Stolen Identity: Finding Your Identity in Christ

Introduction

As I sit here writing this book, I am thinking about all the people out there who are struggling with an identity crisis—those who have been victims of sexual abuse; those who have been physically abused; those who are enslaved by habits such as drugs and alcohol abuse and the lifestyle that goes with it. I’m thinking of those who are facing divorce; those who have been rejected by someone they love; those who are suffering from emotional pain; and those who once dreamed big dreams but now have nothing.

My heart goes out to all of you, and I pray that this book will be an inspiration to you. I want to say to all of you who are suffering from an identity crisis that we have a cruel enemy who has managed to steal the identity of many people. After you read this book, you will be able to find your identity in Christ. You will be able to regain your self-worth. You will be able to take back what the enemy has stolen from you. And you will become confident in who you are in Christ.

Inspiration for this book came from hearing a young man’s testimony of how he struggled for ten years with drug addiction and the lifestyle that went with it. He talked about how something that started out as enjoyable turned into something that was literally destroying his life. He talked about how that lifestyle was dragging him down deeper and deeper into a pit. He got to the place where he thought there was no way out. He found himself cornered. As he was sharing his testimony, the Lord told me to write a book and call it Stolen Identity, so that is where the inspiration for the writing of this book came from.

I would like to say to those who find themselves cornered, where there seems to be no way out, there is a way.

There is hope for you regardless of where your life took a wrong turn. You are not alone. Others have gone through the same things you’re going through and have come out victorious.

This young man had been brought up in a godly home with godly principles, and yet he found himself lost in a world of drugs and trapped in a lifestyle he knew was wrong but didn’t know how to get out of. Just because you come from a godly home does not exempt you from the attacks of the enemy.

The Bible says there is pleasure in sin for a season. But like all seasons, that season has to come to an end.

The devil doesn’t tell you that one day that lifestyle will no longer bring pleasure. He never tells you the end result of sin. He never tells you of the misery you’ll find yourself in. He never tells you that your body will crave the very thing that’s killing you. He doesn’t tell you that one day you might sell your own soul for a fix. Why it’s called a fix, I’ll never know. As far as I can see, it has never fixed anything.

The devil is crafty. He is preparing a trap to ensnare you. This trap has no way out and is a trap to steal your identity.

Many will say how can that happen? How can someone from a godly home end up in such a predicament? It’s more common than we realize. We live in a world filled with temptation. It’s easy to fall into the trap of the enemy. At first, it doesn’t appear to be wrong. It doesn’t look like it will lead you down a road of destruction. How can something that feels so good be so wrong?

Many young men and women come from good Christian homes with God-fearing parents, and yet they find themselves enslaved to a lifestyle of sex and drugs. They become confused about who they are and what to believe, confused about their identity.

When we lose our identity, we begin to look for it in drugs, in sex, in fame and fortune. We start looking for our identity in all the wrong places.

Young men and women all over the world are struggling with issues they can’t seem to find answers to, wondering where they went wrong, wondering who they are. They are wondering where this whole thing is going to end up and if their lives will ever change.

Our world is suffering from an identity crisis.

There are many young men and women who were brought up in godly homes, brought up in church. Some of these young men and women are even preachers’ sons and daughters, but they don’t know who they are. Many are confused about their identity. When we become confused about who we are we seek identity in things, in pleasure, in fame, in money, and in relationships.

There’s a lot of talk these days about identity theft where legal documents, such as social security cards and driver’s licenses and credit cards, have been stolen and another person other than yourself is using your identity. Today, with the technology of the Internet identity theft is becoming more prevalent all over the world.

There’s another kind of identity theft going on that many Christians are unaware of. This form of identity theft is subtle, but the end result is deadly. The enemy of our soul is a master at identity theft. He steals a person’s identity so that the person is left in confusion, wondering who he or she is or where he or she belongs.

We see him using the same strategy in the Garden of Eden. In order to cause the fall of man, he had to cause an identity crisis in the life of Eve. That identity crisis caused man to fall from his original state.

The devil never changes. He uses the same strategies he used in the Garden of Eden. Why change a good thing if it’s working? We continue to fall for the same things: the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and the lust of other things.

The struggle begins when we become confused about who we are. We find that we always want to be different. We want to be someone else. We don’t like who we are. We don’t like what we see in the mirror. We have a poor self-image and are dissatisfied with who we are. We need answers. The devil promises a lot. He just can’t deliver. The Bible says there is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is destruction.

The word of God holds the answers for the questions young and old alike are asking today. It holds answers for those who find themselves entrapped in a lifestyle they can’t seem to get out of.

Let me tell you today that there is hope; there is a way out. No matter how impossible your situation may seem at the moment, there is a way out. No matter how addicted you are to drugs or sex or gambling or other things, there is a way out of your situation. Jesus came to set at liberty the bruised, the brokenhearted, and those who are bound.

The Bible tells us that there is nothing impossible with God, so there is no impossible situation that God can’t change. The impossibilities are with us. We see everything according to our circumstances, according to how things appear to us. We know ourselves. We know our limitations. But in God there are no limitations.

This book will help young and old alike, who are finding themselves trapped in a lifestyle that once brought pleasure but now holds only misery and pain.

There is hope for those who are searching for answers in all the wrong places and instead of answers are finding themselves sinking deeper and deeper into a lifestyle they don’t know how to get out of.

Young people are not the only ones trapped in a lifestyle of drugs and sin. Many older adults are addicted to drugs, be it prescription drugs or street drugs. There are many adults struggling with the same issues younger adults struggle with. The devil is no respecter of persons. He’s no respecter of age. His only desire is to kill, steal, and destroy. The Bible plainly states that the wages of sin is death. Sin will only lead you down a path of destruction, and when it’s through with you, it will take your life.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:14–15).

We are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires. There is a big difference in being tempted and entering into the temptation. Everybody is tempted. Jesus was tempted. The decision to enter into it is ours.

In order to understand the identity crisis I’m talking about, we have to go back to where identity crisis began.

Chapter 1

The Origin of Identity Crisis

And God said; let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Gen. 1:26).

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Gen. 3:1).

To find out where and how identity crisis began, we have to go back to the beginning, back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lived in a perfect environment where there was no sickness or disease or death. They had no lack because God made provision for them. They had perfect communion with God. God came down in the cool of the day and visited with them. There was no separation between God and man. They had everything a human being could ever want.

God created them in his image. He gave them dominion to rule on the earth. They didn’t question who they were; they didn’t struggle with an identity crisis until the day the serpent came to Eve. Somehow the enemy found an entrance into the garden and Eve was his target. He began by planting a suggestion in her mind that she wasn’t everything God told her she was. He suggested that there was something lacking, that she could be something more. As Eve began to meditate on what the devil said to her, she began to think that maybe he was right. Maybe God was keeping something from them; maybe they could be more like God. The more thought she gave to it, the more enticing the devil’s suggestion became.

How many times has the enemy planted that thought in your mind? How many times have you given in to the thought that there‘s something lacking in your life, that God is holding something from you, or that there’s got to be more than what you have?

Soon she began to imagine what it would be like to be more like God, to know right from wrong, to taste of the forbidden fruit. God had given them one commandment: they were not to eat of the tree that was in the midst of the garden.

Satan will always magnify the things that God tells you not to do and make them look enticing.

Eve had no idea that her life was about to change drastically, that she was about to pass from life to death. She had no idea that the decision they made that day would change the course of humanity. She had no idea that the decision they made would affect every person born after them. She had to have spent some time meditating on the thoughts of the enemy and the imagination of what it would be like to be more like God. As she meditated on it, it became a stronghold in her mind until it was occupying her every thought and finally her actions. She became obsessed with the thought. Being overwhelmed with the idea, she didn’t think about the consequences. At the moment, she thought nothing of her disobedience to God, her creator. She reached out and took of the fruit and ate. (Genesis 3:6) Immediately they knew they had done wrong. Instead of it being a joy to see God come in the cool of the