The Holy Spirit is seeking daily to convince us that we are really God’s children. Despite this regular reminder of the Spirit, something in the human heart and spirit rebuffs against our spiritual adoption that we have through Jesus. We can be spiritually adopted and still live with an orphan mindset. The orphan mind strives for the praise and approval of others and wrestles with comparison and jealousy. It struggles with a poor self-image, viewing itself through the lens of weakness and failure. The orphan mind distrusts authority and lacks a heart of submission, which leads to unhealthy independence and self-reliance. In contrast, the mind of a child of God has been renewed. It trusts the heart of our Heavenly Father, seeks His approval alone, knows that it is fully accepted and loved, and desires to live in complete dependence upon Him. A child of God finds their acceptance, identity, security, and purpose in the Father.

That which is better – the gift of the Holy Spirit – leads to what is best: God’s full, abundant life. The Holy Spirit, or paraklete, comes along beside us and intensifies the withness of God in our lives. The Spirit empowers us to grow, convinces us that we are truly children of God, enables us to live in freedom and truth, gives us supernatural boldness and courage, changes us to be like Jesus, and leads us towards radical power, love, and self discipline.