…BUT AS FOR ME…
If we, all here, went to Sunday School, perhaps 100% of us have finished that title in your head, in relation to a Bible Verse, right…right?
On a lighter note…
To the main event…
We are all Children of GOD by the fact that HE is The FATHER of all.
HE created us all for sure and we can identify with HIS works of creation in us.
But, do all Children have an inheritance?
Or are we benefitting from what The FATHER is faithful to give us on Earth, that will end as soon as our life on Earth is over?
How about after that?
Let me share with you a few verses in relation to today’s teaching.
If you have a Bible, have it with you to the end and mark the verses or write them down for further reference as we go on.
You will need that.
“But he answered his Father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
Luke 15:29-32 NIV
“And you also were included in CHRIST when you heard the message of truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. When you believed, you were marked in HIM with a seal, the promised HOLY SPIRIT, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are GOD’s possession—to the Praise of HIS Glory.”
Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV
“Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please GOD. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the SPIRIT, if indeed the SPIRIT of GOD lives in you.And if anyone does not have the SPIRIT of CHRIST, they do not belong to CHRIST. For those who are led by the SPIRIT of GOD are the Children of GOD. The SPIRIT you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the SPIRIT you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by HIM we cry, “ ABBA, FATHER.” The SPIRIT HIMSELF testifies with our spirit that we are GOD’s Children. Now if we are Children, then we are heirs—heirs of GOD and co-heirs with CHRIST, if indeed we share in HIS sufferings in order that we may also share in HIS Glory.”
Romans 8:8-9, 14-17 NIV
“Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please GOD. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the SPIRIT, if indeed the SPIRIT of GOD lives in you.And if anyone does not have the SPIRIT of CHRIST, they do not belong to CHRIST. For those who are led by the SPIRIT of GOD are the Children of GOD. The SPIRIT you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the SPIRIT you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by HIM we cry, “ ABBA, FATHER.” The SPIRIT HIMSELF testifies with our spirit that we are GOD’s Children. Now if we are Children, then we are heirs—heirs of GOD and co-heirs with CHRIST, if indeed we share in HIS sufferings in order that we may also share in HIS Glory.”
Romans 8:8-9, 14-17 NIV
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of MY mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.I counsel you to buy from ME gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears MY Voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with ME.”
Revelation 3:15-20 NIV
Quite a change in tone as we go from one Verse to the next, right?
Yet each Verse with the vibe about inheritance…
I also didn’t get it the first time.
Like why all these Verses into my heart, one after another?
Read on…
Let me be careful to distinguish between Earthly Inheritance and Heavenly Inheritance.
I have used the word “Inheritance” in the Blog to be used interchangeably or all together, if I do not specify.
May The SPIRIT guide you in understanding.
Your Heavenly Inheritance is guaranteed when you receive Salvation for sure.
When you receive CHRIST into your heart and confess HIM as your LORD and SAVIOUR.
But I am not even here for that today.
But if you want to give your life to CHRIST, reach out, I am here.
I am here because my feeling of entitlement was rebuked by GOD, My FATHER, that loves me, and I thought to share it with you in case you need this.
My feeling of “I am Christian, therefore, I am good peeps and I am doing all I can to remain so, and YOU should bless me LORD with all the good stuff” was slapped back to oblivion!! Hahaha!!
My entitlement that GOD should bless me with all the two inheritances because, I mean, look at my life?
Am I not living right?
I surely do not belong to the opposing side, yes LORD? Bless me indeed!
Hahaha!! Oh Lydia!!
It was in the morning, by the way and so you can imagine how my day went… Weeeh!!
The son who was left working for his father, don’t we all feel like him sometimes?
When your brother goes out and squanders his inheritance then you, who has been faithful to the toil, is not even celebrated for a second with even a small “Daddy-Son-Sorta-Dinner?”
This other one comes back because “his fun times” failed him and all of a sudden, hurray, pomp and circumstance…
And me?
But his father told him something that may have quietened his spirit…
“…you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”
Everything? Better than the pomp, yes?
Listen, you may be in a situation where you are looking around and wondering why everyone else is having the time of their lives while you, who is toiling for your FATHER, doing all you can to do everything right, is somehow looking disadvantaged.
GOD is reminding you that there is an inheritance that awaits you. Do not be shortsighted and only look at what you can have for now, because Eternity is longer than the life you’ve lived.
That’s what the toil is about.
We are working towards a long-term plan other that what is perishing.
But even you who is “seemingly” left in the company of your FATHER, or so the World thinks, how are you?
Greetings and salutations!!
Are you there because you really love your FATHER or because you are waiting for this “everything is yours” to come to you?
Or is it for show and to use that to condemn the World because you feel closer to HIM than the rest of them?Greetings…Hahaha!!
This was my Good Morning too…
The Bible Verses in Romans and Ephesians that I shared convicted me more about living my life right than what I will gain.
What I will gain is guaranteed and it is not going anywhere. GOD is guarding it for me.
But how I need to live my life, to be rewarded with what is guaranteed, is what I need to be cautious about.
What victories am I collecting along the way? Are they for Kingdom benefit or for my own stature and benefit? This is where the heat gained its blue flame on me, as HE revealed HIS message that morning…
Yes, indeed, GOD is faithful to the end and also not wanting any one of us to perish.
But HE also reminds us in HIS Word that the wages of sin is death. HE has also reminded us that if we are lukewarm, HE will spit us out of HIS mouth.
So we need to either be hot or cold.
The Kingdom of GOD knows no gray areas, it’s either black or white. It’s either you serve GOD or the devil.
It’s either you are a Son of GOD or of the devil.
And that made me look at my life closely harder, in terms how I live.
Am I one to profess CHRIST on my Socials and outwardly, yet my heart is unforgiving and unrepentant of my sins?Will I love my audience as I love myself and forget to extend the same Grace to my husband?
What is my motive to serve GOD?
To gain a “World Awe, Awww and Wow” or because my heart is in it and that I love GOD that much?
Am I seeking HIS Kingdom and HIS Righteousness for the Earthly benefits or do I really want to know HIM that much?
Am I singing songs of Worship to GOD with my beautiful voice for show and doing the exact opposite of what is in them?
The Bible has reminded me in Romans that if I am in the realm of flesh, I cannot please GOD, yet how many times have I been canal with the things of GOD?
GOD, for this Earth and HIS Work, gave us an inheritance, a beautiful one, in form of the gifts HE has blessed us with, both material and Spiritual and we sometimes end up using it up like the Prodigal Son.
As the singer would say it, “Mlianza na ROHO, Mumalizia kwa mwili.”
We started off GOD’s assignments in and with HIS SPIRIT, we finished them off and killed them in and with the flesh.
That time when we had begged HIM on our knees with a Bible in our hands and we made promises. Yet when we got what we wanted, when HE gifted us with the power to reach many people, when HE poured on us a fresh, we got lost in the noise of fame, pomp and circumstance!
Here we are singing and saying how much we love HIM and belong to HIM, but our actions say different.
Here we are thanking HIM for the wealth and favour, yet our hearts are dark and cold.
Here we are, carried away by the emotion of the sound in the song, yet we will be done with it as soon as we put it off.
Here we are repenting of our sins every night, but the daytime comes with pride, anger, malice and the things that GOD despises.
One time, a non-believer told me HE would never want to know this GOD, who Christians raise their hands to every Sunday, but the days before and after that, they live a mediocre life, showing nothing of the humility they showed lifting their hands in the Sanctuary; showing no direction towards the inheritance they “Amen-ed” to with every emotion pinned in their hearts.
That made me take a hard look into this “Inheritance-professing-entitled-heart-of-mine.”
The inheritance I ask GOD for to make my life comfortable, because hey… “I took care of YOUR business LORD, so YOU need to take care of mine or I’ll get upset immediately!”
The inheritance of Eternal Life. That inheritance that begins when I take my last breath.
When I leave all the Earthly Inheritance behind.
Do I even have it guaranteed by the way I live?
And it left me wondering which inheritance it is that I really Glorify more… and why?
What example are we setting out here as Christians that call themselves True to GOD?
We may be able to eat the meat offered to the gods because our faith is firm, but is it beneficial?
Are you making a Child of GOD miss their inheritance by your arrogance of showing off and flexing your faith?
When GOD placed us in the limelight, (please note that this has nothing to do with being a celebrity), HE gave us the responsibility over HIS other Children.
To guide them that are young in faith and to be a reflection of CHRIST.
Are we? Or do we go about telling ourselves, “to each their own?”
The Bible has reminded us that we shall all be held accountable for every soul that we have led astray.
We may call on GOD every day and thank HIM for HIS Mercies; let us thank HIM even the more.
But if our hearts are not prepared for an Eternal Life, we have no inheritance with CHRIST.
We are enjoying what we have for now, but we will have nothing when our lives are done.
We may think that we have what we do because of our works, but no!!
GOD gave it to us because HE is faithful to HIS Word.
How many work harder than us and don’t have it as we do?
Let us also not get it twisted! We need to stop thanking GOD for the things we acquired wrong, with injustice!!
The times I caught myself telling HIM thank you for things I got by not following HIS protocol, I repent.
I know I know!! Today I come on us so hard.
But this is the intensity I felt GOD come at me with. And I had to try to make it as intense as was in my heart then for impact.
I was angry at that time and I was like,“But come the way YOU do the other times; Still-Small-Voice.”
But I realised that HE really did come that way.
It’s just that the message tends to sound louder than usual when it rebukes you and gets you out of a comfort zone.
HIS message to us today is simple, in hearing, yet so hard to live by.
You cannot serve two Masters. You will love one and despise the other.
You can’t have your two feet walking in different directions. Masters have a way of not agreeing on values and your feet were meant to walk towards one direction, together.
If you will serve GOD, then do it with all you have.
If you will not serve GOD, then declare today where you stand.
You cannot do half of GOD and half of the devil, some of this and some of that from either side.I
t’s a full surrender to one. Not choosing a Master is also surrender in itself.
All your actions are geared to one side, however much you try to lie to self and everyone around you.
It cannot be a mix of this and that, it’s impossible for oil and water to mix.
Just don’t forget whom you surrender to will either lead to your redemption or to your destruction.
The beautiful thing about a free will is that you get to choose.
And if you choose GOD, you will fall yes, but your deep dedication to HIM will make you to have the desire to not grieve The HOLY SPIRIT.
Be quick to repent earnestly and in all honesty.
Still desiring that inheritance? Still feeling entitled to it?
Live right in all dimensions. GOD is The Only ONE that will determine the outcome, an inheritance to you or none.
There is no time for sitting on the fence, because GOD will not work with anything that is not wholly in.
Let us not forget that in as much as an Earthly Inheritance gives us a comfortable lifestyle here on Earth, we will have to lose it at some point to gain the Heavenly Inheritance.
So ask yourself where most of your energies are at.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears MY Voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with ME.”
Revelation 3:20 NIV
I had never realised what came before that verse.
It was a rebuke of character then a tender loving invite to open your door.
Yes, a message to the Church in Laodicea. Which means that it is possible to call JESUS “LORD LORD!” and not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Yes, to us believers.
The only way to GOD is through JESUS CHRIST and we are called to do the will of GOD.
If we posses none of that, The Kingdom of Heaven is far from us.
Let us take a hard look into our daily lives and choose GOD wholly.
This was my place of rebuke from GOD, I don’t know what’s yours.
If The HOLY SPIRIT is convicting you to dedicate or rededicate your life to CHRIST, if you feel your walk with GOD has been insincere with mediocrity and you need to get back on track, you only need ask HIM for help.
If you feel you cannot do it alone, please reach out to me or to someone you know can help.
“Now fear the LORD and serve HIM with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve The LORD.But if serving The LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.But as for me and my household, we will serve The LORD .”
Joshua 24:14-15 NIV
More of GOD’s Grace, Love and Light,
Lydia Ndwiga.
