Known: How Believing Who God Says You Are Changes Everything

All of humanity carries the image and likeness of God, and God has “named” his children with dignity—so that we might flourish and empower others to flourish. In Known, church planter and author Aubrey Sampson invites the reader to embrace his or her true “name” in Jesus so that the Name above every other name will be honored by all. Read this book and know the name above all others.

So many of us struggle with insecurity and unworthiness because we take our cues for value from what we see around us. Known helps us redirect our vision to the only place that matters: the Word of God. This book is like God calling us on the phone to remind us who we are in him. I pray many discover the truth in these words.

There are a lot of voices shouting at us about who we are. Known cuts through the noise with the biblical truths about how God sees us. Experience the powerful reality of God’s personal and specific names for you. Read this book, and you’ll find yourself freed and empowered to bless a hurting world.

In Known, Aubrey Sampson bravely shines a light on both our individual and communal pain. At the same time, she points us to a greater truth: God has specific and powerful names that counter every lie about who we are. What an invitation—to know how God sees us and loves us and to offer a hurting world an identity that can never be shaken.

If you ever wanted to explore your identity and family name as a child of God, this is the book to pick up. In such a personal, authentic, vulnerable (yet biblical) way, Aubrey emphatically and comprehensively declares how you are known by God. My prayer as you read Known: Not only will you come to know who God says you to be, but you (as the title says) will come to believe who God says you are—and that, my friends, will change everything, from how you live to how you live sent.

Aubrey’s book could be read slowly over time, but I ended up reading it in one sitting because I just couldn’t get enough. Her words are powerful but always kind and tender. I loved the way she made deep theological truths and stellar exegetical work accessible and relevant to any of us struggling to find our identity in Christ. After two decades of teaching the Bible, I know this resource should be in the hands of any Christian seeking more intimacy with Christ.

There is a cosmic battle being waged for the identity of every one of us. In Known: How Believing Who God Says You Are Changes Everything, my friend Aubrey Sampson does a masterful job exposing the lies and telling us the truth about our true identity in God. Sampson addresses one of the great contemporary questions of our time in an insightful, challenging, and compelling fashion. Read Known for yourself, but then share it with a friend.

Identity is the pain point of this generation. Many are risking everything to find who they are. The reality is we can’t make an identity, nor can we find one by looking within—it must be given to us by God. But this journey of knowing who we are by God is not just cerebral, it’s one that we have to feel in our bones. It has to make sense to us emotionally. This is why Aubrey’s book is so wonderful and needed. I was deeply moved as I read her words. She takes the truth of who God says we are and doesn’t just put a bow in it. Rather, she takes the reader on a journey that makes us feel all the feels and know what it’s like in our messy world to be Known by the only Voice that matters.

I think every heart on the planet has gotten pretty banged up the past few years, bruised and rubbed raw, buried under layer upon layer of anxieties and insecurities. Then comes the gentle, healing message of Known. Author and pastor Aubrey Sampson invites us to come as we are and reminds us that in our most broken places, we are known and named by God.

This book is beautiful. The writing is beautiful, of course, but even more beautiful is the grace Aubrey Sampson writes about. Most beautiful still is the God of grace at the center of this story. This book will encourage you to rest in Jesus and his goodness. In a time of sorrow and fear, this book steps in to point us to hope: hope in Christ as he sees and loves us.

“What’s in a name?” So much more than we (or Shakespeare) might realize. With her usual wit and insight, Aubrey Sampson teaches us that our names are a way of being known and that the name God gives us is the most important one of them all. With Aubrey as a guide, you’ll find the courage and freedom to live out of your true self, the one that is known and named by God.

In an age where you can be known by many and yet truly known by none, our souls long to be seen—flaws and all—and chosen nonetheless. In this raw, honest, and brilliant work, Aubrey Sampson shows us how to shed the false names we’ve assumed for ourselves and rest in the adoption of the Name above all names. I highly recommend this book to anyone who longs to feel completely understood and loved—which is all of us.

Aubrey Sampson is a wise teacher, a gentle guide into the tender spaces of our stories. Known speaks to our most fundamental longings with transformative hope. May the truths in these pages cause your heart to soar.