The cry from the Father’s heart
“Sons Arise!” is the cry from the Father’s heart to unveil, reveal and release His children into their full, glorious identity and inheritance as mature sons of God: the Elohim, god-like ones.
It is also the groan of all creation which is longing to be set free when we are revealed. Through the intimacy of a deeper relationship with the Father, let’s embrace our destinies as sons: let’s answer the groan of creation by revealing the true nature of God and the true essence of love expressed in our glorious freedom.
‘Sons’ is not gender-specific. We are all children of God who have an inheritance and are training in the family business. As sons, we are included in the circle of relationship that is Father, Son and Spirit, reconnected to the true reality of God’s original intention for our identity and destiny. Yet we cannot be recognised as sons until we recognise that we have a Father.
Engaging the Father
God is calling His children, His sons, to come out of the wilderness. He is calling His sons to cross over into their supernatural inheritance beyond the veil. He is calling His sons into deeper levels of intimacy, calling us to know Him.
As you begin to respond, you may find that He uncovers areas of brokenness and fragmentation within your soul which require healing and restoration. Don’t resist that; go with it. I recommend you journal everything the Father speaks to you as He reveals His truth and heals your wounds.
There are four dimensions in which I encourage you to engage with the Father:
- Engage in the Earth, the physical realm, but in the spiritual atmosphere of an open heaven.
- Engage in our spirit and heart, the spiritual dimension.
- Engage in the Heavenly realms – in the Father’s garden and other places He may take you.
- Engage God’s heart in eternity, outside of time and space.
When we engage the Father in four different dimensions we create a window where eternity (what was before there was) can manifest here and now to create what will be; so the end and beginning will be in agreement and history will unfold in alignment with the heart of the Father.
Let’s practice the first of those now with an activation based on a story Jesus told. We can all encounter the loving Father just as the prodigal son did, be accepted and given a ring of sonship.
I call these practice exercises ‘activations’ because they activate our imagination, which is the ‘screen’ on which we ‘see’ what is happening in the spirit. In all activations, relax, breathe deeply, loose your body from tension and loose your mind from over-analysing. Focus your conscious thoughts on whatever you are seeking to engage, but don’t strive to see visually; just go with what forms in your imagination when it is focused on the Father (or at other times it might be on Jesus or on the Holy Spirit).
You may be aware of having thoughts, of seeing, hearing, feeling, sensing or knowing cognitively – or not – but your spirit will always receive more than you are consciously aware of. Our spirits process different revelation at different rates, but at some future time you will eventually discover that you know something without being aware of when you acquired that knowledge: your spirit has digested what it received by revelation and has communicated it to your consciousness.
Prodigal son and loving Father
So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him (Luke 15:20).
Relax. Focus on the Father, who has been waiting for you to come to Him. Close your eyes if you can (read through the following paragraphs first, or listen to the audio version – at least the first 5 minutes, the full 10 if possible!).Audio Player
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Now think of Your loving heavenly Father running towards you, welcoming you with open arms to embrace and kiss you. That is what God longs to do with you! Let that image form in your imagination.
But there may be some obstacles in the way, some issues that come between you and prevent you engaging the Father in that way. Allow any obstacles, any negative thoughts or negative emotions, to come to your mind. Take sin, guilt, shame, condemnation, disappointment, inadequacy, worry, anxiety, fear, disapproval, whatever; put them in a bag and hand them all over to Him.
Let Him embrace you in His arms of love.
Let Him speak words of life over you; words of forgiveness and blessing.
Feel His love penetrate deeply into your heart.
Let Him clothe you with His love.
Let Him put a ring of sonship on your finger.
Feel the joy and pleasure of His heart for you.
Let Him release His love, joy and peace to you.
Let Him draw you deeper into His heart.
Let Him reveal more of His love for you.
Stay there as long as you want. If you fall asleep in any of these engagements, don’t worry! The best place to be is in a place of rest, and sometimes when you drift into that edge-of-sleep condition your spirit becomes more open.
Affirmed as sons
When we engage with the Father in this earthly realm under an open heaven, we can also be affirmed as sons:
“Receive my acceptance, affirmation, approval, recognition;
My recommendation, commendation, blessing, endorsement, validation.”
You can hear the Father speak to you as He spoke to Jesus at His baptism: “You are my son; in you I am well pleased. My soul delights in you.” When you hear Him speak words like that to you, don’t fight against them or argue with Him. Receive them. What He speaks over you is the truth.
Jesus went on to have further experiences of engaging with His Father in this realm. It got to the point where He began to shine. He demonstrated what sonship looks like by being transfigured, radiating the light of God. As sons, we will do the same (it is already happening for some). Don’t limit the possibilities. As you engage with the Father, He is transforming you (transform and transfigure are translations of exactly the same Greek word). You are being changed from one degree of glory to another: from human beings to living beings, to spirit beings, to godlike beings.
And the child grew and was strengthened in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him… And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men. (Lk 2:40, 52).
The more we engage with the Father, the more we will grow and mature in wisdom and grace.