*The depth of sonship is the depth of hearing.*
Hearing from God has to move along a line. At one end it is subjective. God could be speaking. We think it is God. We cannot quite prove it. We get blown around. That is not a huge problem if you stay in the shallow end of the pool. The more you try to hear with accuracy, the more you are taking important decisions. Sometimes life decisions. The more potential there is to rest your life, and the lives of others, on a word and cause real havoc.
I am sure, like many of you, I have seen that happen again and again in the body of Christ.
*For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:14, NKJV)*
**When Hearing Gets Dangerous**
I have spent years of my life around pastors. Speaking with pastors. Hanging around pastors. Hearing pastors say what they will not always say in church when they take you to dinner afterwards. I have seen so many pastors, when it comes to this topic of hearing from God, who would honestly rather nobody ever spoke about it. I have had pastors say to me, I do not want people in my church trying to hear from God because of the mess, because of the chaos. That really challenged me.
There was a lady who once spoke at my church in Sturbridge. She was a guest speaker. We knew her. She was a good woman. She was not a false prophet. She missed it. There was another lady, a member of the church at the time, who was pregnant. This guest speaker, in the middle of a sermon, pointed a finger at that pregnant woman and began prophesying all of these amazing, beautiful, oversized words about the baby. This child would travel the world. This child would be president. All of those kinds of things.
A couple of days later that lady in the church had a miscarriage. The baby died. The guest speaker comes, prophesies all those things, and then leaves town. I am left at home with the grief. This is dangerous to do badly. My contention is that we have to embrace the journey from subjectivity to objectivity. We have to learn to separate what is me and what is God. Certainly what is the enemy. I actually think most of our challenge is ourselves. We get mixed. We mess it up. We get it wrong.
**Led by the Spirit, Sons of God**
Paul writes, those who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Being led by the Spirit of God is tied intrinsically to being a child of God, a son of God.
I want to be clear. If you are born again, you are a child of God. People often quote John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Do you know Jesus is no longer the only begotten in the way we sometimes speak it? He was the only begotten. He is now what the Bible calls the firstborn among many brethren. You are one of the brethren. You are a child of God.
God does not have favorites in the way we think of favorites. The favor God has toward His Son is the favor God has toward you and me. You are in Christ Jesus. You are one hundred percent a child of God. You cannot be ninety-five percent a child. That is standing. That is status.
*The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (Romans 8:16, NKJV)*
**Standing and Fellowship**
We also have a lived level of experience. Some people live with an incredible sense of intimacy with God. Others live with hardly any. Standing does not automatically determine the fellowship you walk in.
Think of marriage. I conducted the service for my daughter. My daughter and my son-in-law are legally married. They are as married as married people get. You cannot be half married. You are married or you are not married. They are absolutely married. A lot of people are married in status and standing, yet they do not enjoy marriage. The fellowship does not match the positional place.
You have a standing as a child of God, as a son of God. How much you enjoy fellowship, how much you live as a son of God, is determined upon you, not upon God withholding the place. Paul talks about God sending the Spirit of sonship into our hearts, the Spirit of adoption. You do not need to look at yourself as an orphan, a second-class citizen who got taken in. You have been put in Christ Jesus. Right now the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of sonship, is in you. The Holy Spirit in us is constantly crying, Abba, Father.
**In Christ, Not Beside Him**
You are not the fourth member of the Trinity. You are inside the second. You have been put in Christ Jesus. You have Jesus’ relationship with the Father. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That is who you are in Christ Jesus.
*And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:17, NKJV)*
The measure to which you enjoy that relationship, that fellowship, that sonship, will be the measure in which you actually, practically hear His voice. Simply put, the depth of your relationship determines the depth of your hearing. The depth of your relationship will also determine the tone of your ministry.
**Start the Day with Abba**
If you want to hear God’s voice, here is a very good way to begin. Every day, start your day by saying, Abba. Father. Father, I love You. I have never once had the Lord turn away because I came to Him that way. If I come before Him and say, Father God, He is always going to say, son. Even if I have missed it. Even if I am in a stretch of disobedience. That very grace, that kindness, will draw me to repentance anyway.
If you want to hear His voice, do not first ask for somebody’s social security number. Do not first ask what stocks to buy on Wall Street. Ask Him to speak to you as Father. The more you stand in that Spirit of adoption, the more you speak to Him from that Abba place, the more you will hear Him speak to you.
*Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4, NKJV)*
I am convinced this is one of the great keys. We try to get objective by collecting methods. Paul ties leading to sonship. You already are a child. Now live as one. Come as a son, not as an orphan hunting for secrets. Come as family. The Father already wants to speak.
Let me challenge you. Begin the day there. Abba. Father, I love You. Wait long enough to let the Spirit bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. Then listen. Press into the fellowship that matches your standing. Draw near. He leads sons.
***Selah***
**Scriptures for Study**
Romans 8:12-17, Romans 8:14-16, Romans 8:17, Romans 8:15, Romans 2:4, John 1:12, John 3:16, Romans 8:29, Galatians 4:4-7, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 2:6, 1 John 3:1-2, Hebrews 2:10-11, John 20:17, Matthew 6:9, Mark 14:36, 2 Corinthians 6:18, Galatians 3:26, Colossians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 2:12, John 10:27, Proverbs 3:5-6, James 1:5.
**10 Questions for Reflection**
1. Where is your hearing still subjective, and what would objectivity require of you?
2. Have you seen a word spoken over someone that left wreckage when it missed, and what did that teach you?
3. Do you treat leading by the Spirit as a special gift for a few, or as the normal life of sons?
4. In what ways do you still live like an orphan even though your standing is that of a child?
5. Does your fellowship with the Father match your position in Christ, or does it lag behind it?
6. What would change if you began each day by saying, Abba, Father, I love You, and then waited?
7. Are you asking God for secrets and outcomes before you are asking Him to speak as Father?
8. How does being in Christ, not beside Him, alter the way you expect to hear?
9. Where has kindness already been drawing you to repentance, and have you recognized that as His voice?
10. What would it look like for the tone of your ministry to come out of sonship rather than performance?
