In Isaiah, chapter forty-four, verse five, “One shall say, I am the LORD’S.” A prominent result of the Spirit being poured out upon us is our testimony that we belong to the Lord and that He is our heavenly Father. The Spirit creates in us the confidence that we belong to God and that we have all the rights and privileges of being His children.
The Holy Spirit imparts to us a confidence that through Christ and with Christ, we are now the children of God. He makes real the truth that Christ loved us, still loves us, and lives for us in heaven as Mediator. The Spirit also shows us that the Father loves us and His adopted children, no less than He loves His one and only Son. Finally, the Spirit creates in us the love and confidence by which we cry to Him, “Abba Father.”
The Holy Spirit’s task is to create in God’s children a feeling of filial love (relating to a son or a daughter) that causes them to know God as their Father. To reach the stage of calling God “Abba Father” expresses the depth of intimacy, deep emotion, earnestness, warmth, and confidence by which the Spirit of adoption causes us to cry out “Father” to God. Two sure signs of the Spirit’s work within us are the spontaneous cry to God as “Father” and the spontaneous obedience to Jesus as “Lord.”
The ultimate criterion of the Spirit’s activity is an ever-growing expression of the person, presence, power, love, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the manifestations of spiritual gifts, Christ Himself ministers by the Spirit through His people to His people.
If anyone declares, “I am the Lord’s,” and not live according to the holy Word, will answer to the Lord.