Heir Mentality: Reclaiming Your Identity As A Child of God

A Look Inside The Book: From Wilderness Chapter 7

One of the biggest blessings in defeating the false image Satan paints of God is getting to defeat the false image he paints of us. Regardless of whether you are a new believer or a seasoned believer, your identity is always subject to attack, because the enemy understands that if he can control how you see yourself, he can control the choices you make and the treatment you tolerate. We first see this in the garden when he tempted Eve to disobey God.

When Satan implied that eating the forbidden fruit would make Eve more like God, he also implied that she wasn’t good enough as she was. She was created in God’s image, and yet she was made to believe she was lacking. From both a good place and a place of insecurity, she made a choice that disobeyed God. And that choice had consequences far greater than she ever could’ve imagined.

We also see the Israelites struggle with identity in the wilderness. Even after God rescued them and called them His people, they still had a slave mindset and sought to return to their bondage because they did not understand what it meant to be an heir of the God Most High. Heir mentality—as well as righteous living—is exactly what God sought to teach them in the wilderness. Because God knows, our identity—our sense of self-worth—shapes our expectations and actions. A fractured sense of self-worth leaves us wanting, longing, and susceptible to seeking value and comfort in the wrong ways, people, and places.

Dip Deeper Question: Have you ever made a choice rooted in insecurity or fear that you later regretted?

Know Thy Enemy & Thy Father

The enemy wants us to believe that we are:

• not enough

• forgotten, abandoned, or alone

• defined by our past

• a disappointment to God

• unworthy of being saved or forgiven

• incapable of change

• too broken or too lost for redemption

• set up to fail

• stuck, hopeless, or cursed

• pointless, without purpose

• unloved

God seeks to remind us that:

• we are created in His image, perfect in His sight

• we are never alone or forgotten

• we are forgiven by His grace and our faith

• we are His beloved, chosen children

• our worth is defined by Him, and is not up for negotiation

• we are His workmanship

• we are sought after in our brokenness

• we have power and authority over forces of darkness through the Holy Spirit

• we are protected, provided for, redeemed, and healed

• we are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven—given dominion over the earth and trusted with specific kingdom assignments

• we are loved

Dig Deeper Question: If you truly believed you are loved, protected, and provided for by the Almighty God in Heaven—if you truly saw yourself as an heir of the kingdom of Heaven—how might you have chosen differently in the past?

An Example of Slave & Heir Mentality in the Wilderness

Twelve spies—one from each tribe of Israel—scouted the Promised Land so they could plan an invasion strategy. But when they returned to deliver their account, the majority spoke and acted out of fear and insecurity rather than faith and obedience.

“We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.” Numbers 13:27-28

For reference, the descendants of Anak are said to have been giants. When the spies saw the challenge ahead of them, they refused to enter the Promised Land.

“Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” Numbers 14:3-4

After everything God had done over a prolonged span of time, the majority of the Israelites still chose not to trust and obey. Not only that, they thought so low of God that they believed He would lead them not only to death, but that He would lead their wives and children into captivity. It was then that God realized some hearts would never open to Him.

Caleb and Joshua were the only two spies who had faith in the Lord to protect them and provide for them. They had adopted the heir mentality that the Father had been trying to instill in the Israelites. After the majority rejected God, the Israelites were forced to wander the wilderness for forty years so that the unfaithful generation could die off before the faithful entered the Promised Land. What we learn from this final part of the Israelites’ wilderness journey is:

• An heir does not let fear or insecurity rule them.

• An heir trusts, obeys, and heeds the voice of the Lord.

• An heir knows that God is with them and will make a way for them.

• An heir follows the Lord fully—even in the face of a great challenge.

• An heir is a conqueror.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

This chapter continues in Wilderness, available to preorder now, and features sections on how to think like an heir, speak like an heir, and pray like an heir along with journal prompts like these:

• Where in my life do I find myself saying, “if it’s God’s will” from a place of fear rather than trust?

• Do I truly believe God desires to bless me, or do I secretly question His willingness?

• How would my life—thoughts, speech, and actions—change if I believed God seeks to fulfill the desires of my heart?

• Where is God asking me to move forward in faith instead of shrinking back in fear?

• If I trusted that God is for me, what would I do differently this week, this month, or this year?