Family

I started writing this devotion when we were in the UK visiting my family, this is the first time that we have been together for over two years, my daughter and grandson in the USA I have not hugged now for three years. We all zoom every week but it’s not the same. Our youngest granddaughter is now 5, she has gone from a toddler to a schoolgirl.

So what is family? The dictionary says ‘a group consisting of parents and their children this is a lovely wide definition, it encompasses all aspects of our family group. ‘Familiar’ is from this word. In a family, you are familiar with each other. What does the Bible say, that is the most important for us.

There are so many verses, It starts by telling us to honour our parents, how to live our lives as single people, how to find a husband or wife, how to behave in a marriage and how to bring up our children.

When my mum died only family were invited to the cemetery, but lots of people came and my Uncle asked me who they all were. They were the people of my parent’s church, they considered themselves family. We belong to the family of God.

Family is God’s plan for our security here on earth, we are placed into families. Even if you are not married you are in a family.
We had a couple in our church who adopted two boys. When they arrived here in Luxembourg they were just babies, now they are grown men. Both boys had issues and as a church, we prayed long and often for them, each time we prayed for them I had the strongest feeling that God had chosen the couple to be their parents, that in taking up the challenge, they had quite literally ‘saved’ these boys lives. God places us in families for a reason, no one is there by accident.

Read Romans 8:15-30, this scripture tells us that as we have received God’s Spirit and we are His adopted children and we have the privilege of calling Him ‘Abba’ a very personal name only for those who can call someone father. We have been adopted into God’s family, and since we are His children that makes us joint-heirs in His kingdom. In fact, that makes Jesus our firstborn brother and together with Him, we are joint heirs of God’s glory. I am not being disrespectful here, this is what God’s word tells us and we need to step up and take our place in the family of God.

Romans 8:15-30
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.” For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  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.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.  For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are.  Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,  the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.  For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us.  We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.  But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For 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.  And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.

We are children of God, adopted by our heavenly Father who has changed our lives. We may have the same name as before, and the same life story, but we are no longer defined by any of that. Our adoption day is when we admit that Jesus has saved us and changed our lives. Our adoption day will continue to lead us closer and closer to our Father in heaven. He chose to make us one of His own, and we are new creations! We are no longer led by our sinful nature, but by “the Spirit…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. We have certain obligations as a member of God’s family, just like we have obligations in our earthly families. One of the obligations we have as a member of God’s family is to use his gifts to fulfil the Great Commission. One day we will be judged for what we’ve done with what we’ve been given. If we use God’s gifts for God’s purposes, we will be rewarded for this The Holy Spirit is a gift from God for all of us. It can’t be bought or sold. Because the Spirit is in us and because we have access to the mind of God, we must allow the Spirit to do good deeds on our behalf. We will become more like Jesus and share the blessings that are due Him. We also gain practical benefits:

Everyday leading from God.
Fearless intimacy with God.
Assurance of belonging to God.
A continual reminder of our value before God.
We get to call Him ‘Abba, Father.’” Because we are his children.
When we meet together as Believers, brothers and sisters, we are meeting as family. A church should never just be a place you go to worship….church is a family of people joined together in worship……not just on Sundays…..but in life.