The other day I was driving to downtown Madison and ended up behind a white Grand Prix automobile. On the back end of the car there was a bumper sticker that read “ABORTION,” but the “B” and the “R” were crossed out and replaced with a “D” and “P” to create the new word “ADOPTION.” I had never seen a bumper sticker like that before. As I got up close to the car to make sure that I was seeing correctly, I felt like God began to speak to me about why I had seen this bumper sticker. As I looked at the bumper sticker, I began to ponder about how we, through the spirit of adoption, are adopted in as sons and daughters of God, no longer slaves, but adopted into His Kingdom. As I thought about the difference between “adoption” and “abortion,” I felt the Holy Spirit ask me the question—If there is spiritual adoption, is there spiritual abortion?
Over the last few years the reality and revelation of being adopted in as a daughter of Father God has gone deeper and deeper into my spirit. Understanding that I have been adopted into the family of God–redeemed, set a part, justified, called, and predestined with a purpose and destiny. But even deeper than having a purpose and destiny, is the unconditional love of the Father. His love is not earned, merited, strived for; it is not based upon performance or accomplishments. I am simply loved for the sake of love, for His delight, for His pleasure, and His joy.
So, still pondering the Holy Spirit’s question, I looked up the word abortion online to find out what it means, and a couple of the many definitions that I found were “any of various procedures for terminating a pregnancy; a miscarriage; anything that fails to develop, progress, or mature.” I also looked up the meaning of adoption (adopt), which states, “to take and use as one’s own; to adopt a nickname; to take and rear (the child of others) as one’s own child, specifically by a formal legal act; to take or receive into any kind of new relationship.” (RESOURCE: www.definition.net)
Spiritual adoption is coming into the revelation and by faith believing that we have been legally adopted and have come into a new relationship with the Father by the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ. Created in God’s image, predestined before the beginning of time for glory, purpose, destiny, and greatness. It is coming into agreement with how the Father sees us–a royal priesthood, holy, dearly loved, called, justified, and His sons and daughters. It is because of His love for us that we have been called sons and daughters of God. It is not by anything that we can do or could have done–not dependent on us, but dependent upon what He has done for us. All for the sake of love to restore the relationship that the Father intended from the beginning–we are not abandoned, we are not alone, and we belong to the Father.
As we are led by the Spirit and come into the revelation of the Father’s love and our adoption into His Kingdom, it begins to unlock a greater awareness of our identity, destiny, and purposes that He has for us. We were created in His image, and the dreams and desires that He has placed within us from the very beginning of time begin to unfold, form, and come to life. It is as this truth penetrates our hearts and minds, a process begins of growth, maturity, and coming into the fullness of His glory as children of God. It is as we embrace the Father as His children, that He brings wisdom, greater revelation of His love, discipline, and maturity. It is from this place of son-ship and adoption that all else flows from. We know we have His favor, blessing, and abounding grace over our lives in the process of coming into the fullness of maturity. As joint heirs with Christ, led by the Spirit, adopted sons and daughters of God, we have access to the unlimited resources of the Kingdom and the impossible becoming possible.
So, knowing what a spiritual adoption is, what is a spiritual abortion? First and foremost let me state this–I know that God’s word does not return void. His promises are “yes” and “amen.” He remains the same yesterday, today and forever. The destiny, purposes, and plans He has for us were written before the beginning of time. However, there is the element of “CHOICE.” God gave us all a free-will; the power to make choices. It is in the power of choice that we can choose to be obedient, align, and come in to agreement with His word, promises, and plans as sons and daughters; or abort our destiny.
We can abort our destiny and purpose by disobedience, rebellion, independence, jealousy, selfish ambition, fear, etc. This is something that just doesn’t immediately happen if we are disobedient, rebellious, etc; for God is gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Coming into maturity as sons and daughters is a process, but in the process, do we remain teachable, trainable, and respond to His discipline with repentance and humility. It is truly a matter of the heart…out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
If we open ourselves up to these things and begin to operate out of our flesh, it literally begins to kill the very thing that God wants to bring to life and birth through us. The Spirit brings life and the flesh brings death. We all will be faced with thoughts and temptations to operate out of our flesh (disobedience, rebellion, jealousy, etc), but it is when we come into agreement with those thoughts and act on them. However, when we choose to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and submit to His truth about who we are as sons and daughters, it causes us to come into greater maturity with every thought and a deeper revelation as children of God.
As I stated before, our Father God is gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love. When we fail, fall short, or partner with our flesh; He will always give opportunities to repent and turn from our disobedience. It may come through Holy Spirit promptings and revelation; correction and wisdom from authority figures in your life; a spiritual mother or father; friends, family, etc. Father God doesn’t simply just give up on His children, He does not desire for us to abort our inheritance—we are His adopted sons and daughters. However, we must be willing to surrender and be completely dependent upon Him–allowing His correction and His loving discipline. For we know that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”–not our purpose, but His purpose. (Romans 8:22)
Bethany Conway 
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