Galatians 4:6-7 (NIV) Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

When I was a teenager living with my parents, they would allow me to invite my friends over to our home. While my parents did everything to make my friends feel at home, there was an obvious difference between me and them. As comfortable as they may have felt, it was nothing like what I experienced. I could go anywhere in the house without asking permission first and I could open the refrigerator and take what I wanted. My friends couldn’t do that. Even the one or two friends that did become very familiar with my family and had privileges to move around our home freely didn’t have the same experience as I did. What was the big difference? It was that I was a son of the house. I could call my father, dad, and I had the privileges of being an heir. As close as anyone of my friends could get to my parents, it never compared to the relationship that I had with them.

That’s why it is so important that we know about and understand the relationship that Jesus made possible between us and the Father. Because of what Jesus did in restoring our relationship with God that had been broken by sin, we now have privileges that people who don’t know Jesus do not have. While God does love the world, meaning the people He created (John 3:16), the people in the world are not His children. You and I are, and that is huge! I can have such an intimate Father-son relationship with Almighty God that I can call Him my Abba! God watches over me and watches out for me as a father watches out for his son. When I call Him, He hears me and answers me, just as my earthly father used to be attentive to my calls to him, especially when they were calls for help. As much as my father did for me, there were a lot of things that he couldn’t do. My dad loved me and took care of me, but he couldn’t move mountains out of the way for me nor could he provide for my needs beyond my physical needs. When I was hurting in my soul, while he could do his best to comfort me, only my Heavenly Father could heal my soul. While my dad would come running if I ever got in trouble, my Heavenly Father never leaves me and has the ability to keep watch over me at all times.

The Lord means for you to live with the Spirit of the Son in your heart so that you would not only know that you are a child of His intellectually, but that you would know it in your spirit and soul. Knowing that changes everything about everything in life. You are a child of the living God and He happens to love and care about you more than you know or can imagine. Take advantage of that awesome privilege that we have as the children of God to access the power, the provision and the gifts of God that are reserved especially for His children. Learn to cry out, “Abba, Father!” when you need help or are feeling lonely or afraid. He is right there with you to hold you in His arms and keep you safe through the fiercest storm. 

Pastor Joey Vazquez