christians have a partial or incomplete understanding of their true identity. Some have a corrupted or false view of themselves.
Almost all behavior is rooted in the identity and the perception that a person has of him or herself. If a man perceives himself to be a winner, successful, and an achiever his behavior will be rooted and reinforced by that belief. Naturally, he will be confident, determined, optimistic, and probably more apt to take risk and more often that naught to succeed in life. Such a positive attitude and belief in one self actually overcomes physical shortcomings in many cases.
In contrast, a person who due to their past failures or experiences or physical shortcomings has a perception of themselves as a failure, non-desirable, un-attractive or weak usually is easily afraid, tepid, unsure of themselves, indecisive, and this follows a pattern of ongoing failure.
A false identity rooted in demonic lies will cause major behavioral insecurities that can result in destructive patterns of behavior that will surely destroy relationships, scuttle marriages, cause businesses and partnerships to fail, impede church and ministry growth and cause social and spiritual isolation.
One can say with absolute confidence that how a person sees themselves is critical to their pattern of behavior.
The greatest example of this in the Bible is seen in the account of the twelve Israelite spies sent to Canaan to spy on the land. Their mission was to gather information for the tribes prior to the intended crossing of the Jordan and facilitate a successful conquest of the Promised Land.
Now the Jews had experienced some of the most spectacular miracles ever seen by human eyes in history up to that time. They had just walked in the midst of the Red-Sea and seen God miraculously destroy the most powerful army of ancient times, the Pharaoh’s army in mere moments.
They had seen and lived through the 10 plagues that befell Egypt. Each plague was a supernatural miracle.
They had seen God’s provision of food and water miraculously be provided in the midst of one of the most barren deserts in the world. I know this first hand, as I have gone to the Sinai desert several times; it is truly barren, inhospitable and dry. One has to wonder how anyone could survive a week let alone 40 years in such a place, and not just one soul, but millions. There have been times that I have driven for 3-4 hours in the Sinai and I have not seen one single tree or shrub. I understand why God brought them through such a place. He wanted the Israelites to know who their God was, and He wanted them to know that they could depend on Him and trust Him. There was going to be no doubt left evidentially that their God was able to meet all their needs and fulfill all His promises to them.
But what happened is incredibly strange. The twelve spies leave the camp and spy on the land and return with an awful report. We pick up the story at Numbers 13: 31-33
“But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
I think the phrase “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes” says it all. In contrast Caleb one of the twelve spies has a complete different perception of things as he adamantly proclaims in vs 30:
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
Now, Caleb must have seen the same exact thing that the rest of the spies had seen? Or did he? It is clear that this man saw himself not as a grasshopper but as a victor, a warrior and he was absolutely confident that His God was going to come to his aide. His perception and his sense of identity changed his view of the world around him. Seeing the same facts, he came to a complete different set of conclusions about himself, the outcome of the future engagement and ultimately the future of his people. Caleb’s identity was not defined or limited to himself or his tribe or his countrymen. His identity was defined by HIS GOD.
The story of the 12 spies is telling in many ways. Failure of understanding one’s identity can lead to terrible and disastrous consequences and ultimate defeat. A life destined for greatness can end up in the desert of mediocrity or worse destruction. Hell withholds nothing from its attack on believers from the moment they enter the kingdom. If we view ourselves as mere grasshoppers before the demonic giants that come against us, they we will run away from engagement, ceding Kingdom territory to the enemy, and never being brave and courageous enough to cross the river of faith and enter in the land of promise of our lives. Ultimately, heavenly destinies and the fulfillment of our Father’s hopes and dreams for our lives depend squarely on how we perceive ourselves. We are assured of this thing as the Word of the lord in Jeremiah 29:11 states:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
A wonderful destiny is in the balance, the attainment of which hinges on our understanding of our Godly identity.
Our very character and daily behavior, habits, our reaction to events in our life and our response to difficulties, our ability to remain in the faith and ultimately to endure so that we can experience true victory are based on our correct understanding of our identity.
Jesus summarized his understanding of His own identity in a simple statement: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 NIV).
This is one of the most important recorded statements Jesus ever made and it shows how He perceived Himself. If there is one thing that I wish for the reader to grasp from this book, is this: that Jesus was not only speaking for himself but prophetically on behalf of the Church that was going to be born out of him.
By direct inference, since Jesus and the Father are one, therefore, you and the Father are one.
But before we go further let me ask this question:
Have you heard in Church this statement a lot: We need to be more Christ Like? Or, we need to become more like Jesus?
These are true statements but they are also rather incomplete. What we should be saying is that we need to become more like God Himself or better said more “God-Like”. I know the phrase does not roll out of mouth that easily and some part of us somehow feels that it might be somewhat sacrileges to even think like this, but we are made in the image of God and hence our identity cannot be defined only in the Son, but in God Himself and within the trinity that defines him.
So in order to understand our complete identity we have to understand that we have a unique identity not only in Jesus (the Son) but we also have a unique identity in the Father and a unique identity in the Holy Spirit.
So now that we know we have three distinct identities we need to ask what these identities are.
A unique depiction of these three distinct identities we have in the God-Head is found in of the most unusual creatures ever described in the bible: The Cherubim as described in the book of Ezekiel and seen again by John in the Book of Revelation:
Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.
Revelation 4:6-8
Four living creatures and four distinct faces or depictions and all of them before the throne room of God. It is as if God has them before his throne as a reflection of how He sees Himself. I call these four living creatures God’s “Talking Mirrors”. They speak to Him of who He is and His eternal identity. Let’s look at these living creatures more closely.
One has the face of a lion. If there is one creature in all nature that it’s very name and appearance resonates kingship authority it is a lion. The lion then depicts the identity of God as a King.
Another has the face of an ox. An ox is made to serve and toil to meet the need of its master. Ox depicts the very nature and identity of servant-hood. Therefore the Ox depicts the identity of God as a Servant.
A third creature has the face of a man. For Christ came in the form of man and in the nature of the Son of Man. Christmas is all about the birth of a miracle human child born of the Holy Spirit who calls God Abba Father so that through his death and sacrifice all of us can call Him Father too. A man who was and is and will always be God. There the face of a man depicts the identity of God being born as a child of man.
The last and fourth one is an Eagle. Eagles are meant to soar in the heavens and they are known to have great vision and see all that is beneath them. The eagle is the creature that speaks of God’s Divinity.
So if I may be so bold to say that God sees Himself as Divine Creator of all things that took the form of a man, and chose to serve His own creation but will ultimately rule as the King of Kings.
Therefore there are three distinct identities that we share with our God in His divine trinity.
- I am a child of my Heavenly Father and heir to His Glorious Kingdom.
- I am a bond-servant (slave) of my master and redeemer Christ Jesus.
- I am a king destined for greatness and called for exercising dominion through the power and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
So a healthy and complete Christian identity can only be understood through the proper revelation and understanding of all three identities. In fact each distinct identity defines the very parameters and rules and guidelines on how we are to conduct ourselves and interact with Heaven, the Church and the world around us.
Only after truly understanding our child identity, we can then grasp the very foundations of how we ought to interact with Heaven and the Heavenly Father. We then can truly embrace the Father’s grace and apply it successfully to our daily life. We are liberated from the bondage of self righteousness once and for all.
Only after embracing our servant-slave identity, we can whole-heartedly receive and accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives and embark on washing the feet of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with joy and gladness. We are then made free from the bondage of self gratification and the chains of self.
And only after believing that you and I are meant to be Kings and are called to exercise dominion in this world, we can understand why the Holy Spirit was given to us with such dynamic and incredible power. It is only then that we comprehend the purpose of our being sent out to this dying World as ambassadors of Heaven equipped with the power and majesty of God’s Spirit himself.
Almost all behavior is rooted in the identity and the perception that a person has of him or herself. If a man perceives himself to be a winner, successful, and an achiever his behavior will be rooted and reinforced by that belief. Naturally, he will be confident, determined, optimistic, and probably more apt to take risk and more often that naught to succeed in life. Such a positive attitude and belief in one self actually overcomes physical shortcomings in many cases.
A false identity rooted in demonic lies will cause major behavioral insecurities that can result in destructive patterns of behavior that will surely destroy relationships, scuttle marriages, cause businesses and partnerships to fail, impede church and ministry growth and cause social and spiritual isolation.
Now the Jews had experienced some of the most spectacular miracles ever seen by human eyes in history up to that time. They had just walked in the midst of the Red-Sea and seen God miraculously destroy the most powerful army of ancient times, the Pharaoh’s army in mere moments.
They had seen and lived through the 10 plagues that befell Egypt. Each plague was a supernatural miracle.
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
A wonderful destiny is in the balance, the attainment of which hinges on our understanding of our Godly identity.
Have you heard in Church this statement a lot: We need to be more Christ Like? Or, we need to become more like Jesus?
A third creature has the face of a man. For Christ came in the form of man and in the nature of the Son of Man. Christmas is all about the birth of a miracle human child born of the Holy Spirit who calls God Abba Father so that through his death and sacrifice all of us can call Him Father too. A man who was and is and will always be God. There the face of a man depicts the identity of God being born as a child of man.
So if I may be so bold to say that God sees Himself as Divine Creator of all things that took the form of a man, and chose to serve His own creation but will ultimately rule as the King of Kings.