With all the negative self talk that goes on in our head it is hard to hear from God and what He says about us. That is why it is important to stop and meditate on His Word and what He says about us. I really like the way The New Living puts Ephesians 1:5, "
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." That means we are His children, as it says in "
For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night." (1 Thessalonians 5:5 NLT)
So what does it mean that we are children of light? Well since God has adopted us and we are a new creation made in His likeness then we need to examine what His likeness is. In 1 John 1:5 we find out that, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." That means there is no shadows, no dark secrets, hidden agenda no secret handshake, no behind the closed doors; everything with God is lit up and made visible. Does that mean we will understand everything about Him? In Romans chapter 8, it explains a lot as to why we struggle with this; "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:5-17 NASB)
Just like in the video A Kingdom Parable, we have been living in the darkness so long that we have forgotten what it is like to live in the light. We have heard the lies of the dark over and over about ourselves that we believe them as truth about ourselves. We need to take control of those thoughts and replace them with what God has to say about us. Walking in the light is like learning to walk on a tight wire, the path is lit by God's Word. One step to the left or to the right we can be off and listening to the lies of the dark.
If you haven't seen A Kingdom Parable take the time to watch the video below.
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." That means we are His children, as it says in "
For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night." (1 Thessalonians 5:5 NLT)
So what does it mean that we are children of light? Well since God has adopted us and we are a new creation made in His likeness then we need to examine what His likeness is. In 1 John 1:5 we find out that, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." That means there is no shadows, no dark secrets, hidden agenda no secret handshake, no behind the closed doors; everything with God is lit up and made visible. Does that mean we will understand everything about Him? In Romans chapter 8, it explains a lot as to why we struggle with this; "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:5-17 NASB)
Just like in the video A Kingdom Parable, we have been living in the darkness so long that we have forgotten what it is like to live in the light. We have heard the lies of the dark over and over about ourselves that we believe them as truth about ourselves. We need to take control of those thoughts and replace them with what God has to say about us. Walking in the light is like learning to walk on a tight wire, the path is lit by God's Word. One step to the left or to the right we can be off and listening to the lies of the dark.
If you haven't seen A Kingdom Parable take the time to watch the video below.