Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Abba Father, I thank you and praise you for my freedom from my sin and the privilege of being a child in your family! I thank you Jesus for paying the price of my ransom to set me free and to purchase my adoption into your family. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

While Jesus was saying these things, many people believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews that believed in him, "If you continue to obey my teaching, then you are truly my followers. Then you will know the truth. And the truth will make you free." The Jews answered, "We are Abraham's people. And we have never been slaves. So why do you say that we will be free?" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth. Every person that sins is a slave. Sin is his master. A slave does not stay with a family forever. But a son belongs to the family forever. So if the Son makes you free, then you will be truly free. I know you are Abraham's people. But you want to kill me. Why? Because you don't want to accept my teaching. I am telling you what my Father has shown me. But you do the things that your father has told you." The Jews said, "Our father is Abraham. " Jesus said, "If you were really Abraham's children, then you would do the things Abraham did. I am a man who has told you the truth I heard from God. But you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that. So you are doing the things your own father did." But the Jews said, "We are not like children that never knew who their father was. God is our Father. He is the only Father we have." Jesus said to those Jews, "If God were really your Father, then you would love me. I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority. God sent me. You don't understand these things I say. Why? Because you cannot accept my teaching. Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies. I speak the truth. That is why you don't believe me. Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, then why don't you believe me? The person that belongs to God accepts what God says. But you don't accept what Godsays, because you don't belong to God."

Related Scripture Readings

So the law was our master until Christ came. After Christ came, we could be made right with God through faith. Now the way of faith has come. So we don't live under the law now. You were all baptized into Christ. So you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Now, in Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek (non-Jew). There is no difference between slaves and free people. There is no difference between male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. You belong to Christ. So you are Abraham's descendants. You get all of God's blessings because of the promise {that God made to Abraham}. I want to tell you this: While the heir is still a child, he is no different from a slave. It doesn't matter that the heir owns everything. Why? Because while he is a child, he must obey the people who are chosen to care for him. But when the child reaches the age his father set, he is free. It is the same for us. We were once like children. We were slaves to the useless rules of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son. God's Son was born from a woman. God's Son lived under the law. God did this so that he could buy the freedom of the people who were under the law. God's purpose was to make us his children. You are God's children. That is why God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. The Spirit cries out, "Abba, Father."

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth. A person must be born again. If a person is not born again, then that person cannot be in God's kingdom."

The Father (God) has loved us so much! This shows how much he loved us: We are called children of God. And we really are God's children. But the people in the world (people who don't believe) don't understand that we are God's children, because they have not known him (God). Dear friends, now we are children of God. We have not yet been shown what we will be in the future. But we know that when Christ comes again, we will be like him. We will see him like he really is.