Quotes about Sonship

As I knew my Father in a new way, I discovered who I was as His son. That I was already all I could hope to be because I was in Christ. All of my striving to *become* had actually hidden the truth from me, because in striving to become, I was only denying who I already was.

Consequently, adoption is not a word of relationship but of position. You as a Christian are a child of God by new birth. But adoption is God's act in which you are placed in the position of an adult son (Gal. 4:1—5). Greek, Roman, and Jewish families adopted their own children. Birth made them children, but discipline and training brought them into adoption and the full stature of sonship.

The younger son's return takes place in the very moment that he reclaims his sonship, even though he has lost all the dignity that belongs to it. In fact, it was the loss of everything that brought him to the bottom line of his identity. He hit the bedrock of his sonship. In retrospect, it seems that the prodigal had to lose everything to come into touch with the ground of his being.

Life in the Spirit of Jesus is therefore a life in which Jesus' coming into the world—his incarnation, his death, and resurrection—is lived out by those who have entered into the same obedient relationship to the Father which marked Jesus' own life. Having become sons and daughters as Jesus was Son, our lives become a continuation of Jesus' mission.

Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied him. Both were lost children. Judas, no longer able to hold on to the truth that he remained God's child, hung himself. In terms of the prodigal son, he sold the sword of his sonship. Peter, in the midst of his despair, claimed it and returned with many tears. Judas chose death. Peter chose life. I realize that this choice is always before me. Constantly

On the one hand the younger son realizes that he has lost the dignity of his sonship, but at the same time that sense of lost dignity makes him also aware that he is indeed the son who had dignity to lose, (pp. 49).

Since our peace lies in loving as God loves, we must strive to love everyone. Our desire to find one "special person," one part of the Sonship who will complete us, is hurtful because it is delusional. It means we're seeking salvation in separation rather than in oneness. The

When people are not empowered to discover their identity and pursue their destiny in Christ, then they are not being discipled but used. They are not sons being fathered, but servants being given a job to do.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Sometimes what's holding us back is that we don't really know who we are. We think we're average, just ordinary, when in fact we are royalty. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. When God breathed His life into you, He crowned you with His favor. He put a robe of righteousness on you. He says, "You have been fearfully and wonderfully made." Don't go through life with a cheese-and-crackers mentality. Have a son mentality, an abundant mentality.

You're no longer a slave, you're a son. You used to be a slave to fear, to addictions, to poverty, to depression, but you've been born into a new family and a new life.

Now, do your part, shake off the slave mentality, and start having a son mentality. If you'll do this, I believe and declare every chain that's holding you back is being broken. God is going to release healing, favor, breakthroughs, and abundance. You're going to rise higher and become everything He's created you to be.