Abiding in the Father´s Love E-Book

Martin Reèn

• Herausgeber: Healing Streams
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Abiding in the Love of God
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 383

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

We were created to live loved by the Father. This is much more than just a one time encounter. Our Father wants us to abide in His love. It is possible to make abiding in His love our lifestyle and Jesus wants to reveal the love of God to us. He wants to take us on a journey into the heart of the Father. On this journey two important things will be revealed to us. First, we find out who God really is, that He is our loving Father. Secondly, we will realize that we are His beloved children. We find our identity by knowing His heart. This revelation has impacted me beyond what words could ever express. It has healed my heart and led me into a life of rest and freedom. God has given me a new identity and I have found my home by abiding in His love. In this book, I want to share with you some of the insights and revelations that has strengthened and encouraged me throughout my journey of knowing the Father. It will inspire and encourage you in getting to know God as your Father, as well as helping you to be established in your true identity as His beloved child.

Leseprobe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: God Is Our Father

Chapter 2: Welcome Home!

Chapter 3: I Will Not Leave You as Orphans

Chapter 4: The Father Loves Us

Chapter 5: Our New Identity

Chapter 6: Enjoying the Process!

Chapter 7: Growing up by Growing Down

Chapter 8: Jesus Reveals What True Humanity Looks Like

Chapter 9: Sin, Bondages and Wounds

Chapter 10: The Renewal of the Mind

Chapter 11: The Freed and Restored Will

Chapter 12: A Rich and Balanced Emotional Life

Chapter 13: A Clean Conscience Before God

Chapter 14: Delivered from Generational Sins

Chapter 15: From the Head to the Heart

Chapter 16: Grace in Weakness

Chapter 17: The Love of God Casts Out Fear

Chapter 18: Timothy - Delivered from Fear

Chapter 19: Called into Fellowship with Jesus Christ

Chapter 20: Comfort and Encouragement from God

Chapter 21: Barnabas - the Ministry of Encouragement

Closing Words

Bibliography

About the Author

PREFACE

Already while I was writing my first book, I knew that I needed to write this book as well. My first book, Transformed by the Grace of God, was all about knowing the transforming power of God’s grace and knowing our identity in Christ. Having an encounter with the grace of God inevitably leads to discovering the love of the Father. This book basically consists of the truths I learned on my personal journey of discovering His love. This was a journey that took me from living as an orphan, to finding my home in the Father’s heart and embracing my identity as a son of God. When I was born again and Jesus came into my life, I had such a longing to serve Him and to lay down my life for His cause. This longing had been placed in my heart by God, but because I still lived with Him as an orphan, this longing was mixed with a lot of legalistic striving to please God.

Throughout my journey with God, my revelation of His love was growing and I began to realize who He really is. This became my process of getting to know God as my Father. This process is not over yet and I’m still coming to know Him in a deeper and more intimate way. As I got to know God as my Father, I also realized that I am His beloved son and that He is well pleased with me. That revelation has healed my heart and led me into a life of rest and freedom. I still want to please God and lay down my life for the gospel, but the motivation for doing so is different. Before, I was always looking for the approval of God and to earn a place at His table. Now I know that I have His approval and that I have always had a big place in His heart. So, like Paul I am now living with the motivation that “the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

Throughout the pages of this book, I want to share some of the insights and revelations that has strengthened and encouraged me throughout my journey. My hope and prayer are for you to get to know the heart of the Father in deeper ways, and for you to start to live out of your identity as His child, enjoying the full benefits of all the blessings that you now have received in Christ. Hopefully, this book will both inspire and encourage you on the journey into the heart of the Father.

Your brother in Christ,

Martin Reén

INTRODUCTION

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:16-19 NKJV).

In my first book, Transformed by The Grace of God, I wrote about how the grace of God brings true transformation into our lives as believers. This book is building on the foundation I laid in that book. I have written this book to reveal the love of the Father and how abiding in His love establishes us in our new identity, both as individual believers and as His family. The Bible describes the life of sonship in such terms as the glorious liberty of the children of God. Therefore, I have chosen to call this book Abiding in the Father’s Love — The Glorious Freedom of Sons and Daughters. This is the first book in a series on abiding in the love of God, where we study the depths of His love for us. The other books in this series are:

Partnering with the Love of Christ

The Burning Love of Christ

Sonship, Faith and Vision

I highly recommend that you read those books as well. This is a series that is written to reveal the love of God, and each book will point to many different aspects of His great love. In this book, we will focus on how the love of the Father restores us into sonship and Christlikeness.

A Book about Our Freedom as Children of God

True freedom is found as we learn to abide in the Father’s love, and His love delivers and restores us into becoming our true and most authentic selves. One of the key verses, which I have built this book upon is this one:

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:20-21 NIV).

Paul describes our lives in terms of the freedom and glory of the children of God. This life of ever increasing freedom and glory is accessible to us as we grow in revelation of His great love for us. Our freedom as the children of God could be summarized in one word: Christlikeness.

Defining Christlikeness

It is important to understand the meaning of being Christlike and how this relates to the Father’s deep longing to bring His people into His glorious freedom. To understand true freedom, we need to start by looking at Christ.

The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal] (Hebr. 1:3 AMP).

Jesus is the perfect representation and image of the Father. When we look at Jesus, we see who the Father is, but not only does Jesus reveal the Father’s true face. He reveals what it means to be fully human, without the damage of sin. Jesus is God’s original picture and we have been created in His image (Eph. 2:10). Jesus is the second Adam and He is the head of a new humanity that consists of all the sons and daughters of God (1 Cor. 15:45-47). He is also the first man and the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29). In other words, if we want to live in the freedom of the children of God, we must start by looking at Christ.

If we try to find identity or freedom anywhere else than in Christ, we will always end up in confusion. That includes trying to find our identity by looking inside of ourselves. We have been created in the image of God, but because of sin and the influence of the world that image has been distorted. This is why we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, who is the original picture, if we want to find out what the Father had on His heart when He created us. This process that God brings us through to restore the image of Christ in us is what the Bible describes as the process of sanctification. That means that we are becoming who we already are. This is the only path to true freedom.

Becoming Christlike doesn’t mean that we lose our personalities or become a pale copy of someone else. When we’re growing into the image of Christ, we are being restored into our truest selves. Jesus Christ is big and no one could really reflect His fullness all by himself. So, there is no need to worry that you’re becoming a boring copy of someone else, or that you will lose your dreams, passions and gifts. They have been placed there by God, so you will not lose them, but what will happen is that our personalities will be restored by the love of the Father, so that we can live out our dreams and our passions. We will begin to operate in all the gifts that God has given us in a pure way. That is true freedom! The Father loves us into wholeness, so that we can embrace life as the beautiful gift that it really is!

A Reflection of my Personal Journey in God

This book is in many ways the depiction of my personal journey, so I will be sharing some of my own experiences of encountering the love of the Father, throughout these pages. It has always been important for me to not preach, teach, or write information that I know through studies only. I want to share the revelations and insights that has transformed my life. One of the most important revelations I have ever received from heaven, must certainly be this one about abiding in the Father’s love. His love has changed my life in more ways than I ever have thought possible. I am fully convinced that it is impossible to encounter the Father’s love and remain the same. The Father’s love is a transforming power that heals and restores every broken heart. I have written this book to share some of the insights that I have gained on my own journey into knowing God as my Father. To make it as easy as possible to follow my thoughts, I have divided this book into three parts:

Abiding in the Father’s Love

In the first part of this book, we will be looking at how we have been brought home to the Father. We will see how this revelation transforms our lives. We will also find out more about abiding in the love of God, the restoration of our sonship and childlikeness. These truths are the foundation of a life in freedom and sonship.

Restoration of the Whole Man

In the second part, we will look at how our souls are restored by the love of the Father. Our mind is renewed, our will is set free and our emotions are healed by the power of the Father’s love. We will study how His love brings healing to other areas of our life as well. We become who we were always meant to be, when we embrace our identity as His beloved children. His love heals our broken hearts and liberates us to become the people that He has called us to be.

From Bondage to Freedom

In the third part, we will be looking at some of the areas that are impacted and transformed as we enter the glorious freedom that belongs to the children of God. I want to unveil something of the radical difference between the slavery of religion, compared to a life that has been liberated and restored by the Father’s love. To abide in His love changes a lot of things in our lives.

The Activations

At the end of each chapter, there is a section called Activations. Within them you’ll find simple activations that will help you to put the truths of this book into action. They are there to provide practical application to the teaching. You will get the most out of this book if you take time to do these activations. They will help you to interact with the Holy Spirit and gain more revelation on the topic presented within each chapter. They are very simple to work with and they will inspire you to grow in deeper intimacy with the Father. All these activations do involve journaling, so I suggest that you have a notebook or an electronic device within reach when reading this book. In the Kingdom of God, we learn best by applying revelation. These activations will be helpful and fun as you interact with the Holy Spirit.

I hope and pray that reading this book will be just as exciting and challenging for you, as it has been for me to write it. I hope that the revelation that you gain from reading these pages will build, strengthen, comfort, and encourage you along your journey into the Father’s love. Deep calls unto deep on that journey and there is always more of His heart to explore. Let’s dive deep into the heart of the Father to explore the transforming power of His love!

Part 1:Abiding in the Father’s Love

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not (1 John 3:1).

God is our Father and we are His beloved and favored children. He is well pleased with us. Through Jesus Christ, He has brought us home, so that we have a place at His side forever. By doing so, He has given us a new identity, a home together with Him and a heavenly inheritance. In this part of the book, we will look at how we can grow in our revelation and insight about these glorious truths. The freedom and joy that we can experience as believers, are directly tied to us learning to abide in the love of the Father. As we’re abiding in His unconditional approval and love, we’ll find our home in His presence, where we are delivered from our identity as orphans. We will instead begin to be restored into our identity as His beloved children. In other words, this part of the book is about how our heavenly Father now welcomes us home through Jesus Christ!

CHAPTER 1: GOD IS OUR FATHER

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (John 1:16-18).

Of the fullness of Christ, we have received grace in abundance. Jesus Himself, came to reveal the grace and truth about who God is to this world. Only Jesus had seen God as He really is, at that time. In the Old Testament, a very small number of people had perceived glimpses and pieces of God, such as Moses, David and the prophets, but none of them had ever seen who He really was. The truth that Jesus came to reveal culminates in a revelation that changes everything. This revelation is a deathblow to religion in all its shapes and forms and the reality of it made the religious leadership in Jesus’ day so mad that they wanted to kill Him.

This revelation, which is so radical that it changes everything, is that God is our Father. Before Jesus came to reveal the Father, the people of God had never thought that they could have a personal and intimate connection with God. This was the reason that the Father had to send His Son to reveal who He really is. Only Jesus could reveal the Father to us, because He was and still is the only one who knows the Father fully. We can learn interesting things about God through theological studies, but to know the Father as He really is, we must come to His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Himself being God, Jesus is the perfect and true representation of who the Father is. By looking at Jesus, we can see the heart of the Father fully revealed.

Jesus Reveals the Father

… in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebr. 1:2-3 NASB).

The way that God has chosen to communicate with us in the New Covenant is through His son. Everything that the Father is doing and speaking, always happens in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus radiates the Father’s glory and He is a perfect expression of who the Father is. This is the reason that the only way for us to know the heart of God is through Jesus Christ. When this reality dawns on us, we can perceive the great love and generosity that is at the center of the relationship between the Father and Jesus. They are always pointing to one another. Their relationship is one of love, honor and generosity. The Father has glorified the Son, but the Son also glorified the Father by revealing His name and real face to us (John 17:1-5). Jesus revealed the Father in several ways:

Jesus revealed the actions of the Father, since He only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19).

Jesus revealed the love of the Father (1 John 4:10).

Jesus lived by the life of the Father (John 6:57).

Jesus’ teaching came from the Father (John 14:10).

The miracles that Jesus performed was the works of the Father (John 14:10).

The revelation that the Holy Spirit brings to the believer, comes from Jesus, who in turn receives it from the Father (John 16:14-15).

Jesus revealed and glorified the name of the Father (John 17:4, 6).

Jesus revealed the Father through His redemptive work on the cross because the Father was in Him, reconciling the world to Himself through Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

Jesus reveals the Father in everything He is and does. The Father always draws our attention unto the Son. This is how we got to know Jesus in the first place. Jesus said: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). It pleases the Father when we focus our lives on Jesus and surrender to His lordship. When we surrender to Jesus Christ, He is bringing us home to the Father. As soon as we get to know Jesus Christ, He also wants to introduce us to the Father and reveal His heart to us. Jesus puts it like this:

“I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him. (Matt. 11:25-27 NASB)

This statement by Jesus reveals two very important things. First, it shows us that revelation is always given to the small ones. This is the Father’s great joy and it means that we never will become qualified enough to receive revelation from Him, but instead we must become unqualified enough to receive from Him by grace. This has nothing to do with our level of education, or our social status, but it has everything to do with the posture of our hearts.

Being a small one means realizing that we need more revelation and that we are open to be shaped by our relationship with God. It’s when we live in that place of real humility that revelation will come to us. Second, we learn that the Father cannot be found. We cannot reach Him by our own efforts. The Father has chosen to reveal Himself to us through Christ. Just like no one can come to Jesus Christ except by being drawn by the Father, no one can ever see the Father, except through Jesus revealing Him. Therefore, a true relationship with the Father can never be grabbed or earned. We are invited into that relationship by grace and we receive it through faith.

We Were Chosen by the Father

Because of this, even if we made the choice of responding to the invitation to become children of God, we were enabled to do that only because the Father chose us first:

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you (John 15:16).

The Father’s dream has always been to have a big family. He did not become a Father because he had children. God have children because He is our Father. He was dreaming and looking forward to bringing you into His family, already before He even created the world.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure (Eph. 1:4-5 NLT).

This is our privilege as believers. We have answered the calling of our heavenly Father and we are now part of His family. In this way, we are fulfilling the dream of the Father. It is by being His children and by abiding in His presence that we find our identity. It takes a loving Father to raise children who are secure in their identity and purpose.

Our Identity Revealed

It is very hard to know who we are in Christ, except by knowing the Father. There is a lot of good teaching available today about who we are in Christ and more and more people are finding out who they are in Him. This is wonderful news and I believe that much more revelation is coming to the body of Christ in this area. But it is hard to be established in our identity in Christ, if we lack revelation of the Father. This is because our identity in Christ is a description of who we are as children of God, and it is hard to be a secure child if we don’t know the Father. Every time we read about who we are in Christ, it reveals a facet of our sonship and when we are established in the love and approval of the Father, we can begin to live out of our identity in Christ.

Only the Father can restore our identity as sons and daughters. When the Father is known and His heart is revealed there will be harmony and security among His children as well. We can see a reflection of this by looking at a human family. In a family where the parents are present to raise their children with unconditional love and approval, the kids will usually also grow up to become secure in who they are. If we’re trying to live out of our identity in Christ without knowing the Father, we will eventually end up with another form of legalism. We can’t reason or talk ourselves into discovering our identity in Christ. We only find it by being rooted and grounded in the love of the Father. We are then set free from all performance-based efforts, where we try to find our identity by our own reasoning and mental gymnastics. Our real identity as children of God is revealed to us as we abide in Him.

We Find Rest in Knowing Our Father

As Jesus continues to speak in Matthew 11, He lets us know what will happen to us, when we receive the revelation of God as our Father:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).

The yoke that Jesus offers to us is an invitation to share in Jesus’ relationship with His Father. This is much better than just having a personal relationship with Him. We are invited into a personal relationship with God, but only because we have been included in the fellowship between Jesus and His Father. If the burden of our relationship with God would have rested on our shoulders, it would have been a very shaky relationship. We are not always that good at stewarding our relationship with God, but because we are in Christ, our union with God rests on the faithfulness of Jesus Himself. This means that our standing with the Father is as stable and secure as that of Jesus. This is a secure foundation to build upon and through Christ, we are now living in a constant connection with the Father. We are in His presence all the time. This brings us into the rest of faith. It is no longer about us trying to create our relationship with God based on our own efforts and spiritual disciplines.

Knowing God as Father Changed My Life

My life has been radically changed and transformed by knowing God as my Father. Sometimes, when I’m about to preach or teach somewhere and the people hosting the seminar asks how I wish to be introduced, I jokingly answer: “Introduce me as Martin, a son that is deeply loved by the Father”. The reason that this is so important to me is that I found true rest and freedom by knowing that I’m my Father’s beloved son. He truly is well-pleased with me. Ministry, whether it is preaching, writing, or doing personal counseling, has become the expression of the Father’s love that keeps pouring into my life. My journey could be described as one where I have been transformed from a legalistic and dissatisfied disciple, into becoming a deeply loved, blessed and peaceful son. Knowing God as my Father has truly changed my life. That is the reason I’m so interested in sharing the insights that I have gained with you. The gospel really is good news!

Activations

We studied John 1:16-18 and Hebr. 1:2-3, earlier in this chapter. Spend some time reflecting on these passages together with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to reveal more truths from these verses, about how Jesus is revealing the Father. Write down what He reveals to you.

Go back and read the list from this chapter, in which we found out how Jesus revealed the Father. I listed a few points as examples of this there. Can you think of more examples of how Jesus revealed His Father? Do your own study on this topic. Add your own points to this list in your notes.

We read that it is hard to find our identity in Christ if we don’t know the Father. Why is that? How does our identity in Christ fit together with our sonship? Take some time to reflect on this topic. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more on this topic to you. Write down what He reveals to you.

The Father lavishes His love upon you in abundance. Take 20-30 minutes in prayer, where you ask Him to shower you with His love. Then quiet yourself before Him and drink in His love.

CHAPTER 2: WELCOME HOME!

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:1-6 NKJV).

There are a few important insights to gain from this passage of scripture. To fully understand what Jesus meant when He spoke about “going to prepare a place for us”, it’s important to know when He made this statement. Jesus shared this teaching at the same evening that He was taken captive to be crucified and in it, He describes what was going to happen within a couple of days. Through His redemptive work on the cross, Jesus has opened the way for us back to the Father and He has prepared a place for us in His house. When Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended back to the right hand of the Father, He brought us with Him, so that we are now seated with Him at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). This was what Jesus spoke of when He said that He would come to bring us to where He is.

The Homecoming of the Heart

We have been brought back home to the Father and right now the Holy Spirit is pouring the love of God into our hearts, so that we can embrace this reality and experience a homecoming of the heart. This does not happen as a one-time event but is something that we’re growing into more and more. We are called to find our home and roots, by abiding within His love. This revelation has revolutionized my life. Earlier in my life with God, I used to feel both restless and without roots, belonging nowhere. Now I’m at home wherever I am in the world, simply because I’m always at home with My Father. This homecoming of the heart has brought deep healing and peace to my heart. Knowing that our true home is where our Father dwells, will establish our hearts in the peace of heaven.

Jesus Brings Us Home to The Father

Jesus describes Himself as the Way back to the Father. This is a very interesting picture, because if we’re traveling somewhere, it is important to know where the journey leads to. Imagine if you met me somewhere unexpected, far away from where I live. It would be strange if I told you that I am not sure where I’m going, but that it is the journey that counts. Sometimes, this is exactly how we as believers are thinking. We think like this, because we haven’t fully understood where the way leads us to. The reason that we need to know Jesus as the Way is because of where He is bringing us. Jesus is bringing us back home to the Father. The longing in the heart of Jesus Christ is for us to know the Father. Because of this, a huge part of the present-day ministry of Jesus, is to bring us back home to the Father’s house. As we saw in the previous chapter, the ministry of Jesus was focused on revealing and glorify the Father but never on Himself. This hasn’t changed. The longing of Jesus will always be for us to know His Father.

We Are Seated with Christ

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6-7 NIV).

We are already seated with Christ in heavenly places right now, which means that we are at home with the Father. Jesus always abides with the Father and He has prepared a place for us there, together with Him (John 1:18). So, whether we know it or not we have already been brought home to the Father. The journey back home is about waking up to the fact that we are at home already. As I wrote earlier, all transformation and growth in the life of the believer is about becoming who we already are. It’s always about realizing what we already have in Christ and learning to abide in the Father’s love for us. So far, we have been talking about the fellowship between the Father and Jesus, but where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?

The Testimony of the Holy Spirit

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading again to fear [of God’s judgment], but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [the Spirit producing sonship] by which we [joyfully] cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies and confirms together with our spirit [assuring us] that we [believers] are children of God (Rom. 8:15-16 AMP).

The Holy Spirit is our wonderful Helper, and an important part of His ministry is to support us in our weakness (Rom. 8:26). We need a lot of help from the Holy Spirit as we are learning to be at home in the love of the Father. This is because most people have been raised in a world that has conditioned them to live with an orphan mindset. This mindset permeates both the religious and secular world. Because of this, it isn’t possible for us to grasp our new identity in Christ, without revelation from the Holy Spirit.

The Love of God Has Been Poured into Our Hearts

The good news is that the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit and that testimony confirms and assures us that we are children of God. This inner witness establishes us deeply in the reality of our homecoming. The Holy Spirit doesn’t give His witness by giving theological arguments, or even through signs and wonders. His witness is given by much better means.

Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom. 5:5 AMP).

The Holy Spirit has poured the love of the Father into our hearts. Because the love of God is eternal and everlasting, it never stops flowing. The Holy Spirit is witnessing by pouring the love of the Father into our hearts, until we are filled and overflowing, with His love for us. His love becomes so one with us that our spirit responds by crying out “Abba, Father”. The Holy Spirit is our best advocate, the one who speaks the truth into our hearts and He uproots every lie about God that we have believed in. The Holy Spirit is our Helper and He is the one who walks beside us and strengthens us, until we are fully established in our new identity as sons and daughters of God.

Awareness and Revelation, Not Just Knowledge

Because this is basic Christianity, it is easy to think of this as such basic knowledge that all believers should know this already, but that line of thinking totally misses the point. Of course, we know that God is our Father and we know that He loves all the world. Most of us can quote John 3:16 by heart, but this isn’t just about knowing theological facts. There is a lot of people who knows the Bible, but that is no guarantee that they are living in an abundant life with God. Knowledge will never transform us, but revelation does and that’s what we are talking about here. To know God as Father means living in constant awareness that God is my Father, who loves me at every moment of every day. It means living with an awareness that we are His beloved children.

Knowing My Father

I remember when I came to know God as my Father. This did not happen through a single encounter. The Holy Spirit brought me on an exciting journey of revelation, where the Father’s heart was unveiled more and more to me. I slowly started to realize that He loves me deeply. It took a couple of years for me to accept that I am at home in my Father’s house and that I belong to His family. I grew up without knowing my earthly father. He left my mother when I was still an infant. Because my father was so absent from my life, there was a father wound in my heart and I was stuck in the identity and the ways of an orphan. This became my identity, which shaped my lifestyle for many years to come. I had decided to never become dependent on other people. I closed my heart to my loved ones. This is one of the fruits of being an orphan.

My father wound wasn’t healed when I got saved. I had a lot of powerful breakthroughs when Jesus came into my life. I was set free from suicidal thoughts and all the demonic powers that had tormented me, because of my involvement in witchcraft and new age, were finally cast out by the power of Christ. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and started to flow in spiritual gifts. There was a new joy and boldness present in my life as well, but the orphan identity stuck with me through this season of my life, because it takes a Father to restore the identity of sonship.

The first time I encountered the love of the Father was during a counseling session. The man who was counseling me, shared a vision that he had received, while preparing for his session with me. In this vision, he saw how the Father lifted me up, hugged me and placed me on His lap. My Father told me how proud He was of me. I had never ever experienced my father doing that, so when my counselor shared this vision with me, it touched a deep longing in my heart and I started to cry. That was the moment when I encountered the love of the Father for the first time and this encounter started the process, where I came to know God as my Father. At that same moment, the love of God started to break the orphan identity of my life. Knowing that my heavenly Father had always wanted me in the family, even though my physical father had abandoned me, brought so much healing and freedom into my life. It’s not an overstatement to say that this encounter changed everything for me. This transformed me from a servant, who didn’t really know if God wanted me in His presence, into being a son that lives in my Father’s presence forever.

The Servant Doesn’t Stay Forever

When Jesus speaks about His place as a son in the Father’s house, He reveals an important principle. “And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever” (John 8:35). A servant will not have a permanent place in the house of the Father. The place and role of the servant in the house, depends on how well he performs his duties. Neither does a servant have a part in the family inheritance. The servant must live and sleep in a servant’s quarter and he only gets food because of the work he performs. In other words, his relationship to the father is based on his good performance. To try to live in the Father’s house as a servant, will always lead to a performance-based way of relating to God. If we perform well, we can stay and continue our duties, but if we do them poorly, we will be reprimanded or even kicked out of the house. If we are living with a servant identity, we will never find true rest in our relationship with the Father. We will then always be worried about our standing with Him. The good news is that Jesus doesn’t call us His servants anymore. We are His friends. “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learnt from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 NIV). We are Jesus’ friend and the sons and daughters of God. Jesus is our big brother and we are children in the house (1 John 3:1).

The Son Stays in the Father’s House Forever

The son has an eternal dwelling place in his Father’s house. Jesus is speaking about Himself when He makes this statement, but it also applies to us who are His siblings. As we are growing more comfortable being at home with the Father, there are many shifts happening in how we are approaching our lives as believers. We no longer live as servants in the house, but as children. There are some very big differences between living as servants or children, especially in how we relate to God and how we steward our call and inheritance as believers. We have been made co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). This means that all the riches that heaven has to offer has already belongs to us. “So don’t ever be afraid, dearest friends! Your loving Father joyously gives you his kingdom with all its promises” (Luke 12:32 TPT)! The son will not have to worry about his place in the family. Because the Father loves all His children, there is always room for us, in His house. This is not affected by our performance, but it is only based on the love and faithfulness of God. This is the reason why Jesus said that the son abides in the house forever (John 8:35). Nothing can ever separate us from the Father’s presence (John 10:27-30). We are held in His loving arms. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39). We can stay in the Father’s house forever!

It Has Pleased the Father to Give Us the Kingdom

Parents will usually do whatever they can to provide the best life possible for their children. Our Father has done and is doing the same for us, only much more generously. He is a rich and perfect father. He has even blessed us with the fulness of heavens’ riches in Christ.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). This was not something that the Father did because He had to. This was something that He was very pleased to do. Our inheritance was not given to us because of our long and faithful service. We are His children, “…and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom 8:17). We are not receiving our inheritance at some later point in life, way off into the future. He has given everything he have to us right now, only because we are His kids and our Father is a generous and loving Father who wants His children to have the best that He can give.

Activations

We studied John 14:1-6 and Eph. 2:6-7, earlier in this chapter. Spend some time reflecting on these passages together with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to reveal more truths from these passages about how you are at home in the Father’s house. You have been seated at the best place at His table. Write down what He reveals to you.

In John 14:6, we read how Jesus described Himself as:

The Way

The Truth

The Life

What does He mean by that and how does these three things show us how He is revealing the Father? Spend some time reflecting on this and invite Him to give a deeper understanding on how He reveals the Father’s heart to you. Write down the insights you receive.

We discovered that there is a huge difference between being a servant in the Father’s house in comparison to being a son. Study this topic in the Bible by doing your own research. Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal more on this topic. Write down the three biggest advantages of being son that you find in your studies on this topic. Pray and declare these realities over your life.

We saw how knowing the Father’s love leads us to a deep homecoming of the heart. Take 20-30 minutes in prayer and worship. Ask the Father for your personal homecoming of your heart that establishes you deeply in His love. Then quiet yourself before Him and drink in the love of the Father.