These past two weeks, I have been focused on the fact that the next part of our identity, is that we are children and co-heirs with Jesus.

This means that we are accepting that God is our Father. And regardless of what our worldly parents were/are like, He is a good Father. A Good Father, who only wants good things for us. If He is our Good Father, then we are His children, and as his children, we are co-heirs with Jesus. That’s a lot to consider, but truly, it is a part of our identity as Christians and believers in Christ. A part that we have to dig into, and accept to help us grow in our faith and our relationship with the Father. (all emphasis throughout, mine)

¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

I know personally, as a parent, I always want THE BEST for my kid. And, as it says here in Matthew 7, if I want the best for my kid, how much more does the Father wish to give us the best?! And, He is much more capable than I am.

But, more at hand here, is MY identity, as a child of God.

First, let’s look at an example of how Jesus treats the children he encounters:

³ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Mark 10:13-16

I receive it! What a great example of what we can expect from our Father. He took them into His Arms, placed His hands upon them, and blessed them. He protected them from those around them – who were trying to keep them apart, He comforted them, and He Blessed them. Amen! That’s a great example of parenting, and wouldn’t we all want that?

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:5

⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Luke 2:40 *This verse in particular, is talking about Jesus, and because we are co-heirs and temples of His spirit – it is also true of us.

¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

John 1:12

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Romans 4:13

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Romans 8:14-17

²³ What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

²⁶ and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Romans 9:23-26

“I will be a Father to you,
    and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 6:18

²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,…If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:26,29

⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Galatians 4:6-7

¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children

Ephesians 5:1

⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:7

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3-5

²⁸ And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is…¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

1 John 2:28-3:1-2,10

⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 1:4

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Revelations 3:21

⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelations 20:6

⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Revelations 21:7

There are many more examples, but truly God is constantly telling us, and reminding us, that we are His Children, and in a few of these examples – he explains in the same breath, that we are co-heirs with Christ. That we are entitled to all the same things as Jesus – since He died for us and for the forgiveness of our sins – to give us that right. And, I love how it states that once we believe, it is our right. Our right to have a relationship with the Father. A right to consider ourselves His children, and that we have a right to all the things that come with it! All that, being a co-heir with Jesus means. God has already given to us. The moment we believed that Jesus died for our sins, and we wanted him to be our Savior – we inherited all these things, all these good gifts! We just have to receive it – to obtain it. To walk into our inheritance and know that all these good things belong to us. We have to speak them into our lives, pray that the Holy Spirit cooperatively work with us to manifest our inheritance. We are His Children, and ALL THAT IT MEANS!!

Let’s Pray

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you. Thank you for telling us how much you love us. Thank you for showing us how much you care, and reminding us of Your Love, and of our place in Your Kingdom. That You are guiding the works of our hands, and the words from our lips, that we may manifest these good works in our lives, by Your Spirit, and by Your Word. That Your Word does not return void. That You have said it, and that makes it true. This day, and every day Lord, that we may walk in the knowledge and the assurance that WE are Your Children, and You are our Father. Abba, Father! Great and Glorious God of Good things, for His Children. Bless Us, this day, and every day. IN JESUS’ NAME!! AMEN!!

I continue down the path of discovery. The path of Who Am I? Ultimately – who does my Creator say that I am? This week, I’m focusing on the Creator – says I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. That I wish to say to all of you, out there, who were told that you were a mistake, or an accident, or whatever anyone else has ever said about you – Please know, deep down in your soul, God made YOU. And, HE doesn’t make mistakes. He purposefully made you. He looked down at the world, and decided it needed YOU. No matter what ANYONE else says about you, God says He created you, He created you for a purpose, He created you to be who He wanted you to be.

Something, I heard this week, that I feel everyone should hear, because I know I needed to hear it. Let’s remember that God lives outside of time. That He sees the future, in the now, He can see everything before it happens. And, with keeping that in mind, think of David. King David, who was anointed with oil to be the next ruler. But – in that same moment, that he was being anointed with oil – God saw what David with Bathsheba… and He still anointed him. He saw the mistakes that David was going to make, and he still anointed him. He knows who we are, and He loves us anyway. He loves us, in spite of ourselves. He still chooses us. Another thought – He knew Judas would betray him, and he chose him anyway. That just blew me away. I think, I knew it, but to hear it in that respect, just struck me with awe. So, keeping that in mind, let’s look at all the verses where God tells us – exactly how we were made.

All emphasis is mine.

⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

Jeremiah 18:4-6

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Psalm 139:13-15

 But whoever loves God is known by God.

1 Corinthians 8:3

Your hands made me and formed me;
    give me understanding to learn your commands.

Psalm 119:73

⁴ The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:4-5

²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Romans 8:29

As you do not know the path of the wind,
    or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100:3

For we are God’s masterpiece, created in the Messiah Jesus to perform good actions that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:10 (ISV)

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”

Revelations 4:11

¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:16

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

We are masterpieces, made by God. He knit us together. He purposefully created us, in the image of His Son. He designed each one of us. He thought about each of us, and made us, just how He intended. He masterfully crafted us, and created us to be in His image. He thought about each hair on our heads, and our fingers and toes, and everything in between. He made you, whole and complete, in Jesus. Any gap, you think you might have, isn’t there. Jesus has made you whole, and God made You just the way He wanted You to be.

I think – this is such an important lesson, because the world tears us down. The world creates gaps that aren’t there. The world wants us to believe that there’s something wrong with us, but truly, there is something wrong with the world. And, Jesus came, to close that gap, and that thinking. That we may know our Creator in a close, and intimate way. That the Creator had this insatiable need for us to know Him, and for us to understand – that HE KNOWS US. HE KNOWS US, better than we know ourselves – He CREATED us. That, in order, to better know ourselves – we just have to seek God, and He will tell us who we are. We are BELOVED, and we are A MASTERPIECE, FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE.

Let’s Pray

Dear Father God, I pray that everyone who reads this – truly understands that You made Us. That You don’t make mistakes. That You looked at this wonderful creation, and decided it needed one of us too. That You are such a good Father, that you want to have a close and personal relationship – with your creation. That we may understand who we are. That we may draw closer to you, and in doing so, find the deeper things of ourselves, and who you created us to be. That we may let you do your work in our hearts and minds – to see ourselves, the way that You do. That You see us as whole and complete. That we may understand that, Father. That you bless the work of our hands, and the words from our lips, that we give you glory and praise all the days of our lives, for making us exactly who we are, and who you created us to be. IN JESUS’ NAME. AMEN!!