Galatians 4:3-7 | Abba, Father
3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.
-Galatians 4:3–7 BSB
-Galatians 4:3–7 BSB
The beautiful reality of our relationship with the Lord is that we were not left as slaves. We were set free from our former masters and were made to be sons in the Lord. Last week, we talked about the significance of being sons and how that has nothing to do with gender but everything to do with status. The sons received the inheritance. This is a declaration that we receive the promises of God. As Ephesians states, God sent His Spirit to act as a seal for us. He is the guarantee of the promise. The book of Romans agrees with Paul's statement concerning the work that the Spirit does of recognizing God as Father.
The fact that we are God's sons is not exclusively to say that we receive an inheritance. The implications of sonship goes significantly further. One of the most incredible mysteries concerning our sonship is that it declares God to be our Father. A piece of this that astounds me is the extent that God is willing to go to make this reality understood by us.
Already an amazing mystery - God has given us His Spirit. He has placed His Spirit in us to testify of Him, to lead us into the truth of Christ Jesus, and to empower us to carry out the work of the ministry. The testimony that the Spirit gives us of the Father is that He is our Father. Pause and soak that in for a moment. One of the major ministries of the Spirit of God to the believer is to assure the believer that God is their Father. In fact, the Spirit is Who urges us to call out to the Father as our Father. To put it in incredibly simple terms, God does not just want you to know that you are His son, He wants you to know that He is your Father.
God, as our Father, desires that we call out to Him. He calls for us to cry out to Him. Consider the Psalmist in Psalm 18:
2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
so shall I be saved from my enemies.
-Psalm 18:2-3 BSB
It is as the Psalmist cries out to the Lord that he is saved. We see the pattern all throughout Scripture that God establishes Himself as One that His people can and must cry out too. He is our Father. We can seek Him in prayer. We can cry out to Him in desperation. We can thank Him in rejoicing.
Now I understand that some of us do not have the greatest experiences with our earthly fathers. That may taint the view in which you see God as our Father. If this is you, I want to remind you of something important concerning the Father that the Lord continuously had to remind me of. Before God is Father, He is holy. That means He is set apart from anything and anyone else. He is not like any earthly father. He is a good Father. For everything a father ought to be and ought to do, God is that perfectly. It would be unjust to the Lord to look upon earthly experiences and define Him by those. He is beyond it. So praise be to our Holy Father!
What can you cry out to your Father in heaven for today?
The fact that we are God's sons is not exclusively to say that we receive an inheritance. The implications of sonship goes significantly further. One of the most incredible mysteries concerning our sonship is that it declares God to be our Father. A piece of this that astounds me is the extent that God is willing to go to make this reality understood by us.
Already an amazing mystery - God has given us His Spirit. He has placed His Spirit in us to testify of Him, to lead us into the truth of Christ Jesus, and to empower us to carry out the work of the ministry. The testimony that the Spirit gives us of the Father is that He is our Father. Pause and soak that in for a moment. One of the major ministries of the Spirit of God to the believer is to assure the believer that God is their Father. In fact, the Spirit is Who urges us to call out to the Father as our Father. To put it in incredibly simple terms, God does not just want you to know that you are His son, He wants you to know that He is your Father.
God, as our Father, desires that we call out to Him. He calls for us to cry out to Him. Consider the Psalmist in Psalm 18:
2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.
3I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
so shall I be saved from my enemies.
-Psalm 18:2-3 BSB
It is as the Psalmist cries out to the Lord that he is saved. We see the pattern all throughout Scripture that God establishes Himself as One that His people can and must cry out too. He is our Father. We can seek Him in prayer. We can cry out to Him in desperation. We can thank Him in rejoicing.
Now I understand that some of us do not have the greatest experiences with our earthly fathers. That may taint the view in which you see God as our Father. If this is you, I want to remind you of something important concerning the Father that the Lord continuously had to remind me of. Before God is Father, He is holy. That means He is set apart from anything and anyone else. He is not like any earthly father. He is a good Father. For everything a father ought to be and ought to do, God is that perfectly. It would be unjust to the Lord to look upon earthly experiences and define Him by those. He is beyond it. So praise be to our Holy Father!
What can you cry out to your Father in heaven for today?
Posted in Galatians
Recent
Archive
2026
January
John 14:22-31 | What's the lesson for me today?John 14:22-31 | What am I going to do about it?John 14:22-31 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 15:1-11John 15:1-11 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 15:1-11 | What's the connection?John 15:1-11 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 15:1-11 | What's the lesson for me today?John 15:1-11 | What am I going to do about it?John 15:1-11 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 15:12-27John 15:12-27 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 15:12-27 | What's the connection?John 15:12-27 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 15:12-27 | What's the lesson for me today?John 15:12-27 | What am I going to do about it?John 15:12-27 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 16:1-15John 16:1-15 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 16:1-15 | What's the connection?John 16:1-15 | What’s a lesson for the original audience?John 16:1-15 | What's the lesson for me today?John 16:1-15 | What am I going to do about it?John 16:1-15 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 16:16-33John 16:16-33 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 16:16-33 | What's the connection?John 16:16-33 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 16:16-33 | What's the lesson for me today?John 16:16-33 | What am I going to do about it?John 16:16-33 | Prayer Prompts
February
Passage of the Week: John 17John 17 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 17 | What's the connection?John 17 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 17 | What's the lesson for me today?John 17 | What am I going to do about it?John 17 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 18:1-11John 18:1-11 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 18:1-11 | What's the connection?John 18:1-11 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 18:1-11 | What's the lesson for me today?John 18:1-11 | What am I going to do about it?John 18:1-11 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 18:12-40John 18:12-40 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 18:12-40 | What's the connection?John 18:12-40 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 18:12-40 | What's the lesson for me today?John 18:12-40 | What am I going to do about it?John 18:12-40 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 19John 19 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 19 | What's the connection?John 19 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 19 | What's the lesson for me today?John 19 | What am I going to do about it?John 19 | Prayer Prompts
March
Passage of the Week: John 20John 20 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 20 | What's the connection?John 20 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 20 | What's the lesson for me today?John 20 | What am I going to do about it?John 20 | Prayer PromptsJohn 21 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: John 21John 21 | What's happening (and who's involved)?John 21 | What's the connection?John 21 | What's a lesson for the original audience?John 21 | What's the lesson for me today?John 21 | What am I going to do about it?Passage of the Week: Hebrews 1:1-4Hebrews 1:1-4 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What's the connection?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What is a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 1:1-4 | What am I going to do about it?Hebrews 1:1-4 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: Hebrews 1:5-14Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's the connection?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 1:5-14 | What am I going to do about it?Hebrews 1:5-14 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: Hebrews 2:1-4Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's the connection?
April
Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 2:1-4 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 2:1-4 | What am I going to do about it?Hebrews 2:1-4 | Prayer PromptsPassage of the Week: Hebrews 2:5-9Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's happening (and who's involved)?Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's the connection?Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's a lesson for the original audience?Hebrews 2:5-9 | What's the lesson for me today?Hebrews 2:5-9 | What am I going to do about it?
No Comments