Thursday, January 19, 2023

The Spirit Leads Us to Become God's Children, January 20

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14. Christ took His stand among men as the Oracle of God. He spoke as one having authority, addressing Himself in strong terms to the people, and demanding implicit faith and obedience. We as a people have based our faith upon the principles set forth in His Word. We have pledged ourselves to bring heart and mind to obedience to the living Word, and to follow a “Thus saith the Lord.” All our present and future hopes depend upon our kinship with Christ and with God. The apostle Paul speaks strong words to confirm our faith in this respect. To those who are led by the Spirit of God, in whose hearts the grace of Christ is dwelling, he declares: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:16, 17). “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (verse 15). We are called by Christ to come out from the world and to be separate. We are called to live holy lives, having our hearts continually drawn out to God, and having in our lives the Holy Spirit as an abiding presence. Every true believer in Christ will reveal that the grace of His love is in the heart. Where once there was estrangement from God, there will be revealed copartnership with Him; where once the carnal nature was manifest, there will be seen the attributes of the divine. His people are to become workers of righteousness, constant seekers after God, constant workers of His will. This will make them complete in Christ. To angels and to men and to worlds unfallen they are to make it manifest that their lives are conforming to the will of God, that they are loyal adherents to the principles of His kingdom. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in their hearts by faith, will bring them into fellowship with Christ and with one another, and will yield in them the precious fruits of holiness.—The Review and Herald, August 19, 1909.

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