A Revelation of Adoption

I went for a short run today (by the way, summer is officially here, my south MS friends 😅) and even though I had a podcast on, Holy Spirit was impressing upon me a different topic than the one I was listening to. One that has come up over and over in this season, and one that deeply burdens my heart for the Bride of Christ… that topic being a revelation of adoption in the western Church. Well honestly, the lack thereof. He began to impress upon me the need to intercede for, write about, and understand in greater depths how the Church is, in many ways, severely underestimating what it means to be adopted into the family of God, cleansed and made new by the blood of Jesus, and what that truth means for every part of our lives as believers. I am not out to bash Christians or to belittle the Church in anyway, but when I say my heart is burdened about this, I mean like a deep, gut-wrenching, sorrow for what the lack of this revelation reveals about us..

A lack of revelation of adoption just means that there’s been substantial drift from the Biblical idea that we are primarily, before anything else, sons and daughters of God. It doesn’t mean that we have never had proper understanding of this, or that we don’t have “head knowledge” of it, but we don’t have to look far to see the fruit of what I mean if we’re honest. Fruit of us drifting reveals itself in a lack of authority in the lives of many Christians. Other fruit looks like bondage, brokenness, and struggles within the Body of Christ that mirror that of the world. Division. Strife. Unanswered prayers that we accuse God of not hearing (and sometimes, He doesn’t, but it’s our fault- not His 🙉). Terribly tragic situations and circumstances that we blame God for when in fact, it’s because of sin and brokenness in the world. Neglecting the Holy Spirit and the gifts He gives. The fruit of building our own kingdoms because we’ve lost sight of the fact that we’re children of THE King that has authority, dominion, and inheritance IN Jesus- the One who bled and died so that we could be adopted into His family!

Galatians 4:3-7 NIV “So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God‘s child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir.” Adoption ➡️ Sonship ➡️ Heir 🙌🏼

We talk so much about the forgiveness of Jesus and what it cost Him- what our salvation cost Him- that familiarity has caused our understanding to grow dull. Jesus- perfect, sinless, blameless- Son of God- that Jesus- was crucified. In our place. In the worst type of death anyone has ever died. So that we do not have to. And He did not stay dead. Not only did He not stay in the grave, but He conquered it so that death doesn’t have the final say in our lives anymore, and neither does the enemy. And if that wasn’t enough, He also sent His Spirit to live in and with us, because we wouldn’t have His physical presence any more after His ascension but we still have His power! The perfect blood of Jesus is the means by which we are adopted into the family of God- of the Creator of the world. Adoption is always a choice. God chose to exchange the precious blood of His Son for our adoption. It was a costly sacrifice to bring us in- and it costs us greatly if we don’t understand it. Galatians 4:7 says we are no longer slaves, but children, and since we’re children, we’re heirs. We’ve been adopted into the King’s family, but we still live like slaves. What do I mean? One of the saddest things to me is when I hear someone begging and pleading with God to do 1)Something that He cannot or will not do because it is outside of His character, or 2)Something that He has already promised in His Word or given us access to. How may good parents would make their children beg to be provided for? Or beg to be forgiven? Has your child not ever asked you for something that you won’t give them, because you know it isn’t good for them? You don’t withhold it because you’re mean; you withhold it because you love them. They may not like your answer, but if they know you’re character, they will come to see that you always had their best interest at heart (maybe not toddlers, but all the rest of your kids 😂). We on the other hand, ask God for things that explicitly contradict His Word, and then accuse Him of being less than good, loving, etc. when we don’t get it. A sure fire sign of misunderstood sonship is begging a good Father to be good. Or of blaming Him when we don’t get our way. There is no such thing as begging in the Kingdom if we truly know the King. He doesn’t have to be begged to save, to heal, to restore, etc. Those are things He’s willing and ready to do if we will seek His face, make intercession, and live in holiness. One thing we cannot underestimate is that the standard of God for His children is still holiness. So much of the reason our prayers don’t get answered is becaus we don’t ask with pure motives or clean hearts. The Bible has much to say about “unanswered” prayers. (James 1:6-7; Isaiah 59:2; Prov. 15:29; James 4:2; Ps. 66:18)

Having an accurate revelation of adoption means approaching God on the basis that if He would send His only Son to die on my behalf, in order to adopt me into His family and call me His child, then He cannot be approached by striving, earning, or performing. If I’m still a slave in the Master’s house, I’ll feel the need to beg and plead my way into a bare minimum life, but I understand who my Father is, then I will come to Him acknowledging that He doesn’t withhold good things from His children. He didn’t save us to be beggars; He saved us to be children. The way a beggar asks for basic needs and the way a child asks for basic needs are completely different. Jesus said that He came so that we may have abundant life (John 10:10). ABUNDANT. Not mediocre. Not just getting by. Not saved but miserable until we get to Heaven… and honestly, many Christians live that way. Defeated. Worn out. Just barely hanging on waiting for Jesus to return or for them to go to Heaven. And what a sad way to live. Abundant life doesn’t mean money and material possessions, but it does mean abundant joy, hope, peace, freedom, etc. When those things are not present in the life of a believer, something is wrong- either our view of God is wrong, or our view of us is wrong. Either way, a wrong view of sonship is the source.

A proper revelation of adoption into the family of God means understanding the authority that He’s given us also. Authority over darkness. Authority over the enemy. Authority over sickness. Authority over demonic oppression. Authority to use the gifts He’s given us in His Spirit and His Word. Mark 16:15-18 says this, “He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 😳 Jesus told His disciples this when they saw Him after the resurrection. Right after this, He ascended into Heaven to His seat at the right hand of God. Verse 20 says, “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.” He is not a different Jesus now. What was true for the disciples then is true for us now, and even more so, because of the power of the Holy Spirit that came in Acts 2. God the Father sent His Son to shed His blood not only to bring us into His family, but to take back dominion from the enemy. Humanity is the only part of creation that God gave dominion to (Genesis 1:26-30). Would it not be very strange, sad even, for a child to tiptoe around in fear and anxiety when his father has given him not only permission, but dominion- the ability to rule and have authority over- the things that make him fearful and anxious? But that’s the way we live- as though we are at the disposal of Satan for him to do whatever he wants in our lives, and we either blame God or beg Him to fix it when He’s given us the means to do so.

The greatest season of my life was also the absolute hardest season of my life. I was facing a level of darkness that I had never experienced before, and though it was excruciating, the Lord taught me so much through it. One of those things being this: as His child, I’m not a victim of the enemy. I have authority over him. I’m not helpless. I’m not destined to be afraid and ashamed and vexed. That is not abundant life, and that is not the will of God for His children. If you’ve been told that it is, number one- I’m sorry for the ignorance of whoever told you that, and number 2- He’s much too good of a Father to save us from an eternity in hell but not save us from torment here on earth. It doesn’t make sense. That’s contrary to everything about Him. He taught me how to walk in the authority He’s give me to overcome darkness- authority that makes demons flee. Authority to speak to the assignments of the enemy when they come and refuse to partner with him and his desire to steal, kill, and destroy in my life. He taught me how to be confident in His voice, and He filled me with His Spirit and awakened gifts inside of me that allow me to walk in purpose that I never even knew was possible. His Word says that He provides a way out of every temptation that we face (1 Cor. 10:13), so if I bite the bait of sin, I will endure consequences for it that are NOT from God but allowed by Him because He does not and will not contradict His Word. Many of us are running around begging God to relieve what we caused by our own poor choices. He can’t do it; and that doesn’t make Him wrong, it makes us ignorant of our position in Him. Hebrews 12:5-6 says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son.” We all know people or kids (not yours, of course 😆) that didn’t get proper discipline, and it shows. It shows in entitlement, disrespect, and a plethora of consequences they have to live out that could have easily been avoided by loving discipline. Again, God is not ever going to contradict His Word, but if we don’t know His Word, we won’t walk in proper revelation of sonship.

We will struggle. Sometimes because of our own sin and poor decisions, and sometimes because of the effect of sin on the world due to the fall of humanity since the Garden of Eden. There will be problems. He tells us to expect them. But bondage of the enemy is not ever His will. Sickness is not His will. I’m so angry and so heartbroken over how often I hear a perfect Father be blamed for everything that we experience here. All of this goes back to the Body desperately needing a fresh revelation of the love of the Father that not only calls us sons and daughters but that desires for us to live confident of our ability to overcome so much of what we have been bowing to…

Romans 8:13-17 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of adoption. Such a beautiful picture that Paul painted with these verses. No child that cries out in distress is ignored by a good parent. Neither are we. Fear is one of the primary things I lived so long in bondage to. I had never known what is was like to not be afraid to some extent my whole life until I got deliverance from the spirit of fear, and I’ll never be the same. If we’re children of God still walking around in bondage, it may be time to ask ourself what we really believe about our Father… and about us.

There’s so much more to this topic, but I hope this has shed some light for you to see the dire need we have as the Body of Christ to understand our position in Him in order to do what He’s called us to do. Just like natural parents don’t just birth their children and then hope they figure life out on their own, God doesn’t either. He didn’t just save us from hell, and He didn’t just save us for Heaven. There’s work to do here. There’s an enemy that’s hoping you never understand your sonship, because if you don’t live in light of your true identity, there’s no way to live the life God intended for you. Even in the wilderness when Jesus was tempted by Satan (Luke 4), the very first thing he tempted Jesus to do was to question His Sonship. His literal words to Jesus were, “If you are the Son of God…” and that’s still his game plan today, because for many of us, it works. Until it doesn’t. It’s my prayer that the Church will awaken from their sleep, receive a fresh revelation of their sonship, and begin to walk in the victory and freedom that Jesus died to give us. The blood of Jesus is still the most powerful substance in all of creation, and it still speaks, washes, cleanses… and adopts. Ask Him for fresh eyes to see yourself as He sees you, son or daughter of the King. He’s a good, good Father.

Until next time,

Melissa