You're In the HOUSE!

I recall a message my Dad, Pastor Ernest Johnson, preached a while ago, entitled "The Orphan Mentality". In it he talked about how we have to see ourselves as the Kingdom citizens we are and lose the mindset that tells us that we don't belong, that we're not really God's favored, or that we don't deserve God's best. That sermon stuck with me and God has really shown me that a lot of us are still behaving like visitors in His House and strangers in His land versus actual citizens in the household of God. We walk around with our head down, not expecting too much, scared to dream, with shaking knees, when God's will from the time of our spiritual ancestors to now has always been greatness. I remember when I studied abroad in France for a month I felt like a stranger in their land. I was a foreigner and I felt like one. I stayed with a French family for a weekend and woke up to eat breakfast with them and remember seeing their customs. They drank wine in the morning, ate bread and cheese and although they were very friendly and tried to make us feel comfortable, I still felt like a stranger.

Well the moment you received Jesus in your heart, you were made a Kingdom citizen! In Ephesians 2:19 we read, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." The Apostle Paul even reminds us, "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." (Ephesians 2:12,13) We have to shake ourselves of the mentality that says, "oh no I don't want to be great. I just want to let my little light shine and make it in." No, our spiritual ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and King David, Esther, and Ruth all experienced God making them great, fulfilling their dreams, and blessing everything they put their hands to. We should want more out of life! We are not lower class citizens! If you are a child of God, you belong! We're in His house and He is our King, our Shield and our exceeding great reward! He takes care of those who are in His house! He provides for those who are in His house! He protects those who are in His house! He blesses those who are in His house!

We are truly a royal priesthood and a chosen generation, a peculiar nation called of God! His chosen people who were created to do great things! So rejoice and be glad because you're in the HOUSEHOLD OF GOD!