Children of the most high God

Romans 8:9-17

⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

¹² Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ 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. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

This is one of those passages that is important to let settle into our minds and hearts, for the truth of it can combat the lies of the enemy that can so often plague our thoughts. The Spirit of Christ does not only make us righteous before God, but the wonderful truth is that the Spirit of Christ, makes us co-heirs with Christ … children of the most high God. Just let that thought settle on your heart.

We are not servants, or onlookers, or club members, but are actually a child of the Father when we accept Jesus as our Saviour.

We do not earn this privilege. We do not gain it by works. We do not have to consistently work hard each day to maintain our status. God’s love for us does not waiver. Nothing we can do will make him love us more, and nothing we do will make him love us less. We are sealed by His Spirit.

Father, I thank you that you took the initiative by grace to save me, and that I am now your child and co-heir with Christ.

Written by Steve Fell