Category Archives: Book Reviews

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Seven – The Disposition Of A Son

Book Reviews, , ,

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Disposition of a Son

Those who are citizens of the kingdom of God, disciples of Jesus, reveal their citizenship, their connection to Jesus as His devout followers by the disposition they manifest. Those who are led by the Spirit, (not those who claim to be disciples of Jesus) are the children of God.

We are to imitate the disposition of Jesus, who was the perfect Son of the Father. He displayed seven characteristics of a true son:

  1. A son must be teachable.

Although Jesus was a son, as a human being He had to learn to be a son. He had to learn obedience by what He suffered so that He could be the perfect substitute for man and the perfect sacrifice for sin.

A son does not know everything. A son does not question his father’s authority.

  • A son must learn the ways of God.
  • A son must learn the Word of God.

He must have the mind of Christ which was the mind of a son – humility and service. Although he is not a slave, it is his duty to serve his father.

  • A son must learn obedience.
  • A son must learn the fear of the Lord.

 

  1. A son must be trainable.

Jesus was trained by the Father to trust Him in every situation and not act on His own initiative by being exposed, first of all to the devil’s temptations in the wilderness.

  • A son must be trained in righteousness

2.1.1. God uses hardship to train us

2.1.2. He uses the Scriptures to train us.

 

  • A son must be trained in godliness
  • A son must be trained to distinguish good from evil.

 

  1. A son must be trusting.

Jesus did not have a natural bent towards mistrust like we do. We have to learn to secure ourselves to God who is steadfast and will never be unreliable.

 

  1. A son must be trustworthy.

Jesus was trustworthy throughout all the adversities he experienced. It is one thing to trust God, but can He trust is to be faithful to Him and to His instructions?

 

  1. A son must be truthful.

We must learn to play open cards with God. We can hide nothing from Him but He wants us to walk in the light with Him. We must take ownership of our sins and failures and not pass the buck.

 

  1. We must be transparent.

Jesus was secure in His relationship with the Father. He had nothing to prove and nothing to defend.

 

Just as a son must be open with God, so we must be transparent in our relationships with people. We can be ourselves; we don’t have to wear masks with one another.

 

  1. A son must be thankful.

Jesus was a happy person because He was a grateful son. Gratitude is an expression of love to the Father. When we are secure in the Father’s love, as He was, we have reason to be continually thankful because God is always good.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

To order your 0wn copy of either book, contact

Toll free – 0800 990 914 (South Africa)

orders.africa@partridgepublishing.com

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa  or

+44 20 314 3997 (outside South Africa)

ISBN: Hardcover – 978-1-4828-0891-9                                                                                     Softcover 978-1-4828-0890-2                                                                                                              eBook 978-1-4828-0889-6

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Six – The Orphan Heart

Book Reviews, , ,

CHAPTER SIX

The Orphan Heart

Another misconception that holds us back from enjoying the fullness of the Father’s love is “the orphan heart” which is the root of our slave mentality.

From the moment Adam and Eve declared independence, they became orphans; they lost their fellowship with the Father and were alienated from Him by fear. They became slaves at heart, not sons. The whole world is an “orphanage” of fatherless children. Adam’s sin was passed on to his descendants, leaving them slaves to the fear of punishment, and alone in the world to find their own way without a loving Father to provide, protect and guide them through life.

Many believers have the heart of an orphan. They have never understood that they have been restored to the Father as beloved sons and daughters. They are suspicious of God’s love and afraid of punishment. They still think that they must obey rules in order to stay in God’s good books.

Jack and Trisha Frost, (www.shilohplace.org), after they had made their own discovery of the damage of having an orphan heart, wrote an article entitled “From Slavery to Sonship” in which they presented a comparison between the heart of an orphan and the heart of a son. The heart of the issue is that true son has a name, a home and an inheritance whereas an orphan is nameless, homeless and has no inheritance; he focuses only on keeping the rules and lives in fear of punishment. A son lives in the security of his father’s love and acceptance, no matter what he does.

It was Jesus’ mission to reintroduce His people to the Father whom they did not know because He had been buried under a mound of rules and ritual. Jesus assured His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans (John 14:18). Just as He had lived in the full fellowship of the Father, so they too, through the Holy Spirit, would experience the Father’s presence and love which was the engine and energy of His life.

Our experience of our human fathers plays a vital role in the way we perceive God as our Father. We relate to God as our Father in the same way as we relate or related to our earthly fathers. We are either loved regardless of our performance, or we are judged and rejected if we do not live up to our fathers’ expectations or treated harshly by strict dicsiplinarians.

The way we perceive ourselves is based on the way our fathers treated us. If we were loved and accepted, we will be secure in God’s love. If we were judged and rejected, we will have an orphan heart – insecure and living in the fear of punishment. Our belief about the Father and His attitude towards us will be shaped by the attitude of our human fathers towards us and the way they treated us.

The clue to our belief about ourselves and our relationship with God is our emotions and the way we react to our everyday circumstances. If we feel “bad” about ourselves, it is in indication that we have an “orphan” heart. Anything that triggers bad feelings is a reminder of what was said or done to us in our formative years that influenced what we believe about ourselves and God.

How do we change the way we feel about ourselves that will reflect God’s love for us. Forgiveness is the first step, acknowledging and cancelling the debt our father owes us for treating us as anything less than a beloved son or daughter. This will free us from the hold that our human father’s failure has on us.

The second step is to identify the false beliefs we have about ourselves in the light of what God says about us in His word. When we come clean with God, acknowledging the lies that shape our self-awareness, He is able to speak the truth into those places where we judged ourselves and set us free from fear, guilt and shame and replace these emotions with His peace.

How do we know that we are true sons and daughters of God? Discipline! Hebrews 12 puts the hardships and trials we encounter in life in their correct perspective. They are neither attacks from the devil nor punishment from God. God has already punished Jesus for our sin and the sin of the whole world. God is treating us as sons. He permits hardships to test and strengthen our faith in and love for Him as our Father so that we may share His holiness.

When we keep looking at Jesus, He teaches us how to act and respond to adversity out of who we are as sons and not in reaction to those who mistreat us. By continually gazing at Jesus in His word, we are transformed from cringing slaves and insecure orphans into confident and trusting sons and daughters, allowing nothing to move us from our trust in Him because we are secure in His love.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

To order your 0wn copy of either book, contact

Toll free – 0800 990 914 (South Africa)

orders.africa@partridgepublishing.com

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa  or

+44 20 314 3997 (outside South Africa)

ISBN: Hardcover – 978-1-4828-0891-9                                                                                     Softcover 978-1-4828-0890-2                                                                                                              eBook 978-1-4828-0889-6

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Five – Slaves or Sons?

Book Reviews, , , ,

CHAPTER FIVE

Slaves or Sons?

Since we have already established that the whole of humankind was intended to be the family of God and that every person is potentially a son or daughter of God, how do we move from potential to actual? The operative word is “faith”. New Testament writers like John and Paul understood what Jesus came to do. He came to reveal the true nature of the Father and to remove the barrier of sin that separated us from Him so that we can be restored to our rightful place as sons and daughters of God.

Jesus calls us to become His disciples, followers of our rabbi so that, in close and intimate association with Him, we can learn to be sons by watching, listening and imitating Him. When we respond to His call, we begin our journey with Him which will take us to the Father if we follow His way, obey His instructions and keep our eyes on our destination.

Sin, the great barrier between man and God, was the outcome of Adam’s disobedience to God’s instruction in the Garden of Eden. Sin destroyed the fellowship Adam and Eve had with God and left them dirty, diseased, deformed and dead – unable to connect with God because their nature had become corrupted. It was because of His great love that He had already formulated His plan to rescue us from the ravages of sin and adopt us once again into His family through the death of His Son.

Through the Holy Spirit, whom He sent on the Day of Pentecost, God confirmed the forgiveness Jesus bought by His death, and restored everyone who believes in Jesus to His family as His sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption. He witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God and, through Him, we can address God as Abba, Father – a term of intimacy and endearment.

Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God, not those who claim allegiance because they have signed a decision card or answered an altar call. It is because of our status as sons and daughters that we enjoy all the benefits of life in the family of God. This is our “password” to eternal life – not when we die but now, in fellowship with the Father and with the Son in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

We are still fallible human beings, with an old sinful nature that is vulnerable to temptation. Satan has been defeated but he is still active to deceive us when we listen to his lies. There still lurks in us the thought that we are his slaves under his power and that we are subject to punishment when we sin. We try to gain acceptance with the Father through keeping rules instead of living in the truth that Jesus fully paid our debt and that His cry on the cross, “It is finished!” meant exactly that.

Since we have not fully understood the implications of His death, we feel uncomfortable with God. Like the returning prodigal, we want to be treated as slaves and not fully accepted as sons.  But God has not given us the spirit of slavery which makes us afraid of Him. He has given us the Spirit of adoption. We are truly the sons and daughters of God, forgiven and fully accepted. Our response is to come out from the world and be separated to God. He has promised that He will be a Father to us in the truest sense of the word.

When we respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, we leave our old life behind and begin our journey with Him which will take us to the Father, learning from Him what a true son is like and being transformed into His image as we continue to abandon our old ways of thinking and return to His way.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

To order your 0wn copy of either book, contact

Toll free – 0800 990 914 (South Africa)

orders.africa@partridgepublishing.com

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa  or

+44 20 314 3997 (outside South Africa)

ISBN: Hardcover – 978-1-4828-0891-9                                                                                     Softcover 978-1-4828-0890-2                                                                                                              eBook 978-1-4828-0889-6

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Four – The Disposition Of The Son

Book Reviews, , ,

CHAPTER FOUR

The Disposition of the Son

Moses was up the mountain, pleading with God to forgive Israel for breaking the covenant. He requested to see God’s glory and God responded by revealing His name – gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness. Since it was the Father’s representative on earth, the second person of the Trinity who met with Moses, the revelation of His disposition on Mount Sinai indicated what His disposition would be as a human being on earth.

As we follow Jesus through the pages of the gospels, we read the record of how He lived out His disposition as the Messiah whom the Father sent to reveal His true nature to His people. Jesus made enemies of the religious leaders because they did not like His exposure of their ungodly lives which they covered up by their strict adherence to their interpretations and additions to God’s directions for living.

Jesus taught His disciples and demonstrated to His people how to interpret the Torah as God intended. They were to be generous and merciful to all people because God was always merciful and generous towards them. As a rabbi, He had the right to teach them His “yoke” His interpretation of the Torah according to God’s intention. He invited people to take His yoke and learn from Him because He was gentle and humble in heart. His yoke would release them from bondage to the yoke of the other rabbis which was a straightjacket of rules and regulations, and bring them into God’s true rest.

Jesus also enraged the religious leaders because of His claim to be the Son of God. Both the testimony of the Father and the works He did bore witness to who He was, but the religious leaders refused to examine the evidence. They repudiated His claims and looked for a way to get rid of Him.

Jesus did not only claim unity with the Father and sonship – He lived it out as a submissive and obedient Son. His relationship and fellowship with the Father give us the clue to the “password” which allows us access to all that the Father has given us through Jesus. It is only because we have the rights as sons and daughters of God that we can approach the Father in prayer and receive from Him everything we need to live godly lives in this world as followers of Jesus.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

To order your 0wn copy of either book, contact

Toll free – 0800 990 914 (South Africa)

orders.africa@partridgepublishing.com

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa  or

+44 20 314 3997 (outside South Africa)

ISBN: Hardcover – 978-1-4828-0891-9                                                                                     Softcover 978-1-4828-0890-2                                                                                                              eBook 978-1-4828-0889-6

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Learning To Be A Son – Chapter Three – Jesus The Authentic Son

Book Reviews, , , ,

CHAPTER THREE

Jesus the Authentic Son

Although the Father chose sonship as His model for the relationship He desired between Himself and mankind, and sent the second person of the Trinity, whom He named Jesus (Yeshua), to be the human model for us, it was not cut and dried that Jesus would be the perfect Son. He had to learn to be a Son by going through all the experiences of humanity, from birth to death without failing in His submission and obedience to the Father. He had to be a perfect Son where Adam failed.

He had to be a Son in the Hebrew culture and religion into which He was born. To be a son in the Hebrew language and understanding was to “continue the house”. It was His role to continue God’s house through reproducing Himself in His disciples so that they in turn would reproduce Him in those they taught to be disciples.

Through thirty years of growing up in a Jewish home and three years of public ministry during which time He was under constant harassment from His arch enemy, the devil and those of His own people who opposed Him, Jesus never faltered. He passed every test; His love, loyalty and commitment to unity with the Father remained intake in the wilderness, during three years of scrutiny by His disciples, the common people and the religious leaders and received the Father’s wholehearted affirmation at every step along the way.

His final test was the cross. Gethsemane was the ultimate expression of His submission to the Father’s will. He passed the test and was resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit to authenticate Him once and for all as the perfect Son and fully qualified to be the sinless lamb who was sacrificed to take away the sin of the world.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

To order your 0wn copy of either book, contact

Toll free – 0800 990 914 (South Africa)

orders.africa@partridgepublishing.com

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa  or call

+44 20 314 3997 (outside South Africa)

ISBN: Hardcover – 978-1-4828-0891-9                                                                                     Softcover 978-1-4828-0890-2                                                                                                              eBook 978-1-4828-0889-6

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com