What An Inheritance!

WHAT AN INHERITANCE!

By Rodney W. Francis

Recently I was blessed and challenged by the following Scripture: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace (“kindness, favour”) of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched (“to make rich”) in everything by Him in all utterance (“speech”) and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in (or “among”) you, so that you come short (“to fall short of; to be in want of, to lack, miss” – Bullinger’s) in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called (“chosen”) into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:4-9, NKJV).

I encourage you to take some time to consider and meditate on these verses. They tell us what Jesus Christ has already provided for us through His grace. He has so worked in our lives that we are left in no doubt that Jesus is real and has worked a wonderful work of redemption in us. He has poured into our lives everything we need so that we can abound in the gifts He has given us, which when they are functioning, enable us to share the revelation of Jesus Christ to others. When we are functioning as we ought, then not only do others benefit, but we ourselves are blessed with further revelation from the heart of God. It reminds me of the time when God spoke to me and encouraged me to keep functioning in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He told me that every time I stepped out and exercised them, I was actually “untying His hands to set my future up for me”! I had never seen it like that before. When I considered what He said I could see that God had blessed me abundantly as a result of my obedience to the Holy Spirit. Exercising the Spiritual Gifts opened up the world for me to minister in more than 40 nations (some numbers of times). Praise to the Lord!

STIR UP THE GIFT OF GOD WITHIN YOU!

God so believes in you and me that He has entrusted us with His gifts and enabled us to operate in them in His name and to His glory. We have to be very careful not to “Neglect (“be careless with”) the gift that is in us” (1 Timothy 4:14). In the light of what Jesus has already accomplished for us ~ and given to us ~ how can we sit idle or passive and not use the gifts He has given to us? It is no wonder that Paul exhorted Timothy: “Therefore I remind you to stir up (“rekindle”) the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power (“dunamis” – “power capable of anything; ability to perform anything; power in action” – Bullinger’s) and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel . . .” (2 Timothy 1:6-10).

God has given to every Christian believer gifts. They are the gifts of the Holy Spirit and He and those gifts live inside us ~ right now! Whatever God gives to us is very important. Therefore we have the responsibility to stir up those gifts and to let them function in the purpose for which they were given. We are not waiting for God to bless us. He has already “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ . . . 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, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise . . .” (see Ephesians Chapter 1). What an inheritance!

When we consider what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us, there is no room whatever for doubt and negativity for a Holy Spirit-filled Christian!
The key is to “see” more of Jesus and less of ourselves.
Christianity is not about our ability, but it is God’s supernatural ability in and through us being outlived. Hallelujah!

What a privilege is ours! Just think: The God of all heaven and earth so believes in you and me that He has poured into us whatever we need to represent Him here on this earth as true ambassadors (“one who has been invested with power and authority to speak and act on behalf of the kingdom they represent” – in our case the Kingdom of God/Heaven!) of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

We are special people!
God believes in us!
Do you know who you are?
Do you believe what the Bible says about you more than what you think about you?
Confess the truth of the word of God!
It is the knowing of the truth that sets us free! (John 8:31-32).
What an inheritance!

When we believe and accept the truth of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us, then we become a much more positive person; for we know that we are people of divine destiny that God has invested Himself in us to enable us to make a huge difference in this world of darkness. We are no longer part of the problem, but part of the answer, for we carry the risen Jesus Christ, God the father and the Mighty Holy Spirit with us wherever we go. Think of that! What an inheritance is ours right now!

We cannot lose for winning when we believe and accept what Jesus Christ has already accomplished for us!

THE BIG CHALLENGE

The big challenge we all have is to make sure we use the inheritance which Jesus has purchased for us through His finished work at Calvary, His rising from the dead, and the sending of the Mighty Holy Spirit to empower us to do His will. An inheritance is not much use until it is put into practice. When we are actively involved in doing the works of God, then not only do we benefit in many different ways, but God is glorified in and through our lives. The inheritance we have received has been bestowed upon us by the King of kings, the Lord of lords ~ The God of the whole earth!

He personally chose you and me to give us this inheritance so we can be His true ambassadors on the earth today.
Is there any greater honour?

Let us all rise more and more to the challenge of fulfilling the purposes of God for us in the here and now. We are always the winner when we are obeying the very purposes for which God created us. Do not let doubt, negativity, or criticism from others rob you of your calling in God. It is more important than anything mankind can bestow upon us.

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God ~ and righteousness and sanctification and redemption ~ that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Now you know why He chose you and me! God bless you.

"The Gospel Faith Messenger" Ministry. , New Zealand. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.