I’ve been pondering something that has been on my mind a great deal since coming home from Colorado a month ago.  Since then I have committed myself to a decade of excavation to begin getting at the core of my soul and to truly begin walking with God day in and day out.  The whole experience with my story group was probably the richest part of all I experienced, getting to glean life from men who had walked the path before me.  A truly holy time in the presence of the Father.  The things I felt and that the Lord showed me was so amazing and it set the stage for the coming decade and beyond.

What I have been pondering is has to do with something that God spoke through one of my mentors.  He said that I am worthy.  This is something I really had to learn to truly embrace.  My relationship with God has grown immensely the last couple of years, but the idea of being called worthy, for some reason was very difficult to receive and own.  I think this came from years of hearing that we were not worthy and only Jesus was.  I’ve heard years of religious speak that had been trying to pound home that I was simply a filthy sinner, unworthy of the Father.

I then think of the prodigal son.  I wrote a post last year, (Prodigal Son – A Reflection) reflecting on the parable of the prodigal son and how the Father met me on that mountain top in Colorado in January 2015, embracing me, calling me son.  My life was transformed that weekend, but still was I worthy.  Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:1 to live a life worthy of our calling, but still the religious guilt and teachings were ringing that my heart is forever bad and I could not be worthy of the Father.

In his latest podcast, Morgan Snyder from Become Good Soil and Ransomed Heart shared this:

Scripture says that soon in fact (1 Peter 1) the day is coming when the wine will flow once again (Isaiah 25:6), and thrilling stories will be shared at the great wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9); and your Father will run toward you at your arrival on that day, full of strength and tears to celebrate you (Luke 15: 20-32).  He’ll say, “Welcome home, son. Welcome home.  We’ve been waiting for you. You are my favorite, and you make my heart so very happy.”

You are my favorite.  Those words really helped to bring it all home.  It is a great reminder that the Father has always been seeking us and our restoration.  We have to be able to receive what He has always believed about us and why He has wanted from the very beginning to bring us back to Him.  We are His favorite, we have been called worthy.  Because of the finished works of Jesus Christ, through is crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand, we have been been given the way to return to the Father and to who He created us to be from the beginning and called us in the beginning as the final piece of creation, Very Good (Genesis 1:31).

There’s a reason He has always pursued us.  There’s a reason, He took on a robe of flesh to rescue us through the shed blood of Christ.  There’s reason, Jesus was raised to a new life, conquering death, hell, and the grave.  There’s a reason Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father.  There’s a reason, as Paul says, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.  There’s a reason we have been called sons and daughters of the Father.  We are worthy and we are His favorite.

I am working at letting this sink in every day.  To remember each morning that I have been pursued, you have been pursued, by a Father that has loved us from the very beginning, knows every intricate detail of our being, because He created us.  He desires deeper intimacy with each of us for this very reason.  I am so thankful for this.

This isn’t self-serving writing.  This is writing what the Father revealed to me and is only possible and receivable because of the Father’s unfailing love, the finished works of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.  Without any of this, I am nothing.  I am not worthy and continue to be sucked into a soul killing world and open myself up to be devoured by the enemy.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”  We are made new and we are made worthy in Christ, who was first worthy.