Romans 8:15-17 15 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.[h] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[i] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. NLT
It was late and I had just watched a movie with my daughters, when I decided to go outside to spend time with the Father. It was a beautiful starlit night and the clouds were beginning to appear – a storm was approaching. In the weeks prior, late at night I would ask the Father for a shooting star, just as a sign that He was there, listening to me (He had blessed me in the past with shooting stars). This night I decided to ask again.
“Father can you please show me a shooting star?” I awaited expectantly, however He was silent and no shooting star appeared, much to my dismay.
I continued to talk with the Father for a little while longer, and then had a revelation – that revelation was sonship. I said, “Father I’m tired of performing to earn your favor and I make an agreement with you to just to be your son – no working, no striving and no performing.” (As a Physical Education Teacher and Coach of 20+ years, I can very easily step into work, striving and performance).
No sooner had I gotten these words out of my mouth when directly in front of me a shooting star streaked across the sky! Father God was confirming what I had agreed to – being a son from an “already place” – I was already a son with every benefit that went along with that position.
As soon as the shooting star had faded out, the clouds began to cover the sky and the stars began to disappear. At this moment, I saw something I would have never expected; the bold, magnificent face of a lion in the clouds. With it, I heard the words, “My gaze is always upon you.”
I had a fresh revelation of what it was to be a son- a son of the Most High God, what it was to have favor (the “already” favor of the Father), to be loved by the Father and to love Him, to be a king under the King of kings and live in my identity from a place of eternity instead of a place from the world.
As I continued in dialogue with the Father He continued to give me more revelation regarding my identity (the identity, that all of us who are in covenant with Christ, have). I’ve had this revelation before and I know who I am in Christ, however, on this night the Father gave me a fresh revelation of sonship. I believe that all of us need this revelation (again) of what it is to truly walk, live, and be a son or a daughter of the Father in Heaven.
Truth and Love is: our identity. To just be – resting in who we are and who we always have been – sons and daughters! When I can come to a place of rest in my “already” identity, the identity I have always had, it is easy for me to relate to the Father as “Papa” or “Abba” instead of a distant cold Father who might sometimes hear me depending on His mood. The fact is, you and I are the only created beings that have ever been created in His image! Think about this for a moment, out of all the creatures, angels, animals and every other creation – we are His MASTERPIECE! Why? because we are made up of His very DNA, we are His offspring that carry His very lifeblood. And because we are His offspring we have full rights to everything He has for us. This is Truth and this……is…… amazing Love! And this amazing Love is interested in every aspect of our lives – including showing us His wonders of a “shooting star”….. just because He loves.
Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’NKJV
Papa (Abba) is interested, why……because we, as His sons and daughters, are the glory of His creation (John 17:22), the objects of His love and affection, and the heirs and co-heirs with His Son (Romans 8). Remember your entire existence is embodied in one commonality – who you are….a son….a daughter of the Most High God (your Papa)!
John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
Romans 8:38-39 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV
