Right now, never mind who I am. Focus on "Who God is." There is no better way  to answer the question Who God is? than to accept Who He says He is. To do this, however, requires a person to reject or disregard whatever else he has learned about who God is? Right now, you are asked to do just that while reading this discourse.

When God sent Moses to the children of Israel Moses inquired of God, "Who shall I tell the people sent me?" God said tell them "I AM THAT I AM." (Ex. 3:14). In this statement God defines and describes Himself more profoundly, inclusively and limitlessly in words than at any other time in recorded Scripture. What has been a well kept secret about "Who God is" need no longer be a secret.

Whether we hear "I AM THAT" or "THAT I AM" the message is unmistakably clear, God is THAT. THAT is all and THAT is enough. God is THIS only for Himself: First Cause, First Person and the Creator, (not the Created). For humans God is THAT which is Creation, (not the Creator):  earth and heaven, day and night, light, vegetation, bread, water, healing, wisdom, Spirit, and so on. God is All and in All. With regards to humans and their relationship with God this consititutes the highest and most noble relationship that can possibly exist. No other entity can have such a relationship with God as the human-God, hence Father-child relationship.

Father-child relationship is the matter of this discourse. God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to Earth to declare and demonstrate the nature of the Father-Child relationship with God and how it can be established by a human being. Jesus frequently referred to God as his Father and declared that "My Father has sent me." The model prayer offered by Jesus, sometimes referred to as the "Lord's Prayer," begins with "Our Father." Significantly, "our" is synonymous with people and "Father is interchangeable with God. This prayer begins with man 's relationship with God. The Apostle Paul writes: "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." (Rom. 8:14-15).

Considering the nature of an earthly father-child relationship sheds some light on the nature of  our "Heavenly Father-child relationship. To this we emphasize family, house, provider, protector present helper and lover. And much more could be added.

Now I want to speak personally of the Father-child relationship that exists between God and myself. In my book, "God With Us," I write,"Succinctly stated, the nature of my relationship with God is "I am a child of God. He is my Heavenly Father." (p. 94). It is my conversion that brought me into a Father-child relationship with God. Before my conversion, that is my second conversion, I did not have a consciousness-honored Father-child relationship with God. Prior to becoming  an adult I felt like a nobody, inferior, and afraid, especially of myself, and also of other people. Just about everyone else was my superior, better than myself and deserving of me doing their bidden when they requested that I do so. I didn't like myself. I had low self-estem or no self-esteem. On and on goes this litany of self abrogating and self-defeating characteristics that had me bound. I was in a crucible.

The change in my life came when I was converted or "born again" the second time. This was my third birth. I was born again the first time when I was in my mid-teens. Five years later, as a young adult, I was born again the second time. It was then that I could declare first to myself and later confidently and proudly to others "God as my Father" and with equal candor "I am a child of God." Upon reflection I began to see that God had been my Father all the time and especially since I became fatherless at the age of fourteen. Since becoming aware of my Father-child relationship with God my life has never been the same. My conversion transformed, empowered and emboldened me. Moreover, I became keenly aware that my Heavenly Father is always present with me and that I do not have to know all the answers, bear burdens along or fear anything or anybody because my Father is present to help me.

Overnight, so to speak, I experienced a leap in self-esteem. For the first time, I was able to look into the eyes of people when I talked to them and express my thoughts and feelings as if I had a right to do so. I recognized no human being as being greater than myself and that nobody has greater access to God than myself. Truly, I came to know who I am when I came to know Whose I am.

There can be no subsitute for knowing that you are a child of God. Neither education, money, or good health can be a substitute. Yet, all these things can be available to the person who accepts his Father-child relationship with God.

Now that I fnow who I am I want you to know who I am. In addition to the aforementioned, in a certain way, the message I hope to convey is expressed in the song below that I composed three years ago: "If anybody Here Wants to Know Who I am:"

(REFR.: Sing twice before and between stanzas and at the end.)

If anybody here wants to know who I am listen
to my story and you will hear me say time and 
time again "I am a child of God."

1. God is my Father and Savior too, And I am
His and He is mine. I've been adopted into the 
family of God, I am an heir to the Kingdom of love.

2. My Father is awesome and mighty God, He accepts all who comes to Him. So if you'll up
for adoption, you need not wait. Come on now and be saved today.

Copyright 2010 by Uriah J. Fields

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