29^th-30^th October

^{Weekend Edition}

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, “Abba, Father.” For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”

Romans 8:15-16

What jumps out at you the most from the above passage? Is it that you are no longer slaves to fear of rejection, mis-identity or even God’s wrath? Or is that the fact that you are now adopted into God’s Kingdom, into His beloved family? Aren’t both such fantastic news? Our spirit of fear has been replaced with God’s Spirit; a Spirit of love, acceptance and adoption. Isn’t it incredible that ‘God’s Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are His children’!! This is a message that can never be repeated enough. It never gets old. To know who you are, to know how God sees you, and a right understanding of who God is, are all foundational to your faith and to your growth in Christ.

Think about children. They rely so heavily on their parents. ‘Dad I’m hungry’, ‘Mum, I’m thirsty’ are such common statements to come out of a child’s mouth. Why? Because they can’t feed themselves or get themselves a drink. They need their parents. They rely on their parent’s provision and protection. Think about the parents too; of how much they love their children. The way they go out of their way to feed their children, give them things that will help them grow, provide for them, protect them from danger and teach them how to behave, and how to live good and Godly lives. Without a ‘parent’ the child can’t survive.

The parent – child relationship is the clearest form of what our relationship with God is like; a message repeated numerous times throughout the Bible. However, this knowledge provokes a challenge. Have we forgotten how much we need God? Have we become too ‘grown up’ that we reject God’s Fatherly care, advice and protection in our lives and replace it with our own independent controlling actions? Maybe it is time to re-evaluate our walk with Him, and become children again in His eyes.