What Does it Mean to Be A Daughter of God and Why Does it Matter?

What does it mean to be a daughter of God? Why does it matter whether you belong to God’s family or not? Is your identity as a daughter of God a simple cliche or does it actually hold real weight? Is it worth digging deeper into or is it enough to just know about on the surface? 

I can tell you that being a daughter of God is no cliche. It is a royal position that grants you access into places you could never dream of walking into before. It’s more than the quote on your iPhone wallpaper. Together, we’ll dive deeper and discover what it really means to be a daughter of God and why it matters.  

You used to be an outsider

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.  

Ephesians 2:11-13 (NLT)

Before you can understand the significance of being a daughter of God, you should understand the truth about who you were without Christ. You and I, we were outsiders. Sin separated us from God, and we did not have a relationship with him. We had no real hope and we roamed around the earth without a true family or home. Spiritually, we were orphans. 

However, we know that Jesus’ death and resurrection mended the broken bridge that separated us from God. He gave us a new opportunity to become members of his family. We were prodigal daughters, and like the loving Father he is, God saw us afar off and welcomed us back home. 

Now you belong to Christ

When you gave your life to Christ, you became a daughter of God and inherited your royal position in his family. You didn’t have to earn it, he simply gave it to you because he loves you. 

Unfortunately, many of us don’t walk fully in our identities as daughters of God because we don’t really know what it means or we’re afraid that it doesn’t truly apply to us.

Related Articles About Identity and Purpose:

• 5 Empowering Truths About Your Identity in Christ
• 25 Bible Verses About Your Identity in Christ
• What Should You Do If You Struggle With Self-Worth?
• How to Confidently Walk In Your Calling Even If You Feel Unqualified
• Your Identity is in Christ and Not In Your Mistakes

---

What does it mean to be a daughter of God?

It means you have access.

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Ephesians 3:12 (ESV)

As a daughter of God, you have access to God through Christ. That’s a big deal. Let’s put it in simple terms. Unless you give me the keys to your home, I have to knock every time I want to come in. If I have the keys, I have the freedom to enter in without barriers or limitations. Spiritually, your salvation gives you access to God’s presence. You don’t have to wait at the door wondering if someone will let you in, you can enter freely.

And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

Hebrews 10:21-23 (NLT )

So, enter in. Don’t sit on the sidelines crippled by fear or shame. God has given you access and the privilege of knowing him. So, get to know him and enjoy the beauty of his presence. Read his word, talk to him in prayer, and listen to him as he speaks. Let him lead you and direct the path of your life. 

It means you have authority. 

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Matthew 18:18-20 (NLT)

As a daughter of God, you have spiritual authority. Yes, you. I know what you’re thinking: they have authority, not me. They’re close to God, not me. That’s not true. God has given you authority. But, you have to be willing to use it. 

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Luke 10:19 (ESV )

Too many of us are stuck and held back by things that God gave us the power to conquer. We’re looking for a spiritual leader to deliver us when God is literally singing songs of deliverance over us and looking to us to walk in our freedom. 

I remember a particular season of intense struggle and pain. I felt like the enemy and his companions was literally tossing me back and forth. I’m not exaggerating. I felt oppressed in my mind, crippled by fear and anxiety, and I couldn’t see a way out of the challenges I was going through. Of course, I prayed about these things. But, really, God wanted me to stand in my authority over them. 

He wanted me to see myself the way he saw me – as powerful, because he gave me power. Don’t get me wrong, praying is absolutely essential when we’re going through hard times. But, sometimes God wants us to declare the truth he’s already spoken and remind the forces of darkness that they are defeated. 

You don’t have to be a spiritual leader to do this. Simply know, believe, and speak God’s truth over your life. 

It means you have a family. 

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Next, being God’s daughter means that you belong to his family. You not only have access and authority in him, you belong. If you’ve struggled with rejection or feeling left out, please know that things don’t work that way in God’s kingdom. He never rejects his own. In fact, the Bible says that if you draw near to him, he will also draw near to you. 

When you understand that you belong to the family of God, you begin to live out of that truth. You no longer wear the weight of rejection, you now bear the mark of acceptance. Don’t live your life as a stranger when God has called you family. 

It means you are loved.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:16

Finally, you are loved. God loves you so much and there’s nothing you can do to earn his love. I can’t stress that enough.

So many of us are living to earn love instead of living out of love. We’re desperate to receive love that can never satisfy instead of grabbing a hold of the only love that does. 

You don’t have to work for love. As a daughter of God, love is your inheritance. Stop seeking love in all the wrong places and rest in God’s undeniable, unchanging love for you. 

Your responsibility as a daughter of God

Along with having many privileges as daughters of Christ, we also have an important responsibility to live our lives for God, practice obedience to his word, and spread his love and truth everywhere we go. We can’t sit around knowing this truth about who we are without doing something about it. James says that faith without works is dead. We should put our knowledge of who we are in Christ into action and live up to our God-given calling. 

Why does it matter that you’re a daughter of God?

Isn’t it enough to know that you’re a Christian? Why does it matter to know that you’re a daughter? Because, true Christianity is not like other religions or belief systems. You don’t just sign up to go to church once a week, pray to an invisible god, perform rites and rituals, and go home and live the same life you lived before. True Christianity is a constant flow of encounters with the Father. Yes, he is a Father and we are his children. It’s more than just a relationship between a god and his worshipers. It’s a relationship between Abba and his daughters. 

If you’re awake late at night and you can’t seem to fall asleep, God is the kind of Father that will sing a lullaby over you. And if your heart is broken, God delights in mending the pieces back together again. If you are sick, he will bandage your wounds. If you feel afraid, he covers you with his feathers. 

Sometimes, he corrects you, and while his correction doesn’t always feel good, he always does it with love. He gives you strength when the journey seems long. He leads you to sweet waters so that you can drink and he gives you rest for your soul. 

Many people resist the love of the Father because they don’t think they deserve it. But, as I mentioned earlier, there’s nothing you can do to deserve it. He gives it to you because he wants to. All you need to do is receive and walk in his love. 

Now you know, your position as a daughter of God holds pretty serious weight. It’s a royal position that shapes how you choose to live your life. Walk proudly in your identity as God’s daughter and don’t let anything cause you to lose sight of this truth.

If you don’t know what it means to be a daughter of God and you want to be, please reach out through email shante@herstyleoftea.com and I can point you in the right direction towards following Jesus and receiving your identity as his daughter.