Who are you?  You ask most people and they give their name, their occupation, often if they sense you are a Christian, their denominational affiliation.  Dig deeper they may say where they were born and raised, where their ancestors are from, especially if there might be someone famous in their lineage.  All of that is true, but for the Christian, the Christ-follower, the most true thing we can say is that we are a child of God.  Stop and really think about that for a minute.  If you have believed on Christ Jesus for your salvation, if you have repented of your sins and been redeemed by His blood, then you are, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, a new creation, old things are passed away, all things become new.  Can you grasp that?  Yes, I am still Gail, but I have the Spirit of the most high God living in me.  I have the unending, eternal love of the Father.  I am now the sister and friend of Jesus.  I am all those things, and yet I still often forget.
I have been bought with a price, I have been redeemed from the laws of sin and death, I have been restored to right relationship with the Father; and yet I sometimes live like I am an orphan, feeling forgotten, neglected and destitute.  Whose fault is that?  Is it my Father's fault?  Is it the fault of Jesus or the Holy Spirit?  No it is my own failing, my own lapse in memory.  I need to remember Whose I am and what I am called to.
I am called to, as Brennan Manning says in his book 'A Glimpse of Jesus', "A life of integrity and self-acceptance."  We each have a dream, something we believe we are here on earth to do.  But as Christians, we are called to another dream, the dream of Jesus Christ and His kingdom here on earth.  As Brennan says, "A life of integrity is born of fidelity to the dream."  And to have self-acceptance is not some new age, mindfulness exercise.  It is rather this, "...the attitude of self-acceptance is not essentially self-centered.  It is radically relational.  It is not self-regarding but Christ-oriented."  He goes on to say that "The spurious self-contentment that evolves from scrupulous self-examination, rigorous mortification, and the anxious endeavor to achieve purity of heart is bogus spirituality, the counterfeit of Christian integrity."  I cannot work myself up to feel good enough about myself to get over my self-doubt.  I cannot read enough self-help books to get me over that hump.  What I can do is to remember Whose I am and who He has said I am.
1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  That does not sound like an orphan, forgotten, neglected and destitute.  That sounds like someone cherished, someone special, someone I'd like to know.  To be honest most days that does not sound like me.  Jared C. Wilson in his book 'Gospel Deeps' says this, "Many Christians' problems with fear, doubt and complacency stem from forgetting who they are, which is to say, who they are in Christ."  We are free from the law, we are righteous because of Him.  "Christ hides me within Himself. (And) if all this is true, then I am as secure as Christ is."  
We are secure in Him because He has hand-picked us, a chosen race.  I have never been picked first for anything.  In school I was always picked last for any team sport; who wants the overweight clumsy girl.  Who wants that weird nobody? Who are you?? But He picked me first!  He picked me even in my awkwardness, the ungainly and ungraceful person that I was.  Now I still run into walls and knock things over, but I do that as His child, not as a nobody that no one wants.  
We are secure in Him because He made us royalty.  We're not talking Cinderella stories here.  We are talking the real thing.  We were taken from obscurity and made into aristocrats!  And not just your garden variety nobility, but royal priests.  We are to bring the message of salvation, His hope and love to all people.  We are to live a life that is an example of His grace and mercy to others, to all others.  Oh, that is a hard one sometimes, isn't it?  I fail miserably at this.  I feel as if I pray daily for forgiveness for harsh thoughts, for unkind words, for uncharitable deeds.  Who are you??  But yes, He is faithful to forgive all of that and to help me to become a better emissary of the Kingdom of God.  
We are secure in Him because we are a holy nation.  Wow, I don't often feel holy.  Maybe in the midst of worship; eyes closed, hands raised I feel kinda sorta holy-ish.  Who are you??  But as Mr. Wilson quotes, "When God tells us, "You shall be holy, for I am holy," it is a command, but it's also a promise."  We cannot make ourselves holy, that is something that He does in us every day.  We have been cleansed from our sins, not for our own consumption as it were, but so that we can show others the redeeming work of God through His Son Jesus.
We are secure in Him because we are a people for His own possession.  Again a quote from Mr. Wilson, "Put simply, God owns us.  Of course, God really owns everybody, but he treats those trusting in his Son as his own children.  He treats them differently, specially.  He marks them out, covers them, secures their future, and gives them a hope.  He sends his Spirit to indwell, convict, teach and comfort them.  And here's the deal, nobody steals God's stuff.  If He owns you, He owns you.  Those whom Christ has purchased for the Father will not get lost or be forfeited. (John 6:39, 10:28)."  Meaning that as it says in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from God and His love; nuh uh, no way, no how.  Not anyone, not even ourselves and our feelings of orphan-ness.  Even we can't ask in an accusatory manner, who are you??
That doesn't convince you of who you are?  Really?  Well, ok.  Then let's look at a couple of scriptures that expound on that matter:


John 1:12, I am God’s child.
John 15:15, I am Christ’s friend.
Romans 5:1, I have been justified.
1 Corinthians 6:17, I am united with the Lord, and I am one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:20, I have been bought with a price. I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27, I am a member of Christ’s Body.
Ephesians 1:1, I am a saint.
Ephesians 1:5, I have been adopted as God’s child.
Ephesians 2:18, I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:14, I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:10, I am complete in Christ.
Romans 8:1-2, I am free from condemnation.
Romans 8:28, I am assured all things work together for good.
Romans 8:31-34, I am free from any condemning charges against me.
Romans 8:35-39. I cannot be separated from the love of God.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22, I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
Philippians 1:6, I am confident that the good work God has begun in me will be perfected.
Philippians 3:20, I am a citizen of heaven.
Colossians 3:3, I am hidden with Christ in God.
2 Timothy 1:7, I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.
Hebrews 4:16, I can find grace and mercy in time of need.
1 John 5:18, I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.
Matthew 5:13-14, I am the salt and light of the earth.
John 15:1,5, I am a branch of the true vine, a channel of His life.
John 15:16, I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
Acts 1:8, I am a personal witness of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:16, I am God’s temple.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21, I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
2 Corinthians 6:1, I am God’s coworker (see 1 Corinthians 3:9).
Ephesians 2:6, I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm.
Ephesians 2:10, I am God’s workmanship.
Ephesians 3:12, I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Who are you?  If you realize who you are in Christ, if you truly know in your 'knower', you can answer that question with integrity and self-acceptance.  You are hand-picked, holy nobility; His and His alone.  Even on the days when you may feel like an orphan, forgotten, neglected and destitute.  Tell your feelings to get real and line up with the truth of who and Whose you are.

Quotes from Brennan Manning, 'A Glimpse of Jesus, a stranger to self-hatred'
Quotes from Jared C. Wilson, 'Gospel Deeps'
Bible verses taken from Neil Anderson, 'Victory over Darkness'

I think I'm dealing with a bout of the flu again.  Congested, sore throat, headache, chills.  I know the best thing to do is to get in plenty of fluids, but I'm having a hard time making myself drink any water.  I just want to huddle in bed and sleep.  I know fluids are the best thing for me though, so I'll make myself drink as much as I can to keep my body hydrated.  Maybe if I pretend it's mid-summer, a hot day, I'm outside and the sun is beating down on me.  Maybe I'll think how Jesus felt enduring the heat as He was passing through Samaria on His way to Galilee.  It's hot, He is tired from His travels and He stops by Jacob's well.  He wants a drink of water but He has no vessel to lower into the well to get any.  He sees a woman approach and asks her for a drink.  Thank goodness there were no Pharisees around...not that He would have cared.  But the Samaritans were considered basically scum of the earth.  And to speak to a Samaritan woman would have been even worse, they were considered continually unclean.  But we know and love Jesus for His flouting the rules...well, man-made rules.  
She asks Jesus why He would even ask her for a drink, as she is who she is; a Samaritan woman.  But little does she know that He really knows who she is.  They banter back and forth and He says if only she knew the free gift of God and who it is that is speaking to her.  He can give her living water.  Now back then that would have most likely meant flowing water as opposed to well water, but we know that He means so much more.  The story in John 4 goes on to say that He can give her water that if she drinks it she will thirst no more.  Now this interests her.  She says, give me this water.  Now comes the interesting part.  He tells her to go and get her husband.  She answers, "I have none."  Jesus, as we would say reads her mail and says "you speak truly.  You have had five husbands and the man you are with now is not your husband."  What is amazing to me is that she is not offended, she is not cowering in shame.  She knows that this Man is different.  He has treated her with respect, He knows all there is to know about her and He has not humiliated her, He has just stated fact.  Just as He stated fact when He said He could give her living water. 
Oh how I love Him for this.  She had five previous husbands, and now was living with a man and was not married.  In today's culture this wouldn't even rate a blurb on TMZ or a headline in the National Enquirer.  But then it was considered immoral, she must have done something very wrong to have gone through so many husbands.  And the fact that she was at the well during the hottest part of the day meant she was avoiding seeing other women, as they would have gone to the well when it was cooler.  I so relate to this woman.  Before I met Jesus I too had many husbands.  I'm not speaking literally here, but I had many things in my life that came before any thought of Him.  One husband was promiscuity.  I felt I had no worth so I gave myself away.  Another husband was drugs and alcohol.  I used chemicals to try to bury the fact that I had a gaping hole in me that I couldn't fill with any amount of Jack Daniels.  I too was shunned by others.  In fact one young lady told my then future husband Jim that I was more trouble than he could imagine.  Thank goodness he ignored that bit of advice; I was blessed to meet my Saviour because of him.  
Here I was, this disgraced slattern of a woman offered a drink of living water.  Unlike today when I am having trouble getting enough water in, I gulped Him in.  I could not get enough of that free gift from God.  I took no delicate sip like a proper Englishwoman at high tea; I quaffed that living water like a dock worker drinking a pint after a long day toiling away.  I could not get enough of Him.  Of His love, His compassion, His delight in me.  No one had ever delighted in me.  I was worthless, a piece of trash to be used and then tossed aside.  To Him I was treasure.  Oh how my soul, my heart absorbed that in!  How my spirit swelled with the knowledge that I was someone.  Not only someone, but Someone's!  I was His and He loved me!  
I know I always seem to go back to this idea.  But for those who have never felt it, or for those who struggle with believing that He can love like that, this is so important.  It is vital!  He LOVES YOU!  Not only does He love you, it is with an everlasting love.  Not a here today, gone tomorrow, if you meet my needs emotion.  Truly, deeply, madly does He love you.  He does not just love you to the moon, He loved you to the cross.  He loved you before you knew who He was and He died so that you could taste of that living water.  And this is living water that never runs out, it is an eternal wellspring.  I ask you today, if you have never tasted of Him, do as the bible says, and taste and see that the Lord is good.  If you are wrestling with the thought that you are not good enough, you have wandered too far, that He cannot love you...oh, my friend take a drink.  This is not that mythological ambrosia, the drink of man-made gods that was thought to give you immortality.  This is not Ponce de Leon's fabled fountain of youth.  This isn't smartwater or VitaminWater that gives you momentary benefits... this is dynamic vitality free for the asking.  This isn't gatorade, for that deep down body thirst; this is libation for that spiritual thirst that nothing else can slake.  Take a drink and have your every need satisfied...in Him.

How amazing it is to read about Jesus and all that He did during His time here on earth.  His compassion for the 'less than', His feeding the five thousand, His raising Lazarus from the dead, His making mud pies.  Wait, what?  Making mud pies?  Well, yes, in a manner of speaking.  In church Sunday our pastor read about the healing of the man blind from birth.  John 9:1-7 reads, "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.  “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.' (NIV)  It is so interesting to see how Jesus teaches object lessons to His disciples.  He could have ignored the question, He could have answered and done nothing, He could have just spoken the words and that man would have been healed.  But no, He works up enough spit, to as my boys used to say, hock a loogie.  He spits on the ground, in the dirt and makes mud of it.  He then scoops up some of that mud and smears it on that poor man's face.  Maybe it's a good thing he was blind, that could have totally freaked him out.  Maybe he had heard of this man called Jesus but this still would have been shocking.
It so struck me when hearing that passage again how it all tells the story of our salvation.  We, as people are blind from birth, spiritually blind.  It is not because of the sin's of our parents, or our sins, it is Sin that has blinded us.  The sin nature that resides in all of us because of the fall of man, beginning with Adam and Eve.  That sin nature that separates us from having relationship with God, that blinds us to His love for us.  Here we are like that blind man, sitting in the dirt; we have no idea who Jesus is or anything of the life that He wants us to have, the freedom He has provided for us.  When I think of it, it's hard to put into words.  There is a definite before and after in my life.  Again, it is hard to express adequately.  Those who don't know Jesus really can't understand, just as someone who has never been blind cannot fathom what happens when sight is given.  It is more than having your eyes opened, more than seeing.  It is receiving Life.  It is being saturated in Love.  It is having a hope and a future that you never even knew was available to you.  It is a symphony to one who was deaf.  It is the warmth of the sun to one left in the darkness.  It is an embrace to one never held before.  
Why does God do this?  So that His works might be displayed in us!  That He might be glorified.  He takes the dirt we are sitting in, wallowing in.  He takes all of the filth and mess and spits in it.  How do they do DNA tests?  Saliva.  So here is our dirty life, our sinful life; Jesus mixes in His saliva, His heavenly DNA and changes everything!  Our eyes are opened, our lives are transformed, all so that glory of God might be displayed in us!  
We become new creations.  Changed and transformed, unrecognizable as our former selves.  Even that blind man was not recognized, as it says in the next few verses of that account, "His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”  Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”  But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”  He resembled that man, but he was different, he was transformed.  He now had sight and that changed everything.  We are no different.  When I gave my life to that mud pie Maker, I became a new woman.  I was now a child of God.  My thoughts were different.  My actions were different.  My very heart was different.  I became unrecognizable to those who knew the former me.  They couldn't put a finger on the metamorphosis, but they could see it.  Yes I still resembled the old Gail, but I was now renewed, remade, born again.  All that His works might be seen in me.
We know that every word in the bible has meaning.  Why does it say that Jesus tells the man to go to the pool of Siloam (this word means Sent)?  It has meaning.  First of all it took obedience on that man's part.  I believe if he had just sat there his healing would not have been complete.  It took faith and feet moving to receive his absolute healing.  But it also shows that first Jesus was sent to us.  He then sent that man to wash in the pool.  But wait, that man was blind.  How did he find his way to that pool?  It took others who were sent to show him the way.  We likewise are sent.  We are sent to show others the Way.  We are sent to show them the Truth and the Life that now reside in us.  That opened our eyes and allowed us to see.  We have received our healing, now we are to put feet to our faith and show others the way to that Pool. 
I am continually astonished by the love of our Father.  He has a fondness, a tenderness, a passion for us.  And He will do whatever it takes to get us to see that.  Even going to the extreme of making mud pies.

It's hard to imagine these days with cell phones all around, a time when you had to rely on a land line to get in touch with anyone. If you called someone and they weren't home or at work, you were pretty much out of luck. Or if you were out and needed to get ahold of someone, if there wasn't a pay phone, oh well. I remember one time, it was Halloween and I was working a part time job at the local Foster's Freeze and after I got off Jim needed me to make a run into Lancaster, which was about 10 miles away to pick up some parts. So off I go, in his hot rod little Vega. I get about two miles and the car conks out. Oh crud, no way to get in touch with anyone. And even worse?? I was dressed up like a clown! Now, that truly is my idea of a nightmare. So I'm sitting there for over an hour with a red nose and a neon wig and finally someone recognized the car and drove to the shop and let Jim know that I was broke down. What I wouldn't have given for a cell phone that day!
Another thing that doesn't happen so much anymore is making a collect call. Either you had no money or were too cheap to pay for the long distance charges, so you 'reversed' the call. Do you remember that GEICO commercial about the couple who had a baby and the new dad calls home, but doesn't want to pay, so he has the operator call collect and say the person calling is Bob Wehadababyitsaboy. His father answers and says, sorry wrong number. Collect calls were usually in emergencies or when help was needed and you believed that the person you called would pick up and accept the charges.
I was thinking about that the other day and I remember the most important collect call I ever made. I cannot tell you the exact date of that call, I can't even tell you the time. But it was a call that I hoped and prayed would be answered. It was to someone that I had never met before, but somehow I had faith that they would answer that call and would pay the bill. That collect call was to God. I could not call Him my heavenly Father yet; He had to pick up the line first. He had to reverse the charges, so that I would not have to pay and the bill would be put on His tab. So, I placed that call. And just like when I'm calling on my phone and I wait as it rings, did I dial the right number? Will the call be answered and it will be the correct party? Reminds me of Ernestine, the operator..."Five ringy dingys, Is this the party to whom I am speaking?" Yes, my call was answered, immediately and by the correct party. I had cried out, from the depths of my being and the party who I now call Father answered. He not only answered, but He paid all the charges against me. He paid with the blood of His Son Jesus. He covered every cost I had, and would ever have. He cleared my tab, then and forevermore. And then He also gave me a direct, free line to Him called the Holy Spirit. So now I never have to make a call wondering if it will be picked up. I never have to dial hoping I have the right number. All I have to do is open my mouth and speak to Him. That direct line is called prayer.
When I was first became a Christian, I had no real idea how to pray. How to talk to my Father. I did not have the best relationship with my earthly father, so I really had no good example of how to talk to Him. I remember as a child, not wanting to bother my mom or dad. Things were not the best, and I was an introverted child that would rather remain in the shadows. I would be thirsty at night, after being put to bed, but afraid to call out and ask for water. I would count in my head, and say, ok on the count of three I'll call out 'Dad'. Nope, didn't happen. I'd go to sleep thirsty. I now have a Father who never leaves me thirsty. He never leaves me begging. He never leaves me. And even though I am still introverted, I am never in the shadows.
When I went to church as a child, it was very formal. Thee's and thou's. I thought that was how you had to pray. My prayers were very short, a laundry list if you will, because I had not developed trust, nor did I have a deep relationship with my Father yet. It was like my life as a child, don't ask unless it's really important and then make it quick. It took years before I realized how much He loves me. How much He just wants to hear from me, and for me to want to hear from Him. I think a turning point came quite a few years ago. I was very sick. I truly had never been that sick before and I remember just lying there thinking I feel so bad I just want to die. And I cried out, "Papa, please just hold me, oh Papa, I need you so much'. I had never called God that before, and not sure if I have since, but that opened up something in me. It opened up an intimacy with Him that I had never had before. I was truly His child and He really did have ahold of me. I didn't have to ask, "Can you hear me now?"
It amazes me, with my small brain how one day I want nothing to do with Him, don't acknowledge or know Him at all, and then even in that place, He hears me when I cry out for salvation and forgiveness. It's like ok, here is this fetus, this being in the womb; and then bam, there she is breathing air and crying and my child. I can't wrap my mind around it. But oh how I am so thankful it is so. I have a Father who has loved me forever and will love me forever. And my pea brain can barely fathom that it's already 2018! Forever, wow, that is a long time. I am thankful that He answered that collect call from me oh so many years ago.
I am so thankful that I was on His family plan long before I ever knew it. That He not only calls me child but calls me friend. That I have a place with Him and that He is never farther than a thought away. That prayer now is a constant dialogue. Makes me think of my grandkids. You know how they can talk. Nana, what's this? Nana, can I have that? Nana, can we go outside? Nana, what's to eat? Nana, why do dogs bark? Nana, what time is it? Nana...you get the idea. There are days that the peace and quiet after they go is needed. But then I start to miss that chaos and questions and the joy of seeing the world through their eyes.
I have, you have a Father that never grows tired of hearing the sound of our voices. He never tires of our questions. He never grows weary of our observations. He never wishes we would just give Him some peace. After all, if that were the case, He never would have answered that collect call in the first place. He never would have said, "Yes this is the party to whom you are speaking". He never would have given you unlimited minutes, with no cancellation clause or change in plan. He never would have given you Himself, free, once and for all. You just had to call.

​#justmeredeemed