Abba Father!
Merry Monday by Parris Bailey-
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15
One of our grandsons has this very unusual way of showing affection. If your deemed worthy he will sit in your lap and grab your ear lobe and rubbed on it for awhile. I will be the first to admit that only a grandchild would be allowed to rub my earlobe! In a similar way we have been given something special, He has given us a way to express ourselves. It is called the “spirit of adoption”. The Spirit teaches us that we are no longer orphans but children and we can come to God with confidence. Our prayer becomes an affectionate endearing cry, like little children who repeat over and over again, daddy daddy or mommy mommy. Martin Luther said, “Let the Law, sin, and the devil cry out against us until their outcry fills heaven and earth. The Spirit of God outcries them all. Our feeble groans, “Abba, Father,” will be heard of God sooner than the combined racket of hell, sin, and the Law. To this searcher of the the hearts, our groaning which seem so feeble, is a loud shout for help in comparison with which the howls of hell, the din of the devil, the yells of the Law, the shouts of sin are like whispers.”
What is the spirit of adoption? Well its the Holy Spirit that cries within us, of our weaknesses. Because of our infirmity the Holy Ghost has been sent forth into our hearts to pray for us according to his will. The prodigal while eating the pigs food, realized he could go back to his Father because he was his son. We can draw near my friends, with full assurance of faith that our Father hears, our Father heals and our Father will take us home. Do you have fear? Let the spirit within you cry ABBA Father and you will feel peace? Are you ashamed? Let the spirit within you cry out again ABBA Father and you will sense comfort. Let’s us not be the big brother who on hearing that the fatted calf was killed grew jealous and remained outside.
Spurgeon says, “If there be any starving at God’s table, it is because the guest stints himself, for the feast is superabundant. If however, a man comes, and I pray you all may, to live habitually under a sense of pardon through the sprinkling of the precious blood, and in a delightful sense of perfect reconciliation with the great God, he is the possessor of a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
So even though the lions roar without, and storms blow within, go ahead and crawl into your Father’s lap and grab his earlobe. He understands, His Son did the same to Him!