Before we were born again (receive and confess that Jesus is Lord), we were strangers from the covenants of God. "That at that time ye were WITHOUT CHRIST,... strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12).
Then after we got born again, "But now IN CHRIST JESUS ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ... Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:13,19).
By the blood of Christ, we have been adopted as household members of God and reconciled with God the Father. Besides that, in Christ we become partakers of the covenants of promise and therefore we are with hope. Another advantage of being born again, the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God and we can call Him, "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15-16).
Too many Christians still see themselves unworthy to become children of God. Usually they think so as they see what they have done, what they can do, and what they think is worthy in the eyes of God.
Unfortunately, they never thought that God has never given anything to us in return to what we can do to Him. Do you know that no matter what we do, it will never make God's love to us bigger nor smaller? It's because God is love (1 John 4:8,16). do you know that there is no religious activity that can make us righteous before the Lord but the blood of Jesus?
"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? OF WORKS? Nay: but by the law OF FAITH" (Romans 3:21-27).
So, I suggest that right now you accept this spiritual truth. If you are born again, it means you are, spiritually, a child of God. Accept this by faith. [However, if you are not born again yet, it is suggested that you go to page invitation of this site and pray the prayer in it.]
If you are born again and have become children of God, what good does it for you? Is it only useful for us to go to heaven when we die? No, not at all! Don't be deceived by the devil. That's not the only advantage of accepting Jesus as Savior and make Him our Lord. Remember what Jesus says in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The abundance that Jesus refers to is not abundance of debt, poverty, sickness, and failure. What He means is abundance of all the good and perfect things, as God the Father only gives what is good and perfect (read James 1:17).
Let's see what good it is for us to be born again and become children of God. Let's see what good it is for us to be able to call our Lord God, "Abba, Father."
A child normally don't have to work hard to get his parents feed him or pay his school fee. A child normally can come to his parents and ask them to fulfill his needs. A child don't even have to beg his parents to pay his school fee. Normal parents usually have thought of all their children's needs and they will make efforts to fulfill those needs. Even poor parents will work hard enough to fulfill their children's needs. There may be exception for an extremely poor family who "force" their children to work so that the whole family can eat. Even so, the parents' hearts must be so broken to see their children work hard. If there are parents who actually love to have their kids work to pay their own school fee, I personally think that those parents are not normal and please don't follow their footsteps!
Parents will be full of joy if they're able to give the best to their children. Look at the way we raise our children. We give our children everything that we didn't have when we were children. Whatever our childhood desires that were not fulfilled, now we want to realize it in the lives of our children.
Listen to what Jesus says regarding the parents' hearts toward their children: "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:9-11).
As children of God, we need to act like children of His and not servants. A servant will complete his works as what his master says even though he grumbles in his heart. However a child will approach his father, fellowship with him, listen to what his father has to say and then do accordingly in respect and love. A servant will not inherit anything from his master, but a beloved child will inherit all that his father owns. A servant has to work hard to please his master so that he will find favor at his master's eyes that he will receive a good pay. However, a child already has everything that his father owns and what the child should do is go and ask of his father what he wants.
I think the parable of prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 is the right picture of most nowadays Christians. In this parable, the father is a type of God the Father. We will then see characters and attitudes of the two sons.
The youngest knew that all that belonged to his father will be his, so he came boldly to his father and asked for his portion of inheritance. Since he dared to ask, he received his inheritance. However, his character was not yet mature and he was not wise, and therefore his wealth led him to destruction. Then in his poverty he remembered how wonderful his father's servants live and eat. You see, because of his sin, he didn't have the courage to see himself as his father's child anymore. "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee. And no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants" (Luke 15:18-19). This is a common attitude to most Christians when they miss God and sin. They immediately call themselves unworthy to serve Him, unworthy to be called His children. But look at what the father did. When he saw from far that his youngest son was heading home, he right away ran to meet him, held him and kissed him. He even ignored what his son said. Instead, he ordered his servants to make a homecoming party to welcome his son (Luke 15:20-24).
Now, let's see how the oldest react to this situation. He didn't rejoice with his father seeing that his brother came home safely, instead he was jealous of his brother. He was jealous and angry to the point that he stayed outside of the house to stay away from the party and his father had to go out and talked to him. (read Luke 15:25-28). Then he started to present his case to his father, "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf" (Luke 15:29-30).
Do you see that? Nowadays, the oldest son may be likened as a laborer who went up to the Personnel Department and demanded a raise and a just treatment from his employer. Look at how the oldest son see himself as a servant saying, "Lo, these many years do I SERVE thee..." This child has always been faithful serving the father by doing hard labor at the field. He was obedient and never violate his father's rules. Nevertheless he never acted like a child to his father.
When you read Luke 15:11-12, it is written that the father gave the inheritance to his sons. So, both sons received their own portion of inheritance. Who is wise among the two sons? Not any of them.
The youngest is not smart and unwise that he was deceived by the devil and lost of his inheritance. The oldest is as unintelligent as the youngest and got deceived by the devil that he didn't enjoy his life even though he was living in the midst of abundance. "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine" (Luke 15:31).
A lot of Christians have been born again and have become members of God's family (Ephesians 2:19) but they didn't enjoy their lives as children of God. All that our Father God owns has been given to Jesus. Being born again makes us children and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:6-7). We can have all that we need and live in abundance as Jesus has promised in John 10:10.
I ask you to stop acting and thinking like a servant. You don't have to think what you can do for God. The first thing that you have to do is to find out what has Father God done through Jesus Christ on the cross. You have to know it all so that you don't do the things that Jesus has completed on the cross. You have to know it all so that you don't have to fight for all that have been included in our salvation package (e.g. prosperity, health, success, favor, peace, joy). That's why Jesus says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Jesus wants us, the believers, to find out what is in the kingdom of God so that we can claim it and enjoy it.
You have to be bold enough to leave your religious activities that do not help your spirit man to grow. You have to be bold to stop from those spiritual, religious activities and find out what has been made available for you through your faith in Christ Jesus. You don't necessarily have to stop doing it at all, but you may find it beneficial for your life if you stop for a while, meditate on His Word and do His Word that you may make your life prosperous (read Joshua 1:8).
A lot of us have a servant mentality towards Father God. We're busy thinking what we can do to God, just like the oldest son in the parable of prodigal son in Luke 15 . If only the oldest son had a child mentality, then he would have known that his father had given him his portion of inheritance and he could've been able to kill the fattest calf any time he wanted. How come he didn't know about his inheritance? It's because he's been too busy trying to figure out how to please his father without finding out what his father really wanted. It turned out that his father didn't mind at all if he had fun with his friends and killed the fattest calf. But since he didn't know of it, he didn't enjoy what he could've enjoyed all the time. In fact, he didn't have to wait for his "wage" for all the hard works he's done in the fields. He could've grabbed and enjoyed his inheritance any time.
Wow, it will be ashamed if we live in the same kingdom with the Father God and Jesus Christ but we don't enjoy God's kingdom facilities. Do you agree with me? But this is still happening in the lives of many Christians. They have been delivered from the power of darkness and have been translated into Jesus' kingdom (Colossians 1:13), but they don't enjoy the facilities in God's kingdom. Their ignorance makes the devil able to deceive them by the old saying that life is just like that - sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down.
When I found out that Father God has delivered me from the power of darkness, and has translated me into the kingdom of his dear Son (read Colossians 1:13), I joyfully believe the word and receive it as reality in my life. Since then I started to aggressively refuse all kinds of lack and failure in my life. How do I refuse it?
I speak to lack in my finance and to failures in my life and I command them to eave because I am not under their authority anymore. I told lack and failure that I have been delivered from them and that I have obtained life in all abundance through Jesus Christ. You see, I do as Mark 11:22-24 says.
And what is the result of speaking to lack and failures in my life? When I started to refuse, lack and failures were still hesitant to leave my life - perhaps because I've let them stayed too long that they felt at home. But after continuously saying No - every time end of the month approaches and money seems to be tight in the natural - lack and failures finally leave me alone and I will never let myself weak and allow lack and failures find their way to return in my life. The end result is now I live in divine abundance.
I do the same thing to sickness. I extremely agree with the salvation that Jesus has made available for me for it also includes healing (read 1 Peter 2:24), because I've always resented taking medicine. And it turns out that refusing symptoms of sickness with the Word of God enables me to live in divine health. Thank God I don't get sick and don't have to buy medicine (even for flu) for the past 2 years. It's not that I hate doctors! Don't misunderstand me! However, I don't want to and I'm not willing to spend money on something that Jesus has made available for me (in this case health). It's better if I sow my money to Gospel ministries so that they can spread the Word around the world. If you don't want to use God's Word to fight against sickness and you prefer to go to the doctor, that's fine with me too.
To receive all that God has done on the cross, God never demanded me to go to church diligently, or pray all night long, or go to a Bible school, or become an usher in a church. Not at all! I receive it all because I hear the Word, believe it in my heart, and speak it until I see the manifestation in the natural (read Romans 10:8-11). I train myself to become God's child and live like a child of God.
Father God's hobby is giving. He will give all that is good if we ask Him. However, He has set a procedure that must be followed. This procedure is called faith. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). How do we get faith? By hearing the Word of God (Romans 10;17).
Imagine how joyful our Father God will be when all Christians know what have been made available for them that they may boldly believe (=faith) the Word of God, then take and enjoy all that have been provided by Father God in His kingdom (read Hebrews 11:6, Romans 1:17). Imagine how disappointed the devil will be when all Christians know how to act and live in divine abundance.