The world asks: Who are you? Are you what they say or what God says?

John 10:22-42 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible (link on links page)

Jesus Asserts His Deity

²² At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; ²³ it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. ²⁴ The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. ²⁶ But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” ³³ The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶ do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷ If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; ³⁸ but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” ³⁹ Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

⁴⁰ And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. ⁴¹ Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” ⁴² Many believed in Him there.

“How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.       Jesus was continually questioned and asked to prove who He was. This was a continuation of the questions and temptations the devil tried against Jesus in the wilderness when he said "If you are the Son of God" The devil never stopped trying to get Jesus to question who He was or to tempt Him to react or respond to the challenges of people and do something simply to prove who He was.  Jesus held firm to His identity as the Son of God. His Father had spoken words of affirmation to Him, an affirmation not based on His performance but rather stictly based on God's love for Him. Before Jesus had even begun His ministry, before He preached a single sermen, or healed even the slightest defect or disease, when Jesus was baptized the Father said:

¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”(Matthew 3:16-17)  

Jesus walked every day in that affirmation, the affirmation that He was the beloved Son of God. It was an affirmation not based on His performance but rather on God the Father's love. In response, everything Jesus did, His life and ministry was based solely on doing the will of the Father. He said: 

¹⁹ Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; (John 5:19-20)

Jesus never felt a need to justify Himself. He stood on the affirmation of the Father's love. In doing the will of the Father, He also then allowed the works He did, which were the works of the Father, to speak of and testify of His oneness with God.  

The text says:    I and the Father are one.”  ³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. ³² Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” ...  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; ³⁸ but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

We need to have that same kind of confidence when we walk in the world. A confidence that is based on the truth of God's affirmation of who we are. God says:  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you (Jeremiah 1:5) Romans 8:14 says:  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.        2 Corinthians 6:18 says: "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.  Ephesians 1:4-5 says: just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

For most of us the world has given us other names. We need to see ourselves as God sees us, we need to hear the name He calls us. We go through our lives either accepting the wrong names that people have given us and living up to the lower standards of those expectations, being called stupid, a mistake, worthless, hopeless, no good, average, mediocre or we try to prove to the world that we are more than they say. We struggle and fight to change the opinion of man, trying to redeem ourselves from the name we have been given by the world. There is no end to that. The world will never be satisfied with what we have done. It after all is not the world that challenges us with our identity. It is the devil. Just as he did with Jesus, he continually tries to get us to question and doubt who God says we are.

God has a purpose for each of our lives. He has called us to do great things. Until we are confident in who we are, we can not reach our full potential in Him. Jesus says: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.(John 14:12)   We can only begin to do the works that Jesus did and the greater works that He promises when we have heard and accepted the affirmation from the Father. Only when we are convinced like Jesus, that we are His beloved can we begin to walk in His will. We need to understand and believe that His love for us is not based on our performance but rather on His heart. Then we can, like Jesus, resist the temptation to try to prove to the world who we are. Knowing who we are in God's eyes, we can rise above the limitations that the world has put on us. When we are confident in our identity in God's eyes through the work of the cross of Christ, our Savior, Redeemer and our Restoration, we can then like Jesus, begin to do only what the Father does. We no longer need to try to justify ourselves or prove to people who we are. As we join with God's plan and His purpose for our lives we will do the works that Jesus did, and even greater works.

Know this: the devil and the world will not give up easily. They will continue to question you and when the questioning no longer affects you they will threaten you. They will threaten you because there is nothing that threatens the devil more than one who is confident in their identity and calling in Christ. The text says of Jesus:    Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.  Even when Jesus had been arrested and stood before Pilate, He knew His life was in the hands of God not men.

John 19:10-11 So Pilate *said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above  

When we walk in the will, the call and the purposes of God, we can have the confidence to know that there is nothing that man can do to us that God has not allowed. We need to come to the place as Paul did where nothing in this world can affect who we are in Christ.

Yes, and I will rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰ according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. What freedom there is in that truth.

Today if you have believed the lies and taken the names of the world, I encourage you to listen for the voice of your Father. Your heavenly Father loves you. He has known you from before the foundations of the world. He says:  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you. Today hear Him say: “This is My beloved Son,(daughter) in whom I am well-pleased.”

He delights in you. Follow the link below to hear your Father's heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTNnTjfXRBk