Laying Hold of your inheritance

The Christian life is more than just getting your destination sorted out. God’s kingdom is to be experienced now! God wants you to lay hold of your destiny – and there is more to your destiny than your destination! Thank God every believer is heavenbound and we have assurance in our hearts.

However, while heaven is secured and your destination is assured by the blood of Jesus, your destiny is in your hands.

It depends on how much you give God here on earth. Furthermore, your destiny is not only something in the future life – you have a destiny to rise to here and now! God has a plan for you here on earth and the time to start living it is now because it will be too late when you get to heaven. How you live on earth will affect your life in heaven.

You can’t separate yourself from the love of God

God’s love is so strong that nothing shall separate us from Christ Jesus. Some say, “Neither death nor life nor any other external thing can separate me from God’s love – but that does not mean that I could not slip and fall away from God.” They believe you can separate yourself from God! But when Paul says, “nothing shall separate us” he means nothing – not even himself. Your salvation has been earned and bought by Jesus himself. It has absolutely nothing to do with you – not your efforts, not your righteousness and not even your ability to hold on to God. Your security is in the blood of Jesus Christ.

God’s plan is that we should look at Jesus

By faith, your destination is assured. As you go through life you’re going to need this encouragement. In those final few moments before your soul slips into eternity, there’s only going to be one thing that will comfort you and assure you – Jesus died for you! That’s the assurance and that’s enough! Your destination is assured.

You are saved by faith and not by works.

Heaven is not your reward – heaven is where you will receive your reward, your inheritance. Jesus said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). Your reward is given to you on the basis of what you have done with your life on the earth.

Remember this, because we are all going to need much encouragement as we live for Jesus in these days. The temperature is hotting up, spiritually speaking. The enemies of the gospel are more and more active, society is becoming more and more secular and godlessness is becoming more and more evident. We need to hold fast the confession of our faith in Jesus. We need to constantly remind ourselves why we should live for Jesus. In the heat of the moment, under the fierce temptations that are coming our way we need to say, “I’m not going to lose my reward. No way am I going to mess this up.”

You can lose your inheritance, but you can also add to it. You can live in such a way that your inheritance in heaven grows. That’s why we should live a life of holiness on the earth. Jesus is coming back and he’s going to bring his rewards with him. If the worst thing that could ever happen to anybody is to miss heaven, then the second worst thing is for us to lose our inheritance! And to arrive in heaven and be told, “Well, you made it, and that’s by the grace of God. But look what you’ve lost!”

It’s time for us to be heavenly-minded

Our life on the earth is a preparation, but heaven is forever! It’s time now for us to be heavenly-minded and to understand that every day we’re laying up treasures for ourselves in heaven. That’s the only thing that makes sense of some of our experiences on earth.

If we suffer with Christ, we’re also going to reign with him. If we crucify the flesh, we’re going to be raised to a higher level in the resurrection. There are degrees of reward in heaven. Some people don’t like that teaching because we’re living in an egalitarian society where everything is supposed to be equal. We’re all equally valued, equally loved and equally saved but in heaven there are going to be degrees of glory coming our way. The Bible does not really spell it out, but, in some real way, there are going to be distinctions in heaven. Some people are going to receive a greater reward, and some people are even going to suffer loss! They will be saved, but their inheritance will be lost!

Don’t let the devil cheat you out of your inheritance!

The devil will lie to you and say, “Oh, this little sin doesn’t matter very much! You can live for yourself. You’re saved anyway, it doesn’t matter how you live. You can get involved in this wrong relationship. God loves you anyway.” Don’t be fooled. If you listen to the lies of the devil and start living like that, you’re letting him eat away at your inheritance. And on that day you will find that even what you had will be taken away from you, forever! And there’s nothing you will be able to do about it!

Rewards are not just about life in the future but also about your present experience, because your inheritance includes an earthly experience. It’s not enough to tell somebody they will have an inheritance when their father dies if they are broke now!

Jesus has died and been raised from the dead. Like a good father he says, “I know you are going to come into this fortune when I die, but I care about you now – you need educating, you need somewhere to live. Here’s a portion of your inheritance now”. He’s given us a slice of heaven now, a portion of our future inheritance now, so that we can live a life of victory and power and blessing!

Your inheritance or your reward is basically future, but you can see it – it is foreseeable! I can’t tell you exactly what it’s going to be like or how it’s going to work. But we know that it’s there and it’s ready for us. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 Paul said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to ns through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

A taste of heaven!

Your inheritance in the future is also foreseeable! If you taste something, you don’t eat it all. What a taste of heaven we have upon this earth – it’s not all of heaven, but it’s a bite here on the earth.

The experience of our inheritance is tied to the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “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.” (Ephesians 1:3)

A spiritual blessing is a blessing that is activated, and released in our lives by the Holy Spirit – and God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. There is a sense of fullness here. The fullness we see is only a foretaste in comparison with the fullness that shall be!

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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14) The promised Holy Spirit is part of our inheritance as a Christian and that’s what we experience on the earth. As we seek him and get filled with him we experience more and more of him. So when we receive the Spirit, we have a deposit that guarantees our inheritance, “Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23)

We have the firstfruits of the Spirit

That word “firstfruits” is a very interesting word. The firstfruits is that part of the harvest that ripens ahead of the rest and is gathered in first. You know two things when you’ve got firstfruits in your hand:

1.The harvest is COMING! The firstfruits point to the rest of the harvest coming in.

2.It also tells you that what you’ve got in your hand is also real harvest NOW!

So, the Holy Spirit is given to us as part of the inheritance that is yet to come. And we, by the Spirit, taste the powers of the age to come. The Spirit brings a touch of heaven to us. Occasionally, that’s manifested in amazing ways through the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit. These are times when God’s presence is almost tangible, he is saying, “Yes, I’ve got something for you now. And you can taste your future inheritance, now!” When you are born again by the Spirit, your life should bring forth the fruit of good deeds done in faith! It’s important not just for you, but for the unbelievers! James chooses his words very carefully when he says, “You say I have faith, and you have actions. Show me your faith without actions and I will show you my faith by my actions” (James 2:18)

Let others see your faith in action

James is not talking about having a ‘good works competition’ in the church. Neither is he talking about asking yourself, “How many good deeds have I done?” to see if you really deserve to come to God. It’s not like that.

However, when you put our faith into action others see. That’s what actions are for! Your deeds done in faith demonstrate the genuineness of your faith to others. Jesus says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Our inheritance and our reward are conditional. It depends on what we do with what we’ve been given. We are going to be judged before the seat of Jesus. We are going to be judged according to what we have done with what we’ve been given.

The apostle Paul was correcting some worldly thinking in the church of Corinth when he said in 1 Corinthians 3:8, “For to those to whom much has been given, much is required!” These people were very worldly and they were fighting among themselves.

Paul reminded them that one person has one task and another person has a different task. That’s why you have different types of ministry, and you shouldn’t prefer one above the other. You should receive them all. In Corinth Paul was the apostle who planted, and Apollos was the teacher who came along and watered so that they would grow.

Each one will receive a reward according to their own labour

Paul was saying that each one will receive his reward according to his own labour, and then he takes it further, “Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.” (1 Corinthians 3:13-14).

He is talking here about how you build on the foundation of faith. Each of us as Christians has received a foundation. His name is Jesus. How we live our Christian lives determines the nature of our reward.

So Paul is saying that there are two kinds of people, and they are distinguished by how they build. You can build with things that last – silver and gold and precious stones, so that when the fire comes the silver endures, the gold stays there, and the precious stones are not destroyed. But there is another way of building – with wood, hay or stubble. And, if you build with those building materials, when the fire comes, they will be burnt up. That is to do with the judgement that is to come to us as Christians. It is the judgement of rewards. It’s standing before the judgement seat of Christ to receive the reward for the things done in our lifetime, whether good or bad. And in that day in heaven, when we stand, it will be awesome.

Our God is a consuming fire. If we dare to bring into his presence our works which are done casually, with loose motivation and without the genuine application of the love of Christ, those works will be burnt up. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:15)

Don’t lose your inheritance!

Something will be removed – your inheritance! You shall be saved, but your rewards will be lost. Don’t lose your rewards. Instead, live so that when you get to heaven and you’ve passed the test, you will receive a great reward.

Speaking about this whole issue Jesus said, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 5:20).

God is calling you to live the kind of life that sees the kingdom of God happen on earth so that you can rise up to lay hold of every bit of your inheritance. He wants you to endure in faithfulness right up until the end, so that when you enter the kingdom of heaven, you will experience the full inheritance that he has purposed for you to receive on that day.

Let’s get rich spiritually so that we can have an abundant inheritance in the kingdom of God! It’s time to lay hold of your inheritance!

The post Laying Hold of your inheritance appeared first on Colin Dye.

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ Isaiah 58:8-9a

Religion, faith in God or following Christ is not a matter of religious observance as if you can treat God like a slot machine. You cannot make Him to do anything for you. He is no genie in a bottle that you can manipulate with the right magic words and force Him to manifest Himself and say, “Your wish is my command”. It’s exactly the opposite – we have been created for Him, for His glory.

But once you get that right, you will orientate your life towards God seeking Him for Himself. You will learn to love Him and live for Him, just because He is who He is. And you will have an amazing discovery – God’s way works.

At the heart of it all is living right – walking humbly before God, caring for the poor and delighting yourself in the Lord.

The prophetic voice calling us to this lifestyle is being raised today. Just as in Bible times, God is laying His heart bare, exposing His burden for the poor and needy, for the weak and vulnerable in our world. Along with this comes a stern warning from the Lord of His judgement upon a careless people who are content with playing religion while neglecting the real cause of Christ – to make His love known to the world in word and deed.

When religion becomes a sin

Isaiah 58 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible dealing with the pursuit of godless religion at the expense of genuine compassion for the poor. This prophetic word begins with an exposure of the sin and unrighteousness of God’s people in Isaiah’s day. Above all, the prophet exposes the religious pretenders of his generation – those who were extremely religious but whose religion was of absolutely no value to God, themselves or others.

Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Isaiah 58:1

They had a form of religious externalism which loved the performance of religious acts but was a superficial cover for a superstitious and selfish way of life.

The prophet observed the people during one of the fast days – one of the religious “bank holidays’ in which people fasted supposedly to seek the face of God. He saw the utter futility of what they were doing. They were going about it in totally the wrong way. And it was all a fruitless and frustrating exercise.

This cuts to the heart of much of contemporary Christianity and shows us how to bring correction to our lives and find true satisfaction in Christ. This word from Isaiah exposes the same thing today where people who, despite being extremely religious, find no satisfaction in religion, because it’s not working – God is not, it seems responding to them.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ Isaiah 58:3

God doesn’t play audience to our religious performances

At the root of all such religion is the vain attempt to get God to comply with our wishes. But He is not our servant. The Christian faith is more about what we can give to God in loving response to His grace in our lives than trying to get His attention through our religious deeds. God resists all forms of religious ritual which are not a genuine expression of the heart. He never succumbs to religious pressure to perform or to our attempts at spiritual manipulation.

Sunday Christianity or bank holiday religion never works. Mere religious fast days hold no value with God and carry no currency of heaven.

Sunday Christianity or bank holiday religion never works. Mere religious fast days hold no value with God and carry no currency of heaven.

Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? Isaiah 58:5

The fasting God has chosen

Instead of the hyperactivity of false religion God calls for genuine spirituality and leaves us in no doubt just what that is:

Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Isaiah 58: 6-7

Here, true worship is measured not in any outward acts of religion but the simple expression of genuine compassion on others. This is in line with the word of other prophets:

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

James shows that this is also a New Testament matter:

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27

The test is as simple as it is searching. How you deal with people and how you express your care and love for your neighbour is an expression of what you really think about God.

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 1 John 4:20

The fasting God has chosen is to use every opportunity in your life of faith to reach out to people in need.

This is not mere moralism, or the social gospel or salvation by good works. Rather, it is the expression your love for God as you respond to His love in your heart.

Working to change society

Our faith is to be made practical in the modern world of social injustice and pressure on the weak. God wants us to help change wrong structures, to overturn situations and oppose people who destroy or diminish the liberty and well-being of others.

Reaching out to individual need

There are three simple things we can work together to do which are guaranteed to make a difference to others and bring God’s blessing. God calls us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked.

HEAVEN BREAKS OPEN

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ Isaiah 58:8-9a

What a contrast this is to futile religion and our vain attempts to get God to bless us through spiritual manipulation. Once we stop trying to make God respond to us and instead respond to Him, once we stop trying to get God to serve us and we begin truly to serve Him, we find heaven open and His blessing come pouring down upon us.

What you can never receive by any acts of religion God will pour out upon you just because you fulfil His conditions and express His heart to the poor.

Look at the blessings which come to you this way – that is, as a by-product and not from intentionally looking for these things.

ISAIAH 58 – 12 BLESSINGS OF AN OPEN HEAVEN

1. A NEW BEGINNING IN LIFE

Then your light shall break forth like the morning (verse 8).

God will give you to a new day full of promise and joy.

2. PERSONAL HEALING AND RESTORATION

Your healing shall spring forth speedily (verse 8).

Your healing and restoration will come swiftly like fresh flesh growing over an open wound.

3. SECURITY AND PROTECTION

And your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard (verse 8).

Righteousness will be your protection from behind and the glory of the Lord your protection in front. This means the Lord in all His glory is going before you to bring you security and protection.

4. FREE FLOWING FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD AND ANSWERED PRAYER

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’ (verse 9).

God will respond to you and will always be ready, just as a servant is, to act to fulfil your need.

5. CLEAR GUIDANCE IN LIFE

Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually (verses 10-11).

This is the promise of light in the darkness of the midnight hour when you don’t know where to turn and you don’t know what to do. He will give you light, comfort, guidance and direction.

6. DIVINE PROVISION IN TIME OF NEED

And satisfy your soul in drought (verse 11).

This is not just referring to what the Lord will give, but where and when He will give it – when everything appears most hopeless and most bleak. In the dry and barren times God will come and meet your need.

7. INNER STRENGTH FOR THE BATTLE

And strengthen your bones (verse 11).

This is the inner strength which you need to help you keep going day by day in the heat of the battle, in the midst of the conflict. When you grow weary, the Lord will give you this inner strength. It’s the life of God inside you – love when you are not loved, peace when you are troubled and the joy which is your strength in times of sorrow.

8. CONSTANT REFRESHMENT

You shall be like a well-watered garden. And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail (verse 11).

When all around you is failing and resources are running dry you will enjoy the constant flow of refreshing from the Lord.

9. RESTORATION FROM THE PAST AND PROVISION FOR THE FUTURE

Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to dwell in (verse 12).

God promises you recovery from past disasters in your life and provision for your future well-being.

10. GENUINE SATISFACTION

Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord (verse 14).

Nothing is more frustrating than fruitless, dissatisfying religion. It is sheer drudgery and an absolute bore. Still worse it is deeply disturbing. Because if God appears not to have the answers, or not to be adequate for our lives, then where is the answer to be found? But the real joy is to discover your total sufficiency, and your 100% delight in the Lord. This is the real secret of life and living: God only promises Himself – and that’s enough!

True worship is absolute delight in God and in God alone – without one hint of idolatry in your heart.

11. CONFIDENCE IN LIFE

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth (verse 14).

God promises you success, confidence, a positive outlook, a positive outcome in all things. These things are not to be judged superficially or outwardly in some worldly sense, but God will give you the true, deep joy of real confidence in Himself which no one can take away from you.

12. ENJOYING THE COVENANT BLESSINGS OF GOD

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father (verse14).

This is the promise which lies at the heart of the Bible – God choosing a people, separating them to Himself, and pouring His goodness and blessings into their lives. The covenant conditions of faithfulness, heart relationship with God and true obedience, qualify you to enjoy His covenant blessings.

And at the heart of these is the promise of God: “I will be your God, and you will be My people”. This blessing is His presence and His overwhelming goodness saturating every part your life.

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A Touch of Heaven on Earth

Key Thought

To walk worthy of the calling you have received means that you are called and empowered to live out, through your day-to-day experience, who you are in Christ. It means that your practical walk on this earth reflects your spiritual and heavenly position in Christ.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for who I am in Christ. I choose the path of love and humility so that through my life today I can reflect a little bit of heaven into this empty world.

Discipleship Steps

To be heavenly-minded is not only right; it is essential. But it is not right to leave it like that. We must also try to reflect the conditions and attitudes of heaven in our daily life on earth. That means consciously walking in the light of our heavenly position and showing the reality of our faith through daily examples of the difference Christ makes to us. Much of this has to do with the way we establish, grow and maintain relationships with people. Love just about covers it all.

Read: Ephesians 4:1-3

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In the last few years, God has blessed our network with some remarkable visitations. We’ve had seasons of Holy laughter, Oil on hands and many revival healings. Yet, as wonderful as these times were, today God wants to lift us into a higher realm – a realm where we will see the throne and the One who sits on it.

He wants the glimpses we have had of His glory to become habitual times in His presence. And so He is stirring up a holy dissatisfaction in His people. He is calling us to new levels – of fellowship and communion, worship and intimacy, wisdom and revelation power. This will bring us to even higher realms of divine disclosure.

Stir up the promises

A door opened in Heaven

What are the things God has spoken to you in the past? What are the promises He made to you when you met Him in prayer? Remember the seasons when you were so anointed that you preached the gospel to your friends and saw them come to Christ? Now is the time to go through your notebooks and remind yourself of these things! Begin to lay hold of everything He has ever spoken to you. It’s only when you learn to maintain what you attain that He will bring you into new things.

Remember Peter in the boat with the other disciples? He is on familiar territory and he’s bored with the ordinary. Then a holy dissatisfaction rises up on the inside of him. And, almost in answer to this holy dissatisfaction, along comes Jesus – walking on the water! What does this do? It forces Peter to sit up and take notice.

Can you see that Jesus did not perform this miracle simply to prove His deity? The key to understanding God’s motivation behind all signs and wonders is found in Mark 6:52, ”They had not understood about the loaves. Just before the disciples saw Jesus walk on water, the feeding of the five thousand had taken place. And they hadn’t understood that this miracle was not just about the provision of bread.

Your Supernatural Calling

Jesus had blessed the bread – but the miracle of increase took place in the hands of the disciples! Jesus was saying to them, ”I have called you to preach the gospel to the poor. This is your calling”. But because they had not understood, Jesus decided to confront them with a level of the supernatural that they couldn’t ignore. He decided to scare heaven into them by walking on the water! He wanted them to know that there is only one way to reach a dead and dying world and that’s through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.

So what does Peter do in response? He rises to the challenge and says to Jesus, “Lord if it is You, command me come to You on the water”.

In this simple statement he gives us three keys to the miraculous. Firstly, he says, “Lord if it is You”. I predict that in this season of Holy Spirit visitation, the greatest miracles will be done not by the leadership but by all God’s people. Therefore each of us must ask Him what He’s calling us to do in this miracle hour.

Secondly, he says, “Command me.” Peter is offering Jesus his obedience. In matters of the miraculous, obedience is as important as faith. If we are not working in obedience to Him, God is limited in what He can do through us. Thirdly, Peter says, “Command me to come to you”. In other words,” I want to be with you Lord.”

Experience His passion and power

Being with Jesus should be the overriding motive for all that we do. The glory and beauty of the miraculous is that we find Jesus there and experience His power and His compassion.

God wants to restore the supernatural to the church in Britain and Europe. The door open in heaven is for us to see the One who sits on the throne and desire to be with Him. As the Holy Spirit calls us into higher fellowship, we realise that Jesus is the glorious point of it all. Be bold! Go through the open door to be with Jesus, as Peter did, and see the miracles go with you.

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Painting by Beth Larsen entitled "Heavenly Worship"

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When Heaven touches earth

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The Father requires worship

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