LEARNING DAILY

Romans 8:16-17, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Believers, you and I are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us walk on the narrow way into eternal life in God’s kingdom. The Father loves us and adopts us as His children; He loves us and creates in us the confidence to call Him “Abba Father”.  “The term “Abba” is Aramaic, meaning “Father”. Jesus used it to refer to His heavenly Father. It expresses a depth of intimacy, deep emotion, earnestness, warmth, and confidence by which the Spirit of adoption causes us to cry “Abba Father”. Two sure signs of the Holy Spirit’s work within us are the spontaneous cry to God as “Father” and the spontaneous obedience to Jesus as “Lord” (Life in the Spirit Study Bible).

Paul is also telling us in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit helps us communicate with God. We can cry out to Him as “Abba Father” on a basic level; and He hears us! That just amazes me. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray even when we do not know what to say (Romans 8:26-27). When Paul writes, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit” he is writing that the Holy Spirit is communicating to us that we are God’s children, and we belong to His family. This is certainly not because of any effort on our part; it is because of God’s love for us.

The Lord Jesus Christ told us that the narrow way would be not easy path to walk. Jesus suffered while on earth; He was misunderstood and persecuted. He also said that those who follow Him would be misunderstood and persecuted because He was. This comes as a result of our declaration of faith, our relationship with Him, and a refusal to conform to the world’s standards. Being saved and changed by the Lord Jesus Christ is not something to just be glad we are saved from the horrors of an eternity in hell. No, we should realize that we, as Believers, are heirs with Christ to the glorious kingdom of God. This is not only a future happening, we can experience glimpses of His kingdom now. That experience may be partial now, but the full revelation of heaven is coming soon! Be ready and stay ready now so you don’t have to get ready later (Dr. Ed Newton).

Being an heir with Jesus is God’s gift to us as His children. He has every right to treat us differently. It is because of His great love for us that we are able to walk a narrow way to His kingdom. There is no greater gift available to us. That gift may come with suffering as mentioned earlier. It may come as we deal with dying to self or outright persecution from a sin-filled world. That little word “if’ is interesting. If we suffer because we are centered in Jesus Christ, it is not the end of the story. We may suffer for a time but the result is we are glorified with Christ. Our eternity is with Him and the joys of eternity with Him will be greater than anything we might experience while we walk the narrow way.

Be encouraged today that the difficulties we experience along the narrow way as joint heirs with Jesus will be worth it as we step into eternity with Him.