A college student was reading the newspaper and found her name in a list of people who had inherited money that had not yet been claimed because they could not be located. This young woman found out that she was heir to an estate, a sizable sum of money.
What had kept her from using her inheritance all those years?
She just didn’t know...
She could not use that money because she was ignorant of its existence, even though the one who left it to her wanted her to have it to enjoy. It was sitting in a bank account with her name on it, but how could she withdraw from an account she didn’t know existed?
This is a picture of many born-again Christians, and it is NOT pleasing to God our Father.
OUR INHERITANCE: THE BLESSING
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ ... having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will ... In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will ...”
(Ephesians 1:3, 5, & 11)
Our first birth brought with it a family. So did our second birth.
We may not have had rich parents, but with our second birth we inherited a Father who is Creator and Owner of all that is on this planet and where He lives the streets are made of gold! The great difference or separation between these two families is because of Adam’s sin in the garden. From that point on, God, His Kingdom, and His ways, would operate in another realm, apart from the five-sense realm that we are so familiar with here on earth.
Everything in God’s Kingdom flows from what He says, whether in Heaven or on earth. Jesus said: “... It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
Just like our example of the college student that had no knowledge of her inheritance until the day she read about it, so it is with every Christian. It is up to each member of Christ’s Body to know what we inherited with our second birth, and the ONLY way to know that is through reading and studying the Bible for ourselves first, and second, to receive from the five ministry gifts: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. (Ephesians 4:11)
BUT ...
If the five-fold ministers you are listening to have no knowledge of their inheritance rights and privileges for themselves, they will teach error to the ignorant who never take the time to read and study for themselves, and so, ignorance and religious tradition gets passed down from one generation to the next generation. This is NOT pleasing to our Father.
It is not up to your Pastor to do all the studying for you.
When The Church assembles together to celebrate and to hear the Word, it should be in addition to what they have been receiving the other six days of the week. In this way, each of us make it easier for our Pastors to preach.
Why? Because we are good ground!
In other words your personal Teacher who lives with you has been spending quality time with you every day, plucking up weeds from how you think, and planting truth in your heart all week!
YOUR INHERITANCE
When Christ died, an inheritance was laid up for every Believer. Think about that. Provision for every need was given before you were born.
But you won’t know about it unless you know what God has said in the scriptures. And you can’t enjoy what you don’t know you have.
Just like our college student had an account, we as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17) have been freely given divine power and all things that pertain to life and godliness.
“... His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)
So what are we saying?
We have an inheritance now! We don’t inherit it after we die.
We inherited it when Jesus died!
This of course includes eternal life. Jesus covered it all!
If you don’t know all that you inherited when you asked Jesus to come into your heart, you won’t enjoy the provisions Jesus desires you to experience now — the abundant life — (John 10:10,) but will instead think your inheritance is only something to be enjoyed when you get to Heaven ... after you die.
This is incorrect thinking. It comes out of this world’s system of erroneous religious beliefs because it is not based on scripture. (Romans 12:2)
And if you don’t know how to make a withdrawal from your inheritance you won’t be able to take advantage of it. That does not please God. He sent His Son to the cross to redeem you from the curse of the law AND so you can partake of the Blessing of Abraham in your life! (Galatians 3:8-14)
Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!
Just like our college student found her name on that list and began to partake of her inheritance and enjoy life, you too have an inheritance from your Heavenly Father as His heir! (Romans 8:17)
Therefore, be aware, know, understand, believe, take action, dig into the Word and find out all that belongs to you as a joint heir of Jesus! This all means, “The just shall live by (his) faith! (Hebrews 10:38) And that does please God!!! (Hebrews 11:6)
“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)
Your inheritance account comes with a withdrawal slip: FAITH!
Example of a withdrawal slip ... Faith in 3 John 2
"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
Here's another one: Faith in Joshua 1:8
And: Faith in Philippians 4:13
There are thousands of promises in God's Word waiting to be claimed by faith!
SUGGESTED ASSIGNMENT
Please scroll down and read the previous lesson on faith. Study how faith works and put it into action. Release the Word of Faith out of your mouth. Call things that be not as though they were! Use your authority as a Believer, dear heart.
When you get to Heaven and find out ALL that Jesus provided that you did not take advantage of, you cannot lie to Him and say, “Well, I just didn’t know.” Selah
PRAYER WITH PURPOSE
Praying Isaiah 40:3 - 11 for:
The Glorious Church
The Lost
Elected Leaders
Copyright © 2013 – 2017 Prayer with Purpose; prayerwithpurpose.org