More thoughts from Victory over the Darkness

When your belief system is intact and your relationship with God is based on truth, you will have very little trouble working out the practical aspects of daily Christianity.

Getting right with God always begins with settling once and for all the fact that God is your loving Father and you are His adopted child. That is the foundational truth from which you live.

You are a child of God, you are created in His image, you have been justified and positionally declared righteous by Him because of Christ's finished work and your faith in Him. As long as you believe that and walk accordingly, your daily experience of practical Christianity will result in growth. You will struggle, though, if you question the finished work of Christ, and try to become somebody you already are.

We are not trying to become children of God; we are already children of God who are becoming like Christ.

We don't serve God to gain His acceptance; we are accepted so we serve God. We don't follow Him to be love: we are loved so we follow Him.

Excerpted from Victory over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson.