"I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters."
2 Corinthians 6:18
A frustrated man said to a minister, "I've heard a lot of sermons from many preachers on TV and at church. It seems like each one is saying something different about what God wants from me. Quite frankly, they have confused me. I really don't know what God wants from me." The minister said, "The Bible has commandments and directions for our lives, but the main thing God wants from us is to be our Father, that we can be His children. He wants to be your Father." The minister got to the heart of God for us. He wants us to know Him as Father. We are invited to be His sons and daughters.
There are many names for God in the Bible, but Father is above them all. Jesus taught His disciples to pray to our Father in heaven. God wants a personal relationship with each one of us. It's a parent-child relationship. When the believer receives Jesus Christ by faith, the Holy Spirit comes into the life of each one (Romans 8:9). "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). Knowing God as Father, through faith in Christ, is the essence of our salvation.
Understanding God's will for our lives begins with the will of God to be our Father. He desires to be your Father. The day came for a dad to explain to his child that she was adopted. He lovingly said to her, "When a baby is born into a family, that child has parents through birth. When you came into our family, it was by choice. We chose you to be our adopted daughter. We chose you because we love you, and we always will." So it is with our Father in heaven, He chose us in Christ, because He loves. He adopted us into His family, because He wanted to be our Father. "You received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15). That's God's will for you.
Prayer: Father, we receive the Spirit of adoption, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
