How do we become children of God?
How God sees us? In God’s eyes we are all His children. So it was with Adam and Eve when God created them in His own image.
How do we see us? What do we need to do to become God’s children?
Adam and Eve’s choice to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge changed everything. Although God created them, Adam and Eve dissobeyed their Father who warned them and forbid them to eat from the tree. By doing that, they actually chose Satan and were consequently expelled from heaven. They stopped to be children of God by their decision.
We, as Adam and Eve’s descendants, are faced with the same choice on Earth. To do the same choice or to turn to the One by whom we were created. In spite of everything, God gives us the opportunity to choose Him and patiently waits for us with His arms wide open! However, it is up to us to decide whether we want to be His children.
How to enter the Kingdom of God?
Jesus said:
Whoever believes and is baptized, will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 16:16
Here are the steps:
BELIEVE
REPENT
BE BAPTISED IN THE SPIRIT AND WATER!
Jesus saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus asked him, “How can a man be born again when he is old. Can she enter her mother’s womb a second time and be born again? ”
Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
What is born of the body is the body; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
No wonder I told you, “You must be born again.“
The wind blows where it will; you hear its noise, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3: 3-8
And Jesus is the way to the Father!
What does it mean to repent?
Repentance from sin is the first step in our lives as his disciples. It is also a prerequisite for baptism in the Spirit and water.
Admit that we have sinned, as the heirs of Adam and Eve. To contemplate and confess your sins, ask for forgiveness and then repent and be converted which means choosing a new life, changed and without sin.
The ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus began with a sermon on repentance. So they were followed by the early church and the apostle Paul. We need to continue on that line that the Lord has pointed out to them.
In those days John the Baptist appeared preaching in the wilderness of Judah:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
Matthew 3: 1-2
To receive the gift of a new life in which all our sins will be forgiven and blotted out, as if they never existed, the next step is baptism in the Spirit and water.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, that your sins may be forgiven you, and you may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ”
Acts 2:38