The other night I had a dream where I was invited to George W. Bush's house, hanging out with him and his family, meeting his grandsons, talking with them all. We were just sitting around having normal conversation. At dinner I was asking George, how big his ranch was, what he did during the day, if he liked driving his truck again, etc.
After dinner I started asking the grandsons what it was like living with him as a Grandpa, knowing that much of what they were surrounded with would one day be in a museum. I then started asking them what they wanted to inherit, and talked about how my parents had an inheritance passing event before they ever passed. They wanted to make sure people got what they wanted and created a list of things that they wanted to pass down, and asked us what things we wanted. We then drew numbers and got to select that which we wanted in order. (I don't remember exactly how we did that, but this is what I described to them in my dream).
Once I was finished telling them this, you could see all their eyes light up, as they looked around at all of the things they were surrounded by. George W. looked at them and nodded and smiled, indicating it was his intention to pass their inheritance, or at least part of it, to them while he was still alive. You could see the revelation of this great gift passing into the Grandson's understanding. That is where I woke up.
As I sat down to pray this morning, that dream was the first thing to pop into my mind, and I immediately started thinking of the meaning of the dream. The Bible is full of God giving dreams to people as a way that He communicates to them, and I believe occasionally my dreams fall into this category. This dream is pretty straight-forward. George W. represents the Lord, and his grandsons represent us (I know we are actually sons and daughters, directly relating to the Lord). God's desire is that we walk in our inheritance right now, in our lives! We have a large part to play in receiving and walking out our inheritance here and now, and God is pleased to have this be the case!
So, the question is what is our inheritance that God wants us to step into, and choose now? Many of the scriptures relating to inheritance peak of it as our eternal inheritance, and that is certainly part of our inheritance, and a very important part, however Jesus told a parable of the wayward son (Luke 15:11-32) and in that story the son received his inheritance twice, while the father was still alive. Without going into the details of the story, the son had left the father to spend his inheritance on wild living, the first time he received it, and when he came to his senses and returned to the Father, he received it again, for everything that was rightfully his was restored to him by the Father. The Father gave him back his robe, his ring and his sandals, indicating his receiving back his identity, his authority and his restored co-ownership of farm. Wow! The Father desires to pour out on us an inheritance of identity, authority and co-inheritance of land (representing areas of influence).
Paul, for one speaks several times of our being heirs of God, and calls us co-heirs or fellow heirs with Christ! In other words, the things Jesus inherited, we also receive! That thought out to cause our mind to explode! ;-) Here is Paul's explanation from Romans 8:15-17 NASB:
[15] "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" [16] The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
Thus, the Holy Spirit is our sign of our adoption, and what the Spirit brings is part of our inheritance. We can look to some of Paul's other writings to see what the Holy Spirit brings including this list from 1 Corinthians 12:4,7-11,31 NIV:
[4] "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them."
[7] "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. [8] To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, [9] to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, [10] to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. [11] All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines."
[31] "Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way."
I find it interesting that Paul was inspired to write that last bit, about eagerly desiring the greater gifts. I believe the Lord wants us to know that He s OK if we ask for the big things, for He delights to give them to us. I am encouraged to ask big, to pray for the greater gifts!
Again, going back to the question at hand, what is our inheritance as co-heirs with Christ? I look to another set of verses from James 2:5 NIV:
[5] "Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"
We are heirs to the Kingdom! This Kingdom, is the Kingdom that Jesus initiated and described in the Gospels. He gave His Apostles authority to represent and demonstrate this Kingdom in Matthew 10:7-8 NIV:
[7] As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' [8] Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give."
Here we see the demonstration of the reality of the Kingdom, and the authority of sons of the King within the Kingdom. The Sons (in this case Apostles) walk in the same authority and power as the King. As Co-Heirs with Christ, we have the ability to walk in the same authority and power, for we have received the same Holy Spirit, and walk in unity with Him. Awesome!
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that our inheritance, in Christ, through faith, is beyond our comprehension, but definitely something the Father wants us to press into! He wants us to learn what it means to be sons and daughters of the King, to walk in authority and power, to experience the gifts and callings of the Holy Spirit, to walk out daily our identity in Him. He wants us to experience this now, not waiting for our entrance into our final eternal inheritance in heaven. He calls us to demonstrate His Kingdom here, and that is only possible through intimate relationship, and an awareness of our inheritance.
In finishing, I thought the following words of Jesus were appropriate to this morning's reflection - Luke 11:9-13 NIV:
[9] “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
[11] “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? [12] Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? [13] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Our Father desires that we walk in our inheritance now! He encourages us to desire the greater gifts, to ask for more! He wants us to enjoy our inheritance now! Be encouraged, He is a good Father, and He desires to pour out on us, more and more!
Amen and Amen!
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