“But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1, ESV).

To think that the very God of the universe knows and loves each one of His children enough to call them each by name. If you feel forgotten or unwanted or ignored, you are not. God sees you. God knows you. God loves you.

Satan loves to remind you of your failings. He wants to keep you feeling defeated and trapped in the continual cycle of addictions and lies. But in Christ, you are not your past. You are not your mistakes, your failures, your sins. You are who God says you are. You are all the promises God has ever made in Christ Jesus.

There’s a beautiful scene in the first episode of the first season of The Chosen when Jesus calls to Mary Magdalene. Instead of calling her by the name she has taken upon herself when she was destitute and demon-possessed, He calls her by her true name. He tells her, “I have called you by name. You are Mine.”

God brings us out of bondage and addictions by calling us by our true names. His voice alone has the power to silence the other voices and all the other names you have given yourself in moments of weakness or failure or the voices everyone else has given you when you weren’t good enough. As we respond in faith, the chains fall away.

You are not defined by the devil telling you your sin but by God calling you by name and then calling you Beloved.