The “Spirit of Fear” vs The “Spirit of Adoption”

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

What is the Spirit that we have received? Is it the Spirit of adoption or the spirit of bondage? The Spirit of bondage is trying to recapture people. Paul is fighting to release these people from their bondage. Somehow, we like some bondage. Somewhere some bondage takes hold of us. Bondage of fear is a very common thing and our fertile imaginations multiply our fears. So we keep on imagining things — things which do not exist. That is the spirit of bondage. The Spirit of adoption makes us to focus on the throne. We are told that we are ‘joint-heirs’ with Christ. The Spirit bears witness that we are joint-heirs with Christ. This Spirit of adoption makes us cry, “Abba, Father”.

“And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mark: 14:35, 36) This was in the garden of Gethsemane, and there Jesus cried, “Abba, Father”. This cry appears to be an undefined expression of a strong relationship. Something which you will tell only to a father in great confidence, confiding to him, “Abba Father, what can I do now?” Here Jesus faced the cup of man’s sin. What a moment, the sinless Son of God, faced with this cup of sin! So this heart cry, this sigh, comes from the heart of Jesus. Those who do not carry the cross will never have such a heart cry. We do not like humbling and do not like to own up our sins, or the sins of our nation. I do not think that it has brought pangs of sorrow to us that thousands have perished without the Gospel ever preached to them. We shut our eyes to the crying need of the nations today.

We are very busy with our own work and have no real burden for the world around us. Our Lord Jesus could have been very busy with His service. Organizational work has this great danger. It depends upon your work, so you have to work harder and it is not God at work. This is human regeneration; it has no “Abba, Father” in it. It has no cross, and no blood drops as great sweat drops. No, it is a physical exertion and zeal. Is that what we see? Are those the steps what Jesus teaches us? The burden for souls, the burden for the sins of others is what you should have. If that cry “Abba, Father” goes away, I can tell you that there is a big vacuum, and anything can come into that vacuum. Your thoughts, fears, evil inclinations and lusts, those old habits of speaking lies and half-truths will flood your heart.

But what is the spirit which Jesus gives His children? He says, “I have brought you out of bondage. So your spirit of bondage is gone. Now you have the spirit of adoption. Is there not the cry, “Abba, Father” in our hearts? What kind of spirit has taken hold of us? The spirit of the world is at enmity with God. It makes you think, “How can I get rich quickly?” Where is Gethsemane there? Where is the cry, “Not my will but yours be done” there? Have we lost that cry? We have got to be honest before God and speak no half-truths.

The spirit of truth is the spirit of God and the spirit of adoption is the package of the spirit of truth. It is terrible if you do not want to face the truth. Truth does not spare anybody. But is truth good for you? To know the truth, you should undergo some tests and the truth is not palatable to anybody. I have always proclaimed in England and other countries, that unless a Fellowship has revival ever so frequently, at least every five or ten years, that Fellowship will become dead. In ten years little children become teenagers, and if they do not know revival, if they do not walk in the truth, they have no chance. The fifteen-year-old teenager becomes a new entrant into the job market. When he enters the job market, and money comes into his pocket, he never learnt how to put first the Kingdom of God and he never cried, “Abba, Father” and he is like a sitting duck to the world. Do you see the need for revival? Your heart needs to get that cry for revival. You cannot force it, and you cannot work it up.

Charles Finney spoke of a businessman. He would come from his business and immediately he would enter into the Spirit of prayer of the prayer meeting. Mr. Finney said, “This man is such a busy man and has got such responsibility. But how does he maintain the Spirit of prayer?” He happened to be the guest in his house and so one night, when Finney’s child needed milk or something, he came down from his bedroom at about three in the morning and he found this man lost in prayer and waiting on God. He said, “Now I know the secret, how this man has this Spirit of prayer.” The man said, “The only way in which I can keep in close communion with God is to rise in the middle of the night, to spend time with God.” You know the discipline that it takes.

You can understand that such people have the cry Abba Father. They may be in the world but not of the world; the world never seems to get into them. The Lord Jesus said this twice that, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” That gives me a knockout blow. We have been talking about perfection; there is no use talking in the air: “Be ye perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect.”

We are really like immature little children when it comes to any crunch or crisis. We just speak what we like, give vent to our fears and we just say, “I want my will”. That is not the Spirit of adoption, that is not the Spirit of truth. The Spirit of adoption makes you cry, “Thy will and not my will.” It may be hard and it may be wearisome; it may even kill you. But the Spirit of adoption gives you a firm entrenchment in the will of God, an unbending commitment to the will of God.

God has got a fixed deposit for us. What is that? Heirs to God! Are we running to get it? Have we got the Spirit of adoption? The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of His Son is sent into us crying Abba, Father. Is that cry coming out of us? When you have that cry, all other cries and compulsions are excluded, because you are a son and your place is with Jesus. Your cry becomes the cry of the heart of Jesus. After so many years of Christian living, where is our maturity? After receiving so much light, we ought to be walking in the heavenlies, walking with God. May God help us!

-Joshua Daniel

“This is The Way”

“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21)

Have your thoughts become God’s thoughts? After prayer in Peniel, Jacob returned to his family with God. Have you met God? The mother of Samson met an angel. She came and told her husband. Then their thoughts began to rise higher and higher.

When you and your wife pray together everyday, one day you will pray only God’s thoughts. You feel you are swimming in the current of God’s thoughts. What a great blessing it is! When you pray, you pray the will of God. Rebellion pulls us away from God’s thoughts.

David’s beautiful son Absalom never came to reach the level of God’s thoughts. Thus he was full of pride. He daily looked into his mirror at his own reflection. He never wanted God’s thoughts. He was full of rebellion. His father loved him. It was a kind of faulty love. When he did not repent for murder, he kissed him. It was a wrong kiss. God doesn’t do like that, but He follows you with His goodness which leads you to repentance.

God followed Paul and one day overpowered him. One day God’s grace will overpower you. He is at your heels. All the power you imagined and wished for is there with Him. David wanted to be the king’s son-in-law, but God gave him the kingdom itself.

Daniel’s thoughts began to rise higher and higher. One day he prayed in God’s presence to see whether he was right with God and an angel came and said, ‘You are dearly beloved’. As he began to pray an answer was coming. But on the way, the powers of darkness hindered and delayed the answer.

There are powers of darkness around you, but you will conquer. The rebellion in your heart should die and then God’s thoughts and yours will become the same.

It happened so to Abraham. When God asked him for his son there was no resistance in him. The whole Heaven rejoices when a human heart comes to that level. God will bless the whole world through your family. Do you believe that?

Are you sure that by God’s grace the rebellion in your heart will die and God’s power will work through you to change the whole land? Have you conquered? Has the resistance to God gone from your heart? If God says, ‘Go this way’, will you say, ‘Yes I will go!’ If rebellion dies in your heart, you will hear God’s voice always. He will follow you with his guidance.

In monasteries Luther learnt good discipline and good habits. He did some mistakes. Yet, he was cleansed in the Blood of Jesus. Then he became an apostle. He made great self-sacrifices. He risked his life when he condemned sin in the Church. He expected death at any moment. The whole world may be against you. Yet your spiritual courage will be unparalleled. You can say with St. Paul, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

When you are born again, God’s aim is that you should become like one of His apostles. His aims and purposes are very great. But you can be distracted and turn away from His way. The world is alluring you. Remember the saints who kept the world away. Press forward towards His high calling.

- N. Daniel

“Reality Check”

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Revelation 20:12

“Lame Huang”

On April 15, 1981, an elderly man of God named Huang Detang was lowered into a grave in Xiangshan County near Ningbo City. Huang had never been an ordained pastor, but had lived out his faith as an uneducated farmer. The surrounding communities had such respect for Huang that more than 400 people paid their final respects at his funeral, even though it had not been advertised.

Huang first believed the gospel when he was in his forties. Years later, he developed painful boils on his feet which caused him great agony and prevented him from working. Locals gave him the nickname, ‘Lame Huang.’

In his desperation, Huang cried out to Jesus for healing. A short time later he received a vivid dream, in which the Lord told him: “You must truly believe in Me, and I will heal you. You must witness for Me.”

In his dream, Huang thanked Jesus for the help he would receive and promised that once he could walk again he would share the gospel widely. Huang said the Lord told him: “A verbal promise is not enough. You must write a contract of indenture by which you offer yourself up as My servant.”

Huang had only a primary school education and didn't know what a contract of indenture was or how to write one. He again cried out for God’s mercy and help, and received another dream, in which the Lord showed him how to word the contract. Huang composed the following document:

“I, Huang Detang, sign this indenture by which I offer myself up forever.

Because of my own uselessness, I have boils on my feet. They are very painful and I have nowhere to turn. I can only ask my gracious Savior, my Lord Jesus, to be merciful to me, a great sinner.

I now receive the precious Blood of the Lord as the ransom price which has redeemed me from death to life, and I know that the Lord will heal my feet, take my soul to the heavenly kingdom forever, and I will become a child of God with honor and glory.

Because I have nothing to repay the grace of God, I will most gladly dedicate my body and soul to Him. After my dedication, I am totally at the disposal of the Lord. No matter where I am sent, I will go.

Whether it is to the east, south, west or north, whether it is climbing mountains or crossing seas, cold or hot, whether I am hungry or thirsty, or if I suffer want and persecution, I will follow the Lord to the end and not be disheartened. No one in my family or among relatives and friends will be able to pose any obstacles or cause me to go back on my promise.

This indenture is the common wish of both parties and neither of them raises any objection. I sign it as evidence of my willingness. Huang Detang.”

A short time after signing his unique contract with God, the boils on Huang's feet disappeared and he was able to walk freely again.

Over the years, each of the points in Huang's solemn contract was sorely tested, as God took Huang at his word and stretched his faith by sending him on dangerous adventures that resulted in thousands of people hearing the gospel. From the 1950s to the 1970s he ministered during the darkest days of Communist persecution, and was arrested and tortured by the authorities on several occasions.

Huang's ministry was characterized by many instances of God prompting him to do things that made no rational sense, but with his indenture in mind, Huang obeyed the guidance of the Holy Spirit and remained true to his pledge, even when it resulted in great personal hardship.

On one occasion when Huang was preaching he heard the inner voice of the Spirit of God tell him, “Love the one in the last row!”

That night he was unable to sleep, and at dawn he met with the pastor and enquired who the person was had been sitting on the last row of the church. Huang was taken to a tiny shack, where he saw a bedridden man with only a tattered blanket on his bed and dirt covering every inch of the room. The man’s limbs were pale, and only when Huang saw the man in the light did he realize he was a leper.

Brother Huang asked the man how many years he had believed in Jesus, but he just shook his head to indicate he was not a Christian. He asked the leper why he had gone to the church service the previous night, and he replied that he had received a dream instructing him to go to the meeting because Jesus wanted to save him. On the day of the meeting he was able to get out of bed for the first time in months, and a neighbor helped him to the church.

Huang Detang didn't know how he could help the man's dire situation, as he was impoverished himself. Then the Lord told him, “Take off your jacket and give it to him.” Huang was afraid. His padded jacket was the only one he owned. It kept him warm as he walked through the mountains in winter, and he slept in it while on his preaching journeys. “Surely not, Lord. I have great need of it,” Huang argued.

The Holy Spirit said to him: “If you do not give it to him, what you preach is like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If you don't have love, what use is it? If you don't have love, you are not serving Me.”

Huang had to obey in tears, but as soon as he had given his jacket away he felt immensely relieved. He was without a jacket for many years and yet not once did he suffer frostbite.

Sometimes the demands that God placed on Huang were too difficult for other Christians to cope with, and they refused to be involved. For example, once the Lord directed him to share the gospel and demonstrate God's love to a dishevelled prostitute, who was near death from syphilis. Huang shared the gospel and provided her with food and clothing. The ladies in the local church, however, did not want to stoop so low as to help such a wretched person, but due to God's love demonstrated by Huang, the woman died a short time later as a follower of Jesus.

Huang continued witnessing for his Lord right up to his death in 1981, at the age of 96. Few people outside his home region in Zhejiang have ever heard of ‘Lame Huang,’ but in heaven he is known as the man who kept his contract with God.

—Excerpt is from Paul Hattaway, Zhejiang: The Jerusalem of China (SPCK, 2019), quoted in Newsletter #160 of Asia Harvest – www.asiaharvest.org


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