Life is hard for everyone. We all go through difficult days when the last thing you want to do is deal with the day itself whether it comes in the form of deadlines, difficult conversations that need to happen or feeling that sense of aloneness. Life is hard, but life is not nearly as hard if there is a purpose to our suffering and pain and the reality is that we get to choose our hard as we see in this passage. We can either suffer on our own, within our own devices or just ‘manning up’ or we can suffer with the Lord. We can suffer with inner peace that God is in the midst of all of this stuff or continue to allow ourselves to be kicked in the gut with the inner turmoil of our lives.
There is a lot to be said about really coming to grips with our understanding of our adoption into God’s family and the powerful sense of identity that it can bring us.
The Spirit of Adoption v15,16, 23
· It is the Spirit of God that you receive v15
· It is the Spirit of that testifies with your spirit v16
· The Spirit of God is your downpayment v23
We have been given the Spirit of adoption. It means ‘being given a companion likened to that of a marriage partner’. We have not been given a spirit of fear and slavery, that is what we had before. The hard of the old life was the constant struggle with fear and doubts. Fear of rejection, fear of losing what we have, fear of being alone, fear of not having enough, fear of death.
It is not supposed to be part of our makeup anymore! Self -condemnation, depression, and anxiety attacks are all based in stress and fear. The beautiful thing is that we are His kids now; adopted into Him and His family.
When I was in Grade 8, my parents made the decision to become foster parents and how an emergency two week placement for three children turned into 10 years as a family with us. I can remember how amazed my foster brothers and sisters were to know that there was always going to be food on the table. They were so starved in their own home and we shared everything. They even became my first youth group!
You see we have been given all the benefits, rights, and provision of God. Embrace His love for you; you are adopted! He has given us His Spirit to set us free.
Our Identity in Christ v17-22, 24,25
We need a reconversion to Jesus!
Your Shepherd, your advocate, your Mediator, your Bridegroom, your Conqueror, your Lion, your Lamb, your sacrifice, your manna, your smitten Rock, your living water, your food, your drink, your good and abundant life, your dwelling place, your Sabbath, your new moon, your Jubilee, your new wine, your feast, your aroma, your anchor, your wisdom, your peace, your comfort, your Healer, your joy, your glory, your power, your strength, your wealth, your victory, your redemption, your Prophet, your Priest, your kinsmen redeemer, your teacher, your guide, your liberator, your deliverer, your Prince, your Captain, your vision, your sight, your beloved, your way, your truth, your life, your author, your finisher, your beginning, your end, your age, your eternity – your all and all.
Leonard Sweet in Jesus Manifesto
· Our identity is found in suffering v17, 18
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Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Yes, we will suffer as believers, but we suffer within God’s family. We suffer “with Him.” We are ‘heirs of a kingdom,’ that is us.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but moving forward in spite of our fear.
Courage is facing our fears and giving them over to Christ, laying them at the foot of the cross and letting Him take care of them. We have strength today because it is preparing us for the future glory.
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
2 Timothy 3:12; read also John 15:18-20
Some of you have come from homes where you were completely written off because of your decision to follow Jesus. You need to know that your pain is felt by Christ. We know that in the latter days, persecution of Christians will only increase and more and more we will see our rights taken away.
· Our identity is formed through painful experiences v22,23
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Now, I realize for mothers, no explanation needed but for the rest of us, we have Carol Burnett who once described childbirth like this:
“Take your bottom lip, pull it as far away from your face as you can, and now pull it over your head.”
“Take your bottom lip, pull it as far away from your face as you can, and now pull it over your head.”
There were two things that I learned from Sharon and the prenatal classes that we took leading up to Jordan’s birth – focus and breathing.
When Sharon felt a contraction coming on, she would have a picture of us that she would focus on, a reminder of the family that we were trusting God for. The moment that she would look away would be the time that she would feel the intensity of the pain of the contraction.
The focus that Paul is giving us is the glory that will be revealed in us, when our earthly bodies are fully transformed and take on our full likeness as adopted sons and daughters of the King. We need a powerful and beautiful picture of eternity to settle in our hearts.
Prayer is our form of spiritual breathing. We need to breathe in His presence and continually breathe out the anxiety, the stress, the fears that tie us up and get us in knots physically and spiritually. Through the most difficult times, we need to battle in prayer with intensity.
Charles Swindoll said, “I don’t think I have ever learned any deep, lasting, life-changing lessons on the cress of success. I have learned very little from winning, but I have learned a great deal from losing.”
“God is more interested in your character than in your comfort.”
Groaning is not complaining, it is this intense longing for something more. It is knowing I am complete in Christ and yet still feeling incomplete.
· Our identity is fuelled by a new and living hope v24, 25
The purpose of suffering is to make us long for our ultimate REVEAL, our full revelation!
The spirit of adoption has given us light and has given hope for something we can’t see right now.
What we are saying is that we are groaning; we are longing for our real home.
Check out the book,
for an incredible real life story about heaven!
What we are really saying is “I want to see my wife there, my kids, my parents, I want to see my brother and my sister, with no worries about starvation, injustice, terrorism.
We have a new HOPE. The Spirit has given us a new vision for our life, but it will never be fulfilled completely until we are redeemed.
We are ruined for this world.
Biblical hope is never an escape from reality or from problems. It doesn’t leave us idle, drifting or just rocking on the front porch. If our hope is biblical and not just a heavenly cliche or like the sign, “in case of emergency, break glass,” it will put us in gear. J. Hampton Keathley
The Takeaway
What is your hope?
Let the brightness, the fulness of your identity in Christ and adoption into God’s family become so real to you that it shines into the darkest corners of your life. So, continue to expose the lies and walk in His newness!
I want to close by sharing on how God’s Spirit has testified to my spirit and how He continues to renew my hope. Here is what I wrote as I allowed Him to speak to me.
Dear child, you are concerned about many things, you must make your rest in me. I am the one who will give you the words to speak. I am the one who will wash over you with the oil of my love. I am the one who will rejoice over you with singing. I am your rock, your deliverer, your right arm, your joy, your victor. Rest in me and I in you.
My response…forgive me Lord for not being here enough. I need you every day, every moment, help me to not run on empty.
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