A policeman once stopped me while taking my son to school hundreds of kilometers away from Lagos, where we live in Nigeria. The man in uniform asked, “Excuse me sir, can you identify yourself?” I already knew what he was asking for, so I pulled up in the sideways to present him with my identity card.

YOUR REAL IDENTITY ISN'T PHYSICAL

When I pulled over, all I did was reach into my bag and bring out my driver’s license to present to the policeman. At least, that should answer his questions according to the constitution of Nigeria.

As a Nigerian citizen, my identity could be authenticated by a Nigerian passport, a driver’s license, a national ID card or a permanent voter’s card.

However, there are people who possess all these means of identification and are still complete failures! Do you know why? The reason is, there’s a huge difference between your real identity and your national or physical identity!

You need to realize that your real identity as a human being on earth goes beyond your identity as a citizen of your country. It goes beyond your height, complexion, skin colour whether or not you’re are educated!

Yes, it is good to identify your citizenship in your country of abode; but can you really identify yourself in real life?

“You cannot really be successful in this life until you can identify who you truly are.”

LIFE'S FORCES DON'T RECOGNIZE IDENTITY CARDS!

You can get a pass from the police, at the embassy or at the bank through valid means of identification. However, when the forces of life demand that you identify yourself, your international passport or national ID card cannot bail you out!

For instance, many people have been harassed by the force of poverty all their lives. Poverty seems to demand that they identify themselves, but they have no valid spiritual ID to present to poverty, and their struggle with the force of poverty seems endless!

The same goes for people where the forces of sickness, depression, guilt, low self-esteem… are concerned. The only way out is if the people concerned can truly identify themselves; and these forces will let go of them at once!

You cannot really be successful in this life until you can identify who you truly are.

THE STORY OF AN EAGLET THAT GREW UP WITH CHICKENS

Identity is everything! I read a story many years ago of an eaglet that grew up among chickens. This eaglet would scamper for safety together with the chickens each time an eagle came from the sky to scare the chickens.

This continued for a long time until one day when the eaglet saw a reflection of herself in water. Alas, she discovered she looked like the almighty eagle that terrorized them daily! She started to alter her mentality henceforth because of a changed identity!

The eaglet began to attempt flying…and the rest is history.

You too can only achieve so far until you discover who you really are. The moment you discover your identity, you will realize among many other things that you’re not an average person; that you’re not created to be poor; that you’re not destined to be sickly.

But all of these would mean nothing until you discover who you truly are – your true IDENTITY!

Your true identity is what God says about you. Stop struggling with the fake identity people try to give you, or which the enemy try to paint in your heart. You are who God says you are!