We have no more power in ourselves than a squalling infant.
But whose child we are!
That is the source of privilege,
the claim of power.
Our very identity.

As a CHILD - a little child - your level of life was determined
by your earthly father.
If he was rich, you were rich.
If he had power, you had power.
If daddy lived in shame, YOU lived in shame by
the same level in society and
the same common reputation, as he.
You were your father's child and by that
identity you were known.

Your accomplishment, your worth, your provision
all were confined to the state and character of your dad.
You lived caught within the boundaries of his status and
limited by the choices of his life.

If he chose to abandon you, even there
you lived under the flaws of his character.
He was not absent. His shadow was cast over you,
even if his presence wasn't.

You lived by the exact level of dignity your daddy
established, by his values.
You were subject to his standards.
Imprisoned to his prisons.

And you were like him. In the inexorable tie of a child to
its father - present or absent - you were like him.
You wore his likeness and shared his cells.
 
That father-link is the same in the Kingdom of God . . .
but the Christian has a new Father.
And therefore a new status, a new identity.

If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.

I was born to God. Not only adopted, born!
A literal "new birth" - not a figure of speech.
Born into a different Father, a new Family -
an entirely different Life, Divine in origin and eternal!

        You did not choose Me, but I chose you
      John 15:16

My birthright is that my Intimate Daddy is God Himself.
My tender parent is the Creator.
And I am Who He is. I live as He lives . . .
because I am His child.

And He lives in me more fully than the genes
and chromosomes of my humanity.
His Being is implanted in my spirit,
infused into the marrow of my bone.

        I will put my laws in the mind and write them on their hearts;
        and I will be their God and they shall be My people.
      Hebrews 8:10
 
God is mine. And I am His.

As a believer you live in the identity of your Great Father!
Who HE is! That is the issue.
Not who I am.
Who HE is.

Not what I can do . . .
what HE can do.

My worth is not measured
how worthy, how able . . .
but my value is according to WHO my Father is,
The "Who" is the Highest Being, the Sole Creator.

My value does not lie in how lovable I am.
and my worth is according to WHO it is that loves me.
The Who is the God of All Love.
 
He is MY Father.
I am born by His love, to be His companion.

Not who I am . . . a measly worm in my humanity.
Who HE is! That is the entire measure of my merit.
The Identity of my Father.

In Him, I am child of - not A king - but THE King!
I am His, IN Him. Because He is God the Father,
I live in the privilege of His position- which is authority
but also in the
function of His character - which is meekness.
 
I must live in the consciousness of "who" I am by
knowing "whose child" I am.
Not by some list of attributes,
not by building my uniqueness
but by HIS attributes, His achievements.

My uniqueness will be found in consciousness of my God,
just as the true child is a creature utterly original.

You and I are "a child."
We will be called "a child of God" throughout eternity.
Not an adult, independent and self supporting,
but a child, ever in the helplessness of that position.

Authority WITH God comes when I take my place
as His dependent child.
I can make claims upon Him based on my helplessness
and my birthright.
A birthright given and secured FOR me, not
earned BY me.

        . . . who were born, not of blood,
        nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
        but of God.
      John 1:13 (emphasis mine)   

I must live in the vulnerability - even the helplessness -
that is my real state.
That is what puts me into the state of being a child.
Just reality.

Jesus was describing His own way, and giving us
the way to enter the kingdom when He said,

        Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted
        and become as little children,
        you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
      Matthew 18:3

Be what you are . . . for you are a child!
Being a child puts you in the position to have a Father
and all the rights of His Position.
If you are a child, then you are able to have a Father.

Be an independent, self-sufficient adult and you
have lost the kingdom . . . and your Dear Protective Father.

Position! The universe is all about position!
Power is about position.
Let God have His position, get in yours - as a child - and
power over life is automatic.

Authority FOR God flows from the surrender to
being His child, deriving everything from Him,
subject to His rule.

That is the absence of pride . . . to live as a child,
without pretense and void of power.

Authority is the advantage of birthright
and it comes from knowing precisely and
clearly Whose child you are . . . .

Copyright © 1999 Martha  Kilpatrick