Annie lived in a house with other orphaned girls and suffered under the cruel, slave-like management of Miss Hannigan. The children were subjected to verbal and physical abuse by the alcoholic house manager, were forced into manual labor, and were neglected love and care. But Annie held onto her faith that “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” and believed her parents would one day return to claim her.
But they never returned.
Annie’s parents died in a fire when Annie was just a baby. However, orphan Annie was adopted by Oliver Warbucks and became not only his daughter—but an heir to his estate as his only child. She went from the clutches of cruel Miss Hannigan to a daughter and heir.
Now, Annie is just an imagined Broadway story, but it reminds me of the very true reality of our lives as children of God. We once were enslaved to the elemental spiritual forces of this world (Galatians 4:3), but now we are God’s children and heirs in Christ Jesus (v.7).
Take a moment to let this truth sink in: we are children of God and heirs in Christ Jesus.
This eternal good news is our very tangible reality. We deserve nothing more than God’s wrath for our sin. But in the richness of gracious love, He not only saves us but also makes us heirs in Christ Jesus.
This is almost hard for me to fathom. We, the scoundrel sinners, clothed in the rags of our rebellion, are now robed in the righteousness of God (Isaiah 61:10) by faith in Christ’s work. We, the selfish sin-factory humans, are rescued by our faith in Christ’s work, are seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6–7), will be glorified with Christ (Romans 8:30), and will reign with Him forever (2Timothy 2:12).
Such a generous inheritance is more than finding hidden treasure at the bottom of the sea or stumbling upon a winning Mega Millions lotto ticket. There is no end to the riches in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:8).
So then, it seems like such a small command of the Lord through the apostle Paul for us to live by the Spirit. In fact, I think it a minuscule instruction to live according to the Spirit and what the Spirit desires (Romans 8:5). But it still can be difficult, especially when we face everyday, ordinary situations where walking in the fruit of the Spirit goes against our human nature (Galatians 5:22–23).
What is difficult for you right now in your journey of following Christ?
Friend, God did not leave us as orphans. His Spirit lives in us (Romans 8:16–17). Keep focusing on your hope with the determination of orphan Annie: our eternal glory in Christ is far beyond whatever humility or difficulty we persevere as we honor Him now (Romans 8:18). We will reign with Christ, forever.
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81 thoughts on "Sons and Heirs"
I am late to the party, but…. We are not obligated to live by the flesh! How freeing is this!?!
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Traci G–prayers for your sister and especially her daughter as well and family.
@Rhonda J – you have such a heart of gold to work with those women in prison and bring such a light to them and all of us!! @Laura – I often stress over the election and our future seems so uncertain but you’re right. God can move and will move mountains
Aw your sweet Kimberly Z! Always love to see you here. I need an update on your life!
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Hello Shes
Alarming & Affirming…
“We, the selfish sin-factory humans”
are rescued by our faith in Christ’s work…”
THAT really gets my attention!!
“Are rescued by our faith in Christ’s work, are seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6–7)”
THIS helps me relax!!
AND rest assured.
Unworthy me gets a reprieve,
unearned,
by His grace,
made
His heir.
THINK on this!
❤
Love ❤️ this so much!
I was so blessed through the ‘music search’ today! I found this song- one I have not heard before- which speaks to today’s topic.
Chosen by Matthew West
“How many times have you wrestled
with feeling unworthy
Outside looking in
Like you and your sin don’t belong
And that devil slips through
Starts telling you
you’ve been abandoned
You’ve heard all his lies
But the truth’s been the truth all along
Chorus
You have been chosen
Seen, known,
and loved every moment
Called by your name
Yes He knows it
So run like a child to your Father
You have not been forgotten
You have been chosen
If you want to see just how much
A king thinks you matter
Well just look to the cross
Where love paid your cost in red
Oh He did what he did
‘Cause it’s you
that He’s been chasing after
Just to rescue your heart
He stretched out His arms and said
Chorus
You have been chosen
Seen, known,
and loved every moment
Called by your name
Yes He knows it
So run like a child to your Father
You have not been forgotten
You’ve been chosen
You’ve been chosen.
Come home to your seat at the table
Come home your new family
Oh the sinner who once was an orphan
Is now called a “Child of the King”.
You have been chosen
Seen, known,
and loved every moment
You have been chosen
Seen, known,
and loved every moment
Called by your name
Yes He knows it
So run like a child to your Father
You have not been forgotten
You’ve been chosen
You’ve been chosen
‘Cause you have been chosen
Ooohhh, Oh
So run like a child to your Father
You have not been forgotten
You have been chosen.”
~
Sisters, we have been CHOSEN! Do I live like I embrace that truth? Father, help me to recognize who I am as Your child – Your chosen child.
I am chosen. I will carry that with me today, for sure. Thank you. ❤️
❤
Hey Cee Gee
What wonderful words to wake up to this morning.
Best alarm clock ever!
“You have been chosen
Seen, known,
and loved every moment
Called by your name
Yes He knows it!”
❤ amen! I have to admit it made my morning, too!
New song to me too and SO good! Thank you for the introduction ❤️
❤ even Stephen now, sister! We both found a new one! ❤
Wow! I needed this! I was pretty discouraged last night talking with my husband about how I was doing after my reverse rotator cuff surgery! I feel like I should be further along in complete movement of my arm. But God, He is always so faithful to remind me to keep persevering! That the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, lives in me! I just need to keep trusting my ABBA, Father! It makes me think of the song that says, If I’m not dead, He’s not done!” God can use my struggle and pain for His glory!
Praying for all of you!
I had frozen shoulder and surgery. I was very discouraged during the healing process. I didn’t think that I was improving like I thought I should. It’s easy to get discouraged. Continue to do your exercises and you’ll see improvement❤️
Don’t be hard on yourself, that is one of the toughest and longest joint surgeries to heal from, and hardest to rehab! You got this!
It is hard to grasp the idea that I am a child and heir, just like Jesus. I get the same blessings and inheritance as Jesus. Wow! Hard! Just WOW!!! Co-heirs with Christ. If I gave my child a gift that was so precious and he didn’t really appreciate it, how would I feel?? I must be more thankful for what God has done for me!!!
“I’m adopted, Hallelujah – I’m a child of the King!” Lyrics from a children’s praise song, but so true for all of us who are in Christ. Oh the riches of His love! Some of the highlights from today’s readings:
_____
Isaiah 61:10 – I am clothed with garments of salvation, and wrapped in robes of righteousness.
Ephesians 2:6 – I am seated with Him in the heavens.
Romans 8:30 – I am justified & glorified.
2 Timothy 2:12 – I will reign with Him.
Ephesians 3:8 – His grace was given to me.
Galatians 5:22-23 – I have been given the fruit of the Spirit.
Romans 8:16-17 – I am a child of God! An heir of God, joint heirs with Jesus.
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How blessed we are to be God’s adopted children! The thing about adoption is that someone has made a choice to adopt – we are chosen by God – He desired us and chose us! I am hard pressed to understand why He would want me – “a scoundrel sinner clothed in the raga of rebellion” – but I am forever grateful that He did!
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Thank you all for your prayers for Jeff. His radiation treatments will start on August 26 & will be every Monday-Friday for 28 days.
_________
@ TRACI G. – I am so sorry to hear of your loss – how unimaginable! Praying for your sister Debbie & your neice Jennifer – and for you. ❤️
@MARINA S. – praise God that your brother’s PET scan showed no tumor!!
_______
Continued prayers for all your requests. Have a blessed Thursday. Today May you be “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”
(Romans 12:12)
❤
Praying for Jeff. My husband went through radiation last year and his blood work shows no trace of cancer!
Linda, that’s wonderful! I love hearing about God answering prayers.
I pray for Jeff as he begins radiation and for complete recovery.
I am praying for him too!
All through this study of Galatians this Matthew West song comes to mind. This is the chorus:
Hello, my name is child of the One true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free
Amazing grace is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King
Woah, woah, woah (woah)
Woah, woah, woah (woah)
Woah, woah, woah
What love the Father Has lavished upon us
That we should be called His children
I am a child of the One true King
What love the Father Has lavished upon us
That we should be called His children
Hello, my name is child of the One true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free
Amazing grace is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the One true King, yeah
Have a blessed day, sister SRTs!
❤️
Man this reading was like “POW” this morning, with the full cartoon colorful emphasis!! It follows after a beautiful Godly High at Jail Ministry yesterday! One of our ladies, she too, was an orphan in an instant, she found literally a horrible shock and gross scene when she was only 18 where her mother had been shot (bloody scene) and then her stepfather holding the gun had shot himself as well. This started the downward spiral, of covering the pain and anger with alcohol, drugs and other self damaging bandaids, that could never heal the pain. We know as Christians and survivors ourselves that only Jesus Christ or Savior and Healer can do that.
When we talked on forgiveness a month or so ago, she velmently and angrily replied that she would never forgive her stepfather for what he had done, and who would? And why could we even expect her to, he was a murderer and took her precious mother from her.
We explained beforehand that God forgives us, and in the Lord’s prayer that if we don’t forgive others how can we want God to forgive us?
This lady that had come in angry and not saying anything with a scorn on her face, slowly was intriqued, she started reading her Bible for the first time in her life at age 40. Do you think God was using this time in jail to redeem and restore her? That is why I love jail ministry, we call them our butterflies because it is a time for transformation. From dead to alive, to something dark to light, ashes to beauty…a chance to become something beautiful!! She started asking questions, reading her Bible, excepted our Savior one class!!! And then yesterday…She said she forgave her stepdad!! We were all in AWE…tears coming down our faces and delighting in what God can do!! Our worm, in the darkness had fully transformed and now will live in FREEDOM!! This devotion today just was SPOT on..I will share this whole devotion with her!!Wow…thank you Lord for letting me see and testify to What you are still doing everyday!! Miracles upon Miracles…it’s the power of the gospel, the power of faith, and the power of us…the hands and feet of Jesus!! His disciples and volunteers!!
Thanks for letting me share.
Have a great day!!
Thank you for sharing Rhonda. Truly makes me want to be more like Jesus towards hurting people I don’t understand. Chills! God bless this butterfly and I pray she shows her beauty to others who are hurting. Wow!
Right?! We are so quick to judge and have no idea. I try to remember everyone has a story and reasons why they are the way they are.
Amazing! Praise God! Only through Him, could that miracle take place!
Exactly. I think as Christians it does us good to be around these amazing testimonies to encourage and build up our own faith!!
Oh my gosh – this story! Thank you so much for sharing. Only God could do all of that. Thank you for your faithful service to be the hands and feet of Jesus to these hurting women. Our own prodigal daughter could have been in jail. God spared her that consequence, but if she had gone, for me I would have thought it was the end. But seriously, God can move anywhere and anytime. If she had gone, it may have been the very thing that brought her back to Him. This story gives me so much hope – you have no idea! Even when I think of our current political climate. It seems so dire, so unchangeable, so permanent. But God!! He can move mountains! This story is a perfect example. I am seeing Him move mountains in our own family and I am in awe and praising Him for who He is!
Yes! “God can move anytime and anywhere!” He surely can! And sometimes the deeper and faster we fall, the MORE LOVE we have because of his Saving Grace!! I am SO happy to hear your daughter is making steps to meet with ya’ll again! That is really amazing…God is moving those mountains!
I too really get overwhelmed with the political climate and the persecution of Christian in our own country!! (many don’t even hear of them!).
I am seeing and hearing so many hurting stories of their lives in there…and I was there too- it only takes 1 bad choice to change things in an instant sometimes…other times you know you are making them. And some are caused by deep hurt. Another lady I just met killed a person when she was 17, but that person was her mom’s boyfriend (and she was in jail) and he started molesting her from the time she was 11 or 12. She got life in prison. She has been in there for more than 20 years. She is a Christian with strong faith that just got denied to get out, and she said she is at peace with that and will do what He calls her to do in jail to disciple!! Just heartbreakingly sad. She isn’t even allowed in our class because her crime puts her in a category not allowed to come.
That is so sad (the end of your post).
What is difficult for me spiritually right now? Not paying attention to the things of this world and the problems I’m facing. I worry for my kids and if they will grow spiritually in this dreadful place. I worry about my job. I worry about my husband and the things he struggles with. God tells us to cast our cares on Him. May I turn these things into prayer instead of an endless thought pattern.
♥️
Praying you push through
the painful “pattern of worry”, dear Melissa.
May you saturate your soul in scripture!
“may I turn these things into prayer instead of an endless (negative) thought pattern!” so good!
Traci Gendron – prayers of comfort over your sister and niece and the whole family ❤️
I’ll tell you, studying these writings of Paul’s and all the supporting scriptures that SRT provides has been so life-giving to me this summer. I feel like God is revealing so much about Himself to me right now. It’s awesome! Going through the family situation that I have been going through has really helped me to understand (in a small way) how God feels about us. Even though our daughter spewed hatred toward us and didn’t want anything to do with us, we loved her so much it hurt our hearts. That’s just a smidge of what God feels as we continue in our sinful, selfish ways and reject Him! How amazing to have a God who loves us so much – I cannot even fathom it.
I also pondered the portions of Scripture in John. I feel for the disciples sometimes, because it had to be confusing to them that this man who they spent time with on Earth, as a human, was actually God. I mean, it is a bit mind-blowing. I always imagine Jesus walking around with a halo and angel music surrounding Him, but obviously it wasn’t like that. He was a man just like the disciples: eating, sleeping, talking, doing normal human stuff, yet He Was God! He was also performing miracles and teaching truths that they could not even understand. It is a bit mind-blowing to think about it. I feel so loved, so cared for, so seen today as I think about how loving it was for God to send His Son on Earth to walk amongst us and then sacrifice Himself for us. So humbling.
Praying for all the requests as I go throughout my day. Love you, sisters!
Amen! Continued prayers for your relationship with Taliah, & her & your sons spiritual healing. ❤️
Such good news! ❤️
Amen, powerful reading and devotion. I am encouraged. Thank you
I’m humbly asking for prayer for my mom, Cynthia, today. She’s 72 and having knee replacement surgery this morning at 730a central.
God, bless and keep Cynthia during her procedure this morning. Shower wisdom, discernment and skill on her through her care team in the OR and through recovery. Give her patience and strength in the days ahead. Bless Lacey with peace and trust in your healing power as it works through the Mom she loves so much!
Prayers for Cynthia, Lacey, and medical staff. May they feel the Lord’s loving arms of care and love.
Prayers for Cynthia!
Praying now for your mom, Lacey. Heavenly Father. I pray protection over Cynthia as she has knee replacement surgery this morning. Guide the surgeon’s hands that the surgery will go smoothly, and that she would heal quickly with little discomfort. Thank you Jesus for your love and care over Cynthia.
Praying for your mom and for the doctors performing the surgery.
Praying for your mom! Father God, have your hand upon this dear soul & see her safely through her surgery. Guide the hands of the doctors. And May your peace be upon Lacey as she waits. ❤️
Praying
Amen to these beautifully spoken prayers! ❤
My prayers are with Cynthia this morning as she goes through surgery. May God give wisdom to her care team and May her pain afterwards be manageable and recovery swift and complete. I am having the same surgery in two weeks and not looking forward to it. My go to is like Annie, “the sun will come out tomorrow” and mobility will be better!! She will need a good coach for a few days!! Blessings!
Praying for a successful surgery this morning and for a complete recovery!
Thank you Jesus for Your precious Blood. Abba, Father! I need you. In Jesus name, Amen
What a gift to be adopted in. ❤️ Much love, grace and peace!
I love that song from Hillsong… one of my favorites! ❤️ (But all songs are my faves. Heeheehee!)
That was for SEARCHING’s comment. Don’t know what happened… oops!
This clicked with me – We, the scoundrel sinners, clothed in the rags of our rebellion, are now robed in the righteousness of God by faith in Christ’s work. We, the selfish sin-factory humans, are rescued by our faith in Christ’s work … will be glorified with Christ …
–
While we were yet sinners, Oh What a Savior!
–
Coming to mind this morning was the song Who You Say I Am (Hillsong), and in my search for it I came across a Crowder song, Child of God – not new, but new to me. Rousing, rockish/bluegrass ❤️ … some bits of the lyrics,
“ From the breath of God, I was born”
“ He’s resurrected, I’m born again”
“I know where I came from
Can’t keep me from my home
I am a child of God”
–
TRACI GENDRON – I am so saddened by your loss! in prayer for your family, especially Debbie and Jennifer. Such a tragedy and oh, goodness, the heartbreak of losing a child/ grandchild. May the Lord carry your family in these painful times.
MARINA S – rejoicing with y’all over the good news PET scan!
My son and family are real Crowder fans. Their 4 and 6 year olds love singing and dancing to his music. Their all time favorite is “Good God Almighty”. They even had their picture taken with him.
❤
❤ We sing the Hillsong song at church often – love that song! Crowder’s song was new to me, too, but I loved the upbeat tempo and the message. Makes me want to upturn a bucket and start tapping!!! Thanks for sharing! My husband turns the radio off when he hears that kind of music. Lol
Haha! Mine cranks it up ❤️
What a blessing! I pretty much like it all, especially southern rock. ❤
I love many of Crowder’s songs. I think it speaks to the bluegrass heritage of my ancestors from southeastern Kentucky. My husband and I saw Crowder in concert last year, and it’s always a blessing to worship the Lord surrounded by hundreds of other Christians, lifting our voices and hands in praise.
Yes so thankful for what He has done. We are children of God and co heirs with Christ
LOL, just read HRT and this:
“Paul’s reasoning here is that if you have been “baptized in Christ”—that is you have trusted and believed in Christ as your only Savior and Lord—then you are identified or “clothed” in Christ. He is your absolute identity (Galatians 3:27). And if this is true for you, that you belong to Christ, then all that is true of Christ, and all that Christ possesses, is yours as well.”
“For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.”
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Sitting with this: clothed with Christ.
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When the first humans fell, they clothed themselves with fig leaves. Then God clothed them with animal skins. But when I publicly acknowledged my faith in baptism, I was clothed with Jesus.
.
I mean how cool is that!
.
Praying for your requests ❤️
Love this!
Great connection!
So good -thank you! ❤️
Way cool, Kelly! ❤
Very cool!
Agreed!
I am struck by this thought: God could have just rescued me from my sin, set my feet on the right path, and left it as that. He didn’t have to make me a part of His family. (That may be a really weird thought!) But God…He rescued me, freed me, and adopted me. He has made me His child and an inheritor of every good blessing and promise that comes from Him.
I am so thankful that He saved me and that now my identity is solid and secured in Christ. I am a daughter and I am an heir!
Father God, help me to live as Your child today.
awesome thinking, not weird! Yes, He could have handled it as a one time only correction, or even done nothing at all. Yet in His love for us, He rescued us, saved us, taught us and made us a permanent part of His family. ❤️
So thankful for the gift of Jesus today and always. Have the best day sisters!
I greatly appreciated today’s devotion helping to give a visual to the deep truths in our Scripture reading. I’m reminded that unlike the dear character orphan Annie, who ended up in the orphanage through no fault of her own, God sent His Son to die for us ‘while we were yet sinners’!! That is absolutely an astounding fact to dwell on. May we soak in it’s truth and walk in the Spirit today and everyday!
❤️