A Spiritual and Sociological Insight to the Identity of Believers
Today, about 4.5 billion of people around the world claim to know God. If you ask, they will tell you, “We are all God’s children.”
However, the holy scriptures draws a very clear line.There is a massive difference between being a creation of God and being a child of God.
Paul – the Apostle of Christ, presents a sobering reality check in Romans 8:14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Notice he does not say “as many as go to church,” or “as many as try to be good people.” He says those who are led by the Spirit.
This brings us to the ultimate question we must answer honestly today: Can you truly say you are a child of God?
For me, the question is:Charles Obinnaya Chukwunaru, can you truly call yourself, son of God?
If the answeris yes, what is the proof that you’re whom you claim to be?
Charles Obinna Chukwunaru
Let’s consider this:
The Proof is in your walk
In all your movements, activities, actions and inactions, are you led by God?
To be a child of God, you must be “led” by His Spirit. To be led by God is to be spiritually guided, steered, or moved by the Holy Spirit, just like a ship steered by a rudder.
Who steers your life?
When you face a major decision, argument, temptation, stress, discontent, disappointment, strife or adversity, who takes the control? Is it your anger, pride, ego, greed, fear, insecurity or anxiety?A true child of God yields control to the Holy Spirit.
Being led by the Spirit means that when the Holy Spirit prompts you to forgive, you forgive. When He convicts you of a bad habit, you stop. If your life looks exactly like the rest of the world, you must ask yourself honestly who is truly leading you.
The Battle with the Flesh
You cannot live like a child of the devil Monday through Saturday and call yourself a child of God on Sunday.
Again, the great Apostle of Christ, Paul in his message to the Romans clearly states:
“If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Romans 8:13
To mortify means to kill. True children of God are at war with their fleshly desires which leads them to sins. They don’t coddle their bad habits, excuse their lust, or justify their gossip.
You cannot conquer sin on your own willpower. But a true child of God relies on the Holy Spirit to actively put to death the selfish, sinful desires of the flesh daily.
The Fruit of God’s Family
Do You Look Like Your Father – God?Children naturally look like their parents. They talk like them, walk like them, and inherit their traits. The same is true spiritually.
Paul listed the Family Traits of God in Galatians 5:22-23, with emphasis on the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
Therefore, if God is your Father, His character will start showing up in your life. You will find yourself loving people who are hard to love. You will find peace in the middle of a storm. Christ Jesus said in Matthew 5:9:”
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.”
Do people see the peace of Christ Jesus in you?
The Deep Assurances of the Spirit
When you are truly a child of God, you don’t have to live in fear or doubt. Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans (8:15-16) that we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Abba is an intimate, beautiful Aramaic word. It is what a young child cries out to their loving daddy when they are hurt or scared.
The Holy Spirit inside you will witness directly to your heart, giving you a deep, unshakable assurance that you belong to Him. You are no longer a slave to fear; you are a child of the God.
Let us pray
Father – Elohim,We come before You today acknowledging Your holiness and Your great love. Lord, we search our hearts right now in the light of Your Word. Please remove all self-deception from us. We do not want to just carry the title of a Christian; we want to truly be Your children.
Yahweh – El Roi,Forgive us for the times we have tried to steer our own lives. Forgive us for the times we have tolerated sin instead of putting it to death.
Holy Spirit, We surrender the driver’s seat of our hearts to You today. We ask You to lead us, guide us, and transform us. Please kill the pride, the anger, and the selfishness within us.Let the fruit of love, joy, peace, and patience flow out of our lives so that the world may see who our Father is.
Jehovah Emmanuel,Please, break every spirit of fear and anxiety out of Your people today, and pour out Your Spirit of adoption upon us, so we may live with the absolute assurance that we are Yours, and You are ours.
Abba Father, We love You!
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray.Amen 🙏
Today, I am glad to boldly declare that I am a son of God.
What about you?
Shalom!🙏 🙌