Spiritual Adoption

If you are looking for your spiritual father, let's see what father God wants to do for you. We will see how the first Adam that we come from fell to sin leaving us orphaned from father God. Father God does not benefit from people dieing in their sins as orphans. Father God still loves us and wants to repair us so he can adopt us. We will see how father God started over with another Adam and how that can apply to us. We will briefly look at the spiritual adoption that father God has planned for people who will take it. The way spiritual authority and free will works, it is necessary that we will have to take every bit of what we get. This is a very brief overview with maybe one or two references per theme. Get past the story and look at how father God is intimately involved with us. We can relate to him on a very personal basis, but that basis is clearly defined by him. We have to come to know him personally and not that he is "out there" somewhere. If you want father God to be your spiritual father, he'd love to share much more with you out of his word. We are why he wrote it.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

This is our miraculous beginning. Father God took a few pounds of dust and some water and breathed his spiritual life into it and there we were. How intimate is that, that father God would make us alive by breathing into us his life? The first thing Adam saw was daddy.

Luke 3:38 ...the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Adam, the first man that father God made on the earth out of dust, was considered a son by father God.

Genesis 2:16 And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, `Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat; ¹⁷and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it--dying thou dost die.' Genesis 3:6 And the woman seeth that the tree is good for food, and that it is pleasant to the eyes, and the tree is desirable to make one wise, and she taketh of its fruit and eateth, and giveth also to her husband with her, and he doth eat; ⁷and the eyes of them both are opened, and they know that they are naked, and they sew fig-leaves, and make to themselves girdles. Genesis 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? ¹²And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; ¹⁸Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

That didn't end well. Father God told Adam that in dieing he would die. This translates essentially that in dieing spiritually we would die physically. But father God didn't give up on mankind. He didn't make us for nothing. He definitely wanted us and wanted fellowship with us. In fact, that was his goal all along.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. ²²And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: ²³Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. ²⁴So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Father God knew taking us from the tree of life would kill us physically. The law of sin and death is a spiritual law. Father God made clothing from skins of animals right then. He was still looking at us like children, even though we just disobeyed him in a very big way. These skins costed animals their lives, and of course their blood. In a figurative way our sins were covered by the blood of animals.

Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

Father God wants us to live. He didn't make the planet to create us so he could kill us. He wants us to become his children. Death came in from sin and was not a part of father God's original plan for us. We have to make the commitment to turn in the direction father God directs us to turn to. This is our use of our free will. If father God gives us an "out", we have to commit our free will to take it.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Father God knew right away that we would need a new human spirit. Father God knew we no longer had the same spirit that Adam was created with. Sin had changed the nature of Adam's spirit. Nobody born spiritually under Adam could become a new spirit for us because anyone born under Adam would have the same nature as Adam. Father God had to come up with a new spirit for us that didn't originate under the first Adam.

Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: ¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Father God set in motion a plan to make a second Adam. Bruising the head means bruising the authority. He didn't just eliminate the first Adam. The first Adam had given away authority that father God had to regain. Father God had to come up with a second Adam who had the same human standing as the first Adam that would conquer the authority of the serpent and regain the authority the first Adam gave away. The source of the second Adam wasn't intended to remove the first Adam. Father God didn't kill off Adam and make a new Adam. The connection to the authority given away would be lost. The nature of the second Adam was intended to be applied to the first Adam. Without the first Adam as the foundation, the second Adam that father God planned wouldn't do anything. So, the objective was to use the flesh of the first Adam, but come up with a new spirit that was not created under Adam. Jesus is the source of this new spirit. If we were made in the image and likeness of Jesus but in human form, then by putting on human flesh, Jesus could pass as a human with a new spirit that was different from Adam's. Jesus had to use the flesh of the first Adam as his covering such that what the second Adam accomplished spiritually is able to be applied to us. As the middleman in this formula we will have to use all of our will to apply to ourselves what the second Adam accomplished for us.

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; ¹⁵And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

We humans are the children Jesus is coming to deliver. Jesus has been on the earth many times as part of the Elohim and in fact is the word that father God spoke to create the earth. Jesus had to become like us such that what he accomplished would pertain to us. He was in heaven in a spiritual body but was sent here by father God in a human body to accomplish a very important task related to restoring mankind back into relationship with father God. He became human like our flesh and blood, subjecting himself to all the same tests and trials we go through as humans. The difference is that his spirit comes from heaven and is not created under the authority of the first Adam which due to Adam's sin is under the authority of the devil. He is working a plan to relieve us of our bondage to death.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

We who are born now are born under sin through no fault of our own. Father God knows this and put a plan into action that resulted in Jesus coming to earth from heaven. Once Jesus accomplished what he needed to, he went back to heaven. Jesus has to lead the way for us to be in relationship with father God and be able to share with him in heaven. If we want to "go to heaven" we have to become related to Jesus somehow. We have to be in the corporate spiritual person of Jesus, or "in Jesus" as it is often said.

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. ⁴⁸As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Father God sent Jesus as another Adam to be made unto us a life-giving spirit. Just like Adam was made of flesh, so was Jesus. Jesus came to our level in an earthy body so he would be able to meet us at our need. We need our spirit that died in the garden to be raised from the dead. Jesus died and became raised from the dead. This raised from the dead spirit is what we need. When we take Jesus into our heart/spirit it becomes raised from the dead. Notice Jesus is called the last Adam. Jesus is both the second and last Adam because he got it right and father God isn't sending anyone else.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? ⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Adam's children all have a spirit in them that comes indirectly from him. Adam might be distantly related to us in the flesh but we have a carbon copy of his spirit. The opportunity we have now while we are still human is to exchange our death oriented spirit with a life oriented one. This transition from one spiritual family to another is what father God calls "born again". Let's see how easy it is to enter this family. We usually think that "coming to God" or "getting religion" is difficult and requires that we clean up first. We tend to have a legalistic approach to the concept of getting near father God. The covenant that existed before the covenant that Jesus brought in was all about law. Before Jesus paid for our deliverance the Mosaic law was given to us in order to give people some connection to father God. Now that Jesus has made it to earth in human form and back to heaven the rules are changed. Very changed. Now, everything is about grace, grace and more grace because everything is paid for. Like an open buffet, everything is available to us and Jesus paid for it. The door is open and anyone can come in. Father God is inviting anyone to come in that wants to with no strings attached from our past. Father God and Jesus are sort of saying, "I know, I know. Don't say anything and don't worry about anything. Don't try to explain. Don't try to justify anything. Just relax. Just let it go. We want to love you. We want to help you and clean you up. Just come on in first. We know what the mess is. We understand. Everything will be okay. You don't understand the half of it anyway and won't until the next age. Take our offer to become family with us so we can get started."

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Father God wants every person that enters heaven to be able to do so by the gift of grace. Not one person in heaven can say they entered heaven by their works, by their wealth, by their good looks, by how much they cleaned themselves up, by how self righteous they are, and so on. Let's see how the transition from mechanical works to grace by faith is applied.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²²Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

The Mosaic law was accurate in that it divided between right and wrong. Keeping it was difficult with the unregenerate Adam spirit. Switching to righteousness by faith in the redemptive work of Jesus takes away our need to follow the law by our works for our salvation. We can now begin to mature to fulfill the intent of the law out of our spirit rather than out of our mechanical mind and conduct. Father God has forbearance, or tolerance, of our past sins until we "take Jesus into our heart, or spirit" and have all our past sins paid for. Let's see more of the value of taking the gift of the resurrected human spirit of Jesus by faith.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope: ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. ⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. ⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. ¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. ¹¹And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. ¹²Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. ¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. ¹⁶And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. ¹⁷For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) ¹⁸Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. ²⁰Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: ²¹That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

There are several words to look at here in the translation.

The word "patience" here in verses 3 and 4 means "cheerful constancy/endurance" and not "longsuffering".

Patience: ὑπομονή, hupomonē, hoop-om-on-ay' - From hupomenō; cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).

Patient/hupomenō: ὑπομένω, hupomenō, hoop-om-en'-o - From hupo(under) and menō(stay); to stay under (behind), that is, remain; figuratively to undergo, that is, bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere: - abide, endure, (take) patient (-ly), suffer, tarry behind.

The word "hope" in verses 4 and 5 is much more like the words "expectation" and "confidence".

Hope: ἐλπίς, elpis, el-pece' - From ἔλπω elpō which is a primary word (to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence: - faith, hope.

The word "receive" used here twice, in verse 11 & verse 17, is actually the word "take".

Receive: λαμβάνω, lambanō, lam-ban'-o - A prolonged form of a primary verb, which is used only as an alternate in certain tenses; to take (in very many applications, literally and figuratively [probably objective or active, to get hold of; whereas dekomai is rather subjective or passive, to have offered to one; while aihreomai is more violent, to seize or remove]): - accept, + be amazed, assay, attain, bring, X when I call, catch, come on (X unto), + forget, have, hold, obtain, receive (X after), take (away, up).

Faith is a spiritual force that is very different from what the mind does. We can think anything but that doesn't mean we have faith. Faith comes from that part of us that we describe as when we know something in our heart. When we see something on the outside but we know in our heart that it is different from what we see, we are using our spirit and believing something different from what we see. We have to use our spirit to believe that father God exists and that he is offering this gift of a raised from the dead spirit to us. We have to believe that we take it and that it belongs to us. We can't think it only, as that won't interact with or have any affect on our spirit. There might not be any physical evidence we can point to but if someone asked us about it we could say we know it in our heart. So we take abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and atonement. Father God doesn't push it on anyone and it isn't automatic. The way spiritual authority works, father God can only offer it to us. We have to take what is offered to us. We become spiritually righteous with father God in an instant to the extent we are in Jesus and Jesus is in us. We don't have to earn the standing with father God. We are given it if we reach out to take it. We will no longer be a spiritual enemy of father God. Father God wants us to become a part of his spiritual family and this gift is a manifestation of his love for us. Faith works by love. We can have faith in father God's love for us. We know in our heart that father God really intended for us to be his children. We know in our heart that father God made a very easy way for us to become his child in our spirit. We know we have free will in our spirit. By our love we can know in our heart that we committed our heart will, our spiritual will, to take father God's offer, just as he would like us to. Someone can ask us if we took Jesus into our heart and we can know in our heart that we did because by father God's love for us the offer is infinitely freely available and by our love we used our free will to do so.

This might seem a little tricky but this offer doesn't apply to the mind. Our mind can't be resurrected like our spirit can. Our mind gets renewed, or re-programmed. We should never ask our mind or let someone else ask our mind if we took Jesus. Our mind can't take Jesus like our spirit can. We have to apply Jesus to our mind ourselves using our copy of Jesus' spirit. In the spirit/soul/body schema the spirit should be the source of what goes into our mind. "Let me think about it" could be a fatal mistake. We should not give the authority of a spiritual decision to the mind. The mind won't "feel" the value of the offer father God is making to us. We have to convey our will to our spirit and take Jesus into our spirit with our spirit. We have to take Jesus into our spiritual heart.

Tribulation in verse 3 also means affliction, persecution and trouble. If we decide to join father God's family and make him our spiritual father, which he wants everyone to do, then we will have persecutions and troubles from the people who haven't yet joined father God's family. We become a doorway, a "heavenly representative" and a member of father God's family which may not set well with people of Adam's family. Our natures are different and contrary. We are needed by those other people, though, and they may be a bit of a pain to us. Father God gives us grace by faith to glory in these persecutions knowing that this testing works endurance, and cheerful endurance works experience and our experience in testings works expectation and confidence. The most important thing to remember during these trials is DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY! We are not made for rejection. It hurts us. Let Jesus take our rejection. Taking it personally is one of the three ways we lose our dedication to pursue father God's offer of eternal life, causing us to die. Yes, die. People giving us a hard time are not upset with us. They are upset with Jesus. They are coming to the awareness that they have an issue with God that involves their very sensitive heart and needs to be resolved. We may have had a time when we thought we didn't want anything to do with "that Jesus stuff". It may have rubbed us the wrong way too until we came to understand its importance. The more we are transparent to our old self, the less of us there is to be a target. If we only act out of our new spirit then we don't have any need to take it personally when someone dislikes us. It is the Jesus in us that they don't like yet. DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY!

Romans 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) ⁷Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) ⁸But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; ⁹That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. ¹²For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ¹³For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This is very easy. Father God is not trying to make this difficult. He is insisting that it be extremely easy. Father God made it that way so it would be available to anyone. This is righteousness by faith as a gift to us and not by works. If we believe in our spirit father God exists and is involved with this world and wants to be our father, we are half way there. If we believe in our spirit father God sent Jesus from heaven to pay for our sins and become a raised from the dead human spirit by dieing with no sin on his soul and being raised from the dead, we are three quarters of the way there. The next thing is to pray to father God and Jesus that you want to join their family by giving up your old spirit you inherited from Adam and taking on Jesus' raised from the dead spirit. Believe that they are there offering you the gift of eternal life by taking Jesus' raised from the dead spirit into yourself. Take it! Claim the offer for yourself. It costs nothing but your old spirit and old life which will die anyway. We will have a new spirit and be just as human as before. Even better. Father God isn't making a mistake here. He knows exactly what we need. We don't need to be concerned that we won't be allowed to do what we used to do. Our new spirit will have different desires, but if we are living out of our spirit we will not care because we are made to operate out of our spirit, regardless of what spirit that is. Our new spirit will be more alive than our old one. When we have a new spirit it will "make sense" that we have different desires. We will see how easy it is to "be alive" out of our new spirit. Right now we don't have any connection to the head of the old Adam spirit. By comparison, Jesus is alive and dynamically involved in the corporate person he is making. Jesus is the "Lord" over his corporate spiritual body. Tell Jesus you want him to be your Lord and spiritual brother. From there he can protect us. He becomes "savior" to everyone that comes from the dead corporate spiritual body of Adam into his corporate spiritual body. Very simply, call on him to raise your spirit from the dead. Let's look at a sample prayer.

Saying "thank you" gives everybody up in heaven warm fuzzies. It shows our love for our new family.

John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

With father God in Jesus and Jesus in us we have the same spirit as father God. We are connected to father God as family. We are no longer an enemy of father God as an unclean, death oriented spirit inside of father God. We just went from not being family with father God to being adopted as a child of father God. Father God will love us as his children if we are in the corporate spiritual person of Jesus, or, "in Jesus". Father God can breathe a sigh of relief for one more unclean spirit inside of him that has been made clean by Jesus. Believe they are doing this for you. As if we put on a jacket with the words "Justified", "Righteous", "Resurrected" and "Adopted" on it, we become part of their family. This is spiritual adoption. We do not work our way towards it. We become adopted instantly. We go from not adopted to adopted with no effort of our own but the act of using our will to do so. It is completely paid for by father God through Jesus, and by Jesus through his becoming human and then a dead human and then a raised from the dead human. We cannot raise our own spirit from the dead. We simply take Jesus' raised from the dead spirit into ourselves. Then we hold onto it for dear life and learn to use it to bring our mind and body into alignment with our spirit to become a complete person in Jesus and a mature child of father God. The moment we do this we are zero seconds old as far as father God is concerned and with all our past sins forgiven we haven't done a thing wrong in our lives. We have just become born into father God's family. Right now would be as good a time as any to ask father God for something. He desires that we invoke as much of his kingdom into our lives as possible. This brings more of his kingdom on the earth. If we have a stressing need we should get father God involved right away. If we have a need for finances, health or loved ones, we should ask/demand about it right now and believe for it to manifest.

Maturing is extremely important. Just "saying a prayer" won't be enough. We must come to living out of our new spirit. To apply spiritual authority to ourselves correctly we have to apply every spiritual finger and toe of the authority of the person Jesus to every finger and toe of ourselves. We don't want to leave any part of ourselves outside of Jesus' authority. We are then vulnerable to attack, harm and failure.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If we have doubts in our mind as to whether we have done the right thing, that's okay. We should never consult with our mind as to whether we are "born again". Our mind is a machine and does not get born again. It gets renewed. The same with our body. Our mind will go blank if we ask it if it is born again. "That does not compute." Father God's will is that we be transformed. It is important that we know in our spirit that we committed our will to take father God's gift and apply it to our spirit. Our mind will always be frustrated about being born again because it can't be. Our mind will never fully understand "born again". It is one thing to "think" the concept of born again in the mind and another thing to "be" born again in our spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: ¹⁵And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. ¹⁶Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. ¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. ¹⁸And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. ²¹For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Father God reconciled us to him by Jesus. If Jesus looks good to father God then so do we. We are spiritually a totally new creature. During the rest of our physical life we are ambassadors for Jesus, given the ministry of reconciliation to share with others during their short lives how they also can be reconciled to father God. Imagine making your worst enemy a child of father God such that they love you and want to share with you just by changing out their unregenerate Adam spirit with the raised from the dead Jesus spirit.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten (born) us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

When our life here ends we collect our incorruptible inheritance. That is eternity with father God in heaven. No more getting old. No more injuries. No more death.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ⁴That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. ⁵For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. ⁶For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ¹⁰And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. ¹³For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. ¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ¹⁵For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. ¹⁶The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ¹⁷And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. ¹⁸For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, ²¹Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. ²³And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

As we approach father God the distinction between flesh and spirit will become clearer. Having a dead spirit, we probably don't have a clue what our spirit is or does. When we take the raised from the dead spirit into us we don't even know who we are. We have to learn this. One thing we know is we become adopted by father God. We will learn the difference between flesh and its desires and spirit and its desires. We will have to choose to follow after our spirit which will be going in another direction than our flesh. We can use the law of the spirit of life in Jesus to be free from the law of sin and death that we inherited from Adam. Follow the authority. We have to take dominion over our promise land flesh and conquer the enemies in it. We use our spirit to renew our mind and keep our flesh in subjection. Then we can be truly alive from our spirit outward the way father God designed us to be. Our will has to be focused on and fully controlled by our spirit. We have to take away our use of our will from our mind. If we let our mind have access to our will we will be carnally minded. While we are here on earth we aren't fully adopted in that we can change our mind if we want to. Our adoption is by faith, and we can leave the faith if we want to. We don't have to, but we can. When we are fully in our spiritual body in heaven we don't need faith any more to believe we are children of father God on our way to heaven because we are fully elevated to a total spirit being. Right now we have what is called the firstfruits, or beginning sacrifice. We have sort of a sample until we come into full adoption. Full adoption includes inheriting father God and having a spiritual body in Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. ¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body is not one member, but many.

Only one person is going to heaven. That is Jesus. We have to be in him and part of his body. Nationalities disappear in the spirit world since we are taking on a new spirit that doesn't originate from any nation. We become part of a holy nation in Jesus. We have to learn to do our part as a member of Jesus' body.

Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: ¹⁸The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, ²⁰Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: ²²And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, ²³Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Father God is willing to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so we can learn about this spirit walk. We will learn how much father God has invested in us and how far father God will take us as part of his family.

1 Corinthians 16:22 if any one doth not love the Lord Jesus Christ--let him be anathema! The Lord hath come!

Anathema means banned or excommunicated. Quite simply, either we're in or we're out. Father God did not make the same huge investment anywhere else to make us his children. No one else can give us a raised from the dead spirit. Father God is "all in" with this program. Since he got it right the first time, why would father God make two ways to get us into heaven with him?

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ³⁵By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Father God wants a kingdom and a family that loves each other. We may have to look deeper into our spirit at times to be able to do that, but it's in there. If father God can look at us with his faith while we are dead and envision making us alive, we can do the same for others.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: ²³Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Our soul will be renewed and purified by our spirit to be in subjection to our spirit so we can love one another. Anyone besides Jesus that comes into father God's family had to become born again. We never know where anyone may have started from but we want everyone to get to the same place. Father God has lots of room and everyone will have their space. We don't need to fear about anything because we will all be renewed if we go to heaven.

John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ¹⁰If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. ¹¹These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. ¹²This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. ¹⁵Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. ¹⁶Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. ¹⁷These things I command you, that ye love one another.

We have another word to learn here. The word "ask" in verse 16 is aiteō in Greek. It means "to demand something due us".

Ask: αἰτέω, aiteō, ahee-teh'-o - Of uncertain derivation; to ask (in generally): - ask, beg, call for, crave, desire, require. Compare punthanomai.

punthanomai: πυνθάνομαι, punthanomai, poon-than'-om-ahee - Middle voice prolonged from πύθω puthō, a primary word, (which occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses); to question, that is, ascertain by inquiry (as a matter of information merely; and thus differing from erōtaō, which properly means a request as a favor; and from aiteō, which is strictly a demand of something due; as well as from zēteō, which implies a search for something hidden; and from deomai, which involves the idea of urgent need); by implication to learn (by casual intelligence): - ask, demand, enquire, understand.

The punthanomai definition shows how aiteō is "strictly a demand of something due".

We can demand of the father as much as we need as it is his desire that we are taking resources to bear fruit. We cannot consume these resources on our flesh. He will not give us more resources if we don't intend to use them right.

The first thing that will help Jesus' body work well together is if we love each other. That will cut down so much stress right away. We have to keep Jesus' commandments so we can operate as a body with a ministry. It is very important to father God that the ministry of reconciliation be very frontal in our lives so he can bring other people into his family and not have to send them to hell. We are not special. Just paid for. Anyone else can be paid for also. Jesus will tell us everything he knows to help us cooperate with him to bear fruit.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. ³⁰And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: ³²And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Notice we are not past the day of redemption. We still have that in front of us. We want to get there on good terms. Because of the work that Jesus did, we are forgiven. As much as father God forgave us, we have to forgive others. We have to put away all the bad things and be serious about becoming a mature child. Why waste an opportunity to become more like Jesus and risk becoming reprobate?

Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ¹³But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Notice the first thing focused on that is a result of sin is our love. That is what will be attacked and that is what we will lose first. If we want to be a child of father God we must endure.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

The word repent here is metanoeō in Greek. It means "to think differently, reconsider". The best thing we can do is be zealous to repent. For everything that comes up that we need to change we should repent as fast as possible. If we do, it won't become a big problem. It will immediately go away and we move on.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience (cheerful endurance) the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. ⁴Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. ⁵And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: ⁶For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ⁷If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? ⁸But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. ⁹Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. ¹¹Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. ¹²Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; ¹³And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

We see Jesus despised the shame of the cross. Jesus didn't like having to do what he did but he likes the results. Whenever we are being rebuked we should have a bit of an "awww dad" kind of warm fuzzy feeling because father God is jealously looking over what we do as his children. He is doing this for our life. He wants us to be right with him.