Who Do You Say They Are?

Who Do You Say They Are?

By Steve Backlund

“Who do you say they are?” Could this be the third most important question in all of life?

The most important question to answer is who we say Jesus is.  “(Jesus) said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 16:15-17). Our eternal destiny depends on our rightly identifying Jesus as Messiah and Son of God.  

The second most important question to answer is who we say we are. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”  (Proverbs 23:7) “Then said I: ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.’ But the Lord said to me: ‘Do not say, “I am a youth”’” (Jeremiah 1:6-7). We cannot consistently do what we don’t believe we are. The ten spies’ belief that they were small and powerless (“we are grasshoppers”) caused them to live far short of what God had planned for them.

The third most important question to answer is who we say the people in our life are. Abram’s encounter in Genesis 17 changed who he said he was (Abram, “Exalted Father”, to Abraham, “Father of a Multitude”), but he also changed who he said Sarai was. “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” (Genesis 17:15-16). He was to call her fruitful, blessed, and a high level, generational influencer. This name change decision caused a delayed promise (waiting for over twenty years) to happen within a year. 

I became more convinced about the importance of our beliefs about others by what happened to our cat, Dewey. We had installed a cat door for him to get in and out of our house, but Dewey could not figure out how to use it. My wife and I found ourselves saying out loud how dumb he was. Then we were convicted to apply our own message to our cat. We started saying things like, “Dewey is a very smart cat. He is brilliant at using the cat door.” Well, the next day after we started saying who he was, he started using the cat door successfully!  

Similarly, I remember when the Lord challenged me on who I was saying (or not saying) who the people of my church really were? I knew enough not to verbalize negative identity statements about them, but my internal self-talk about them was more based on their behaviors than on who they really were. In dialoguing with the Lord about them, I heard him say to my spirit, “Steve, you are one of the biggest problems in their lives. They have enough challenges, let alone having a key leader for them renewing his mind with low-level beliefs about them.” It was then I, like Abraham did with Sarah, started calling them by their promises and true identity by applying Romans 4:17, “Calling those things that are not as though they are.” In my prayer time, I would say things like: 

• I lead great people who are important in world-wide revival. 

• My people are faithful, generous, and operate powerfully in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

• Our church and its people are known for strong homes, integrity, kindness, and being incredibly positive influences in the city. 

As I said these things, my faith and beliefs about my people increased dramatically. This affected how I saw and spoke to them because “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). These things I said in private would overflow in my words when I was with them. The result was that my people felt that I liked them, believed in them, and was for them (and not against them). This greatly affected my leadership because I had greater hope for them. Truly, our hope-level determines our influence level; and the person with the most hope has the most influence. 

This principle of declaring to ourselves the true identity of people is not just for leaders in organizations, but it is an important ingredient for being an empowering person in all our relationships, including our spouse, children, friends, leaders over us, cities, neighborhoods, schools, etc. It will take our influence and quality of relationships to another level. 

There are some cautions to be aware of in implementing this. First, we don’t want this practice to be manipulative in getting people to meet selfish desires we have. Secondly, we also don’t want to use good beliefs to blind us to important actions we are to take so we are not enabling people in dysfunctional and destructive behaviors, or believing character and integrity is unimportant for leadership roles. 

With that said, let me close with this truth: Who we believe we are talking to determines the level of empowerment in our words. If we believe we are talking to a great person or great people, then our words will be filled with life. If we believe we are talking to people who do not want to do things right, then our words will tend to be disempowering. 

Let me ask you a question. Who do you say they are? What do you think? Is it the third most important question in all of life? A positive answer could be the “one thing” that changes everything in having a positive influence.