So Much More: Moving Beyond Kingdom Principles to Kingdom Power (20 page)

Many of us are fighting for something we already have. We’re fighting for acceptance from our Dad when we have already been accepted. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves more acceptable to our King than we already are. When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He really meant it. There is nothing more we can do to become more acceptable or walk in more power and authority. He did all there was to do. I believe that most of the church is fighting for acceptance and sonship when in reality we can’t fight for something we already have. Instead of fighting for sonship, we need to learn to fight from sonship. A lot of the reason we don’t expect much from the King is because the enemy has convinced us that we are not worthy, that we are not sons and daughters of the King but rather we are simply slaves. If we see ourselves as slaves, we feel like we have to achieve and earn our spot to be in the kingdom. Nothing in the kingdom can be achieved by us, whether salvation, healing, authority over demons, or spiritual gifts. None of it can be achieved. It can only be received. When we recognize our identity as sons or daughters of the King, we learn to become good receivers.

In Jack Frost’s teaching on sonship, he points out some key differences between having an orphan mentality and having a son or daughter mentality. The following is a summary of those key differences:

I
MAGE OF
G
OD

• Orphans see God as a Master to be served. They feel as though they are constantly being watched and judged on the basis of their performance.

• Sons see God as a loving Father. He is secure in the Father’s love and knows that no matter how he performs, his Father still loves him as he is.

R
ELATIONSHIP TO
G
OD

• Orphans feel like a servant or a slave. An orphan will feel they don’t really deserve anything so they have to work to earn a spot in the Father’s house.

• Sons feel like a son or daughter. The spirit of sonship manifests not just in how he sees the Father but in how he sees himself. He recognizes his value as a son or daughter of the King.

A
PPROVAL
/A
FFIRMATION

• Orphans will strive for the praise, approval, and acceptance of man. The void will have to be filled somewhere; and if it hasn’t been filled with the praise, acceptance, and approval of the Father, the orphan will constantly seek it from others.

• Sons see themselves as totally accepted in God’s love and justified by grace. No other praise, approval, or acceptance is necessary.

S
ERVICE
/M
INISTRY

• Orphans have a need for personal achievement. They will seek to impress God and others or will have no motive to serve at all because they feel it won’t do any good anyway.

• Sons are motivated to serve out of a great love and gratitude for being unconditionally loved and accepted by God the Father.

F
UTURE

• Orphans fight for everything they can get. They get bent out shape when others get something because they fear that means they won’t get it.

• Sonship releases inheritance. Sons recognize everything the Father has belongs to them. They never fear lack. There is enough inheritance for all to be blessed.

S
ELF
-I
MAGE

• Orphans experience a shame-based self rejection that comes from comparing themselves with others.

• Sons feel positive and affirmed because they understand they have such a high value to their Father.

R
ESPONSE TO
C
ORRECTION

• Orphans have difficulty receiving correction. They easily get their feelings hurt and close their spirit to others.

• Sons see gracious correction as a blessing and a need in their life.

S
OURCE OF
C
OMFORT

• Orphans seek comfort in counterfeit affections: addictions, compulsions, escapism, busyness, hyper-religiosity.

• Sons seek times of quietness and solitude to rest in the Father’s presence and love.

P
EER
R
ELATIONSHIPS

• Orphans thrive on competition, rivalry, and jealousy toward others’ success and position.

• Sons operate in humility and unity as they value others and are able to rejoice in their blessings and successes.

V
IEW OF
A
UTHORITY

• Orphans see authority as a source of pain. They are distrustful towards authority figures and lack a heart attitude of submission.

• Sons are respectful and honoring toward authority. They see authority figures as ministers of God for good in their life.

H
ANDLING
O
THER
’
S
S
INS

• Orphans operate in accusation and exposure in order to make themselves look good by making others look bad.

• Sons operate in love that covers a multitude of sins as they seek to restore others in a spirit of grace, truth, and gentleness.

S
PIRITUAL
D
ISCIPLINES

• Orphans practice spiritual disciplines out of duty and earning God’s favor or no motivation at all.

• Sons practice spiritual disciplines out of pleasure and delight.

C
ONDITION

• Orphans live in bondage.

• Sons live in liberty.

S
ENSE OF
G
OD
’
S
P
RESENCE

• Orphans see God as conditional and distant.

• Sons see God as a loving Father who is close and intimate.

S
ECURITY

• Orphans are insecure and lack peace.

• Sons are secure and peaceful.

T
HEOLOGY

• Orphans live by love of the law.

• Sons live by the law of love.
¹

Satan knows if he can cause us to doubt our identity as sons and daughters of the King, that while we might be saved, he can keep us from living in power and authority as princes and princesses who advance His kingdom. He will do all he can to attack us and make us feel like orphans and not sons and daughters.

In Matthew 4 we read about Satan’s temptation of Jesus. Satan attacked Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

—M
ATTHEW
4:1–10

I had read this passage hundreds of times and had seen very clearly how Jesus set an example of combating the enemy using the Word of God, but there was something there that I didn’t notice until recently. Notice how Satan attacked Jesus in the area of sonship. In verse 3 he says, “If you are the Son of God,” and again in verse 6, “If you are the Son of God.” Two of the three attacks from the enemy came against Jesus’ Sonship. Satan knew if he could get Jesus at the core of His identity, he would have Him right where he wanted Him.

If the enemy attacked Jesus in this area of sonship, how much more will he attack us? He will whisper in our ear and say, “You aren’t worthy to be a son or daughter of the King. You know who you really are. You know what you have really done. Who do you think you are?” He knows if he can get us to think we are not sons and daughters but simply slaves who are lucky just to live in the servant’s quarters, he has us right where he wants us. Satan fights every day to steal away our identity; because he knows if we get this, if we get our arms around our identity as sons and daughters of the King, we will begin to operate in the King’s power and authority because we know we wear the King’s name. Then and only then we will be a force to be reckoned with. So he will try everything at his disposal to trick us, scare us, and deceive us so that we lose our identity as sons and daughters of the King.

We must know who we are and whose we are. We are not servants. We are sons and daughters. We are not paupers in the kingdom. We are princes and princesses. The King has given us His name. He has included us as joint heirs with our older brother Jesus. He has given us His authority. We can do the works that Jesus did. We can have a direct personal connection with the Father by the Holy Spirit where we cry, “Abba, Daddy” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).

There is a story about a farmer who tried to raise an eaglet among his chickens. This eaglet learned to run and scratch in the dirt. Instead of flying, he learned to look down in the dirt and run away scared of snakes. He learned to live like a chicken. But deep down in his heart, he knew something was wrong. One day he looked up and saw an eagle soaring with a snake in his talons and something resonated deep within his heart. Each time he would see an eagle soar, he knew that was his true nature. The other chickens told him to stop dreaming: “We are chickens. We are earthbound. We do not fly and we are scared of snakes.” But this eagle knew who he was. He finally shook off the criticism and the earthbound mentality and soared as an eagle.

The enemy will constantly whisper in our ear that we are not sons or daughters of the King. He will try to convince us we are slaves. But the King says, “Welcome home. You are my son. You are a joint heir with your older brother Jesus and you get to soar!” Yet, a lot of us are living in an identity crisis. A lot of Christians think they are chickens when God made them to be eagles. When we were born again into the kingdom, we were given a brand-new identity. It is time that we step into it and walk in it. Everything we need to operate in the power and authority of the kingdom, to be the head and not the tail, has been given to us. The enemy would love to keep us grounded, scratching around in fear and not soaring with the eagles. He is fearful of our identity as sons and daughters of the King and will do everything he can to steal our identity. He knows the power that is available to us when we understand our true identity as children of the King.

Chapter 10
KINGDOM WARFARE

I
LOVE FOOTBALL
. I love the action, the hits, the competition, and the strategy. In football there is a section of the field that is referred to as the red zone. For those who might not be football fans, let me offer a quick overview. A football field is 100 yards long. It is divided into two halves by the 50-yard line that sits in the middle of the field. When the offense, the team with the ball, crosses the 50-yard line, we would say they have entered their opponent’s territory. When they get to the 20-yard line, when they are 20 yards or less from getting the ball in the end zone and scoring a touchdown, that area of the field is called the red zone. So you are in the red zone when you have the ball in the last 20 yards before the end zone on your opponent’s end of the field. This is really the most critical portion of the football field. Success in the game of football is often determined by how well you do in the red zone. In the red zone you are close enough to the end zone that you should put points on the board, hopefully a touchdown but at least a field goal. If you move the ball all the way down the field easily but don’t get points in the red zone, you have failed. This is where the game is often won or lost. The offense steps up their game, knowing they need to score; but the defense also steps up their game in the red zone because this is the last chance to stop the offense from scoring. So the defense becomes even more aggressive, doing what they can to stop the offense from scoring.