God wants to take it deeper
As individuals and as humanity as a whole, all we, like sheep, have gone astray, following our own path of independence. But God proactively came to seek and save that which was lost. The Good Shepherd sought out the lost sheep—and still does. He is continually seeking those who are living in lost identity. And a lot of Christians are still living in lost identity, even though they have a relationship with God at a certain level. Whatever level of relationship we have, God wants to take it deeper. He doesn’t want us to remain in the same place.
Mankind may have turned away from God to live in that lost identity and independence, but God never turned away from us. God, as Father, has always seen us as His children through the lens of love. He has always desired that we all return to our first love—our origin. This is the key, and there are a number of Bible verses that speak about this love and its depth.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, neither things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing [including ourselves] will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).
That’s quite a statement, but it’s based in God and not in us. It’s not based on our ability to maintain a certain standard. It’s purely a statement of God’s grace, mercy and love. The Mirror Bible puts it like this:
This is my conviction: no threat—whether it be in death or life, be it angelic beings, demon powers, or political principalities, nothing known to us at this time or even in the unknown future, no dimension of any calculation in time or space, nor any device yet to be invented—has what it takes to separate us from the love of God demonstrated in Christ Jesus, our ultimate authority (Romans 8:38-39 Mirror).
Relationship
When we go back through Romans 8, we see there are a number of things that lead up to that passage which are talking about our relationship with God. Romans 8:14 says:
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons and daughters of God.
As we come into union with Him, joined to God—not separated from Him in our own understanding—we become one spirit with Him. This union enables our spirit to mature, to grow, and to develop into who we were always intended to be. It helps us discover who we were before we came here.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again… (Romans 8:15a).
Yet how many people became Christians and, through the church or religion, ended up back in fear—living in works of appeasement to an angry God? But God is a loving Father. He wants us to know the truth: we are sons and daughters.
… but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters, by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ (Romans 8:15b).
This was impossible under the Od Covenant. Crying out “Abba, Father” is a New Covenant reality. Jesus came to reveal His relationship with His Father so that it could become our relationship with our Father too.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).
This is what happens in this union: the Spirit testifies to our innermost being, confirming that we are children of God. Not only that, but we always have been, we always will be—we will never, ever not be children of God.
And if children, heirs also—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:17).
Now, this is where the way this is written may challenge some people because it uses the word ‘if.’ However, this ‘if’ is not conditional, as though we need to do something to make it happen. Instead, it is a declarative statement, affirming that something has already taken place: because we are children, we are heirs. Heirs of what? Heirs of God Himself and fellow heirs, co-heirs with Christ in the whole of creation. And “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him,” is not suggesting that we must endure suffering to earn glory. Instead, it means that we identify with His sufferings because He went through them for us. We don’t have to go through it, other than by identifying with Him.
We originate in God
So, if we go back again and read those verses in the Mirror Bible:
Romans 8:16-The original life of the Father revealed in His Son is the life the Spirit now conducts within us.
So, the Spirit is now looking, with the Father and the Son, to reveal our original origin and identity, the original life that He intended us to have as children of God in relationship.
Slavery is such a poor substitute for sonship. They are opposites. The one leads forcibly through fear, while sonship responds fondly to Abba, Father.
This is what God desires: for us to engage with Him as Abba, Father, Daddy, without fear—resting instead in wonderful peace and intimacy.
Verse 16:
His Spirit resonates within our spirit to confirm the fact that we originate in God.
Through this process, God is showing us our origin—who we really are, from the beginning, so that who we are now will be in alignment with who we were in the beginning, not as a product of our lives up to this point.
Because we are His offspring, we qualify to be heirs. This isn’t something we earn—it’s purely by grace. God Himself is our portion. We co-inherit with Christ, since we were represented and included in His suffering. This is very different than us going through suffering. We were already included in His suffering, and we equally participate in the glory of His resurrection. This isn’t something that happens in ‘Glory’ (as they used to call heaven); this is something that can happen now—because as He has been resurrected, so also, we died with Him and we are now alive with Him, to fully embrace the glory of that resurrection power that reveals who we really are. You could say that ‘who we really are’ is our glory. It is our true identity, the clothing of that glorious nature we have as children of God.
Activation
Close your eyes,
come to a place of rest.
Begin to think of living loved,
being loved in that first love way.
Again, start to focus your breathing,
just begin to slow down, relax,
focus your thinking as you
breathe slowly,
and breathe deeply,
thinking about God,
who is love,
who loves you.
As you breathe in slowly,
you breathe in that unconditional love of the Father.
You’re breathing it into your very being.
Every breath that you take
is a life-giving force of energy,
of love.
That unconditional love,
as you breathe it in,
flows through your being.
Start to feel it flowing through you.
Breathe deeply.
Be still,
as God releases that love
in you,
on you,
through you.
You are cocooned in unconditional love,
filled to overflowing.
Unconditional love flowing through you
as God demonstrates to you how much He loves you,
how valuable you are to Him.
You are the apple of His eye,
the treasure of His heart,
the object of His desire.
He calls you into union and oneness.
He’s calling you
into this union of relationship.
Be filled with love.
Stay in that place of intimacy and love.
Just embrace it.