Open Heavens Daily Devotional Thursday June 11.......

PRODUCING CHILDREN OF GOD
Memorise:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.
Romans 10:17
Read: 1 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. 1 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 religions, 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 1 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. Author: Pastor. E. A.
ADEBOYE