Read
It was said by George MacDonald, “Since we are the sons of God, we must become the sons of God.”
Whatever else we encounter when we engage the life of Jesus, we encounter a person living fully as a son. Sonship is the truest state of his being. It is the epicenter of Jesus’ life, and it is intended to be the epicenter of ours. Only from an ongoing experience of sonship can we bring increasing strength—rather than our soul’s question—to the world.
If we live from an ever-expanding reservoir of sonship as our primary identity, we will become the kind of person who can prevail in any circumstance, no matter the cost. Even more, we will recover the treasure of deep and lasting joy. Let’s explore what it means to receive God as Father. It changes everything.
Reflect
George MacDonald suggests, “The hardest, gladdest thing in the world is to cry Father! from a full heart. . . . The refusal to look up to God as our Father is the one central wrong in the whole human affair; the inability, the one central misery.” Unpack this.
(Study guide pages 42-43)
- How have you learned “father”? Take an honest inventory. Think of the male figures in your life growing up—the good and the bad, including your father and/or stepfather, coaches, teachers, pastors, men held out as role models in the media, perhaps the fathers of your friends. Call to mind and make a list of the men who surrounded you. Without editing or filtering, what words would you use to describe the traits you saw in those men?
- How has God raised the condition of fatherlessness in your heart? Notice what isn’t “working” in your life as a signpost of fatherlessness. What have you done with this part of your story?
- Pause for a few moments and think back over your story from the last decade or so. What are several examples of ways God was working to father you, even if at the time you may not have had the capacity to receive or respond as a son?
Scripture
So that we would know for sure that we are his true children, God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts….And because we’re his, we can access everything our Father has.
Galatians 4:6-7 TPT
Pause
One of the foundational beliefs of this message is that God is the initiator and we are simply invited to respond and participate. In each session, you’re invited to choose a two-minute pause to let the message soak into your soul, let questions arise, and let God shine his light.
God, I invite you into this space to participate in stillness with you. Here and now I choose to recover my breath. I turn my attention and affection to you, God, and what you have prepared for me in this time. I choose two minutes to breathe and center in you.
Take Action
Read chapter 2 of Becoming a King.
Complete session 2 from the Becoming a King Study Guide.
Further Excavation
- Listen to Become Good Soil podcast 013: Quick.
- What does this podcast awaken in you?
- What do you hope is true?
- What makes you uncomfortable?
- Watch Session 10 of Wild at Heart BASIC – Sonship: Receiving God as Father. You can access it through this Wild at Heart BASIC page, under Section 6: Downloads.
- Read Become Good Soil blog post – How Have You Learned the Father?
