Your Identity Has Been Stolen

By Regina Shank
In today's world, most of us take photos on our cell phones. But remember when we used to take a roll of film in to be developed? Do you remember the negatives that came with your developed pictures? Recently in a gathering, I had a vision of a billfold full of photo negatives.  I was curious about that picture and asked the Lord to tell me what it meant. He said, "Your identity has been stolen."
 
Almost daily, we are asked to show some I.D. when making a purchase or doing business. We pull out our billfold to show some proof of identity. In doing so, we are saying, :"This is who I am," as we display a picture I.D. 
 
Suddenly I understood what the vision of the billfold full of photo negatives meant. Our soul has memory; trauma, disappointments, hurts, betrayals, past failures. These leave a negative imprint in the soul's photo journal. We can begin to identify with those negative memories taking on the persona of past events. We begin to believe that we are what has happened to us. Perhaps we failed in some way; we begin to believe we are a failure. Maybe we were abandoned as a child; we see ourselves as rejected, not wanted. It could be that you have had health problems and you see yourself as handicapped or you begin to own the problem calling it "my diabetes," "my back problem," "my cancer."  Your identity has become a billfold full of negatives, failures, and labeled situations.
 
It's time to get your identity back.  Who are you? You are not what has happened to you; you are who He says you are!  Let's throw away the labels, the false ID's, and allow the Lord to tell us who we are.
 
A few years ago, I was getting ready for my son's rehearsal dinner before his wedding. I had purchased water glasses for the dinner and found myself at the kitchen sink removing "Libby" labels from the bottom of each glass. This took some time as there were 100 of them and the labels were sticky. During this tedious process, the Lord spoke to me and said, "I have called you to remove labels from my people. They don't know who they are and believe what they have been told by others or have taken on the identity of their traumas. "
 
The next day I was speaking on a Sunday morning at a local church. During the message, I was drawn to a young woman on the back row of the church. I interrupted my message and told her that the Lord had pointed her out to me. I then asked her what her name was. She said, "My name is Libby."
 
The prophetic word came forth from my spirit for her, "you have identified yourself with the negative events in your life; you have believed the labels given to you by those who have hurt you. You are not who they say you are; you are not who you believe you are. You are the daughter of the Lord, precious in His sight, formed to display His glory. He has called you out of Moab; He is bringing you into a new genuine identity. He is pulling off the sticky label of your past, washing you clean from the handprints of your tormentors, bringing you to His banqueting table, giving you the chair of Mephibosheth at the King's table.  Your identity has been stolen from you. Today you get it back, all of it. For I am restoring it all to you. You will walk in new authority; you will stand in great confidence for you are not your failures; you are not what you have been labeled. You are mine. I have brought you forth for such a time as this. Rise up my daughter! Know who you are. Put on your robes of righteousness that I purchased for you with my own blood. Step into my courts and be crowned with destiny. The past labels are now removed. "
 
Needless to say, Libby was shaken, changed, and sent forth with a new reality called restored identity. How about you? Do you have a billfold of negatives that have become your identity? Have you taken on the persona of past failures receiving false statements about yourself, allowing them to harness you to a false identity? Ask the Lord to show you who you really are. It's time to rip those sticky, false labels off and receive your true, genuine I.D. produced in the court of heaven that trumps, overrides, and removes the manufactured, counterfeit negatives of this deceptive world. Time to get your identity back. You are a son or daughter of your Father God. Wear it, walk it, display it!
 
John 13:3-5 says, "
 
Knowing who He was, where He came from, and where He was going was key to fulfilling His destiny. It is a key we must use to enter the fulfillment of the book of destiny written on our hearts by God Himself. It's time to be restored to the reality of who we are in Him! 

Regina Shank