Who are you? I was asked this question when I started volunteering with a ministry over 13 years ago.  I responded with personality traits and characteristics that I felt were godly. With each answer that I gave, they kept asking me the same question, “who are you”?  After about 15 times I was getting frustrated and finally blurted out, “well obviously not who you think I am”!  The laughter broke out, and I was perplexed. My facial expression probably gave away my frustration because the leader pointed out that his opinion, or anyone else’s in the room, was actually the problem. He went on to explain that if I did not know who I was, I would slant my responses toward the expectations of others around me. He was making a point about religious dogma and teachings that have us apply scripture like Band-Aids without believing they will stick at all. His stance was that church had conditioned us to act correctly in front of each other so we always had a “check and balances” sheet in our minds about what a believer should look like and how one should perform. That ministry was the beginning of my return to my first love. The Lord doesn’t give a hill of beans for answers that I’ve come up with, only that I seek to be defined by Him alone. In my walk with the Lord and getting to know Him in the secret place, He brought me back to His word which he clearly uses to define me so I have no question about how He sees me. Some people see me coming toward them and they want to walk in the opposite direction and it may have nothing to do with me.  If they are unsure of their own worth, I could take a direct hit of projection because they don’t like themselves.  I have learned that if I choose to love anyway, knowing I don’t have to like them for how they act, I am showing them who Jesus is.  I can give countless examples of individuals confessing to me that they didn’t understand how I loved them when they were so unlikable.  My awareness of who I am in light of God keeps me humble in those instances because I have failed at knowing who I was just as much as the next guy when I was unloving. In Ephesians one and two, I have found the scriptures that define me to Him and it has caused me to weep at the unfathomable mercy that He grants.  May you substitute your name before every definition and continue to do so for as long as it takes until you get a revelation of who you really aretoo.  I have a feeling we will need the rest of our lives to grasp the depth of it.

I Angie, am blessed.

I am chosen. 

I am holy. 

I am without blame.

I am predestined.

I am accepted. 

I am adopted as His.

I am redeemed by His blood.

I am forgiven.

I am covered by grace.

I am given wisdom and patience.

I trust unto His glory.

I am sealed with Holy Spirit.

I inherit the promises of Holy Spirit.

I have the spirit of wisdom, revelation and 

        knowledge.

I have enlightened understanding.

I have the hope of His calling me.

I have His riches of glory.

I am part of the body, the fullness of Him.

He made me alive.

I am alive with Christ.

I sit in heavenly places with Jesus.

I am His workmanship.

I am brought near to Christ.

I have access to the Father through Holy 

        Spirit.

I am a citizen of Heaven.

I am built on the foundation of Christ.

I am a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 1 and 2