God’s Children

Question: What does it mean to you to be a child of God?  Is God the first priority in your life or is He more of a convenience when you need Him to get you out of a jam.  How is your spiritual life going, are you growing or are you stagnating?  Are you spending time with the Lord and in His Word and spending time in prayer and do you take time out at times to fast and pray?  What is your Christian life like, if someone followed you around for a few days what would they see and experience, a person of faith or a person that is straddling the fence, so to speak, one that is more spiritual or one that is more worldly, one who thinks about satisfying his own desires or one that wants to honor the Lord?  

There are people that think the Lord loves them so much that they can do anything and the Lord will just overlook it.  The Lord loves people more than they will ever know, but His love is also just and he hates sin and He never overlooks sin or sweeps it under the rug, so to speak.  There is a movement that is teaching hyper grace where it is taught that the Lord died for all your sins past, present and future, so if you are a believer you don’t have to worry about your sins or your need to repent and confess them, they have all been forgiven when you ask the Lord into your heart and life and to forgive you of your sins.  Be very careful and don’t buy into that message.

Read about what happened in Acts 5:1-11, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.”

If that is true why does it say this in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

And also this in James 5:14-16, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Repentance and confession are very important whenever we sin and sometimes it is good to confess our sins to one another depending on who you can trust.

And if we have sinned against someone we should confess the sin to them and tell them and be sorry and also confess the sin to the Lord when we have repented!!

Read about what the Lord told John to write about to the seven churches in the book of Revelations in chapters 2 and 3.  You will hear the word repent on more than one occasion.  And think about what it says in Revelations 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”  Many times this verse is said while witnessing to non-believers, but this was actually said to the church.  

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he spoke about how the church had repented in 2 Corinthians 7:8-11, “For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

This is how true godly repentance worked in this church.  So if you sin as a believer, do not ever excuse it, repent and confess it to the Lord and find forgiveness, praise the Lord!!  Enough said, have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!