FRIDAY March 15th
Romans 8:12–17
‘So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.’
I am going back to the middle of these verses to ‘For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”’
We have another mention here of the Holy Spirit, and here it is to remind us that the Holy Spirit does not cause us to fear! In Christ, because we are no longer under condemnation we do not have to fear, instead we can come before God, not trembling, expecting to stand before him with a stick in his hand to beat us, but to come before him as children would come before a loving and caring father. We say to him ‘Abba! Father!’
Paul reminded the Galatians of the very same thing, Galatians 4:6 ‘And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”’
In Mark 14:36, as Jesus was faced with going to Calvary, Mark records that he prayed this way ‘And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”’
You see the connection that Paul is making? In Christ we have become adopted into the family. Therefore, just as Jesus could come before God and say ‘Abba, Father’, so can we. We are heirs of the Father; we are joint heirs with the Son.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that we are adopted into the family of God, we can call him ‘Our Father, who art in heaven’, we can come to him, knowing that even before we ask, he knows what we need, and as our Abba, as our Father, he cares for each one of us and will meet our needs as we ask just as Jesus did, in accordance to his will.