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The Spirit Leads Us to Become God’s Children, January 20
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Romans 8:14
.
Christ took His stand among men as the Oracle of God. He spoke as
one having authority, addressing Himself in strong terms to the people, and
demanding implicit faith and obedience. We as a people have based our faith
upon the principles set forth in His Word. We have pledged ourselves to bring
heart and mind to obedience to the living Word, and to follow a “Thus saith
the Lord.”
All our present and future hopes depend upon our kinship with Christ and
with God. The apostle Paul speaks strong words to confirm our faith in this
respect. To those who are led by the Spirit of God, in whose hearts the grace
of Christ is dwelling, he declares: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we
may be also glorified together” (
Romans 8:16, 17
). “Ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (
verse 15
).
We are called by Christ to come out from the world and to be separate. We
are called to live holy lives, having our hearts continually drawn out to God,
and having in our lives the Holy Spirit as an abiding presence. Every true
believer in Christ will reveal that the grace of His love is in the heart. Where
once there was estrangement from God, there will be revealed copartnership
with Him; where once the carnal nature was manifest, there will be seen the
attributes of the divine.
His people are to become workers of righteousness, constant seekers after
God, constant workers of His will. This will make them complete in Christ.
To angels and to men and to worlds unfallen they are to make it manifest that
their lives are conforming to the will of God, that they are loyal adherents to
the principles of His kingdom. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in their hearts by
faith, will bring them into fellowship with Christ and with one another, and
will yield in them the precious fruits of holiness.—
The Review and Herald,
August 19, 1909
.
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