Thursday Open Heavens Devotional - Producing Children Of God

Memorise: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17.

Read: 1st John 3:1-3
1 BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Message
Children of God are produced by the power in the Word of God. The reason why it seems genuine children of God are scarce nowadays despite the increase in the number of churches and increase in church attendance is because the Church is suffering from a famine of the genuine Word of God. It is by faith that we become genuine children of God. However, this faith does not come by the wisdom of man; neither does it come by the philosophical sayings of the learned or the motivational words of orators. 1st Corinthians 2:4-5 says.
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
The world, especially devotees of certain religious, still wonder up till now how it is possible for a human being to claim that he or she is a child of God. Such people look at divine paternity with the mind of the flesh, and so they cannot understand or accept the mystery of adoption which empowers us to become sons of God through Christ Jesus. Even to us who have been conferred this prestigious status of being children of God, it is still a mystery. John the beloved expressed this mystery with awe in 1st John 3:1: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”
The Word of God came to Mary and produced the Son of God, when she had not known any man (Luke 1:30-35). This is a template for us. The mystery of divine adoption lies in the Word of God. For us to produce children of God from children of disobedience, we need to expose them to the undiluted Word of God that will produce the required faith for their adoption. Romans 10:17 says; “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
We should therefore follow the pattern of the early apostles, who produced children of God through the Word of God. We see this manifested in Acts 4:4
“Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”

Key Point: There is power in numbers. For the kingdom of God to be firmly established on earth, there must be a tremendous increase in the number of God’s children.

BIBLES IN ONE YEAR : 1 KINGS 18:41-20:25 and LUKE 6:24-45