What Are You reading? – Abba, Father

well hi ladies happy monday i hope you're having a great start to your monday morning and um i will go ahead and give you a forewarning that today's um whatever we want to call this little what are you reading is very simple but i think sometimes we tend to forget some of the basics so it's almost like going back to the ABCs, right? And I'm going to read the scripture first, so that I'm going to tell you where I've kind of landed this week. And so in Romans 8, 15 through 17, it says, the spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. If indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we also share in his glory. And so that's probably a passage of scripture that you've heard a lot, or that you know, and just that wonderful, I remember the first time I heard that Abba is like daddy, it's that intimate name. And so something that has just been, I've been kind of thinking on this week, as I have been in the process of um documentation changing my name after having gotten married six months ago but there are more things than you realize that have your name on them right and so I'm in the process of changing it but what happened this week was somebody called me by my old last name they called me Rousher and it sounded weird and that's the first time that that has sounded weird when other times Saxon sounded weird to me and so there's been this transformation there's been this change. My name has now changed and the new name sounds normal to me and the old name is in the past, right? And that's a simple illustration of, you know, as you come to know the Lord, your old ways become odd when at first, when you were first saved, the new ways of living with God, this new peace, this new finding relationship with the Lord and companionship with him and becoming part of the body of christ felt weird well now i bet if you look back on your life the living individually and living just for self can feel weird whenever you've been um you know you're probably probably one of those people that sometimes when you're talking about jesus um you think you know we really sound weird to the world and we do we do sound weird because we have been adopted as daughters of the king into um into his family which is a wonderful thing and so we have been adopted. So our names have changed. We have changed spiritually because He is inside us. And so there is this scene, if you know me, I guess I should say this video is more of a what are you listening to rather than a what are you reading. There is a scene in a movie called The Mission. I have not seen this entire movie, so if there's something in it, please do not go and watch the movie. I know that it is set in the 18th century with Conquistadors. It's a historical film kind of thing like Braveheart, things like that. And so I do know that there is some tribal, you know, tribal men and things like that, that, you know, are not dressed appropriately. We'll just put it that way. So I've seen one of those scenes. So don't, don't feel like that's, that's what this is for. But I am talking about the music from that film. There is a song, the musical score. If you know me, typically while I'm at work, I'm constantly listening to, I can't think very well if music has words in it, but if it's background music, and typically with films, if I'm writing, it's usually music from films, and The Mission is one of my favorites, and there is a scene from this film, and this is the only scene that I've actually watched from this movie, where I believe it's Robert De Niro plays a character, and he had done some awful things in his past. He also was a conquistador and was enslaving these people of South America and he then goes with a priest back to the place where he was enslaving these people and you know he's in a totally different stage of life he's come to know the Lord but he can't forgive himself he can't forgive his past offenses of things that he's done and so as a punishment I mean you're they're walking in I believe it's Peru and these huge waterfalls and climbing up to find this tribe and rather than just the climb itself is hard enough but rather than just doing the climb he punishes himself by strapping his old conquistador armor i'm pointing to the back because he has a long rope and it's all all of his like knight's armor i mean just think about the weight of that is all behind him and he is dragging it and dragging it miles upon miles climbing up these waterfalls and these steep cliffs and it's hanging there and i mean he is struggling and when he gets to the tribe the tribe these people they could easily kill him for what he has done to their people but instead the leaders go forward and they come forward with a knife and instead of killing him they they cut the ties to his armor and let it go and at that moment it's his past is done he's forgiven and so that's kind of my encouragement for you today you've had your name changed you can cry out abba father according to this scripture right for those of us verse 14 says for those who are led by the spirit of god and our church are the children of god the spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again so don't hang on to all that baggage rather the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship and by him we cry Abba Father. And as it further says, we become co-heirs with Christ. So I want you to think about perhaps what are you carrying? Your name has changed. You've changed in that you are in the Lord, but are you still carrying things from when before your name was changed? Lay it down, right? Watch it be cut off. Lay it down and just move forward, right? And sometimes that's easier said than done. But that's my encouragement for today, is that you would remember who you are and what your name is so even when you can't um even when you're struggling to fully forgive yourself for the past remind yourself of who god is and that he is your abba he's your father and you've been adopted into daughtership with him and so therefore your name has changed so your name has changed your status your status has changed and so you do not need to live in fear you do not need to live with the baggage of the past dragging you down you get to live in freedom so that's my little little devotional I guess for today and so it's more of a what are you listening to rather than what are you reading and yeah I hope that that is something that will encourage you today because I think sometimes I have to remember the basics and remember that my name is changed and it's all changed, not because of me, all because of him. So I hope that you have a great rest of your Monday and hopefully you'll spend time thinking about how your name has changed and how you can cry out Abba Father by his Spirit. So thank you and I'll see you next week.

Originally published at warren.church.