The Inheritance
Pray before you study that the Lord will open your eyes to the wealth you have as His child, and that you respond with courage where fear has always reigned!
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“I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore,” Psalm 86:12.
We have a desire to give our children an inheritance, a desire for them to somehow have “more” than we had. That is a God-given desire! While it is a good thing, a blessing, for parents to leave their children with a physical inheritance (2 Corinthians 12:14), it is not the greatest blessing they can receive.
There is an abundant spiritual inheritance that God intends each of His children to be lavished with from Him, and to pass on to our children from Him so that He can add even more to it in their lifetime, and that is what we will study today.
If you had been given a vast inheritance, which guaranteed that all of your living expense would be covered for all of your life, you would learn to not worry about money, wouldn’t you? Maybe you would test the waters first, spending very little, or maybe buying enormous amounts, just to try it out and see if it really “works.” After a number of years, it might be safe to say that you would rely on those funds being there, if you used them, and would be involved by that time with many other interests, because your need would be supplied at every turn.
That’s kind of the way God has in mind for us to see His inheritance for us. His desire for us to be “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1) is so fervent that He has gone to great lengths to see that you hear of it, can read of it, and He is with you now to enable you to grasp this news with your heart.
To see what this inheritance means for us and for our children, let’s first find a contrast. Many times you can see truth clearer by looking at its opposite.
Jeremiah 16:19 says, “The Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things.”” Lies make a people poor and miserable, yet they are the inheritance of Gentiles (those who do not know God). This is the lot we deserve, seeing that our old nature is Gentile, and we have all taken part in this heritage of deceit! But the cross of our God has changed everything for us. By faith, we embrace the inheritance He speaks of in His Word, because we believe that His death was enough to redeem us from our sins completely!
Our inheritance is of the greatest value, of priceless measure! We don’t receive an unprofitable plundering now that we belong to Jesus, but our inheritance is vast and beautiful. In Jesus, we have everything, in fact, we have Him.
Please find Genesis 15:1 in your Bible. What did God give Abram as his protection and his “exceedingly great reward”?
This is repeated for us in the following verse. Please mark what is most meaningful to you:
“O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance,” Psalm 16:5,6.
How can we fathom what treasure we have in God who gives Himself to us? And God Himself has an inheritance! Please record it from Psalm 33:12.
When God speaks of nation here, He is not only talking about the earthly nation you are a citizen of, but of the spiritual citizenship of those who trust in Him; “But you are…a holy nation, His own special people,” 1 Peter 2:9. These are “the people God has chosen as His own inheritance”! This is the beginning of the fulfillment of Song of Solomon 6:3, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
Just as an earthly heritage has principles, so does our inheritance in Christ. God uses the tactile to reveal the invisible to us.
What can be the result of rushing newborn faith? See Proverbs 20:21.
Does having a spiritual inheritance necessarily mean we are ready to use it wisely? See Ecclesiastes 7:11a.
In Psalm 37:11, we learn that our inheritance (because we are in the Meek One, Jesus!) includes the ________________. In the same Psalm, verses 29 and 34, we are to inherit ______________. This is a type, or picture, for us of an unseen reality (1 Corinthians 10:11). The Promised Land to the Jew was a physical land, Canaan. This pictures what it is in the unseen realm; it is a spiritual land, the human soul.
Please turn to 1 Samuel 17. Here is a great likeness to how the inheritance of our soul is won. Please understand that David was already living in the Promised Land, as you are already saved eternally if you have received Jesus as your Savior. The battle we will look at is not about salvation, but sanctification, the process by which we are set apart for God, that is, the areas of our soul, our life, which are won for the reign of Jesus.
To catch us up on what is happening: David has been sent to check on his brothers who are in the army of Israel, but upon his arrival, he finds an alarming situation. The people who have set themselves up as enemies of God, the Philistines, have denied the right of Israel to take the land. They have always lived there! How dare these Jews come in and claim that they now own the area! But the Philistines overlooked one detail.
God is the Creator of the land, and He gave it to the Jews! From an earthly perspective, we would agree with the Philistines. From a heavenly one, we will side with God! He is painting a picture here that several thousand years later we will need for invisible warfare.
Here is the spiritual likeness: Just as the Philistines didn’t want to let go of their hold on the land, so your old nature wants possession of your life and would deter you from allowing Jesus to have control over you. But God has given a promise to those who receive Him in Joshua 1:3, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.” This means that any area of your life that you recognize is not given over to Jesus, you have the Lord’s authority to see that it is, whether it be anger, lust, gossip or boasting, deception, coveting or maybe an issue with a certain person or a daunting fear. But the thing that is showing itself will not give up easily.
Please read 1 Samuel 17:4, and 8-10. This giant pictures a temptation that tries to intimidate you into leaving the battle in its control. What does the enemy say to “cut a deal”?
Can you identify an issue in your life where the enemy is suggesting you make a deal with him so that you will be afraid, and allow the issue to stay? David sees that the entire army is paralyzed with fear, but his own vision is full of the faithfulness of the Lord and the command He gave to take the land, little by little. The situation you are facing will intimidate you unless you stay your mind on Jesus, fill your heart with His songs, and your mind with His Word.
Please read 1 Samuel 17:39,40. The king’s armor didn’t suit David because he wasn’t used to them. God had been preparing David for this battle in advance, though he hadn’t realized it, and he would fight it in his own clothing with his own tool: a slingshot.
Is there someone urging you to handle the battle you face in a way that you are uncomfortable with, maybe instructing you to use a certain ritual or specific words or counsel that seem to lessen your focus on Jesus Himself?
Read 1 Samuel 17:41-51. The enemy tried to distract David from his focus, but David spoke words of faith in God and matched those words with action. He picked up 5 smooth stones and ran to the battle line, confident in God to deliver His people into the land, and he took down that giant and cut off his head!
To aim for the head is to aim for the thoughts. When David destroyed the giant’s ability to think, the Philistine army fled.
And that’s the way it is in battle for our inheritance. We must believe God’s thoughts and forsake our own. That is destroying the giant’s ability to think through our fleshly mind. Believing Truth gains ground in the mind, and our obedience enables us to control the land of the soul under the command of Jesus!
Please turn to Psalm 47:4. Please rewrite the first part of this verse, but where it is written our and us, insert my and me.
Your very situation is what God will use to give you your inheritance. He will choose it for you, and where He has you, that is where you will find the thoughts He wants you to take in His name, the land He wants you to battle for and put under His control. Your time must not be spent looking longingly at someone else’s life. See what good things the Lord has for you! He has tailored your inheritance for your personality, your gifting, and your ability! And He has given you the authority not only to take this ground, but at some point, to hand it down to your posterity.
Posterity is different than ancestors in that to see your ancestors, you must look back. But to see your posterity, you must look ahead to what is yet unseen, and by faith put your trust in God for those who are to come.
From these verses, tell what the Lord also gives to us as inheritance:
Psalm 127:3
Matthew 19:29
Matthew 25:34
Psalm 61:5 also tells us that God has given us the ability to gain what someone else has fought for. The Lord teaches us through others! We need each other in the Body of Christ!
But Psalm 119:111 tells us a heritage that we must take. What is it?
None of us are born understanding our Maker or being in fellowship with God. But He has spoken to reveal Himself, to teach us of His enemy, and of our own condition in His Word, the Bible, and these are His testimonies. These are the inheritance we must willingly partake of, and to seek Him that we might believe Him! And this is up to us to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest,” (Martin Luther). He will bless what we will invest! God is so willing to give us His inheritance, but He wants us to walk with Him, to join Him in this endeavor. God’s Word is our heritage forever!
Isaiah 54:17 tells us what inheritance God will work in us as we take His Word! He will so change us by His power that we will stand strong, trusting Him, even against spiritual weapons in the invisible realm, and every person who rises up to condemn us, because we belong to Jesus! This is not a way to protect our tendencies and desires from criticism! It is the way we will be able to reach out to a fearful and dying world to offer them life and hope in Jesus who died and rose again for them!
Please mark the things that mean most to you in this verse, and don’t forget to make special note of this verse in your Bible. It is one you will want to remember!
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord,” Isaiah 54:17.
From Ephesians 1:11, you obtain your inheritance now, since God predestines by His foreknowledge! This is part of taking His Word! You have amazing riches given by Jesus so that you can take ground in your life from control of the enemy and put it under the control of Christ for now as well as in eternity! It is all about believing His Word, and to do this, you must read it.
And what you take by faith now will be there to greet you when you come!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you,” 1 Peter 1:3,4.
Surely, we can praise God with David and say, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance!”
Will you join me to pray?
My King Jesus, Thank You so much for Your provision for me, Your servant. You have seen to it that I have an inheritance! I am Your child, You promise me a place in Your kingdom, and an inheritance that will never become old! Please cause me to believe You enough to call on You to take the thoughts that come my way under Your control. I see that Your Word is so important to my life. Help me to reflect Your faithfulness by keeping a set time with You each day to pray and read Your Word. I no longer want to be afraid, but to act in courage, putting my trust in what You say! I worship You, my God! You are my exceedingly great Reward! In the name of Jesus, A-men.
1 comment:
Amen! Beautiful post!
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