The Truth About God’s Children

Have you ever heard the saying “we are all God’s children”? Yeah, I have too, and I’m here to tell you that, it is wrong. I’ll show you why. 

John 1:12 (AMP) says [with emphasis added],  “But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—”

Let's break this down. First, we see there is a prerequisite for being called His Child. We first have to receive and welcome The Lord into our life. Remember He is a Gentleman, He will not force His way in (Revelation 3:20). Therefore, we must come completely out of the world and pursue fellowship with our Father which can only be done through His Son Jesus Christ (John 14:6-7). Next we see that it is a right, a privilege to even be called His Child in the first place! And a thing we know with privilege especially in America, there are many people who are excluded or do not have that privilege. So, this is not something you can just throw around all willy-nilly. It is obtained by doing step one and maintained through what defines us as His Child, our belief in the Name of Jesus, that is our reliance, trust, and obedience to Him. 

The Son

The reason why unbelievers and lukewarmers are not considered His Children is because they do not follow Jesus. Remember Saints, if it was not for Jesus, we would not even be able to be called His Children. Jesus took on our sins so we can approach our Holy, Perfect Father with relationship. We are born in sin and shaped in iniquity (Psalm 51:5), therefore, just by right of being in this flesh we are disconnected from The Lord. Jesus bridged the gap making us holy in The Lord’s eyes and breaking the veil that kept us from The Lord for far too long through His Crucifiction (Matthew 27:45-53). So if people do not receive Jesus for who He is and not who they want Him to be, then their sins will not be atoned for, and they will not be allowed fellowship with The Father. I think about it this way, remember when you would return home after playing outside. Before you could even breathe, your parents would be hollering about not sitting on their furniture or walking through their house with your outside clothes. Why, because your outside clothes were dirty, and they did not want you tracking all of that outside mess into their clean house, their space. Same with The Lord, as I mentioned before, He is Holy and Perfect, without fault, so what makes you think your sinful nature is acceptable to Him? Our best is like filthy rags on the side of the road (Isaiah 64:6). Now this is not to deter us, but to allow us to reflect and be grateful for the gift of grace; for us to meet His Standard and commune with Him. 

Did you also know that it was not until Jesus did we hear The Lord in Scripture talking about His children? He called the Israelites His Chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6), not His Children. That was not by happenstance, but to emphasize the necessity of Jesus in being adopted into His family. The Lord called Jesus His First Born Son with the anticipation of receiving more! 

Romans 8:17 (AMP) states, “15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading again to fear [of God’s judgment], but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [the Spirit producing sonship] by which we [joyfully] cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies and confirms together with our spirit [assuring us] that we [believers] are children of God. 17 And if [we are His] children, [then we are His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory.” 

See Our Father is not a “GOT YOU” type of God. He finds no pleasure in people not making it in, that was the whole purpose of Jesus. His pleasure is to adopt us all, but that adoption is predicated on your willingness, not His. Remember you can lead a horse to water, but can't force him to drink it! This speaks to both the privilege we have as His Children, but also the prerequisite of undergoing His (Jesus) sufferings in this world. Those sufferings are indeed choosing Him and His ways over the ways of the world and the desires of your flesh. 

The Privilege 

To Be His Child is a Spiritual Blessing, let's look at Scripture!

Ephesians 1:3-8 –“ 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”

Ephesians 6:12 – “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

 2 Peter 1:3-4 – “3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

Remember the battles we face are spiritual and require spiritual remedies. As The Lord’s child, we are equipped to escape the corruption of the world and sin through Jesus hence John 1:12 above requiring us to believe in His Name. The spiritual blessings of grace, understanding, and wisdom produces and allows us to maintain our salvation which is only accessible through Jesus Christ. 

Him not being the Father of everyone does not negate Him as Creator of all things and all people (Psalm 24:1-2,Colossians 1:16). He is still sovereign and in control of their lives, even if they don’t acknowledge Him, that's why Jesus said, “for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). However, those who do not believe have no power over the adversary who is after their own souls because our victory comes from our Father through Jesus whom they reject (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). 

With all of this, I hope you see that being The Lord’s Child should not be taken lightly nor for granted. It can not possibly be something that all those whom He created have access to, because we know that there are many who do not believe (Matthew 7:13-14, Hebrews 4:1). 

If you do not know Jesus, and want to be adopted into His family as a child of One True Living God, pray this prayer: 

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sin and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Your word says that you stand at my door and knock, and so I open the door to You and Your Spirit to teach me the things of you so I can become Your Child and joint-heir with Christ.”

 In Jesus Name, Amen.”