Why Your Identity is Crucial to Your Destiny

Destiny -something that is to happen or has happened to a particular person or thing; lot or fortune. the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.

I believe in destiny. I believe we were all created for a purpose. I believe there is a person you and I were destined to become - and that person is inherently unique. I believe there are things you, as an individual, were destined to achieve. I believe that we have been “predestined (chosen, appointed beforehand) according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11).

I also believe that sadly we can miss what we were destined to do and be. Why? Because destiny is attached to our identity you can’t do one without the other. As you become, you do, and vice versa. A chef cooks, a basketball player plays and a preachers preach. You’re called to do something but first, you need to be that someone.

Some opportunities can pass by us because we haven’t stepped into our God-given identity. These opportunities have been designated for a particular person, and if we aren’t aligned with this person we were designed to be, the opportunity might not recognise us.

Think of identity much like a garment. You have to be appropriately dressed for the opportunities you want because you never know when you’ll be presented with that moment that propels you into your purpose. I think about the bible verse “he who finds a good wife finds a good thing”. It speaks about being prepared before the engagement.

Another biblical example could be David. He was anointed as king in 1 Samuel 16 and became king in 2 Samuel 5. He was a king before he was recognized as king before all of Israel. Don’t wait for the opportunity, title, or recognition for you to be what you’re meant to be. It’s being who God has called you to be that will attract the very things God has in store for you.

Back to the garment analogy. Joseph had a cloak given to him by his father, which aroused jealousy from his brothers and was stripped from him. Then whilst working with Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife took his cloak and used it as evidence against him. It was only when he dressed appropriately before Pharaoh that the opportunity presented itself. He was dressed by his father and his boss, but when he dressed himself and understood who he was in God everything changed.

It’s so easy to allow our family, our jobs, and our experience to dictate who we are. You need to decide who you are and do so wisely. Will you listen to the word or the world? What you listen to will dictate your destiny.

Have you ever wondered how in the Bible God will call people contrary to the circumstances? Abraham was a father to the nations, yet he had no child. Gideon was called a mighty man of valour when he came from the weakest clan, Manasseh. David a shepherd boy whom his father overlooked, a king. Your past and present don’t dictate your identity but God does, if you choose to believe it.

If the above people had not decided to believe who God said they are, they wouldn't have had the faith to step up and take opportunities, no matter how hard or how concealed it may have appeared. You need to have faith that you are who God says you are so when opportunity confronts you (sometimes disguised) as an obstacle you’ll know you were born for such a time as this and designed for this very purpose. If you were designed for it, then there’s grace for it.

So, consider the source of identity and does it line with who God said you are, and what you will do.