Good morning family!

I want to encourage you this morning that if you belong to the Lord, you are HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS.

1 John 3:1-2 says,

• Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called CHILDREN OF GOD!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, NOW we are CHILDREN OF GOD and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Verse 10 goes on to say,

• In this the CHILDREN OF GOD and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

I remember when I first got saved at the age of 17, my step mom would always say, “We’re all children of God!”  Well, according to the Scripture, that’s not really true. We are all created in His image and likeness, and have the potential to be like Him, but verse 10 indicates that either we are children of God or children of the devil.  That is why the Pharisees got so made when Jesus said in John 8:44,

• You are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father you want to do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

They answered and said to Jesus, “You have a demon!”…And they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed by.

See, family, we are not of this world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.

Always remember this: greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).  Even though our flesh is weak, our spirit will always be in the ascendancy when the Word of God rules and reigns in our hearts.  Romans 8:3 says this,

• The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent His Own Son in a body like the bodies we have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Praise God for that!

Look at Hebrews 2:14 for a moment:

• Because God’s children are human beings – made of flesh and blood – the Son also became flesh and blood.  For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

I love that!  God came and indwelt that flesh, that weakness, that law for you!  So, you can come out victorious every time you are tried!  Hebrews 4:15 says,

• This High Priest of our understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

We are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!  NOW are we the SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD!

Love from His daughter,

Lisa Gordon

Jesus City Church