I D E N T I T Y

"For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God..."
Romans 8:19 NKJV

The book of Romans has revolutionized my thinking and my doctrine for the past few months. It has become my story and the story of the people I am surrounded by. This book speaks truth about our sonship in Pappa God, which I see that many who love Jesus do not whole heartedly grasp. We say that we are children of God, but what does that really mean? And are we living out that revelation?

I always thought that the scripture that speaks about the truth setting us free was just for those who do not have a relationship with Jesus. Instead, I believe that this is for us too! Many of us are still caught up in "under-the-law-thinking". Yes, many are sceptical of the whole grace teaching, which was me too. We become afraid because some has taken the message out of proportion and has given it a different meaning. However, we know and understand that Jesus Himself is the epiphany of grace. He is the good news! It is grace that sets us free, something that the law could never do. Law came to show us that we need Jesus Christ (grace), and once we are in relationship with Jesus - it is the kindness of His heart that leads us to repentance. My perspective now changes. Yes, grace is no license to sin at all! However, I do not, not sin, because of fear, I do not sin because of my revelation of who He is.

This whole experience for me has broken down the professional barriers between Dad and myself. I now truly understand that it is not about works, that I could never earn something that is free. I am founded on the fact that He created me the way I am, and this is beautiful to Him. Just last weekend I received a prophetic word at a youth conference. In that moment I felt like Dad was affirming me for who I am. The prophetic word spoke truth about my individuality. At this point the war in my heart and mind stopped completely, because I knew that He knew that He just really loves me. And the truth is, He feels this way about all His children! We just need to go through a process of the revealing of His love and passion for us.

Everyone goes around with programs, catch phrases and titles, dealing with identity, that says, "Who am I?" We attempt to teach teenagers and young people about accepting yourself and building a high self esteem. This is all good and well, however, when this is taught outside of God - this teaching or motivation is totally done in vanity. In the words of my friend, Nina, "It is not who am I? that helps us understand identity, it is whose am I?" Little children, outside of the framework of God's love for us, everything becomes vain really quickly. Identity outside of God is a false identity, and this will not sustain you because it is not you and you have no foundation to stand on when your identity is challenged.

Let's quickly talk about Jesus in this moment. We see in the bible that as Jesus was spending time in the desert for 40 days that He was being tempted by satan himself. He kept coming for 40 days, but why did he come to tempt Jesus? The enemy did not come to tempt Jesus for surfaced motives, he came to tempt Jesus for something he is tempting all of us today still - identity. 

The enemy challenged Jesus' identity and not His ability.

Rowyn Coetzee

This whole process of discovering identity in Dad is a constant journey because we have to unlearn thinking patterns we have learned and picked up that might seem insignificantly small to us, but is destrimental to our identity in Dad. For example, thinking patterns such as labels people have labelled us growing up, the trauma of abuse and the following-guilt thereof and our perception that we are our the titles that we carry. Now, because of truth we have to learn the ways of our heavenly Father. For some this might take a while to grasp and understand, for others maybe a bit sooner. 

I have looked at young people in my age group and even younger and there were times I was totally astounded. I was astounded because of the wisdom and the confidence they carry. They just are, and very much unashamed about it. What would the key then be to finding who we are in Dad? It is simple, the WORD! James speaks about the bible (Word) being a mirror. We see ourselves in the Word because these are God's thoughts, affections, promises and plans for us. It is a love letter FULL of passion and desire for us! Once we spend time meditating on the Word every day and night, our hearts will be awakened by the Holy Spirit to who Dad, Jesus and Holy Spirit are and through that process we will see how much we are deeply loved by them. That this story has always been about God and His love for mankind.

Growing up I had struggled with deep depression. This had always gotten me to a place where I was so lost in emotion that it made me weak. It was so intense at some stage that I wanted to be a emokid. I grew my hair, wore weird clothes and I had already started cutting myself. Somehow, there were always times in this process that a smile or laughter creeped out - even in the midst of deep sadness. I realised and stopped fighting that being sad was not who I was. So why does people struggle with things such as depression etc? It is because this was one of the ways in which the enemy attacked my identity. It made me believe that I was not good enough, and this was destrimental to a point of moving closer to me taking my life. The enemy will always challenge one thing, that my friends is yours and my identity.

What does this mean for Cape Town?
My heart is so sad for the coloured communities in Cape Town. There is just so much gang violence and bloodshed in our beautiful city. The fight for identity has become so rife. Young men joining gangs, killing each other because they want to belong and feel powerful. Young women being abused, raped and treated like she has no worth. If they had only known that they were greatly loved...

My urge today, little children, that we who have experienced the truth of who Jesus is that we would draw people into that and disciple them to walk in their true identity. There are people walking passed us each day who are so lost. They do not know their worth. We need sons who know who they are and who are confident in this one fact, that they have been called into a family who has a Father that is crazy about them and not crazy at them. Let us take out the truth of identity and let us teach a world who seeks but does not find.

It is true, that our strength is found in our Father.

-Rowyn Coetzee

All of creation waits for us little children...

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