"I AM A CHILD OF GOD"
By Millie Pisano
and I don’t have to walk alone..............
Trying to get your child to go to bed and stay there can be a real test of patience. Normally the "battle of the bed" is like the opening of WCW wrestling-"Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!" Sometimes I enjoy the playing around, but not this night. My body ached and my spirit felt very low. I had just gone through one of those days where I felt as if God was testing me and I flunked! I had lost all my patience starting at 8am that morning when it seemed like Rachel just took forever to get herself ready for school. After the fourth "Mom!!!....... Do you know where my shoes are?" I just lost it! "Rachel," I yelled back up the steps, "I don’t wear your shoes-find them now." Intelligent answer-yeah right! Finally by 8:20 am. We were out the door and I felt rushed as we walked to school. Usually we take our time to check out the clouds and "people watch" as we walk. But the only cloud I saw was a big dark one and the few people I did see were acting the way I felt this morning. As my day progressed I just felt like I was many steps out of my walk with God. Everything was hitting me all at once, but I charged ahead. Did I make a BIG MISTAKE! I had forgotten to ask God to give me a hand.
So that brings us back to the bedtime battle. It was now 9:30pm and I felt like a failure at getting a child to sleep. Rachel said to me (after only two minutes of silence), "Mom can I read you this poem I wrote?" My reply was more of a whine. "No! I’m tired and I want to go to sleep.............please!" All I heard next was sobbing and a voice saying, "Please Mommy?" "O.K. just read it and stop crying”, was my reply. So in a gentle voice she read these words:
I am not alone...Nor do I walk in the shadow of darkness.... because I am a child of God...My parents say: "You will never be alone or walk in the shadow of darkness, because you have us God"
Every conviction fell into my heart at once and I knew this was the Lord reminding me of who I am and how Great He is! I kissed and hugged Rachel and peace settled on us. God has used an eight-year-old child to teach a thirty something year old woman. My prayers that night were of repentance and asking for forgiveness from my Savior. For no matter what kind of day awaits us, or the trials we will endure, from the words of a child we will remember..........."I am, a child of God and I don’t have to walk alone."
It amazed me how God used my child to teach me, a grown up! This occurred about 5yrs ago and it has been imprinted on my memory ever since.
The title of the story was called “I Am a Child of God”
But I decided to title this message:
“What Makes You A Child of God?”
When I say the words “Child of God” what does that mean to you?
Lets back up a step….
I can tell you that my name is Millie and I am the daughter of Russell & Millie Mallet. And my mother gave birth to me in 1962 in this very hospital. My father was a hard worker who supported his family and my mother was a wonderfully gifted homemaker who enjoyed taking care of her family.
I can go on and on talking about my parents and how I was raised as their child. I could share those childhood memories of vacations; disciplinary lessons I learned. I could even try to convey the love I felt for them
What made me their child?
· I was born from their union as a husband/wife
· I was raised under their direction & I loved them dearly as my parents.
· Not to mention I was the spitting image of my dad at birth
Now what makes a person a “Child of God?”
“BEING BORN AGAIN”
In John 3 there was a man (Pharisee/priest) named Nicodemus, and he was a ruler over the Jews. He went up to Jesus and he said….reading from verse 1
“Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
“Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.”
1John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1John 4:15
“Who ever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.”
So when you do receive the Lord as your Savior and you confess your sins to him, you immediately become HIS Child and no one can snatch you from His hand.
And even when you go through the trails of the day, where you feel like you are out of sorts and it just seems that you are failing, God says:
Heb 13:5 (Amplified)
………for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support, [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax my hold on you)!
OBEDIENCE & LOVE
1John 2:3-6
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
What were His commandments? I know you know of the 10, such as:
“Thou shalt not kill”…
”Thou shall not steal”
“Thou shall not convet”
Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus said:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
LOOKING LIKE YOUR FATHER
Remember when I said, that when I was born I looked just like my father. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you cannot help but be transformed into His likeness as long as you remain yielded.
2Cor. 3:17-19 CEV
The Lord and the Spirit are one and the same, and the Lord’s Spirit sets us free. So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.
Closing Prayer
