And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. —Galatians 4:6–7
To take such a familiar tone and refer to the Father as “Abba” was unthinkable and even disrespectful to the Jews of Paul’s day. Abba is a term we might translate as “Papa” or “Daddy,” and to approach God in such a manner was a tough pill for many believing Jews to swallow. But this is the very transition Paul sought to bring into the minds of both Jewish and Gentile believers, that through Christ they were no longer slaves to sin or the ceremonial law of Moses.
Paul also gives us a great though subtle detail about this new dimension of life. When he says the Spirit of His Son cries out, “Abba, Father!” he paints a beautiful picture of all three members of the Trinity and additionally reveals that the Holy Spirit in us cries out to the Father, not as a slave, but as an heir, a son or a daughter of God.
This provides us with a very helpful tool in discerning the voice of the Lord. If a voice within us cries out condemnation, telling us we cannot approach the Father because of what we have done, or if we sense in our hearts that the Father is through with us and does not desire further fellowship, that is not the voice of the Holy Spirit, but rather the voice of the flesh or the enemy. Yes, we may experience a sense of guilt for having done the wrong thing or not having done the right thing, but that is exactly the time when the Holy Spirit will remind us that we can go to God as any child goes to its father.
You will not find the word unadoption in the Bible; first of all, because it’s not a word, but most of all, because it is not a biblical truth. The Spirit in us will always draw us to the Father, but the flesh and the enemy will always seek to drive us away. We can incorporate this knowledge into so many aspects of life. If something pushes us away from the Lord, be it service, fellowship, or ministry, then it isn’t from Him. On the other hand, if something draws us closer to Him, be it service, fellowship, or ministry, then it is from Him. Now that is not to say that God doesn’t sometimes guide us from one place of service, fellowship, and ministry to another, but it does mean that God will not take us from something fruitful to put us into something empty.
The Spirit of Christ in us will always draw us toward a deeper, more familylike understanding of the Father. He will never push or draw us away from that!
Excerpt from “Body Builders” now available on Amazon.
