Sons of God

​Dear Friend,
How are you?  I’m well.

Today I would like to write about sons of God that Pastor Rick Joyner mentioned on the Lord’s visitation.  He quoted what Jesus spoke to him: Labors are cheap; Friends are expensive; Sons are priceless.  

You might think “Aren’t we all children of God as we believe in Jesus?”  Yes, we become a child of God, when each one of us believes in Jesus.  Then, who are the sons of God?  I’d like to share what the late Pastor Neville Johnson wrote in his book, Secrets of the Kingdom volume II:
HEBREWS 2:10 10. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 
It has been said many times that “life is not easy.” Well, it wasn’t meant to be, and the conditions here on earth are perfect for the making of sons of God. Even Jesus had to suffer as part of His sojourn here. 
HEBREWS 5:8-9 8. Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 
Jesus suffered much anguish during His days in the flesh in this world; heartache was a part of His life here. You cannot escape suffering and some heartache while here on this earth; it is part of the deal. Life on this planet is hard enough to give us the opportunity of becoming sons of God. You may say, “I became a son of God when I was born again! Not so – you became a child of God. 
1 JOHN 3:2 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. 
The word son here in this verse is the Greek word teknon G5043: a child. The Jewish custom of the placing of a son was a very important event in Jewish life. When a child came of age, usually around thirty years of age, he went through a ceremony that initiated him into sonship. The father would call together friends and relatives to this ceremony in which the boy became a son. Up until that time, this boy had never been referred to as a son, but at the end of this ceremony the father would say, “THIS IS MY SON,” and from that time on this SON had rights and privileges that he had never had before. This son could now transact business in his father’s name; he could, as it were, sign checks and generally represent his father. This is what was happening to Jesus in Matthew 3:16-17. 
MATTHEW 3:16-17 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 
Every Jew who was there at that time and heard this voice from heaven knew exactly what it meant. Jesus was being placed as a Son by His Father. 

God’s major purpose for us 
God’s first and foremost purpose for us is that we become Sons of God while still in the flesh in this life. God’s foremost purpose for you is that you become like Him, conformed to His image and likeness. God made man in His own image and likeness, but this was lost through the fall of Adam (see Gen 1:27). 
ROMANS 8:29 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 
This is God’s prime purpose for you being here During all the work we do for the Lord here, the prime purpose is not in what we do for Him, but in what we are becoming. We fail in our reason for being here if we do not become like Him. To become like Him is what our destiny here on Planet Earth is all about; anything else is secondary to this. The real gain, the real merit is not in what we do for the Lord, important as that is, but in who we are becoming. 
Planet Earth – a school-house for the sons of God 
Many attend universities for four or five years, gaining knowledge that will hopefully be useful in their vocation in this life. However, very few have the understanding that God has placed us in His university, His school-house having given us a limited time in which to graduate with the required spiritual knowledge and understanding coupled with the required changes in us that this earthly course is designed to achieve – namely, to become like Him. We are in God’s school-house and, even as Christians, we can die without having graduated. Sure, we will go to heaven, but the main purpose of coming here to earth is not achieved and this affects our ongoing role in eternity.

Friend,
Imagine that you are a father with a son at age of 5.  You would love him so much, but you would not give him a blank check.  God loves us as His children, when we come to Him through Jesus.  But He wants us to grow and be mature enough to be co-heirs of His Son, Jesus.
When I was young, I used to think that there are so many do’s and don’ts in Christianity.  It was mainly because of legalism in Korea church.  So, I once thought that it would be better for us to get saved just right before our death or on our sick bed, after doing what we want, only if we would know our time to die.  Now, I’m grateful that the Lord opened my eyes and helped me understand it’s not about religion, but about relationship. And He gave me mercy and made me pursue the high calling and long for being like Him.  I don’t want to be saved only.  Being saved is great, but I want to fulfill my eternal destiny, by growing and being conformed to the character of Jesus. 

One day, my friend said to me, “I don’t care about reigning in 1,000 years.  I’ll be simply satisfied with being in Heaven.”  I still pray that the Lord may open her eyes.  I think not only she, but many Christians would think they are simply fine with being saved only, but don’t want to go further into the likeness of His character.  The Lord said, “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated.” (Malachi 1:2~3b)  He hated Esau’s taking his birthright lightly and sold it for a bowl of soup.

Friend, He wants us to turn our eyes upon Him and His Kingdom in eternity, not on this world, just like Esau.  It’s my prayer that you are encouraged to become His sons, too.  I heard many preachers say or write about metamorphosis, likening our character to Jesus’.  I believe He loves both caterpillars and butterflies.  Yet again, I believe He wants caterpillars to be transformed into butterflies, as they are meant to be. 

Pastor Rick Joyner shared how we become sons of God.  Would you want to know?  I think I would write what he shared, next week. :)

Have a bliss!
Yunee

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:14)