Are You A Child Of God?

For those of us who have children, we know how much we love them and what we would do to protect them from harm. I have my wife, and two daughters, and two granddaughters, and I would do what it takes to protect them and keep them safe. I'm sure that you feel the same way about your children. God has put that instinct into us. Have you thought about what God does to protect His children? If you are born again, you are born into God's family, and now you are a child of God.

How can we know if we are a child of God? God tells us that we will demonstrate it by the way we live. We are to love our fellow brethren.
1John;3:11
(For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;)
1John;3:23
(This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.)
1John;3:10
(By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.)
God stresses that we are to demonstrate love in our life. God is love and if we are born again and have the Holy Spirit living in us, we should love one another.

Another life change is that we will not be a habitual sinner. Yes, we all sin, but the child of God does not continue in the same sin day after day. We are born as a new creation and the old self has been replaced with a new nature. We want to please God and we are to be walking in the spirit not in the flesh.
1John;3:9
(No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.)
When you are born again, your spirit is given new life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You are given a new nature from God, and you become a child of God.
John;1:12
(But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.)
Romans;8:16
(The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,)

So we see that if we are children of God, then we have a Heavenly Father. Now every father will do what he can to protect his children and sometimes this will include discipline in order to put the child back on the straight path. No one wants to be disciplined, but it is for our own good. God will discipline his children because He is a loving Father and wants to protect us. The Lord will discipline us to drive us back to righteous behavior.
1Corinthians;11:32
(But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned
along with the world.)
In the Book of Hebrews, we are instructed about Godly discipline, and that we will receive it if we are God's children.
Hebrews;12:4-6
(You have not resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.")
When you are a child of God and you are disobedient, you will be disciplined. That is one proof that you are truly a child belonging to God's family.
Hebrews; 12:7
(It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?)

What if you are not being disciplined? What could that mean in your life?
Hebrews;12:8
(But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.)
That is a pretty scary statement. I know that my father disciplined me and it wasn't fun, but he loved me and it was for my own good.
Hebrews;12:9-11
(Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.)

Let's pray that we are yielding the peaceful fruit of righteousness in our life, and give God the glory for all the love that He has for us, His children. Just remember that God loved you so much that He sent Jesus to die in your place for your sins and for mine. Thank you for loving me, Father.

God Bless You!