The need to perform to prove our identity in Jesus always comes from the sense of lack. “Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread’ Why didn’t Jesus simply work a miracle to prove who He was? Satan, in his subtle mind game, was asking Jesus to prove His identity by His performance. Had Jesus wavered in His sense of identity through His relationship with God, had He followed the logic of the question, had He started asking Himself the wrong questions, He would have started down a path of works righteousness that would have led to His fall. His life would have become consumed with proving His identity instead of living His identity. 

The main message the devil has for you—the message of all codependent teaching, the message of religion, the message that lies at the core of everything that has robbed the church of victory—is the charge, “You are not who God says you are. Therefore you do not have what God says you have. ” The question may not come to us in the same manner that it came to Jesus. For us it may be presented in the form of qualification. “What is it that actually qualifies me for the promises of God? What qualifies me to go to heaven? What qualifies me to receive a miracle in my time of need? Why should God answer my prayers? Or, most importantly, why should God love me?” 

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