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Ephesians 1:3-7
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
Galatians 3:26-29
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 4:1-7
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Journaling
In your journaling you may want to write your feelings and your prayers and ignore the prompts. The prompts are to help you and you can choose those that speak to you most. You can download these prompts as a PDF.
Are you quick to defend yourself? Are you concerned about what people think of you?
Did you know that you have the right to exercise power and authority in God's name? If you didn't before, how will this knowledge change your prayer life?
Do you enter boldly into the presence of God? Do you take advantage of the place of privilege you hold?
In your relationship with God, do you live like a son or a slave?
What kind of identity issues do you have?
- slavery is about what you do - sonship is about who you are
- slavery is about doing right - sonship is about being right
- slavery is about obeying (in fear) - sonship is about friendship
Illustrated Letter
I have designed a letter for today's session to be used in any way you choose. Download it by right clicking on the image and saving it to your computer. Print it off, colour it in and glue it into your journal. As it is a jpeg you can resize it to fit your journal. You can see how I used it here.
I hope you that you have found today's message and journal prompts useful. Share your thoughts, questions and journaling in the Facebook group.
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