Galatians 4:3 tells us that before Christ came “we were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.” When Adam and Eve walked away from God’s rule to seek knowledge apart from relationship with God, they spiritually died and became subject to the basic spiritual principles of this world which amount to survival of the fittest. Before we came to Christ, we lived like orphans. We were locked into survival mode like children with no parents, slaves to the fear of man and subject to “empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world” (Colossians 2:8).
To restore our connection to God as our Father, God put his Spirit into a virgin named Mary who gave birth to a child. Isaiah 9:6 prophesied about Jesus: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” That’s a big name, so God told Mary to just name him Jesus, which means “YAHWEH saves” or “YAHWEH is salvation.” Jesus was born as a baby, yet he is also “Mighty God” because he’s one with the Father, God himself. Jesus came as the one and only Son of God to show us how sons of God live and to make a way for us to be adopted as children of God.
Romans 8: 15-17 says that “you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” We call the Father “Abba,” which is like saying, “Daddy.” We don’t live as fearful slaves because our Father is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6, NIV). The Son of God shared in our suffering as one of us. We suffer persecution for his sake so we can share in his glorious inheritance as children of God.
In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells a parable of a son who asked his father for his inheritance in advance, then left home and squandered it on wild living. He represents all of us who ask God for his stuff but reject his authority and don’t want relationship with the Father. When he hit rock bottom and was starving, he decided to go back home with hope that his father would let him return as his servant. This is how most people approach God when they’re desperate. We try to make a bargain: “God, if you’ll help me, I promise to…” We know we’ve messed up, so we try to get back into God’s good graces by working for him. The son in the parable confessed he’d sinned against the father, but before he could finish his speech requesting to be a servant, the father immediately restored him to full rights as a son instead.
The father in the parable had every right to reject the son who had disgraced him, but Jesus says that when the father in the parable saw his son, “Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). Jesus describes the father’s response with the same words God used to describe himself to Moses after the Israelites had broken covenant with God by worshiping the golden calf. “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7).
Jesus intentionally described the father in the parable as “filled with love and compassion” because that is the nature of our heavenly Father, even when we’ve messed up big time. There’s no bigger betrayal than when the Israelites immediately broke the covenant they’d just made with God by worshiping the golden calf. Yet it is at this exact moment that God reveals to Moses he is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. He doesn’t excuse sin, but when we confess our sin, the Father forgives us because he has compassion on us. God knows how to perfectly balance his judgment with mercy
The father in the story gave the son his ring which authorized him to represent the father. He also gave him a robe and sandals, symbolic of the Father covering our shame. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they became aware that they were naked and sewed fig leaves to cover themselves, just like we try to cover our shame with our works and possessions. In the garden, the Father had compassion on them and killed an animal to clothe them with animal skins. The Father then sent his Son who laid down his life as a sacrifice so we could be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Isaiah 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.” We are clothed in Jesus whose name means salvation!
Even when we’ve squandered what God gave us like the prodigal son in the story, the Father doesn’t hold it against us but rejoices when we come home. He restores what was lost – our dignity, authority, resources, and fellowship with the Father. Jesus taught us to pray to God as our Father because he came to make us children of God, not just servants of God. John 1:11-12 tells us that Jesus “came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” The prophet Hosea spoke of a coming time when God would expand the borders of his home in Israel to the include the whole world by sending out a small group of Israelites with his invitation of forgiveness and adoption. “At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. I will show love to those I called ‘Not loved.’And to those I called ‘Not my people,’I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’” (Hosea 2:23).
The identity God gives us as his adopted children reveals that we are loved. 1 John 3:1 says, “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” Colossians 1:19-20 reminds us that “God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” Even though we know God forgives us, we sometimes still shrink back from the Father, assuming he’s angry with us when we’re disappointed in ourselves. Jesus made peace between us and God, so we’re forgiven. Until we receive his mercy and love, we can’t love others the way God loves us.
Ephesians 1:4-6 reveals God’s disposition toward us because we are in Christ. “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.” It gave God pleasure to adopt you! He sees you without fault in Christ! You chose to love his Son, so the Father receives you as his child. God puts us in families because that’s how he designed us to learn and grow. We now belong to the family of God.
We become children of God by returning to the Father with a desire to obey him and receiving the Spirit of God’s Son to live inside of us. “Because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, ‘Abba, Father.’ 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir” (Galatians 4:6-7). Children work for their father believing they will inherit the family home and business someday. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus promises, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.” Like the prodigal son returning home, we come to the Father in humility and inherit what belongs to him – the whole earth.
Identity Puzzle Piece: Who are we in Christ, the Son of God? Children of God with an inheritance!
What is our inheritance in Christ? In Genesis 15 God promises an inheritance of land and descendants to Abraham, but puts it all in context by promising, “I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1, NIV). God himself is our great reward, our inheritance. If we have the Father, we have everything else! In the parable of the prodigal son, there is also an older brother who gets upset when the Father throws a party for his brother who squandered his inheritance. The older brother complains that he doesn’t get to have parties. Listen to Jesus’ words as the representation of the Father, “Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). Everything? Yes, everything!
Ephesians 1:13-14 explains that “when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.” The NASB version says that the Holy Spirit is “the first installment of our inheritance.” The Holy Spirit is a deposit of God that we receive now, our guarantee that we will receive our full inheritance. Our next installment comes when Jesus returns in the flesh to reign over the earth and we get to reign with him as his bride (see Revelation 20-21). When God the Father comes down, we will enjoy a new heaven and new earth, a return to God’s original plan to fellowship with us in the garden where he walked with Adam in the cool of the day. Until then, we have the first installment of our inheritance, the Spirit who connects us to the Father like an umbilical cord, enabling intimacy and fellowship.
Jesus called the Holy Spirit our Advocate or Counselor, a legal term we use when referring to a lawyer as counselor or a legal advocate. To access the will of a deceased parent, you need to go through a lawyer. To find out what the Father’s will is – which is written down in the Bible – we go to our Advocate who reminds us of Jesus’ words. Jesus promised we could ask the Father for anything we need and receive what we have asked for in his name, but when we don’t know what to ask for, the Spirit helps us pray. He “pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will” (Romans 8:27). The Holy Spirit is both the deposit of our inheritance – God’s loving presence – and the legal Advocate who helps us access the portion of our inheritance we need now to do what we were created to do as children of God.
When it was time to replace our 20-year-old van, I asked the Counselor how we could get a newer one without going into debt. He said, “Ask your father for an early inheritance.” So I asked my father for money that was set aside as my inheritance someday to avoid taking out a loan, and my dad happily agreed. Like the father of the older son in Jesus’ parable, my father gave me access to what he has because I have a good relationship with him as his daughter. What if you don’t have a good relationship with your parents? In Exodus 20:12 God commands, “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” If you honor your parents, forgiving them for their mistakes, God will bless you even if the blessing doesn’t flow to you through them. As children of our heavenly Father, we have access to whatever we need as we remain in Christ. We don’t fear, strive, steal, hoard, compare, or live in a scarcity mindset like orphans when we trust our heavenly Father.
Jesus said, “Don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:31-33). God has provided for my family through two years of unemployment. We’ve had money anonymously appear in our mailbox and bank account, and many more financial miracles. We access Kingdom abundance through trust in God, obedience, and generosity. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap” (Luke 6:38, NIV). We give generously believing that “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, NIV).
Our Father has the resources we need, the strength we need, and the wisdom we need. Our treasure is in heaven because in Christ “lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Before we turn to Google, God’s children turn to God, the source of wisdom. God has given me wisdom for my health, saving me from getting tangled in the worldwide web of confusion that is full of contradictions. He cares about the details of our lives and wants to help us walk in wholeness.James 1:5-6 promises, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.”
When I had my first baby, I read parenting magazines during his naptime until the Lord challenged me to switch to reading my Bible instead, promising that my heavenly Father would teach me how to parent my children. This was tested when I tried potty-training my son. I tried every method and all of them made us miserable. I cried out to the Lord for wisdom, and he told me how to honor the way my son’s body worked. Within two days he was painlessly potty-trained. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” We don’t live in confusion like the world because we have a Father who knows exactly what we need and teaches us what is best if we trust him and obey.
Christ, the Son of God, in me: Romans 8:29 says that “God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, yet in Christ we are chosen for adoption by God so we can become like his Son. What does it mean to be a child of God who is like Jesus?
Matthew 3:16-17 tells us, “After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.’” God declared this before Jesus did a single recorded miracle. We need to know in the core of our being that God loves us for who we are, not what we do. When we died to sin and were buried with Christ in our baptism, we were raised to new life as a beloved child of God. The Father declared that Jesus is his dearly loved son who brings him great joy, and when you were raised up in Christ the Father declared the same thing over you! This declaration doesn’t change when you make a mistake because you don’t stop being his beloved child.
Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children” (ESV). Children mimic their parents, so to be beloved children of God means we also do what he does. We look at who Jesus is as a Son of God and imitate him. The gospels show us that Jesus went out early in the morning to pray to the Father. Children of God spend quality time with the Father, learning from him. My favorite part of the day is when I pray and then listen for the voice of the Father to speak. He often addresses me as, “My child” or “Beloved,” to remind me of who I am to him. He brings scriptures to mind to guide me and help me walk in his ways. He corrects my misperceptions with revelation that produces helpful insight, not shame or condemnation. God’s grace covers us so we can grow as little children, aware of our Father’s delight. When we fall, he doesn’t shame us but helps us get up and cheers us on like a parent of a toddler who’s learning to walk. The Holy Spirit trains us to walk like Jesus with grace and mercy.
Romans 8:14 tells us that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” To be a child of God is to be led by the Spirit. When my mother died in 2016, the Lord told me he would take over as my mother. I had no idea what that meant until I learned who the Holy Spirit is and his activity in our lives. Scripture reveals that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual birth to us because we are “born of the Spirit.” He is our Teacher, Comforter, Helper, and giver of gifts – all the things my mother was to me. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would remind us of his words, just like your mom is always reminding you to do things – “Shut the door, take a coat!” Even though I have been “orphaned” by my mother, I don’t feel incomplete because the Holy Spirit parents me in every way I need. I even feel his presence rest on me when I worship like a hug from heaven. Just like I talked to my mom about everything, I talk to God all day and he listens to me, responding with love and guidance.
In John 14:9 Jesus said that he showed us the Father. He did this by obeying the Father and doing his will out of love. He calls his disciples to imitate him, saying, “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love” (John 15:9-10). A good son obeys his father, and Jesus is the perfect Son of God. We obey the Father out of love because his commands are rooted in love for people. Jesus showed us the Father’s mercy and grace so we can love our children and others in the family of God with mercy and grace. In Matthew 12:49, Jesus pointed to his followers and declared that they are now his family. When we join the household of faith, we see everyone as our brother and sister and share what we have with them. Jesus teaches us how to get along with each other so that there will not only be harmony in God’s house, but our healthy families will cause the world to say, “I want that!”
Jesus said in John 5:19 that he only does what the Father does. He sought the will of the Father above his own and took up a cross. What is the Father’s will? Jesus taught us to pray to the Father and ask for his Kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven there is no sickness, so on earth Jesus healed the sick. In heaven there is no deception, so on earth Jesus taught us truth. In heaven there is no torment, so on earth Jesus cast out demons. In heaven there is no lack, so on earth Jesus miraculously multiplied food. In heaven there is no sin, so Jesus taught us how to live within the Father’s boundaries. In heaven there is no death or separation from the Father, so “the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). The Spirit of God’s Son in us leads us to imitate our big brother Jesus and do his same works, revealing the Father’s heart to the world he longs to bring home.
Identity Declaration: I declare that I am no longer an orphan. I am a child of the Most High God with an eternal inheritance because I am in Christ. My heavenly Father loves me, provides for me, and covers me with grace as the Holy Spirit trains me to be like Jesus, the Son of God. I am part of the family of God.
Reflection: How can I love my family as the Father has loved me in Christ?
The Word Remaining in Me:
- Read Zephaniah 3:17. Let this promise sink into your soul: “He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Imagine the Father holding you on his lap as an innocent little child, singing songs over you. Ask the Holy Spirit to drop into your spirit whatever song Abba is singing over you today or listen to the “Abba” worship song below.
- Read Hebrews 12:1-11. How did Jesus submit to the Father’s discipline? How does viewing trials as discipline that is training you to be a son like Jesus change your perspective? How does “keeping our eyes on Jesus” help us to endure challenges and not give in to the lie that “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy” which leads to selfishness?
- How does obeying Jesus’ instructions in Luke 6:27-36 make us “children of the Most High”? How do these difficult commands train and discipline us to be like our Father in heaven?
- Read John 5:19-23. What does this passage reveal about Jesus’ relationship with the Father? Read John 14:12. How do believers do the same works Jesus did, and even greater works based on what we’ve learned from John 5 about how Jesus did his works?
Remaining in Love: Meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in light of the revelation that God is love. This is not just how you are to love others but how the Father loves you in Christ! We can only give what we’ve received, so receive the Father’s love in every broken place where you have felt unloved. Thank the Father for how he loves you with patience, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, always hoping and never giving up on you. If your parents failed to love you in this way, release forgiveness and receive healing as you acknowledge the Father’s will for your life is for you to be loved. From a revelation of fullness of love that has been poured into you by the Holy Spirit, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to love your family as the Father has loved you.
Bonus Online Content
Click here for a PDF of the Small Group Discussion Guide and Fun, Interactive Family Lesson
Worshiping From Your Identity as the Bride of Christ:
- Click here to be wrapped in the blanket of Jesus’ righteousness as a child of Abba, Father (“Abba” by Christy Nockels)
- Click here to worship as a child whose home is in Christ (“Home” by Christy Nockels)
- Click here to worship the Father who holds you securely in his hand (“Everything to You” [Spontaneous] by Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson)
- Click here to worship as a child who lives from the abundance of the Father, our inheritance (“Everything is Mine in You” by Christy Nockels)
Child of God Identity Scriptures to Memorize and Pray:
I praise you, Father, for the glorious grace you have poured out on me by adopting me as your child and giving me eternal life with you through your Son. Thank you, Jesus, for bringing me into your Father’s household so I can live in fellowship with you and grow to understand the true God. Thank you for your Spirit who leads me in righteousness and affirms to my spirit that I belong to you. I am not a slave to fear but your beloved child. You are my inheritance, and in you I have all I need. I bring my needs before you today, trusting that you will provide both wisdom and resources. I am securely loved and held by you.
“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” (Ephesians 1:4-6).
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory” (Romans 8:14-17).
“We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. 19 We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (1 John 5:18-20).
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, NIV).
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