Children Of God

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

Romans 8:16

We have three great enemies: sin, Satan, and death. Because Christ rose from the dead, we know that sin and death and Satan have been decisively defeated. And because Christ rose from the dead, we know there is life after death, and that if we belong to Him we need not fear death or hell. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26 NIV). He also promised, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2–3 NIV). We know these words are true, because Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead. What a glorious hope we have because of Jesus’ resurrection!

No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those

who love him.

(1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV)

Our confidence in the future is based firmly on the fact of what God has done for us in Christ. No matter what our situation may be, we need never despair because Christ is alive. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. . . . For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:8, 23 NIV).

Our Father and our God, I can’t begin to imagine what heaven must be like, but I am full of joy in the knowledge that with Jesus I will be living there someday. Thank You for adopting me as a child and giving me a mansion all my own. I am an heir with Jesus Christ, through whom I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).