Where is the mind? It is a component of the soul. The soul consists of the thought bank, feelings and decision making power.

A lamp is a device that gives light and among other things, light helps with direction. Therefore Proverbs 20:27 is actually saying that God leads man by his spirit. This is the primary way by which God leads His sons.

Welcome back! Apologies for the long break publishing this next part of this blogpost series. This is part 5 and I am excited to be back on it.

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.

Today we continue our study looking at the privileges of being a son of God.

1 John 3:1 tells us it’s a great privilege to be called sons of God, an identity that positions us for the Father’s love. And when we have the Father’s love, we have everything.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!…”

All the privileges we see below are offshoots of His love…

1. We have the god-status.

“I said, “You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.” Psalm 82:6

We have the god-status to do works of miracles and power. 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 (John 14:10, 34-38, John 14:12).

2. We have access to the Father at all times.

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba Father’ Romans 8:15 NKJV

It is not a Master/slave relationship where the slave walks subdued in the presence of the Master.

Naa, we walk in boldly expecting to see the Father’s hands outstretched towards us in love.

There’s an endearment in knowing God as Father. Walls and barriers of fear and uncertainty are broken. We operate in liberty and freedom.

3. We have an inheritance

“”..and if children of God, 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

An heir is a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person’s death. An heir is an inheritor, a person who inherits and continues the work of a predecessor.

We are joint heirs with Christ to;

a. Continue the work of the kingdom

b. Enjoy the benefits of the Father’s Will. And God’s Will is His Word. And His Will is that we prosper, be in health, even as our soul prospers (3 John 1:2); speaking of material prosperity, wholeness in health and emotional stability.

4. We have the privilege of being provided for by the Father;

“If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him” Matthew 7:11.

So all we really need do is ask (and to ask according to His will) and we have good things.

The question that always comes to mind whenever I read Matthew 7:11 is; who defines the ‘good things‘, me or the Father? 🙂

Because many times as Christians we draw up our own list of ‘good things’ without ‘touching base‘ with the Father. I believe it’s much easier for our good things to materialize when they’re in sync with the Father (selah).

Healing is a good thing. Abundance is a good thing. Children are good things. A godly marriage is a good thing. A good paying job is a good thing. A heart at peace is a good thing.

It is the Father’s pleasure to daily satisfy our mouth with good things (Psalm 103:5).

5. We have the assurance of His presence at all times

“At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” John 14:20 NKJV.

There is nothing more assuring of security for me, than John 14:20.

In fact the way I interpret that scripture is; I am safely kept in the Father through Christ. It is a multi-level protective wall…in Christ, in the Father and Christ in Me.

Again, John 14:20 tells me that all things are possible, because I am not an ordinary being. I am a 3-part squad, my team wins always and in all things. Amen!

6. We are led by the Spirit of God

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” Romans 8:14 NKJV

I am led by the Spirit of God, I have wisdom and direction. I have the spirit of understanding, power, might, counsel, knowledge and I operate in the fear of the Lord. I know what the mind of God is concerning a thing by His Spirit. I am not tossed to and fro. I have discernment. I hear my Father’s voice and I know it’s Him.

7. We have the privilege of profiting from His Word

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

Because the Word of God is profitable. The Word is Sound. The Word is Light, it illuminates. The Word is Life.

To find life is to know wisdom. And the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom because a deep reverence for The Lord keeps one on the track of His Word, with a yearning to do only what the Father would approve. That is wisdom; knowing the right thing and doing it.

For every Christian the right thing is the Truth and the Truth is the Word.

Oh! what awesome privileges I have as a son of God. My whole life completely catered for. Nothing omitted.

Thank You Faithful Father.

You indeed work everything together for my good. Amen!

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.

When we read Philippians 2:5, we see without much brainstorming that the mind of Christ is a mind of humility, selflessness and great reverence for The Father. We’ve discussed these 3 attributes of the mind of Christ in the first 2 parts of this series.

Is there anything else we see about the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:5?

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of Himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. he didn’t claim special privileges. Instead He lived a selfless, obedient life and then dies a selfless, obedient death-and the worst kind of death -a crucifixion.” ERV.

Well, I see something else;

4. A mind conscious of the God-status

5. A mind conscious of the privileges and advantages of the God-status.

So we see that Christ had equal status with God the Father, then we are admonished to have same mind as Christ

Question: Should we think of ourselves as having equal status with God the Father?

To help answer that question, we need to understand what the scripture mean by ‘Christ had equal status with God’?

In Blogpost 1, we mentioned that Jesus Christ did not misunderstand His position in the Godhead. He was the Son, there is God The Father (the supreme head) and the Holy Spirit. The 3 existed in the beginning having EQUAL status, power, authority, but their roles and interactions with man is distinct.  One of the things that fascinated me as a young Christian was getting to understand the person of the Holy Spirit. I’d read a book by Benny Hinn on the Holy Spirit (not about miracles) where he said that Christians were currently in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit; The Teacher & Comforter. I loved the revelation so much I started writing a book on the Holy Spirit ……don’t ask me where my notes are 🙂

Colossians 1:15 describes Christ as the firstborn;

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation”. NKJV.

In Hebrews 1:5-10, we see a very interesting narrative of the Father-Son relationship;

“….You are My Son, today I have begotten You? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says; “Let all the angels of God worship Him” And of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of  Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions”. And You Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands…” NKJV

We can tease out a lot about Christ Jesus (and His status) from Hebrews 1 {referenced from Psalm 45:6-7};

He was in the beginning. The heavens are the works of His hands. He laid the foundation of the earth. God is His God. The Father God calls Him both God & My Son. He is the firstborn.  He has an everlasting throne, etc

Now, we see how God describes Christ. How do we (Christians) fit in? Who are we?

Galatians 3:26-29;

“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.”

Christ is the firstborn.

We are all sons of God.

We are Abraham’s seed.

We are heirs of the promise.

Question: What privileges or advantages do we have as sons? What’s our status? What does scripture mean by ‘we are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise?

We’ll look into the scriptures to provide answers to these questions in the next part.

What have we learnt so far?

We should have a mind of great reverence for the Father, we should stay humble, remain selfless and never attempt to usurp the position of the Father, nonetheless living in the consciousness of our status as sons of God, being fully aware of the privileges and advantages we have as sons.