[Editor's note: The following is a transcribed excerpt from Bethany Hicks' powerful interview, which she shared on ElijahForce. To watch the full interview, click the link below.]
Prophetic Identity: The Two Most Important Questions in the Kingdom of God
We need to set this up scripturally, biblically, because this is a huge value that we all share at Prophetic Company and ElijahForce. We love Jesus and His Word. One of the things that we train when we're teaching about this is that the two most important questions in the Kingdom of God can be found in Matthew 16:[15]–18.
It's that passage where Jesus is walking with His disciples and He asks them, "Hey, you know, others say this about Me. Who do you say I am?"
And Peter famously replies, "You are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the living God."
And Jesus answered him and said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in Heaven." Then Jesus says, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."
So, the two most important questions in the Kingdom of God are number one, who do you say Christ is? And number two, who does He say I am?
Again, the first question speaks to Christ's identity—who He is to you. The second question is "Who does He say I am?"
We like to say it like this: The answer to the first question gets you into Heaven, but the answer to the second question gets Heaven into you.
The second question is speaking to our heavenly identity: "Who does He say I am?"
What Is Heavenly Identity?
So, what is heavenly identity? We hear a lot of talk, a lot of buzzwords about identity. What does that mean? For our purposes, I just want to define heavenly identity as simply who God says we are—who Jesus says you are. That is your heavenly identity. That is your truest self. If you could strip away all of the internal boxes, the expectations of others, the opinions of men, the lies that we believe; if you could strip all that away and then come to a full calibration of the truth, that would be your heavenly identity. And I believe that every single one of us is longing to know that.
Everyone wants to know who they're supposed to be, who they are, and also what they're called to.
I like to even say that your heavenly identity is who you've always been, because it's who the Lord already knows you to be. And we on earth are discovering and unpacking and unfolding who Heaven says that we are. So names, again, are one of the most prominent ways that we can discover who Heaven says we are. This is really, really important, because I think people might sometimes assume, "Why does this matter?" But the truth is if somebody has a wrong perception of their identity, it affects their future reality. (Photo via Pexels)
What You Believe About Your Identity Determines Your Future Reality
I think about the Israelites—such a great example—when they were in the wilderness, right? And it was actually when they were going to cross over originally and take possession of the Promised Land. The Scripture says that the twelve spies went out. We all know the story; they came back in. Joshua and Caleb gave a good report. The ten evil spies gave a bad report.
Now, what was interesting to me was both the two good spies and the ten bad spies, they all said they saw the same thing. They said, "The land is flowing with milk and honey. The produce is huge" [see Numbers 13:27]. They even all said that there were giants in the land. But Joshua and Caleb were like, "There are giants, but our God is bigger" [see Numbers 13:28–30].
If you remember, what did the ten spies say? They said, "Yes, there are giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes" [see Numbers 13:33]. That was an identity statement. That was a perception of their identity. And we know that that perception—all of the Israelites chose to believe that bad report and come into alignment and agreement with that false identity, and as a result, it cost an entire generation the Promised Land. So what you believe about your identity will either promote you into destiny or cause you to forfeit it.
I always hear people say, "Well, it doesn't matter what I think about my identity. What matters is what God says." And that's half true. Yes, it does matter what God says. But if you don't believe who God says you are, it's not going to have a landing place...
The "Lie of Shy"
You know, it reminds me of when my oldest daughter was a toddler. I used to take her around to the grocery store and things like that. We lived in a small mountain town, and we would run into friends of mine, and I'd say, "Oh, Faith, can you say hi to so and so?" And she would get this like really stinky look on her face and grunt and turn her head away kind of rudely.
I realized she was a toddler at the time. I had no problems with my kids not being perfect, but I knew something else was going on with her. And so I would talk to her privately, and I would say, "Hey, Faith, honey. When Mommy's introducing you, what's going on? Why are you making that face?"
She told me, "Well, I shy, Mommy. I shy." Now I believe that shy is a lie from the pit of Hell. You will not see a fruit of the spirit of shy in Scripture. I actually know and have friends who have lived under the "lie of shy" for decades of their life. In fact, shy is rooted in fear and intimidation. (Photo via Pexels)
Overcoming the Lie with the Truth
So as her mother, I could not allow my daughter to live under that false identity. It's like a grasshopper mindset. It's a grasshopper lens—the lie of shy. We can't just displace the lie or tell the lie to go away. We actually have to replace it with the truth. And so I would tell her, "Honey, you're not shy. You've got the Lion of the tribe of Judah living inside of you, and He is roaring through you." And I would continue to speak the truth of her heavenly identity over her. I would continue to reinforce that.
I think probably about six months later, I started to notice a change in her when we would go out, and she would start to kind of wave and say hi to people. But I saw her overcome that lie of shy.
I have to tell you, today, out of all three of my kids, she is so bold and fearless. She actually works as a manager in a coffee shop, which is a very social job, and she was the first person to get employee of the month. People love her because she is not afraid.
Let His Truth Propel You Into Your Destiny!
I told you I have friends that literally had been paralyzed in their purpose and destiny because they believed that they were shy. It was holding them back from stepping into the fullness of who Heaven actually said they were. So again, what you believe about your identity will either promote you into destiny or it will cause you to forfeit it...
I just want to encourage you, if you've been living under the lie of shy, and you didn't know it was a lie, I just want to declare over you right now that you have the Lion of the tribe of Judah living inside of you, and He is roaring. And I just bless you to start declaring the truth that the Lion of Judah lives inside of you, that shy is no longer your identity, shy is not your portion.
There is a difference between being quiet and being shy. That's okay. We're not talking about being quieter. We're talking about shy, which has that root intimidation.
I have a friend right now who did break through that... I love some of her testimonies. But what she does right now when she sees a group of people that [she] doesn't feel qualified to be around, and she's got friends in that group that are leaders, she'll just go and stand and be in that group. People are like, "Oh, do you want to say something?"
She's like, "Nope, I'm just staying here. I'm here. This is where I'm supposed to be."
She's not going to shrink back.
For some of you, there might be some baby steps to move forward by breaking through that lie of shy. But again... that fear, intimidation—the devil wants to hold us back, because he fears nothing more than sons and daughters knowing who they really are on the earth.
(To watch this full interview, click here.)
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Bethany Hicks
Prophetic Company
Email:Â Prophetictrainer@gmail.com
Website:Â www.propheticcompany.com
Bethany Hicks is an international speaker, co-founder of Prophetic Company, and a best-selling author. Additionally, she is part of the core teaching faculty for School of the Prophets at Bethel Church in Redding, CA. She is known as a strong communicator who releases passion and grace for people to embrace their world-changer identity. Additionally, she carries a strong leadership gift and has served in various capacities such as musician, singer, songwriter, and worship director for multiple churches over the last twenty years. Bethany currently resides in Round Rock, TX with her family.
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