Freedom or Domination - your choice

Freedom or Domination - your choice

Deuteronomy 15:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. 
That is why I give you this command today.

Slaves refers to humans in bondage {Which is where all are in this earthly life},  While Egypt represents the world we live in!
Here we see that God had Mercy and Grace to redeem us {from the Domination of evil} 
Which is where we can choose to accept His gift of Grace and Forgiveness. 
The command He gave is our opportunity to live in the state of Salvation thru the
 Atonment of Christ; by following Matt 6:33:
 To seek first the Kingdom of God and His Rightiuosness - then all the other things we need will be available to us.
Living to " Love your Neighbor " after learning to Worship the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength! 

Here you can see where the Lord God has moved to put His Grace and Love upon us - regardless of our earthly mortal standings...    
Here is where we can exercise out freedom of choice!

38. Adoption  {Is God's Choice!}

He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:5-6

DEFINITION: 

 Adoption means that God grants family status and benefits, such as access to the Father and a spiritual inheritance, to all who are justified. 

The emphasis is on a personal relationship with God as Father brought about through the Holy Spirit.

In the Hebrew Scriptures the children of Israel were collectively called God’s “son”
(Ex 4:22-23; Hs 11:1). The modern custom of a childless couple taking a biologically unrelated infant and legally making it their own was unknown in biblical times. Yet in the first-century world, a wealthy but childless Roman man might adopt a young adult male of good standing in order to maintain the family name and estate. This differs markedly from the New Testament concept. First, the heavenly Father already has a Son (by nature); second, believers as adopted sons and daughters had nothing good in them to commend them to the Father. Our adoption into the family of God is a mark of His love (by grace).

Paul is the only New Testament writer explicitly to use the vocabulary of adoption.
The Greek word literally means “placement as a son.”

The five instances in which this occurs are as follows:

• Rm 8:15—
• emphasizing the Spirit’s role and the difference between slavery and adoption.
• Rm 8:23—
• emphasizing God’s future gift to His adopted children: the resurrection body.
• Rm 9:4—
• emphasizing the nation Israel’s role as God’s adopted son.
• Gl 4:5-6—
• emphasizing the right of God’s adopted children to call Him Abba (Daddy).
• Eph 1:5-6—
• emphasizing God’s sovereign grace in choosing those whom He would adopt.

There is a close relationship between regeneration and adoption. The first focuses on the new moral nature and spiritual life received by believers; the latter centers on the close relationship with God that believers now enjoy as His “adopted kids.”

Other New Testament teachings imply adoption without using the term. Above all is Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. His disciples are to call on God as their Father, as in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:5-13). Further, they are to imitate their Father’s character
 (Mt 5:9,44-48) and to trust in His loving provision for them (Mt 6:25-34). Jesus’ most beloved story, usually called “The Prodigal Son,” vividly portrays the heavenly Father’s love to those who do not deserve Him (Lk 15:11-31).

On a more somber note, the author of Hebrews reminded his readers that all God’s adopted children are to expect His discipline: “If you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons.... But He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness” (Heb 12:8,10). Because the heavenly Father will succeed in His wonderful plan for His adopted children (“bringing many sons to glory”), His unique Son Jesus “is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb 2:10,11).

REFLECTION: 

Adoption is the greatest privilege the gospel brings. Do you agree with this claim?

 Why or why not? 

How often do you think of yourself as Jesus’ adopted brother or sister?

PRAYER: 

Heavenly Father, I call on You as my Father because You have welcomed me as your beloved child. Therefore I am bold to come. Help me to see all believers as my brothers and sisters in God’s family, one day gloriously united in our Father’s home. Amen.

52 Words Every Christian Should Know.