The faith that makes people daughters and sons of God does not come from mere evidence or even industrious Bible study. It comes from revelation and revelation starts in the heart. Tozer asserts that those who walk in the light of God do so because for them believing is seeing. This is the believing that occurs because a man or a woman has given their heart unconditionally to Jesus and as a result becomes privy to the only light that is light. It is the believing that occurs, as Tozer says, because ‘One has committed their total being to Christ.’ Is this your life?

Our being enclosed in God’s being is what produces liberty and light. This is the light that Adam was meant to have and what Christ has returned to human beings. We were designed to live in God and see in God.

In Christ we are once again placed in the Father. By the Holy Spirit this union is made a reality as our spirit is not only joined to God. We are surrounded by Him and by the One Spirit we become sons, which equips us with the authority and power the sons of God are called to wield in Christ.

SPIRIT OF SONSHIP

The authority of God does not rest on the anointing but on Christ. Our ability to administer this authority depends not on the anointing but on whether we are in Christ. Strictly speaking, life in the Spirit is much more than being Spirit-filled and operating in the gifts. Life in the Spirit is a life in the Father brought about because Jesus is our life. Life in the Spirit is actually the Spirit of Sonship manifest in us courtesy of the One Spirit who draws all into the embrace of the Father.

This explains why there are many who have the gifts of the Spirit, yet remain equipped with bread-knives rather than swords. Their authority over circumstances and the Enemy is small. Discernment is absent. Their personal lives suffer from serial disaster. They have the ability to judge but not to love and through them, the Kingdom of God is denied.

The unfortunate truth for many good-living and Spirit-filled Christians is that they have never been born again. They have assented to the construct but it has not taken hold of their being or taken over their heart. They are living in either the law or trying to meet the demands of church culture.

‘A key marker of the Kingdom of God is discernment. Discernment is more than a gift. It results from being formed and built up in Christ. Discernment is the mind of Christ in you.’

Light in the Spirit is Christ from first to last. Life in the Spirit is Christ in you and Christ manifest in the world as you. In Christ’s light we see light. But should we live in law, performance and religion we will not know Christ or see Him as He is. We will make him in our image rather than being re-made in His. We will be unable to multiply His power in any meaningful way. Our eyes will be veiled as will the potential of our lives. Only in Christ is the veil taken away. Only in Christ are we born again and only in Christ can we see the Kingdom of God.

‘But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away’ 2 Cor 3.14 NIV.

‘In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’ John 3.3 NIV.

 

Keith Allen