Posts Tagged ‘adoption’

You are Precious in His Sight!

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Do you feel secure?  I remember growing up how insecure I was.  I didn’t have a stable home life.  My parents owned a businessEphesians 1_18c2 and they both had to work to make a go of it.  My younger sister and I were left alone a lot and had to fend for ourselves.  That is just the way it was back then.  The downside was that I grew up feeling very insecure.  I’m wondering how much of that led to my having full-blown panic attacks down the road.

I’ve talked to many people over the years that had panic attacks and unreasonable fears, and so many have expressed that they didn’t have a very secure childhood.  Some had been abused, and even abandoned.  Others came out of homes where they were cared for by alcoholics and their lives were also very insecure not knowing what was going to happen next.

I’ve said all of that to tell you about a wonderful sermon my pastor preached this past Sunday.  It is called, “Your Supreme Value to God.”  Wow!  That is a great title and my ears perked up when I heard it.  Me?  A supreme value to God?  That seems incredible. How is that possible?

Ephesians 1:18c says, “…what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,”  Pastor Ron Lewis unpacked that portion of scripture and gave us a wonderful insight.

Sometimes it is hard for those who have had a rough start in life to realize how much God does love us.  He is our heavenly Father.  I’ve been told by others that it is hard for them to think of God as a loving Father because their earthly father was not that way, and in fact, wasn’t even a good father.  So, how can they relate to God? I always say, “Well, our earthly father’s aren’t perfect, but God is, and that makes the difference.”

I never realized it until I started of thinking of myself the same way God thinks of me.  That took some time and it took reading the Bible to learn what our God is really like, and what He has promised us.  Once we can know that we know deep in our heart that God loves us and has called us to be his adopted children, then the door is open for us to learn and change how we feel about God.

Believers are God’s inheritance.  That seems strange at first, but it is true as you study this passage.  All true believers are saints, and we are his prized possessions!  Isn’t that wonderful?  He paid the most high price for us and we are valuable to Him.  It was Jesus Christ’s, God’s own Son, whose precious blood bought us and brought us into the family of God.  This is a totally new family.  We must put away the past and cling to the new.

What did I get out of this message you may ask?  Well, it truly blessed my soul to learn how much God loves us and to think that we are of supreme value to Him.  That boggles my mind, that’s for sure.  I know I can feel secure knowing God thinks I’m valuable.  He will take care of me and I can trust what He says.   Then, it makes me want to get to know God more intimately.  I want to study the Word more looking for the promises He has given us. I want to share what I learn with others. Mostly I want to learn how to please God in my daily life and to live in a way that will honor Him.  Trust and obey, there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.  I want to obey Him.

Psalm 119:33-37 (NIV) 

Teach me, O Lord, to follow your
decrees;
then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding, and I will
keep your law.
and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your
commands,
for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless
things;
preserve my life according to your
word.

Please click on this link to listen to this inspiring sermon:

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Adoption

Posted in Anxiety & Stress, Bible Study, Christian, devotional, inspirational, Panic Disorder Support, Religion, Scripture, tagged , , , , , on July 31, 2009| 2 Comments »

One of the greatest benefits God has bestowed on believers is adoption.  This is probably only second to the benefit of salvation.

In order to be a Christian with a correct view of ourselves we must get a grip on what this actually means. It will change the way you see yourself and how you live.

Do you realize that as a Christian you have been adopted into God’s family? Have you ever thought about what this means?

I have a nephew who was adopted.  I remember the day when they brought that cute little bundle of joy home from the hospital only 2 days old.  I held that little one and looked into his eyes.  He was looking at me with trust and assurance that we would take care of him, a helpless little baby. 

It is really a special privilege to be adopted, as you were chosen by the new parents. They picked YOU!  They chose you to love and care for, and give you the best life they know how.  Also, they chose you to have the family name, and when the time comes to be an heir to an inheritance that they plan on leaving you.   

Eph 1:4-5 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love (5) He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

This scripture is loaded, and I can only touch upon it.  God chose us before he even created the world!  Isn’t that amazing.  Somewhere out there God said “I’m choosing (put your name here)  to adopt into my family.”

He chose us to be saved, then He could forgive our sins and make us holy and blameless before Him.  He did all this in love, (agape love) as He predestined us to be adopted, through the death of Jesus Christ making it possible.  And, all of this was according to the kind intention of His will.  God in his kindness toward us did that for us, and it was his choice to do it.  It wasn’t anything we did, or anything we would ever do or say. It was all God’s doing to adopt you and me.  That is remarkable!  I often think, “why me?”

Rom 8:14-16 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (15) For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (16) The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

Now, here is another rich, rich section of scripture.  First, it says that all of us who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  This is true because those who do not know God cannot be lead by the Spirit of God, which is the Holy Spirit because they do not have Him yet.

Then, he tells us that we have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again.  When we were saved we did not receive a spirit of slavery to sin and evil that we once had. We were born-again and became a new creation, and received the Holy Spirit to enable us to live a holy and godly life.  An unbeliever is always fearful to some extent. He should be fearful of the future and what lies in wait for him when he dies.  But, we received a spirit of adoption as sons. 

God in his kindness took strangers in as His very own. What a difference!  Knowing that, we can cry out “Abba! Father!” which means daddy.  He is our daddy, our heavenly Father!  Now we can call Him Father instead of God.  And, we can know in our hearts that our heavenly Father will care for all our needs, just as a good earthly Father would, but even better.  With this assurance we do not have to fear anything in this life.  Our daddy will take care of us.  What do you fear?  Let your daddy deal with it.

(Gal 4:5) so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Isn’t it wonderful what God has done for us?  He redeemed us.  He bought us with the blood of Jesus Christ, so that we would have the privilege of becoming His own sons and daughters. 

Rom 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Oh my!  Here we learn that the Holy Spirit as He lives inside us talks to our spirit inside us and assures us that we are children of God.  And, that we are heirs, and fellow heirs with Christ.  Can you imagine being joint heirs with Jesus?  That means when the time comes and Jesus is handed over all that God has for Him, we will be partakers of that also.  I can’t even begin to imagine what that all means, but I know it is good!  We will also be glorified in Christ Jesus.

Under the Jewish law the older brother had a double portion, but Christ admits all to a joint share of the great inheritance.  (The People’s New Testament Commentary”)

In verse 17, it also talks about “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” It seems that we do suffer with Christ and for Him in this world we live in.  We are persecuted, some more than others.  There are people dying for their faith even today in certain countries.  When we suffer Christ suffers with us, as we are one with Him.  But, some day we will also be glorified with Christ!

I hope these scriptures will open your heart to the fact that you are adopted into God’s family.  It is certainly a privilege, and as we begin to understand this, it shows us how different we are from the unbelievers in this world.  Yes, we are different!  And we need to realize this and live our lives in a new way.  We don’t think like the world thinks, and we don’t act like the world, and we don’t speak like the world speaks. We are new in Christ.

When we realize how much God has done for us already, we can rest assured that He will continue to take care of every need we have.  We do not have to worry and fret about things.  God is in control and He is our Father.  He will take care of every thing.  He must really love us immensely to have chosen us before He even created the world.  He must have had a plan for our lives. Let’s try to live it.

“Help us Lord to live our lives in a way that is worthy to be called sons of God.”

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