RELEARNING

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. PHILIPIANS 4:9, KJV. 

Follow the example of all that we have imparted to you and the God of peace will be with you in all things. PHILIPIANS 4:9, TPT.

Sonship. The essence of salvation. The reason Jesus my Lord and saviour made himself of no reputation, took on the form of man (a desecration of his majestic nature) to suffer scorn and rejection. Sonship. The greatest gift of God to man. The reason our relationship isn't just Creator-Creature but Father-Son. The reason for the bond and intimacy words will never be able to articulate. Sonship is the wonder at the core of my heart. It's the revelation that has opened me up to another dimension of awe. Could God really be this good? Did he really allow himself be my identity? Am I really this good? Is my nature really the full expression of love as my maker and Father is?

Hello there! It's been a minute, hasn't it? 8 months and 16 days isn't a minute I know. Not to worry, I'm back to the glory of God, fully yielded and surrendered to this mandate. Thank you for staying tuned. Shall we delve into the wonder of this blog post? Yes, we shall!

For the most of the previous year and all of this year the Holy Spirit has been enlightening me to the indispensability of my identity in Christ. From helping me unlearn my misconceptions of God, to helping me learn of His loving kindness and then helping me settle in His love by basing my rest on the assurance that every whisper of His love and expression of His affection is true and genuine because He is good and He is Love.

But what happens when all these exposures to love don't produce the fruit of love? Why would a beloved struggle to love? What do you call a son who is not the reflection of his father's character?

If Jesus died for my sins to be forgiven and for me to be reconciled with the Father that I might be a citizen of the kingdom and a member of Abba's household by virtue of sonship, if the Holy Spirit was sent to me as the seal of grace then I shouldn't be a son by title but character because the true test of sonship is in the commitment to the leadings and teachings of the Spirit, right? Yes, correct! That wasn't my testimony days, maybe weeks ago.

Then I inquired of the Lord asking all manners of questions because I needed to know why I was acting differently, why my words weren't gentle and my tolerance short, why I spent my days repressing outbursts because my mind was flood with memories of past hurts. I needed to know who this person whose thought space was rubbed off of innocence and purity was because that definitely wasn't me. I was desperate to know, and trust my Lord to speak to me. His words were short, and deep, carrying heavy meanings. What did he say? Surrender. Consecration. Intimacy.

Surrender. The very substance of worship. The colour of consecration. Giving it all, wholly and unfractured to His cause. Surrender doesn't just happen, it's the end result of revelation. The question now is; what do I see? What is being revealed to me? How is that changing what I know? What is my reaction to revelation?

I shouldn't be asking these questions if I'm not paying attention. Without attention I'm as good as ignorant. That's where the problem lied. It was in the fact that I stopped paying attention to the basics. I lost sight of who He is because I stopped engaging the things that left me in awe of Him. I stopped being intimate and because intimacy is a product of consecration which is the product of surrender I couldn't reflect the heart of my Father in my deeds. The catalyst of these things however was convenience. I constantly chose convenience over inconvenience, I unlearnt sacrifice and labour in the place of gratification and it led to insensitivity. Insensitivity, another description of death. It is the blockage to the flow of the Spirit. It is every time and any time convenience is chosen over inconvenience.

Contrary to my assumption, I am still me. I am still my Father's child. Love is still the only substance I am made of. I only stopped beholding and giving myself to the revelation of my Father. That's the reason I wasn't replicating His character. I can't be if I don't do, I can't do if I don't know, I can't know if I don't see and hear. The only way I will produce the fruit of my Father is by doing what He does which wouldn't be if I don't see how He does it or listen for His instructions. My growth into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ is dependent on the extent to which my will is surrendered to His and my heart consecrated to His cause because these are the true determinants of the depth of our intimacy.

I have been meditating on my Father's words, slowly and steadily relearning the act of surrender. Trust me when I say beautiful doesn't describe my moments. I'm not just grateful for my identity in Christ, I'm thankful for my intimacy with Him.

Surrender. Consecration. Intimacy.

M A N D A T E: Return to the basics of faith. Let your heart be once again flood with the wonder of His love that your intimacy may grow and you would be the epistle of his goodness.