Tag: Adoption

Not Orphans – 2025 Day 14 (John 14)

Published on by kendraske1 Comment 
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Proverbs 14, John 14

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” – John 14:18, 27

“I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper (advocate, counselor) to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you…. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” – John 14:16-17, 26

Jesus was about to leave His disciples, to go back to His Heavenly Father, but He was not leaving them (or us) as orphans. Friends, we have not been abandoned. We are not alone. He has left us His Spirit and His peace, and He will return for us.

1. Jesus left us the Holy Spirit.

When I left my kids with Grandma, they weren’t really alone. I may have left, but I left them with a very good helper. It seems to me that for many of us the Trinity has become “The Father, The Son, and the Bible.” We underestimate our need for the Holy Spirit to be with us, to be our helper and counselor, to bring to mind what Jesus has taught us and to help us understand what the Word means. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit’s ongoing help. When I’m praying, meditating on scripture, or studying the Word, His quiet voice often leads me to remember other passages of Scripture. The Holy Spirit also brings conviction and encouragement to my heart. Thank You, Father, for sending the Holy Spirit to abide in me and with me.

2. Jesus left us His peace.

When Jesus returned to heaven, he left His disciples, but He didn’t leave them alone – He left them with the Holy Spirit, but He also left them with His peace. “Peace” (Hebrew – “shalom”) was a customary parting greeting for Jews. Jesus here is not only wishing them farewell because he’s leaving – but He’s leaving them with His peace, giving them peace. Thayers Greek Lexicon defines this Greek word eirēnē (peace) as “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.” Jesus has left us with His eternal peace because we have been reconciled with God through the forgiveness of our sins through faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

3. Jesus Himself will return for us.

It reminds me of when I’d say, “Don’t worry. I’m coming back,” as I left my kids home alone while I went to a meeting or out on a date with my husband. Jesus Himself will come back. Let’s be good children, eagerly waiting for His return – watching for Him, telling others about Him, and living with the trusting expectation that He is coming soon.

Thank You, Jesus, for going to prepare a place for me. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to be my counselor, helper, and advocate. Thank you for not leaving me alone.

Thank you for giving me Your peace, peace that surpasses worldly understanding, the supernatural peace of being held by Almighty God while a hurricane swirls around me.

I pray, Father, for all those children who are orphans in this world. I pray that You would place them in families. I pray that You would be a Father to them and provide for them the daily bread they need as well as Your peace that surpasses all understanding. Help them to know that they are not alone.

I pray, Lord, that I will be found waiting and watching. Give me Your strength and wisdom to remember that You are coming soon. Help us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:12-13)

In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord, I pray, Amen.

Click here for more information on reading through the Bible in Two Years.

Children of God

Published on by kendraske3 Comments

Every single human being on earth has been created in the image of God, but not everyone is God’s child.

God only has one begotten Son and His name is Jesus. The rest of us must be adopted into His family.

God’s children will demonstrate their intimate relationship with their Heavenly Father by loving and obeying Him, especially in their love for one another.

Are you His child? Welcome, my sister! Welcome, my brother! Let’s be family!

Are you not His child yet? May today be your day of SALVATION! Please come. Please seek His face. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you ought to do today.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

John 1:12 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Galatians 4:4-7 ESV

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

1 John 5:1-2 ESV

No Natural Children

Published on by teachwhatisgoodLeave a comment

Romans 8:15 (ESV)
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Ephesians 1:3-6
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

“Receive” – lambano
To take, to receive what is offered, to receive what is given.

“Adoption as sons” – huiothesia
Outline of Biblical Usage:
1) adoption, adoption as sons
a) that relationship which God was pleased to establish between himself and the Israelites in preference to all other nations
b) the nature and condition of the true disciples in Christ, who by receiving the Spirit of God into their souls become sons of God
c) the blessed state looked for in the future life after the visible return of Christ from heaven
— a compound of huios (a son) + tithemi (to set, put, place, make)

My thoughts –
Have you considered that no one can choose adoption for themselves?

If my son Nick had WANTED us to adopt him, he could not adopt himself. He could not force us to adopt him. He could only to receive what was given, to take what was offered. He was adopted as a son because we chose him and caused him to be our son. He has only to RECEIVE what is given.

And he was not chosen because he deserved it or earned it. He was not somehow better than all the others. No. He was adopted because his parents chose him because we wanted to.

My three biological children grew in my womb, but in God’s kingdom there are no ‘natural children.’ Every single one of us must be adopted. Every single one. Whether Jew or Gentile, whether first generation Christian or fifteenth, we must each receive adoption. None of us can ride our parent’s coat tails into the kingdom.

Praise God that He saw my need. He saw me, a slave, and yet He set His favor on me, choosing me as His daughter. Thank you, Lord, that You showed Your love for me in that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. Thank you, Father, for calling me out of the dark and putting Your name on me that I can now call myself daughter and so I am. Wow!

Let me not fall back into fear when I have received the spirit of adoption, that I can cry out Abba, Father, as your daughter.

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