Have you ever noticed how we tend to define ourselves? We say things like "I'm a parent," "I'm a teacher," or "I'm a musician." These labels aren't wrong, but they only scratch the surface of who we truly are. In Judges 6, we find Gideon hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat to keep it from the Midianites. He's afraid, insecure, and certainly not acting like a hero. Yet when God appears to him, He doesn't address Gideon based on what He sees. Instead, God says something remarkable: "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." God didn't call Gideon by who he was in that moment, but by who he would become through God's power. This wasn't just a nice compliment—it was a divine declaration of Gideon's true identity. This pattern appears throughout Scripture. God doesn't wait for us to become something before He calls us by that name. He speaks our identity into existence, just as He spoke the universe into being. Today, consider what labels you've accepted as your identity. Are they based on your past mistakes, your job title, your relationship status, or your bank account? God wants to speak a new identity over you—one that isn't earned through performance but received through relationship with Him.

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