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Our Father gifts us with the Spirit of adoption. Believers are, by grace, partakers of the
Holy Spirit. This Spirit, Burroughs tells us, enlightens our mind, sanctifies our heart,
makes God`s wisdom and will known to us, guides us to eternal life, yes, works the entire
work of salvation in us and seals it to us unto the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30).
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Willard writes that the Spirit ratifies our Sonship to be immutable, and confirms
our title to all the Promises irreversible. As such a Spirit, he gives his testimony in us, to
ratify all our evidences, and fully assure us of our Sonship and Heirship.
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Our Father grants us likeness to Himself and His Son. The Father imparts to His
children a filial heart and disposition that resemble His own. Roger Drake writes, All
God`s adopted children bear their Father`s image, as Gideon`s brethren did his (Judg.
8:18). They are like God, in holiness [and] in dignity (Matt. 5:44-45; Rom. 8:29; Heb.
2:7; 1 John 3:2-3).
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Thomas Cole writes similarly from a Christological perspective: Christ is formed
in them all, Gal. 4.19. As Christ is, so are they, each one resembles the children of a
King, Judg. 8.18. They will be exactly like Christ as the Resurrection, Psal. 17.15. They
were from Eternity predestinated unto this, Rom. 8.29.
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Anthony Burgess reminds us
that this includes the privilege of being made conformable unto Christ in his sufferings
(Phil. 1:29).
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Our Father especially strengthens our faith through His gifts of promises and prayer. If
we are adopted, writes Thomas Watson, then we have an interest in all the promises:
the promises are children`s bread. They are like a garden, Watson goes on to say, in
which some herb is found to cure every ailment.
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Or, as William Spurstowe put it, God`s
promises are like a bag full of coins that God unties and pours out at the feet of His
adopted children, saying, Take what you will.
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Concerning prayer, we are given limitless access to our heavenly Father. Children
have the right of access to their father, no matter how busy or important he is--even if he
is president of the nation. So, in the New Testament, adopted sons are encouraged to
come boldly to the throne of grace through the God-man Savior at any time to find grace