On Sonship (Part V)
The last few weeks we’ve been discussing the implications of sonship on our walk with Christ. If you’re interested, you can check out the previous posts in the series here:
On Sonship (Part I)
On Sonship (Part II)
On Sonship (Part III)
On Sonship (Part IV)
God fathers us Himself.
God has always been a father. He was the father of our Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world (Colossians 1:2-3, John 17:24), He was a father to Israel (Hosea 11:1), and He has been a father to the church of every generation. God has designed the world so that even though children are born without fathers (or born with terrible fathers), He will be a father to the fatherless. Psalms 68:5-6 describes how God protects the orphan and sets the lonely in families. This is something God does because He is a father.
We see this play out specifically when a man or a woman turns from their sin and accepts Christ as the leader of his or her life. At that point God gives us “the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15). This radical adoption breaks off every form of fear and abandonment and it is God’s answer to the harsh reality that not everyone has a good dad to call their own.
This Spirit of adoption is not just a warm, fuzzy love feeling, it’s much more practical than that. I know of one brother who really had very little fathering growing up. When he became a believer, he found himself totally unable to do simple things that a father usually teaches a son. His testimony is he held on to the promise that the Lord would be a father to him and God literally fathered him into adulthood. God would actually speak to him things a father would teach his son. But even if you’ve grown up knowing how to function in life, a father gives more than just instructions. His fathering presence frees us from the fear and insecurity that plagues mankind and stops us from every really achieving anything significant. Do not minimize the impact of being fathered by the One who created the role Himself.
When we come to know Christ, we gain access to God as our father. But like we started this series off saying, many people come to know Christ but never transition out of the orphan mindset. There are several major reasons for this, but one main reason is we were designed to relate to beings with skin. God hasn’t left us alone in that arena. He’s even prepared for that. We’ll look at that next time…
Photo Credit: Father and Daughter by apdk
Two Questions That End Confusion
This past weekend I journeyed out to the Midwest Prayer Center to attend a worship gathering that was
led by Rick Pino. After the time of worship they had a speaker named Rex Crain who I had never heard
before this weekend. He had a tremendous ability to provoke people into their callings (and do a very
corporate version of what I’ve been talking about in my “On Sonship” series).
I found something he did really simple and helpful for clarifying identity and helping people move
forward in their calling. He gave everyone two sentences to fill in the blanks for themselves. Once
you answer these two questions, a lot of other questions become much easier. I’m going to post both
sentences, but here’s the challenge: Answer them in the comment section. You’ll be helped by having
written down a clarifying statement on identity and purpose and I would love to know who is reading
and where the people who are reading are going. Here are the two questions:
My name is __________________.
My life is about ____________________________________________________________________.
Now, some of you may not know the answer to the question, and that’s okay. This is an exercise
designed to cause you to go back to the Father and get the answers. Obviously the first answer is just
your name. The second answer has an infinite number of possibilities.
Here’s mine: My name is Travis. My life is about recovering the essence of apostolic Christianity in my
generation. (I’ll clarify that statement at some point in the future, but it will probably look something
like this.)
Okay, now it’s your turn. Go to the comment section and leave the answer to your two questions. I’m
excited to see the answers.
Food For Thought: More Media and Crowdsourcing Edition
Every week here at Pursuing Glory I try to bring together the best posts I’ve found that will equip the end-times church to operate in her God-ordained destiny. These are the best blogs, articles, books and other resources related to our purpose here at this site. Feel free to visit, comment, and make use of the resources found at each site.
Last week I talked about some of the other media out there that I’ve been thinking about including. I had some good response on some of the content that I added, so I will continue to add more as it becomes available. I also thought it would be a great idea to let you (the reader) suggest other material of similar content out there for us here at the blog to use. If you have suggestions, leave them in the comment section. And now to this week’s links:
Jackie Pullinger: The Sign of the Cross
How does the reality of Jesus’s death on the cross and His call to us to die to ourselves affect our idea of God’s mission on the planet? Kieth @ Subversive1 reposts this transcription of a fantastic message by Jackie.
Vision, Intention, and Means is the topic of this post on how human beings change. While spiritual growth is always a work of the Spirit, it’s amazing how many Christians ignore the human fundamentals of change that allow them to cultivate the working of the Spirit. Len takes snippets from a Dallas Willard article to look at the process.
Barney’s 10 Commandments for Reluctant Evangelists
Barney’s “commandments” are methods of human change applied to the subject of evangelism. If you really haven’t thought about what practical changes you need to make in becoming someone who reaches lost people, check out this post.
What is the Purpose of the Five-Fold Ministry
The five-fold ministry is designed by Jesus to reproduce an aspect of Jesus into His body. Felicity is right on in this article. Many of us cling to only one or two of these giftings which greatly hinders our transformation into a Kingdom people.
Encountering Heaven Part I by Shawn Bolz
This is an audio recording from 2005 where Shawn Bolz discusses the nature of heavenly encounters and their worth in transforming the body of Christ. If you’ve never had a lot of exposure to prophetic encounters, this will be a wild ride for you.
Photo Credit: Design Probes – Food for Thought by centralasian.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 