Sonship, Faith and Vision E-Book

Martin Reèn

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

Seitenzahl: 328

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The motivation of the Father in everything that He is doing is love and He wants to fill us with His love. When that happens, our hearts will be transformed and we will start to look at reality through the eyes of God and dream His dreams. This will cause us to be possibility thinkers that tap into the full creativity of heaven. That is the only way that we can find new creative ways to reach the world with the gospel and to extend the Kingdom of God on this earth. As sons and daughters who are growing into the full inheritance of our Father, we will be part of spreading His love all over the world. That is what this book is all about. As we learn to abide in His love as a lifestyle, we will be renewed and transformed. This will create a longing within our hearts to break out of religious limitations and meaningless traditions that have held us back, so that we instead can pursue the visions and purposes of the Father by becoming more conformed into the image of Jesus everyday.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

Part 1: Sonship and Vision

CHAPTER 1: A REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST

CHAPTER 2: REVELATION AND SONSHIP

CHAPTER 3: OUR RIGHTS AS SONS

CHAPTER 4: SONSHIP AND NEW CREATION REALITIES

CHAPTER 5: THE FIVEFOLD DNA OF JESUS IN AND THROUGH US

CHAPTER 6: WE HAVE BEEN ORDAINED BY THE FATHER

CHAPTER 7: BROKENNESS, HUMILITY AND GRACE

CHAPTER 8: JESUS – THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH

Part 2: Abraham – The Father of Our Faith

CHAPTER 9: THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

CHAPTER 10: ABRAHAM’S JOURNEY OF FAITH

CHAPTER 11: FAILURE, TRANSPARENCY AND RESTORATION

CHAPTER 12: A GENEROUS HEART

CHAPTER 13: THE LORD’S COVENANT PARTNER

CHAPTER 14: IDENTITY AND FRUITFULNESS

CHAPTER 15: WE ARE CHILDREN OF THE FREE WOMAN

CHAPTER 16: SPIRITUAL ISHMAELS

CHAPTER 17: THE REDEMPTION OF OUR SPIRITUAL ISHMAELS

CHAPTER 18: FRIENDSHIP AND INFLUENCE WITH THE LORD

CHAPTER 19: SACRIFICING THE PROMISE

CHAPTER 20: BURYING THE OLD SEASON

CHAPTER 21: EMBRACING THE NEW SEASON

CLOSING WORDS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE

This is my fourth and probably final book in the series that I’ve chosen to call Abiding in the Love of God. The vision for this book was birthed in my heart during a one-week seminar, where some good friends and I taught a group of wonderful lovers of Jesus. All of them carried a strong calling to be creative pioneers. It was a very exciting week filled with anointed teaching and powerful times of ministry with a lot of impartation and prophetic prayers. At that time, I had just finished my earlier book, The Burning Love of Jesus Christ, so I was a little bit hesitant to start writing another book so soon. But as soon as the first day of this short-term school had started, this book was downloaded into my spirit.

This book is all about how being rooted and grounded in the love of the Father raises us up to live in the inheritance and blessings of our sonship. We belong to the royal family of Jesus, which has received the glorious mandate from our blessed Father to spread His love by establishing His Kingdom everywhere. We can move forward with this endeavor in bold faith, while we’re living out of our sonship and identity in Christ:

“I speak to you eternal truth. The Son is unable to do anything from himself or through his own initiative. I only do the works that I see the Father doing, for the Son does the same works as his Father. “Because the Father loves his Son so much, he always reveals to him everything that he is about to do. And you will all be amazed when he shows him even greater works than what you’ve seen so far” (John 5:19-20 TPT).

Jesus never acted on His own initiative. His ministry flowed out of His relationship with His Father. Jesus only did what He saw the Father do and the Father always revealed everything He did to Jesus. Since we are sons and daughters, we are called into a similar relationship with our Father.

This means that we are called to live a lifestyle of revelation and vision where we walk in the overcoming faith of Jesus Christ, as the manifested sons of God. This is the reason that I have chosen to call this book: Sonship, Faith and Vision — Pioneering the Love of the Father. As we’re abiding in His love, we will be compelled to take a journey of faith, so that we can live in the fullness of the Father’s purposes for us. This book is meant to encourage you during this journey into the Father’s heart. My hope and prayers are that this book will provide both hope, inspiration and a lot of revelation from Jesus!

Your brother in Christ,

Martin Reén

INTRODUCTION

When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. However, there shall be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before (Jos. 3:3-4 NASB).

Usually, when believers think of the love of the Father, they think of it as an inner-healing message. Since we will find both healing and restoration in His love, they’re right in doing so, but there is much more to knowing His love than just being healed. There is a wild and unpredictable element to His love. It delivers us from bondages, it shatters chains and breaks us out of religious boxes. His love could never be contained in the box of human traditions or be held captive by a religious system. The love of the Father will renew the mind and reform the heart of every person who drinks from it. Therefore, it raises up believers who break out of spiritual poverty and dry traditions, so that they can find a new way of walking with the Father and living out the life of Christ. Being filled with the wild love of God will cause us to walk in ways where we have not traveled before.

Why I Wrote This Book

The title of this book is Sonship, Faith and Vision — Pioneering the Love of the Father. This is the fourth book in a series on the love of God and it builds a lot on the truths laid out in the three previous books:

Abiding in the Father’s love

Partnering with the Love of Christ

The Burning Love of Jesus Christ

I recommend that you read those books as well. Doing that will provide a fuller picture of the love of God for you. I have written this book to highlight an important and a very exciting aspect of the Father’s love, which is the unpredictable and wild side of His love. Jesus said:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16-17 NASB).

By making this statement, Jesus reveals that our Father will never give up and that He is doing everything He can to save and heal as many as possible. He is very creative in finding ways to reach this goal. The Father’s motivation in everything that He is doing is love and He wants to fill us with His love. When that happens, our hearts will be transformed and we will start to look at reality through God’s eyes and dream His dreams. This will cause us to be possibility thinkers that tap into the full creativity of heaven. That is the only way that we can find new creative ways to reach the world with the gospel and to extend the Kingdom of God on this earth. That is what this book is all about.

Breaking Out of Religious Boxes

As we learn to abide in His love as a lifestyle, we will be renewed and transformed. This will create a longing within our hearts to break out of religious limitations and meaningless traditions that have held us back, so that we instead can pursue the visions and purposes of Jesus. Abraham is our example in this journey.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he left, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a stranger in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Hebr. 11.8-10 NASB).

Just like Abraham, we will be compelled to leave our old familiar territory to travel to the promised land. This is a journey of faith, where we will often find ourselves not really knowing where we are going. Our lifestyle will not match the expectation created by the religious world, concerning how a good believer is supposed to live and act. We will become a peculiar people who are filled with the love of Christ. We will be reflecting the unpredictable, wild nature of that love in even greater ways (2 Cor. 5:14).

Pioneering Lovers

It is more than obvious that God is raising up believers, whose lives have been transformed by the love and grace of the Father. The old way of living the Christian life and doing church will not work for these people. They will become pioneers and reformers who are longing for new expressions of their life with Christ and Kingdom living. Like Joshua, they will be traveling paths where they have not traveled before. It might sometimes look like these people really don’t know where they are going, but they are led by the Holy Spirit. They are lovers of Jesus, who will not give up until they have reached their promised land. I assume that you’re reading this book because you are one of them. My purpose with writing this book is to encourage you on this journey.

The Structure of This Book

This book consists of two parts. In the first part of this book, we are going to look at some general biblical principles of how to live out our sonship by walking in heavenly vision in bold faith. In the second part of this book, we will study the life of Abraham and Sarah, who are the spiritual parents of our faith. Their life provides a pattern for the believers who have been captured by a heavenly vision. Their story is a prophetic blueprint for all of us who feel compelled to leave our old, religious life to embrace the Father’s purposes for us. The history of the people of God has been shaped by lovers of God, who have been totally captivated by a heavenly vision. They could not give up on their vision but were driven to see it fulfilled. By pursuing what they have seen, they shaped history and gave us a rich inheritance of blessings. Abraham is a primary example of such a man.

The Activations

At the end of each chapter, you’ll find a section called Activations. The activations are there to provide a practical application to the teaching. You will get much more out of this book if you do these activations. They will help you to interact with the Holy Spirit to gain more revelation on the topic presented within each chapter. The activations are easy to work with and they will inspire you to grow in intimacy with Jesus Christ. These activations involve journaling, so I suggest that you have your electronic device or a notebook within reach while reading this book. In the Kingdom of God, we learn best by applying what we see. I believe the activations will be both helpful and fun as you interact with the Holy Spirit.

It has been a joy, but also a healthy challenge for me to write this book. The process of writing has challenged me to allow His love to bring reformation and a deeper transformation in my heart. It is more than obvious to me that the Father is leading us to places in the spirit, where we have not gone before. I’m not sure what that will look like, but I do know that it is going to be better than we could ever have imagined. Our future is indeed very exciting! I sincerely hope that you will be just as encouraged and blessed by reading this book as I have been by writing it.

Part 1: Sonship and Vision

In this part of the book, we will look at New Covenant ministry and how our calling flows out of sonship and identity in Christ. Knowing who we are will empower us to live in bold faith as we build the heavenly vision. We will discover how the revelation of who we are as children of God fits together with brokenness and humility before Jesus. Finally, we’re going to look at how the essence of ministry is Christ expressing His own life through us. It is such an adventure to live out our sonship and to bear lasting fruit that glorifies the Father. A fruitful life of restful increase is built on our revelation of the Father’s heart and our identity in Christ.

CHAPTER 1: A REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST

Everything of true value in the Kingdom of God, will always be born from a revelation of the Father’s heart. Growing in the love of the Father opens our eyes, so that we can receive more clarity and revelation of Him. When the Father reveals new things about Himself, our perspective of reality changes, which in turn creates a longing within our hearts to find new ways to respond to Him. Revelation stirs a deep and holy dissatisfaction in our hearts, by causing us to realize that God has so much more in store for us than we have yet experienced. When reading the gospels and the book of Acts, we can see how encounters with Jesus transformed people’s lives all the time. Whenever someone had an encounter with Him that person couldn’t return to their old life anymore. They were forever gloriously ruined by His grace.

Religious Terrorist Transformed into a Pioneering Missionary

The conversion of the apostle Paul is a powerful example of this. He was on his way to the city of Damascus to persecute and wipe out the church there. He had received a mandate from the high priest to arrest every believer he could find in Damascus and to bring them back to the religious council in Jerusalem, bound and in chains (Acts 9:1-2). Paul was totally convinced that he did the right thing. After all, he knew the Old Testament scriptures by heart and he was sure that the followers of Jesus had been badly deceived. In his mind, their very existence was a great threat to the existence of the Jewish people. But then Paul had a revelation of Jesus that changed everything. Let’s read about this encounter in Paul’s own words:

“As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me” (Acts 22:6-9 NLT).

As Paul encountered the risen Jesus, he quickly realized that his old way of looking at life, as well as his own perspective about God and the Scriptures needed some serious update! It became obvious to Paul that he was the one who had been deceived, but through a revelation of Jesus he was now being set free. As Paul realized that he had been playing for the wrong team, he asked the Lord for help:

“And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me” (Acts 22:10-11 NASB).

The same light that had blinded his natural sight, enlightened his heart and gave him spiritual sight. The apostle Paul serves as a great example of how revelation changes our hearts. Of course, revelation usually do not come to us in this dramatic fashion, but the results will always be the same. When revelation illuminates our hearts, our perspective on both Jesus and our own lives will change dramatically. Revelation will compel us to break out into new territories with God.

Encountering Him Changes Us

As Paul was being led into the city of Damascus, he was blinded by the radiant light of Jesus Himself. This was a very humbling experience for Paul, but Jesus didn’t want him to be stuck in that place for long. Jesus spoke to Ananias, one of the disciples who was a part of the body of Christ in Damascus and He sent him to minister to Paul. When Ananias prayed for Paul, he received his sight and was no longer blind (Acts 22:12-13). After Ananias had finished praying for Paul, he gave a prophetic word:

“And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a message from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins by calling on His name’” (Acts 22:14-16 NASB).

When we receive revelation from heaven, God will not leave us on our own to figure out what it means and how to apply it. Jesus will either show it to us directly, or He will send other believers to help us. Paul received a prophetic word that would carry him for the rest of his life. This gave Paul new direction and it set him on a path that would transform him into a pioneering apostle.

We need to learn how to receive the people that God sends into our lives, as the amazing gifts that they truly are. Jesus primarily ministers to us through His body.

Paul fled from Damascus to escape the religious Jews there. They now saw Paul as a traitor and wanted to kill him. Paul returned to Jerusalem and as he was praying in the temple, Jesus spoke to him again. He revealed to Paul that he would not be received in Jerusalem. Instead, Jesus sent him to preach among the gentiles. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21 NIV). This redirected Paul’s life in a radical way. He had been trained to think like a religious Jew, but this calling was the total opposite of the worldview of the Jewish people, at that time. This was obvious by the rage his testimony provoked in the religious people from Jerusalem (Acts 22:22-24). Revelation from God transformed Paul’s life forever, from a religious terrorist into a pioneering apostle.

Revelation Reshapes our Lives

Revelation will always reshape our lives and fill us with dreams and visions from God. Revelation is never given just to provide information, but to impart new life from God into our spirits. It brings transformation, so that we can live the life that our Father has prepared for us. This is the reason that the true pioneers and reformers are always born through a renewed revelation of the heart of the Father. We don’t have to try to become pioneers and reformers. We should instead ask the Father for a much deeper revelation of who He is. Knowing Him deeper will lead us on the path to find new ways to extend the Kingdom.

Revelation Reforms the Heart

All renewal and reformation always start within the heart of the believer. Before our minds can be renewed, the Holy Spirit need to enlighten our hearts. This is the reason that Paul is praying for the Ephesian church:

“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:17-19 NKJV).

A heart that is illuminated by revelation on the Father’s love will be transformed. This is always a work of grace. Transformation in the Kingdom of God could never be accomplished through the strength of the flesh or simple willpower. The enlightenment that we receive by the Holy Spirit transforms us. It is a work of grace. Sometimes we might be tempted to act outside God’s timing, by trying to bring about change by our own strength, but that will never produce any good fruit. We must learn to trust the grace of God to transform our lives.

In our ministry, my wife and I never make plans for how we can take the next step, neither do we come up with any strategies of our own. The plans we receive always come through encounters with Jesus Christ. Lately, we have been led to take some major new steps into unknown territory, as the Father has led us in new ways to fulfill the vision that He has given to us. These new steps have been a direct consequence of us seeing new sides of the love of the Father. This has given us restful and peaceful increase.

Renewing the Mind

Revelation reforms our heart and as a result, we are transformed. As our hearts are reformed by revelation, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect“ (Rom. 12:2 NASB). A renewed mind has started to align itself with the ways and purposes of God, which is how we can begin to partner with His plan for our lives. The renewing of the mind happens, as we keep drinking from the revelation that God has provided. This is the reason why it is important for us to be good stewards of revelation and be quick to respond to His call.

Partnering with God-given Revelation

We have seen how Paul was forever changed by his encounter with the risen Christ. The encounter that Paul had with Jesus on the road to Damascus are recounted three times, within the book of Acts. The last record of Paul sharing his experiences with the risen Jesus takes place as he is being questioned by king Agrippa. He tells the king how he responded to this revelation that came directly from Jesus Christ Himself:

“For that reason, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but continually proclaimed to those in Damascus first and in Jerusalem and then all the region of Judea and even to the Gentiles, that they are to repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance” (Acts 26:19-20 NASB).

Paul was not disobedient to the revelation he had received from Jesus. Paul partnered with the love of Jesus Christ, by preaching the gospel to the gentiles. When we receive more revelation from the Father, it transforms us so that we can reflect Jesus more. As we partner with the will of God, we are empowered to break out of old religious boxes and traditions to take new territories and spheres for God. Our responsibility is to have a heart that is open to receive from the Father and to be willing to obey what we see.

Activations

The life of the apostle Paul was reshaped by revelation from God. How has revelation transformed your life? Take some time to reflect on this. Write down the fruit of revelation that you have seen in your own life.

Take 20-30 minutes in prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to give more revelation to you in the three specific areas mentioned here. Ask Him to illuminate your heart in these areas:

1. The heart of the Father and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

2. Your inheritance as a child of God.

3. The calling and purpose that you have in Christ.

Write down what he shows you in these three areas.

Revelation reforms our heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal areas in your heart that need to be reformed. Ask Him to illuminate these areas with revelation and give Him permission to reform your inner life. Write down the areas He shows you, as well as the insights you receive.

Take 20-30 minutes in prayer. Ask the Father to pour out revelation on the body of Christ, so that we receive fresh manna from heaven. Does He show you specific areas where we need to grow in revelation? If so, write down what He reveals and keep praying for the body of Christ.

CHAPTER 2: REVELATION AND SONSHIP

As our revelation of the Father grows deeper, we will gain more insight into who we are in Christ as well. If you have been called to birth and build a vision from God, you need to be established in your identity and sonship. One important principle within the Kingdom of God is that whatever we do for God is always meant to flow out of who we are. To operate from our identity in Christ, we need to know that we are our Father’s beloved kids. Since our identity describes our position as His children, we can’t embrace our identity without knowing the Father’s heart. Our identity is always revealed as we abide in His love.

I have learned to define myself as my Father’s radically favored and beloved son. I do a lot of things in the Kingdom of God, such as writing books, teaching in seminars and preaching, but that’s not where I find my identity as a believer. My identity is found in Christ alone. It has been extremely liberating to know that I can have all my security and confidence in Christ. Knowing that I am my Father’s beloved son has set me free from the pressure of falling into a performance-based model of ministry. It has also kept me from the temptation of finding my identity in the results and blessings of our work.

The Father Lavishes His Love Upon Us

Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize him (1 John 3:1 The Passion).

When the Bible describes the Father’s love towards His children, it doesn’t use a balanced language. It always uses a language of overflow by speaking of lavishing and abundant love. The Father loves us more than we could even begin to understand. We are the apple of His eyes, who delight His heart in a deep way. He has lavished all His marvelous love upon us and He calls us His own children. He does all this because He wants us as His own. We did not choose Him, but He invited us into His own family. For those of us who have been rejected and abandoned by one or both of our parents, this is very good news. We find true healing in knowing that long before any earthly parent had ever rejected us, our heavenly Father had already chosen us as His own child. The orphan identity is a big lie. The truth is that we have always had the best Father in the world. He has always longed to bring us home to Himself. Abiding in the love of the Father transforms us into generous and creative people that are set ablaze with a holy fire from heaven.

The World Does Not Recognize Us

Since the world does not know the Father, it can’t recognize who we are. Because of this, we need to be careful when it comes to whom we’re allowing to define and influence us. It is important that we learn to live according to our identity as children of God, because only He sees us as we truly are. If we look to the world to gain a better self-image, we might find some good help and a few good tools for that. But the help we might receive will still be very limited, because the world doesn’t know our identity in Christ. We need the Holy Spirit to know who we are. If we don’t know the heart of the Father and His love for us, we will still be orphans, no matter how much we work with our self-image. We might be orphans with a little bit better self-esteem, but only the love of the Father can provide true sonship.

The Lie of the Orphan Identity

The orphan identity has its origin in Satan. He is the first orphan and he chose the orphan lifestyle by rebelling against God’s rule. As a result of his rebellion, Satan lost everything and was thrown down into the grave (Isa. 14:12-16). His ultimate goal is to deceive us to embrace an orphan identity, so that we end up being bound in the same misery as he is. Satan wants us to lose our identity and inheritance just like he did. He tries to make that happen by deceiving us into believing that the Father is not interested in us. He wants us to believe that we are not worthy to be loved.

If we listen to these lies, we will be tricked into living as orphans, even though we’re already abiding in the Father’s house all the time. The orphan is someone who has lost his parents and as a result, has no home, no roots, no inheritance. Because of this, the life of an orphan will become a lifestyle of constant struggle for identity, belonging and inheritance (See Abiding in the Father’s Love, for an in-depth study of the orphan identity).

We need to realize that the orphan identity is based on a lie. As a child of God, you are not an orphan anymore. You’re a beloved son or daughter and the Father’s heart towards you, is for you to know that you are His chosen and beloved child. Jesus declared to us that “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you“ (John 14:18 NASB). This statement reveals what Jesus accomplished for us through the cross. We are not orphans anymore. We live in the presence of the Father all the time and as we keep abiding in His love and approval, we will learn to live out of our identity in Christ. We are now co-heirs with Jesus Christ and have received our glorious inheritance with every heavenly blessing in Christ.

Only the Father Can Provide Sonship

As we have seen, we find our identity in Christ by knowing the heart of the Father. The reason for this is that only the Father can provide real identity to a son. Being a son is not about gender in this context, but here it speaks of a spiritual position. Both men and women receive the full inheritance of sonship, when they receive Jesus. “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God“ (Gal. 4:6-7 NASB). Every time the Bible makes a statement concerning who we are in Christ, it describes an aspect of the inheritance that we have received as sons. The Father’s love shapes our lives, so we can live out of our identity in Christ and receive His promises. This doesn’t happen all at once. It is a lifelong process of learning to abide in His love and discover more of who we are in Christ. When we allow that process to happen, His love brings healing to our heart and soul. Rejection and abandonment will no longer find a place in our heart. Instead, we will be filled by the loving acceptance of the Father, so that we can live in a close fellowship with Jesus Christ, who promised to never leave nor forsake us.

We Were Chosen by the Father

We have already seen that it was the Father who chose us and not the other way around. This truth is foundational for knowing that we are accepted by God. Paul writes on this topic in his letter to the Ephesians:

And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence. For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace —for the same love he has for the Beloved, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure (Eph. 1:4-6 The Passion)!

To realize that we were chosen by the Father, even before He laid the foundation of the world is mind-blowing. The creator of the universe looked through time and space and saw us. He liked us so much that He chose us to become His children. The Father has always been longing to reveal Himself to us and invite us to be part of His family.

We need to realize that He wants us in His presence. He loves us so much that Jesus went through death and resurrection to bring us home to the Father. The Father loves us in the same way that He loves His Son. I have ministered to so many people through the years, who expressed a belief that they were a mistake and that they were unworthy to be loved. But no one has ever been unwanted or a mistake. The Father has chosen you and He wants to lavish His love upon you. When you allow the Holy Spirit to minister to your heart, His approval and love will bring healing to the broken places in your soul. He will continue His work until you realize and embrace that you are a chosen and beloved child of God.

My Process of Embracing Sonship

When I look back at my own journey of learning to live as a son, it didn’t happen all at once. The Father brought me through the process of being delivered and healed from my orphan identity. This process took a couple of years, but during this time He did a thorough work within my heart. When my heart was healed by His love, a new foundation was laid in my life. I now know that I am His beloved and favored son and heir. This has become my foundation and my identity. This is not true only about me, but every believer is His beloved, favored and blessed child!

The Transforming Power of His Love

We read from 1 John 3:1 earlier in this chapter, but let’s continue by reading the next verse: “Beloved, we are God’s children right now; however, it is not yet apparent what we will become. But we do know that when it is finally made visible, we will be just like him, for we will see him as he truly is“ (1 John 3:2 The Passion). We are His children now, but at the same time we are becoming something new. At times, it will be hard for us to understand the transforming work of the Holy Spirit within our lives. But we can trust that the goal of all transformation will be Christlikeness. The Holy Spirit will always work toward that end. This is our sure foundation. “And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us“ (Rom. 5:5 The Passion)! Our lives are meant to mirror the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was sent to this world to reveal the heart of the Father and that is our calling as well. Jesus was sent to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim freedom for the captives and we are sent to do likewise. A life of true sonship always mirrors the life Jesus.

Activations

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.

We saw how the journey from the orphan identity to sonship is a process. Where are you in this process? Are there areas in your life where you still struggle with the orphan identity? Take some time to reflect on this and write down any insights you receive. Ask the Father to pour His love into areas of your heart, where you need to be healed from the orphan wound.

We read from 1 John 3:1-2 in this chapter. Spend some time with the Holy Spirit and reflect on these verses together with Him. Ask Him to illuminate your heart and give more revelation on this passage. Write down what He reveals to you.

Spend some time interceding for the body of Christ. Ask for a deeper revelation of sonship and identity in Christ to come upon us and for us to receive wisdom to steward this revelation in a good way.

CHAPTER 3: OUR RIGHTS AS SONS

But when the time of fulfillment had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Yet all of this was so that he would redeem and set free those held hostage to the law so that we would receive our freedom and a full legal adoption as his children (Gal. 4:4-5 TPT).

A very empowering aspect of living as sons and daughters in the kingdom of God is that we now have received the full rights to our inheritance in Christ. Knowing this truth is foundational for us if we want to live a victorious life. It will help us when we aim to take new ground for the Kingdom of God. We have been made heirs and ambassadors for Jesus Christ, which means that our Father has given us His full permission and mandate to represent Him right here and now. We are anointed and equipped to rule and reign together with Jesus in this world (Rom. 5:17).

The word adoption mentioned in the text above, doesn’t have the meaning that we might think as westerners. This doesn’t refer to parents adopting a child that is not their own. Rather, it refers to parents adopting their own child into the family. Let me explain a little more. The Greek word translated as adoption here, is the word “huiothesia”, which literally means