Family

Today we were shopping @ Bayfair Mall over at the Mount and we crossed paths with a group from Lifeway who were on a bit of a faith mission, which by the way is a brilliant idea if you ask me. What they do is send out the students with a vehicle and a little cash for fuel, and that's it. They have a whole list of things they have to accomplish and trust God for during their time away, including, food, accommodation etc. We were amazed and greatly encouraged by these young guys who were out serving the community and sharing Jesus in ways not many people do these days. They truly shone, were full of joy, zeal and faith and really uplifted our spirits with their attitudes and the way they carried themselves. Awesome!

One of the guys was especially encouraging to us, sharing that whenever he thinks of "family" he thinks of us, and the wider Cole clan. He went on to share that he looked up to us as role models of what "family" means....we were greatly encouraged because to the two of us, family is very important, and we are both blessed with incredible families.

So it was like the Lord was really highlighting the concept of family to us today.

And then back at home as were were listening to the live streaming from IHOP, one of the singers sang an profound line that really highlighted that word to us again, "God doesn't doesn't just want people to serve Him, He wants a family.....He no longer calls me servant, He calls me friend."

Then they went on to sing, "you love me so well, you love me so well, Abba Father..." over and over again for a while. As they did it really infused into my heart, as I thought about the power of God's love, and the fact that He wants us to feel included into His family.

OK....sure, it sounds like something you and I might have heard a few times before, but thinking through the massive implications of this on our lives and the way that we should live and approach God is life changing, from a position of sonship rather than servant.

Jesus said it himself in John 15:15, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Yeah...I'm amazed at the wisdom of God and the way He's orchestrated this whole deal. it's just incredible that we are free to be son's and daughters who are friends of Almighty! Who is like Him?