Living in the Father's Love (Part 2)

Recently I took some time to retreat and get away. Before I went, the Holy Spirit showed me that I had become disconnected from the Father. To be honest, I was shocked at first when I sensed Holy Spirit showing me this. But as I yielded to this revelation, I could see that it was in fact true. It had been a very subtle process over time. The Holy Spirit showed me that part of my issue was that I had swapped my identity as a son for that of “pastor.” During my retreat time, the Father invited me to step back into my sonship identity... to receive Him like a child again.

When I step out of my sonship, I step back into my orphan-heart mode. Orphans are self-reliant and strive for acceptance. They seek to achieve things in order to impress others. They often compare themselves to others. I’m sorry to say that I recognized these symptoms had been creeping into my own life until the Father lovingly invited me back into sonship.

There is a lesson here, especially for those of you in any kind of leadership. Often leaders are affirmed for their gifting and leadership. Those you lead recognize your gifting and choose to honor and affirm you. Word of caution! Don’t make “leader” your identity. Your true identity is “son” or “daughter.”

The late Jack Winter said, “When you focus your life on being a leader, it becomes very easy to become controlling or authoritarian. That is the characteristic of an orphan heart. Then you produce children after your kind. Instead, why don’t we all start focusing on being a son or daughter who seeks to do only what the Father does, and lives to serve, honor, and bless others? When you do this, people around you will start living and acting like sons and daughters too” (quote taken from the book Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship by Jack Frost).

That makes sense. Fathers and mothers want to raise great sons and daughters. The best way to do that is not to focus on “being a great father (or mother)” but rather to model what being a “son or daughter” looks like to them. Our kids learn from us primarily by imitating us.

Our sonship will even affect our ability to embrace our culture of love and honor. Paul Manwaring of Bethel Church says that to honor someone is to recognize the glory that is on him or her. When we are secure in our identity, then we can honor all people because we recognize the measure of God’s glory that is on them and it does not threaten our own identity as God’s kids.

So, how do we live in this identity? Well, God reminded me during my recent retreat time that we don’t have to strive to maintain our identity. Rather, we position ourselves as children with childlike faith before our Father, trusting that God is a good father who won’t give us a stone if we ask for bread! We rest in His presence, trust in His love, learn to work from a place of approval instead of working for approval. We honor others. We remember that the resources of heaven have been made available to us. Most of all, we choose not to settle for an identity that is less than the one He has given us.

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