Devotion 8 - Inheritance as Children of God
Rom.8:16-17 – “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
According to the Scripture, all those who have been born again are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an heir as the person who is entitled by law to succeed another in the enjoyment of property or rank upon the death of the latter. It is a coming into or taking possession of some property or estate which passes by law to the heir upon the decease of the possessor.
Those who are in Christ are now co-heirs with Christ and have the right to the will of God; we have a right to inherit all that God has for Christ. All that the Father has is ours.
Eph.1:17-18 - “God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…”
Paul prayed for the Ephesian Church that they may know the riches of His inheritance in the saints. So, what are Christ’s inheritance for us as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? There are many aspects to understanding our inheritance in Christ. Here, we want to focus only on one of the most important yet neglected inheritance.
Ps.2:7-8 - “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.”
By revelation, David spoke of the depths of the God the Father’s heart for the nations, and that the nations are the inheritance He has given to Jesus. Take heed! Since we are co-heirs with Christ, we partake in the same inheritance. The nations are our inheritance and the end of the earth our possession as well. Our inheritance is therefore, not limited to merely the heavenly mansions with streets paved with gold. If we are children of God, we have a high calling, we are destined to inherit nations!
The Great Commission
Adam lost everything through his sin, including the dominion and right to take care of planet earth. The good news is, Jesus came to restore everything that was lost through that original sin in the Garden of Eden.
For that reason, before His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples the great commission to disciple all nations. This mandate is now the responsibility of all God’s children. The term “nations” does not refer to geopolitical nations, but ethnic factions, tribes, and people groups differentiated by language and culture. Through God’s children, all the families of the earth will be blessed through us.
Bringing Many Sons to Glory
Heb.2:10 – “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory…”
We must always keep in mind that the end result of discipleship is “…bringing many sons to glory”. The gospel is a ‘Home Coming’ gospel, is not just good news for salvation. More than that, it is a gospel to restore orphans back to our heavenly Father!
This should be the heart of our missionary endeavours, to restore sonship back to the lost humanity.
The orphan spirit is perhaps the greatest curse on the earth today. And unfortunately, the orphan spirit cannot be cast out, it can only be healed or replaced by the sonship spirit. We need spiritual parents to break and reverse this curse, and to perpetuate a generational blessing, to teach humanity the way home. Only when people understand and are healed of fatherlessness through the love of God is the orphan spirit broken and they can begin the process of entering mature sonship.
Jesus Became an Orphan so that we might Receive Sonship
Matt.27:46 – “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Jesus left His Heavenly home to be born on this earth, nurtured and raised under imperfect parents like us. Yet He never had an orphan spirit because He never left the presence of the Father God; he was constantly with His father. He was at ‘Home’ even when He was on the earth.
But on the cross, He partook the orphan spirit to give us the sonship spirit when he cried out, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”. Jesus experienced the pain of the orphan spirit in order to bring us back to a relationship with our Father. Hence, now, like Jesus, we can be at ‘Home’ while we are still on this earth. We should live ‘from’ heaven instead of ‘towards’ heaven. We are now seated together with Christ in the heavenly realm.
Eph.2:5-6 – “Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”
We should live daily with the understanding that we are working from Home instead of working to reach Home. The orphan spirit is basically a fatherless and homeless spirit!