Thank you for joining me, this is the 4th part of this series. We have been studying the Mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and what learning we can apply to ourselves as Christians.

Essentially we’ve seen that the mind of Christ is a mind of great reverence for the Father, it’s a humble and selfless mind and it is a mind conscious of the God-status as well as its attendant privileges and advantages.

Hebrews 1:5-10 showed us how God the Father sees Jesus Christ; importantly, we saw that Christ is God’s Firstborn. Then we tried to locate ourselves (Christians) by asking the question, ‘who are we?’

Galatians 3:26-29 provided us with answers to that question;

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So Christ is the firstborn. We are all sons of God. We are Abraham’s seed. We are heirs of the promise.

Next, we have a bunch of questions to answer; What privileges do sons have? What advantages are there in being Abraham’s seed and/or heirs of the promise? What promise are we talking about?

I’d like to jump in and start exploring the scriptures for answers to these questions but first, the story of the prodigal son has been on my mind since my last publishing on this series. In my notes, I dropped some leading questions around this story; who is a father and what are his duties? How much of his father’s possession was the prodigal son entitled to? What is the Father’s (GOD) Will for His children and how would we find it?

From Luke 15:11-32, a narrative of the story of the prodigal son, we find that Jesus did not tell the story of the prodigal son solely from the son’s perspective. In fact, the story goes to show more about the heart of God the Father than the behavior of the prodigal son (which really is a regular occurrence with man).

So what do we see about The Father from Luke 15:11-23;

1. The Father has ‘goods’ (possessions) reserved for his children.
2. These goods/possessions are always available to the sons (the Father doesn’t withhold or hoard them).
3. These goods/possessions are limitless, they don’t run out, and we can draw from them over and over again.
4. The Father is compassionate.
5. The Father’s love is unconditional; He loves us irrespective of our shortcomings.
6. The Father is not afraid to let us ‘roam’ sometimes because even from afar, His love and compassion can reach and save us.
7. The Father is not afraid to allow us to be exposed to challenges sometimes, because these would build our faith and confidence.
8. The Father knows that all that He has belongs to His sons and He is not threatened.

Brethren, we are sons/heirs of God through Christ (Galatians 4:6-7), the Father has ‘goods’ reserved for us which we can access at anytime and in any dimension without it running out. We have a compassionate, merciful and loving Father and all that The Father has belongs to us.

Now, remember we’re trying to answer the question of our rights and privileges as sons of God. So what are these rights and privileges? What goods did the Father reserve for us? What’s our inheritance as heirs?

1. We are God’s children, therefore we are gods. Just like Jesus Christ, we have the God-status. We are not God The Father, We are not God The Son, we did not exist in the beginning, we did not create the world in any way or form, but we are God’s children, we are His heritage, we have the genes of God and we have the God-status.

Psalm 82:6 calls the children of the Most High; ‘gods’.

“I said, “You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.”

Don’t let me lose you now to religious thinking; possibly thinking; ‘hey Grace, this is blasphemy, why say we are gods?

Maybe one easy way to understand this is this; I have 3 children, they are all OBOMANU 🙂 They can claim all rights and privileges and carry out any duties of an OBOMANU anyday, anytime.

Now, Jesus actually got this same ‘blasphemy’ reaction from the Jews;

“Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming’?, because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” John 10:34-38 NKJV

Question: Why do we have the God-status? …..To flaunt it around? To feel good about ourselves?…..or why?

Again, Jesus provides answers to this from John 10:34-38;

“…..If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him”.

So we have the God-status to do WORKS. We express the God-status by doing the Works of The Father. We have power, authority, dominion, we can create things, we can move mountains, we can bind and unbind stuffs, etc, all so that we EXPRESS the power of God by doing His Works.

The next rational question to ask is- what are the works of God that Jesus spoke of?

John 14:10 answers this for us;

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not say on My own initiative or authority, but the Father, abiding continually in Me, does His works [His attesting miracles and acts of power].”AMP

Answer: Works of miracles and acts of power.

And in verse 12, Jesus tells us that our REACH, COVERAGE, in doing these Works would be more;

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father.”JOHN 14:12 AMP

What’s the scope of the authority of the name of Jesus?

“.…..So God raised Him up from the most important place and gave Him the name that is greater than any other name. God did this so that every person will bow down to honor the name of Jesus. Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow“. Philippians 2:9-10.

With the authority we have in the name of Jesus, forces from the different spheres/realms bow to us. Therefore there is no feat we cannot achieve.

Greater Works…..because He goes to the Father. Because He’s finished His Works, defeated the Devil, reclaimed power and authority and secured a Name higher than any other. So that anything we speak, declare or ask in His Name, will get done. Hallelujah!

We are God’s sons, we are gods and like Christ, we have Works to do…greater in reach, extent and coverage, because we have The NAME to which every knee must bow, all prayers will be answered, every victory will be won.

Thank You Father.

Thank You.