Sonship is a whole realm of deep revelation. As with each of the ‘upgrades’ we’re covering every one of them would take a lifetime of study to comprehend and an eternity to experience. Knowing the Father is revolutionary.

Consider the prayer path Jesus laid out to His early disciples.

What profoundly simple words do we begin with?

“Our Father…”

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So this month we’re talking about prayer and specifically about the idea of upgrading your prayer life. A number of years ago, the Holy Ghost spoke to me and basically said that prayer is like a spiritual technology, and then proceeded to tell me that I needed an upgrade. Maybe it was time for me to trade in some of my old ways of approaching and understanding prayer and embrace something new or something more advanced. Yeah, God wants us to advance. He wants us to move forward.

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There is always room for us to grow and to understand him more and to be more effective. The Bible talks about effective fervent prayer. We want to see, we want to be effectual in the way that we operate in the realm of the Spirit and of course, in our relationship with the Saviour, with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. It’s like a relationship that is not growing and deepening, especially one as close as your connection with God, is kind of weird. It says something not quite right with that, just in the same way as a marriage should grow richer and deeper and more full as the years go on.

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So we want to see this incredible relationship we have with God through prayer flourish week by week, month by month, year by year, moment by moment, even. We’ve spoken a little about our dual citizenship, that we are both citizens of Earth, but also we’ve been brought into a citizenship of heaven through the blood of Christ. But God’s invitation actually goes far beyond just citizenship of the heavenly Commonwealth, which in itself is remarkable. But our Daddy has gone even further than that, bringing us into his very own family. Scripture reads, now, therefore, you are no more strangers or foreigners but fellow citizens.

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There’s that word again with the Saints and of the household of God. Ephesians 2:19 and perhaps even more astounding those verses continue in him. And I’m reading from the Amplified now and in fellowship with one another, you yourselves are also being built up into this structure with the rest to form a fixed abode, a dwelling place of God in, by and through the Spirit, an abode and a dwelling place of God that we are being built together as a habitation for him to reside and abide in. He has sent the Holy Spirit, my dear brothers and sisters, to live in us, in, by and through his Spirit. He has made this possible.

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How amazing is that? Understand this in prayer. There are so many different levels that we can stand upon. We exercise our identity and we see results. But as with myself and I’m sure with you wear different hats.

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Our identity is not just a narrow this is it. I’m a father, I’m a husband. I’m a friend, I’m an acquaintance. I’m a businessman, et cetera, et cetera. There are lots of different ways in which I turn up in order to function and accomplish what I am called to do.

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And I believe it’s the same in prayer. It’s the same in the Spirit. Sometimes God will call us to embody his authority and his word and our identity in Him in one way. And then other times he’ll come and call us out in a different way. So sometimes he may call you to stand up in your divine authority in Christ and really in your role as a soldier in the army of God, declaring truth, routing the devil, plundering the stolen goods that Satan has torn from people’s lives.

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At other times, the Holy Spirit will woo you into the bridled intimacy that we see in books like the Song of Solomon and elsewhere. Just so naked and open. Yeah, your whole being feels just ravished and refreshed to the core by his love. And again, sometimes you may step into the closet and he’ll shine a light on your sonship. And of course, that goes for you daughters, too.

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The Holy Spirit will powerfully speak to you as an heir of God, chosen and appointed together with Christ. When I think about this and think about sonship, I’ve experienced some things in prayer that really drove this home to my heart. But it made me ask the question, could you ever imagine Jesus himself coming to the Father with a request and then being turned away? Now, I suspect that your answer is probably no. You can’t imagine the Father just turning Jesus away, ignoring Jesus like not hearing Him, not responding to him.

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Yet we also come as a son and a daughter every time we pray. So why is it that sometimes, maybe often? I hope not. But why do we sometimes feel that God might be reluctant to hear and answer our supplications? This whole realm of Sunshine and the revelation of Sunshine is a realm in itself that we could explore for a lifetime, and indeed we will, and far beyond that.

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But as with all of the different upgrades that we’re covering every one of them, we’re going to have an eternity to experience each one of them. And knowing our Father, knowing God as our Father, leaning in and comprehending our sonship or our Daughterhood is revolutionary. Mark these words. Knowing the Father is what is important, not just knowing about him. God is not some distant deity.

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God is up close and very, very personal. Many Christians, unfortunately, operate more like strangers and foreigners when it comes to prayer. Born again brothers and sisters really acting like orphans. Consider the prayer path that Jesus laid out through his early disciples and the prayer path that is so powerfully present for us to follow today. It begins with what words?

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Our Father, the Holy Ghost himself, we’re told, lives within us and stirs our hearts to passionately cry Abba, Father, Daddy, God Romans 815 You’ve not received the spirit of bondage against fear. You’ve received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, Daddy, God. And again the same is said in Galatians Four, verse S, Romans 8:15. Galatians 4:6 says the same thing. And because you are sons and daughters, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father, what an amazing place to begin.

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As children, this is how we pray. I’ve rarely seen a child who is confident of their parents love, who is shy to boldly ask for what they want. Even I, such a starkly, imperfect dad, seek every way I possibly can to bless and build my kids. Now my highest delight as a dad is to meet their needs and answer their requests with sometimes unreasonable generosity. Are they deserving of it always?

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No. But then, nor am I. How much more? Our Father in Heaven the following verses. Most of us would be familiar with these, but they are worth citing and reading in full right now.

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In prayer we ask, we seek, we knock, and our sonship does so, and gives us grounds to do so with utmost expectation. Cheque this out. Matthew seven seven to eleven. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find.

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Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. He that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened. That’s a good place to just stop and do a little happy dance. Or what man is there of you?

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Whom, if his Son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil by comparison to God, the Perfect One, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good gifts to them who ask Him? We need to act like sons and daughters, not like orphans.

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I think that the orphan spirit may well be the root most responsible for the endless contention and confusion experienced in the body of Christ. Insecure foundations in the hearts of God’s children really make the Devil’s job pretty easy. Now he doesn’t need even to lift a finger. As long as we are spending all of our energies comparing, competing and coveting sibling rivalries in the house of God are enough to splinter and dilute our power. Unity of heart under the Fatherhood of God as sons and daughters releases incredible power.

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These roots of Relationship Sonship roots you in security. The revelation of Sunshine is the cure to confusion. It’s a fearless foundation from which you can confidently then pray. Now, these roots of relationship, as I say, are something that you must search out and cultivate in the same way. As a strong, healthy tree has strong, healthy roots, I guess we could consider Sunship and the revelation of Sunshine as our essential root system.

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Your love for God, and even more importantly, his love for you is the root and ground of every fruit that you will ever bear in your Christian life. So I encourage you in your seeking to upgrade your prayer life, press hard into the heart of God to grasp this reality with both hands. The Bible tells us that we are able to draw near with full assurance. And this moving in to the reality and experience of sonship can honestly, sometimes be painful. It’s a journey that requires a healing of our heart, letting go of hurts forgiving taking hold of truths that sometimes seem too good to be true.

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A natural man can push away and seek to take hold of certain truths. They come too close to home. It’s easier to live in our pain than it is to allow the Father to come in and make us whole and say, this is not an easy journey for us all to take. It’s going to pose different challenges for each of us as we go through some of those with many tears. Sunships digs deep into your identity.

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But as you allow God to excavate your heart, something amazing takes place. So don’t be in a rush and don’t fall into the trap of turning prayer into something just merely transactional. You’re not coming into a corporate boardroom to convince the Trinity to acquiesce to your proposal. You’re coming to a loving Father who is eager to answer. There’s a wonderful verse in Ephesians chapter two.

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I’ll read verses 2:12 to 13. At one time you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope. And without God in the world. Now there’s an orphan spirit, if ever there is one described. But now, but now, but the butts of Scripture are some of the greatest you will ever find.

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Look for that little word B UT and you will see such transformation. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are brought near by the blood of Christ in Hebrews 1022. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, and I give time and prayer to this. Let God’s love carry you from law to Grace come near. Let every resistance to this remarkable reality of your invitation into the very heart and family of God.

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Let every resistance be dissolved as you spend time in the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It will take prayer, much prayer and it will take time, much time. These are the costly components of a powerful prayer life. Now, don’t believe for a minute that prayer is cheap. Your entrance into Grace is, of course, paid in full.

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You can add nothing to it because Jesus life was laid down for you. But really, now we are in the process of learning to lay our lives down. There is a death of the old man that needs to take place for the new man to be realised.

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This is not cheap, this is not easy. This is not just a kind of I’m going to just throw out a few haphazard prayers for a few minutes a day. You have to get into this. You have to move in, close the door on the world and really bear your heart in the presence of God. We need to lay our life down in order to taste the full benefit of a life raised from the dead.

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What is true in theory and just kind of mere bare theology must become true in our naked experience. We need to experience these truths for ourselves but let me encourage you the cost even though we’re talking about costly components of a powerful prayer life let me encourage you the cost is so little compared to the prize. Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you if it was do please consider leaving a rating in a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to check out my new book faithful creative we’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call.

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You can check that out @ faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up use the promo code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first everything else follows.