An Excerpt from Whose Voice Are You Listening To? How to Fight and Win the Daily Spiritual Battle by Colleen Orchanian
Satan’s Rule #1
You must prevent the humans from knowing their true identity. Remind them often that they are worthless, sinful vermin who mean nothing. They have no purpose. They have no value. They cannot be loved. This message can come from many people: parents, siblings, children, friends. The more people involved in repeating this message, the better. We want them to always believe that they are not enough. They are merely dust, and unto dust they shall return.
Identity theft is a terrible crime. Someone uses your sensitive information and pretends to be you in order to spend your money or sell your house—or worse. When that happens, it takes some time and effort to reclaim your identity. You may lose money or property, but eventually that false identity can be removed, and you learn to guard your identity more carefully in the future.
Spiritual identity theft is far more damaging, but most of us don’t even know to guard ourselves against it. The truth is, we have a God-given identity, and Satan wants to steal it.
What is that God-given identity? We are beloved sons and daughters of God.
We are beloved, not because we do good things, but because He created us in love.
We are of God because we belong to Him. He desires us. We do not need to be ashamed of being needy. We are needy precisely because we are His children.
If we stray from the flock, God comes after us. We are precious in His sight. We are cherished. We are daughters and sons of the King, made in the image and likeness of God. We are important, and we are made to be with God in Heaven. The Baltimore Catechism tells us that our purpose in life is to be with God: “God made me to know, love, and serve Him in this life and be happy with Him forever in the next.”
Is that how you see yourself? Do you believe it?
Maybe in your head you know your true identity, but in your heart, you doubt. Doubt comes from the enemy. It is a spiritual attack on our self-image. Satan directs our thoughts to two extremes: either self-condemnation or self-glorification. We think either too little or too much of ourselves.
When we think too little of ourselves, we might say or believe things like this: I am a victim. I am unlovable. I am unwanted. I am unimportant. I am a fraud. I am worthless. I am broken. I am irredeemable. I am undeserving. I am nobody. I am bad (a bad mother, sister, father, son, etc.).
These negative “I am” statements diminish our identity. They contradict the one given by God. If we know and receive our God-given identity, when we hear those “I am” lies, we don’t believe them. They have as much power as hearing, “I am a hamburger.” That’s ridiculous. Who would believe it?
The other extreme is thinking too much of ourselves. Satan suggests we are “all that and a bag of chips.” We might say or believe things like: I am good with God. No need to change a thing. I did this great thing. Me! I’m amazing. I am independent and don’t need anyone. I am in control. I can do all things through me (not through Christ who gives me strength). I am woman (or man), hear me roar!
This false identity is about confidence—not confidence in God, but confidence in ourselves. Self-confidence is not bad if it is directed properly: I am confident in God’s love for me. But when I believe He loves me because of me, because of what I have done, that is a problem. My confidence should be in God’s love rather than in my work. It’s about God—not me.
Those are the extremes of identity that Satan uses as a spiritual attack. In each of them, we don’t see ourselves as God does, which blinds us to the truth of who we are and gives the devil space to tempt and hurt us.
Why do we believe lies about our identity? Why does this attack work? The reason will be unique to each individual, but here are some common reasons:
- Family history. If you did not experience unconditional love as a child, you will struggle to know it as an adult. You will hear an accusation and believe it without testing it because you already have a negative sense of your own identity. For example, if parents emphasized achievement and linked good grades to love, you might think God can only love you when you are perfect.
- Toxic relationships. If you have people in your life who make you doubt yourself, who manipulate you to get what they want, who betray you, who say they love you with words when their actions say the opposite, then you will struggle to know your own worth, or the goodness of God and other people. Over time, we come to believe what the people in our lives say about us, and when people we love continually tell us we are worthless, we need healing to become whole again.
- Cultural beliefs. Society tells us what’s important: status, money, power. We believe what we see and read in the culture and find that we don’t measure up. For example, if we have anxiety or depression, church friends might tell us we need more faith. If we have AIDS or herpes, we feel unclean, like the lepers in the Bible. If we don’t look like the beautiful people on TV, we think we aren’t enough. The success metrics of the world can deeply affect our self-image.
Satan doesn’t care if we think too much or too little of ourselves. Either works for him because it keeps us from thinking of ourselves as God does. It prevents us from receiving the powerful identity we have as Christians. The devil knows that we can do great things when we know who we are, and he will do everything he can to stop us from doing the great things God calls us to do for the Kingdom.
Fighting Attacks on Our Identity
Awareness is the first step in the battle. How do you see yourself and why? Does it align with scripture? If not, be curious about why. Our past affects how we behave now. A belief today might be a leftover reaction from our past. Why do I believe this lie? Where did it originate? Why does it work on me?
When we know the source of the lie, we can respond, first by rejecting the false identity and then replacing the lie with God’s truth. For example: Saying no doesn’t make me selfish. Sometimes I am supposed to say no. Jesus told the apostles, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). God calls me to rest as well.
You may have to keep repeating the truth to believe it, and that’s okay. Repetition helps belief. A child who is constantly told that she is stupid begins to believe it. An adult who is constantly told that Jesus loves her can come to believe that as well.
The lies the devil tells us about our own identity are effective because we are wounded and broken. We need to do some healing work to overcome these kinds of lies.
God loves us. He loved us till the end (see John 13:1)—enough to die for us. This fact should humble us, and at the same time amaze us. We know we are unworthy in and of ourselves, yet God loves us anyway, and thus He alone makes us worthy. We can reject the lies that tell us we are not enough. And we can receive the powerful identity given to us by God in baptism.
I am His beloved child.
No other identity matters.
God’s Voice
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)
“There is nothing you could do right now that would make God love you more.” (Fr. John Riccardo)
Questions for prayer
How do I see myself? Can I hold the tension of God’s love for me and my unworthiness without it harming my identity?
How effective are spiritual attacks on my identity? If they do have a big impact, why? What healing might I need to claim my true identity?
How does God see me? How can I see myself as God sees me?
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