Dear friends, this is the hard truth! Unless we all make every effort to turn from our sins and wickedness, and become just like innocent little children ourselves, we will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven! We need to become as humble and meek as a little child, for the Lord says that THEY are the greatest in His Kingdom. Graciously, the Lord has given us all the right to become children of God if we respond correctly to His Spirit’s guidance, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are the true children of God. This involves turning fully away from evil, and seeking to do good, as it is inspired by the Lord.
When we look honestly at our broken, evil world, this might be hard for some to believe or acknowledge; but children really are a gift from the Lord… they are actually a reward from Him! Children are so precious. Anyone the Lord gifts with children should consider themselves favoured! Yes, children who are born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands! Grandchildren should be considered the crowning glory of the aged, and parents should be the pride of their children. Those who truly fear the Lord and strive to keep His spiritual commandments will find themselves very secure in Him, for He will prove Himself to be a refuge both for them AND for their children. We can rely on Him to provide our needs, if we are walking in a godly fashion.
Come friends, listen to me, and I will teach you how to fear the Lord! Fear Him? Believe me, you’ll want this, for you’ll discover that the love of the Lord remains forever with those who truly do fear Him. Even the children of His chosen, holy people will live in such a wonderful security, and His salvation even extends to their children’s children. The Lord loves justice, and He will never abandon the godly (even if it might seem to them at times that He has), keeping them safe forever. But it is fearsome to contemplate that the children of the wicked will die. He takes delight in teaching children and infants to tell of His great strength, which silences His enemies and all those who oppose Him, and it also shames the proud.
The godly always give out generous loans and gifts to others, and because they are inspired by such Spirit-led, wholesomely good parenting, their children also grow up to be a blessing too. Make no mistake! Evil people will surely be punished! But the children of the godly will go free, like calves skipping out from the winter stall into the summer meadow. In spite of what many ‘experts’ seem to teach these days, it’s a fact that those who ‘spare the rod’ of discipline actually subconsciously hate their children, and spoil their characters for when they reach adulthood. Those who really do love their children will care enough to discipline them. Yes, we must discipline our children while they are still teachable, otherwise we will ruin their lives. But always remember that disciplining children is NOT the same as abusing them… it takes gentleness, wisdom and discernment from God’s Spirit to give out righteous punishments that don’t end up psychologically damaging a child. A wise child will accept their parent’s discipline, but mockers refuses to listen to correction, and will suffer the consequences of rebellion. At the end of the day, we should be aware that like us with our children, the Lord disciplines those HE loves, and punishes each one He accepts as His child. We should endure this ‘divine discipline’, remembering that God is treating US as His OWN children! If God isn’t disciplining you (as He does with all of His children), it sadly means that you are actually ‘illegitimate’, and are not really His child at all. Discipline is VERY important, on every level; we must be disciples of the Lord ourselves, and train our children to be likewise.
God has revealed to us in scripture that pure, genuine ‘religion’ actually means caring for orphans and widows in their distress, as well as refusing to let the rest of the world (and its satanic systems and habits) corrupt us. We must never cheat our neighbour by moving ancient and established boundary markers, and don’t even think about taking land from defenceless orphans – remember, the almighty Judge is watching and recording everything we do and say, and the day of His vengeful wrath is almost upon us… so why destroy yourself by committing such wickedness? If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord, and He will repay you!
When I was a child myself, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Sensible children (even adult children!) will always bring joy to their father, but foolish children bring only grief to him, and they are just a calamity; they despise their mother, bringing bitterness to the one who gave them birth. So take heed, children, and always obey your parents! This pleases the Lord. As for all you parents, if your children ask you for a loaf of bread, would you give them a common stone from the road instead? Or if they ask you for fish for supper, would you give them a live, poisonous snake on their plate instead? Of course not! So if sinful people like us know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?
Here’s some wholesome advice. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Instead of doing and saying things that feed your flesh and ego, it is much better to bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes directly from the Lord, for He is the ultimate Father, and could teach you a few things! Make sure you do not aggravate your children, for they will become discouraged. Wicked people are the children of THEIR father, the devil, and they LOVE to do the evil things he does. We must be aware that the devil was a murderer (remember what Jesus said about unrighteous anger?) right from the beginning, and that he has always hated the Truth, because there is no truth in him. In fact when he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. With this in mind, we really can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil, using scriptural discernment. Basically, anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does NOT belong to God. So, let’s not merely say that we love each other, even our offspring; let us show that truth by our actions! The light of Jesus Christ will shine for just a little while longer, so we need to walk in the light while we can, so the darkness will not overtake us. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going! So instead, we must put our trust in the light while there is still time, for then we will become children of the light!
We are made children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. God sent Him to buy freedom for us (who were once slaves to the law), so that He could adopt us as His very own children. Now we are no longer slaves but God’s own children! God has made us heirs of the promise. So again, we ourselves must live as His OBEDIENT children. Don’t be tempted to slip back into old ways of living to satisfy selfish desires. Born into the spiritual darkness, we didn’t know any better back in those days. Yet now, He promises that He will not abandon us as orphans; He WILL come to us, if we are seeking Him and humbling ourselves before Him. If you are unsure where you stand with Him, the test is that His Spirit joins with our own spirit to affirm that we really are God’s children. Do you know Him? The kingdom of God is within us! There must be spiritual life; we must be born again of His Spirit to truly see the kingdom and fellowship with Him. If we surely are His children, we surely are His heirs! Yes, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory! But if we are to share in His glory, we must also share in His suffering. We mustn’t be childish in our understanding of these sorts of things. We must be as innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but also be spiritually mature in understanding matters of this kind. He will (one day coming very soon) bring righteous justice to all those orphaned, and to the oppressed. Yes, He deeply cares for the orphans and widows, but He will frustrate the plans of the wicked. Let that be a reminder for you to examine yourselves, to see whether you really are in the faith!
Our Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, has hidden these beautiful truths from those who think themselves to be so wise and clever, and has revealed them instead to the childlike. He blesses those who work hard for His peace, and THEY will be the ones who He calls ‘the children of God’. We must help Him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and also to prayerfully ‘crush’ their oppressors, in the hope that they repent and come into the light themselves. That is why we must love our enemies! We must pray for those who persecute us! When we do so, we will be acting as true children of our Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If we love only those who love us, what reward can we honestly expect for that? Even corrupt, wicked people do that much. But all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in their glorious freedom from death and decay. Creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time, and we believers also groan with it (even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory), for we also long to be released from sin and suffering. We too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. There will be a new heaven, and a new earth.
Every true child of God will defeat this evil world, the ‘beast system’, and we achieve this victory through our faith in He who has the power to deliver us. Be under no illusion that God’s children do NOT make a practice of sinning, for the Lord Jesus holds us securely when we are truly ‘in Him’ (and He in us), and therefore the evil one cannot touch us. We should all however be well aware that the entire world around us is under the control of the evil one, so we must keep away from anything that might take God’s place in our hearts.