A Guaranteed Inheritance

Ephesians 1:11-14

Paul told the church at Ephesus, and thus he is telling us, that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, and all of it according to the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7). Paul believed in making the grace of God sound rich, as opposed to ‘just enough’. While some preach a grace that is only as good as your last sin, Paul preached a radical grace that covers all of your sins and encompasses the fullness of God’s goodness.

Because of rich grace, we have further obtained an inheritance. This inheritance is a guarantee, since Paul says that we “have obtained”. That phrase is odd to us if we are convinced that we are unworthy. If we are convinced of that, then we feel that we cannot possibly receive anything from the Lord, for we have not earned it. However, Paul’s message of grace was to inform us that the sins were forgiven and we were redeemed. If we believe that, then we can believe that the inheritance is ours!

As soon as you believed on Jesus Christ, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). Just as a seal is placed on a jar to keep the goods secure inside, the Holy Spirit is sealing us to keep our righteousness safe inside of our hearts. That can is also sealed to keep the elements out of the goods, so that they retain their taste. The Holy Spirit is in us to seal us off from the tainted wickedness of this world. No matter what the believer goes through, there is nothing that can break through that seal. You can neither lose your righteousness, nor have the curse placed upon you, for the Holy Spirit is tireless in watching over you.

Paul concludes the thought with this statement, “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14). The ‘which is’ refers back to the previous verse, pointing to the Holy Spirit. The seal of the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance”. Unfortunately, the word ‘earnest’ doesn’t tell us much in our English translation, but in the Greek, of which the New Testament was originally written; it refers to a ‘down-payment’. Paul is telling us that the seal of the Spirit in our hearts is the down-payment on our inheritance. We may not see all of the inheritance now, but we have Holy Ghost earnest money laid down on it, so we are guaranteed that it is ours.

He says it again to the church at Corinth:

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us , and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22).

He also speaks of the inheritance to the church at Rome, assuring them that they will receive it, not because of their works or abilities but because they have entered into Christ, and they have the Holy Spirit in them. Look at what He does in us according to these verses, and how it assures our inheritance:

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16, 17)

You have the down-payment of the Spirit in your heart, and the guarantee of a heavenly inheritance. Rejoice in your salvation, and thank God for your joint-heir!

The Down-Payment on Your Inheritance

2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

Jesus promised that He was going away to prepare a place for us to dwell, and that when He was finished, He would return again and take us home (John 14:1-3). The Bible calls this place, heaven; a place where Jesus is the light and we will never die. Heaven is the final piece of our inheritance, one which is due to us as adopted sons of the Father (Galatians 4:7).

When you buy a home, the bank often requires that you make some form of down-payment on the property. This assures that your collateral has value from the first day of your loan, and it provides the bank with security, that you have a vested interest in repaying the note. Your down-payment can also be used to hold a property, allowing you to secure the remainder of the funds.

Christ has paid for all of our inheritance. His payment was not only adequate in the eyes of God, but was actually an overpayment for our sins. So great was the finished work of Christ, that God sees no more sin in the life of the believer, and He provides all abounding grace every time we fail (Romans 5:20).

We cannot take possession of all of our inheritance yet, as much of it is not of this world. But God has established us in Christ and anointed us as His vessels (2 Corinthians 1:21). Furthermore, He has sealed us and given us the earnest of His Spirit in our hearts (1:22). The seal of the Spirit is not to bind us with unbreakable cords to a life of slavery and hardship, but rather, the seal is to keep us secure in the Father, with no fear of contamination from a world of sin and pain.

The word “earnest” in the King James Version of the Bible is “arrabon” in Greek, meaning “money given as down-payment; or earnest money”. Paul uses it again in 2 Corinthians 5:5: “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”. Again, in Ephesians 1:14, “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”. Every time, it is referring to the Holy Spirit in us as a down-payment by God, assuring us that the inheritance is ours.

Don’t view the Holy Spirit inside of you as a traffic cop, blowing His whistle to tell you when to go, and staring you down when you disobey. He is your Comforter, and He loves you unconditionally. He has been placed in you by the Father to remind you of your right standing, regardless of how bad things might get (John 16:10). He is the guarantee in all believers that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and that we will make heaven as our eternal home.

Rejoice in the Lord today for the seal of the Spirit in your heart. You are guarded by the Spirit from every harmful attack of the enemy, and nothing can penetrate your heart, to take away what is rightfully yours by Jesus’ blood. Praise the Lord!

The Promise, Not the Present

2 Corinthians 5:1-8

It is fitting to open this devotion with the last verse of the preceding chapter, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Paul is encouraging the reader to live beyond the things that they see, and hold fast to the unseen promises of glory. He continues with the theme into chapter 5.

Remember that there is a distinct difference between the promise and present. Oftentimes the present seems dark and discouraging, with persecutions and trials, but we can rest in the knowledge that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus and that we have an eternal inheritance. I am not saying that Christianity is gloom and doom, for I don’t believe that in the least, but there are going to be rough seas on this journey, and persecutions will come (Mark 10:30).

Paul uses this section of his letter to give hope to the church, that there is more than meets the eye. He differentiates between the physical body of the believer and the spirit man. If we were to have this physical body stripped away, he assures us that we have a glorified spirit body that we will live in forever in heaven. The burden that is faced by the saint is “not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Corinthians 5:4). We are not groaning to “be unclothed”, which means that as saints we are not begging God to kill us so that we can escape this world; instead we are longing for the glory that will come with being in His presence.

God actually implanted the desire inside of us to be with Him (5:5), and then gave us the “earnest of the Spirit”. The “earnest” is the “down-payment” in Greek, meaning that God put a down-payment on our eternity by placing the Holy Spirit in each one of us. We get a taste of His heavenly goodness everyday due to the presence of the Holy Ghost as He speaks to us and ministers to us of God’s love. Remember, the Holy Spirit’s first job within the heart of every believer is to shed the love of God abroad in every area of our heart (Romans 5:5).

Because we have this down-payment in our hearts, “we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight)” (2 Corinthians 5:6, 7). The Lord is not absent from us, for He never leaves us nor forsakes us, but we are absent from His physical presence. We know this for we do not walk by what we see, but by faith. Paul has already stated this case to the Romans when he said, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

Paul’s final piece of “blessed assurance” as I like to call it is to guarantee the believer that if we are absent from our body, we shall be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). This is a glorious promise for those who have lost a loved one who was a Christian, for we can know that they are at home with Jesus. They are not in some state of spiritual limbo, nor are they in a deep spiritual sleep awaiting the resurrection, but rather they are presently with the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are fully aware of all that is happening around them (Luke 15:19-31; Revelation 6:9-11).

Don’t fall into the trap of always looking at your surroundings. They will deceive you and cause you to fear the circumstances. Keep your heart focused on the promise that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Guaranteed Inheritance

Ephesians 1:11-14

Paul told the church at Ephesus, and thus he is telling us, that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, and all of it according to the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7). Paul believed in making the grace of God sound rich, as opposed to ‘just enough’. While some preach a grace that is only as good as your last sin, Paul preached a radical grace that covers all of your sins and encompasses the fullness of God’s goodness.

Because of rich grace, we have further obtained an inheritance. This inheritance is a guarantee, since Paul says that we “have obtained”. That phrase is odd to us if we are convinced that we are unworthy. If we are convinced of that, then we feel that we cannot possibly receive anything from the Lord, for we have not earned it. However, Paul’s message of grace was to inform us that the sins were forgiven and we were redeemed. If we believe that, then we can believe that the inheritance is ours!

As soon as you believed on Jesus Christ, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). Just as a seal is placed on a jar to keep the goods secure inside, the Holy Spirit is sealing us to keep our righteousness safe inside of our hearts. That can is also sealed to keep the elements out of the goods, so that they retain their taste. The Holy Spirit is in us to seal us off from the tainted wickedness of this world. No matter what the believer goes through, there is nothing that can break through that seal. You can neither lose your righteousness, nor have the curse placed upon you, for the Holy Spirit is tireless in watching over you.

Paul concludes the thought with this statement, “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14). The ‘which is’ refers back to the previous verse, pointing to the Holy Spirit. The seal of the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance”. Unfortunately, the word ‘earnest’ doesn’t tell us much in our English translation, but in the Greek, of which the New Testament was originally written; it refers to a ‘down-payment’. Paul is telling us that the seal of the Spirit in our hearts is the down-payment on our inheritance. We may not see all of the inheritance now, but we have Holy Ghost earnest money laid down on it, so we are guaranteed that it is ours.

He says it again to the church at Corinth:

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us , and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22).

He also speaks of the inheritance to the church at Rome, assuring them that they will receive it, not because of their works or abilities but because they have entered into Christ, and they have the Holy Spirit in them. Look at what He does in us according to these verses, and how it assures our inheritance:

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16, 17)

You have the down-payment of the Spirit in your heart, and the guarantee of a heavenly inheritance. Rejoice in your salvation, and thank God for your joint-heir!

The Down-Payment on Your Inheritance

2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

Jesus promised that He was going away to prepare a place for us to dwell, and that when He was finished, He would return again and take us home (John 14:1-3). The Bible calls this place, heaven; a place where Jesus is the light and we will never die. Heaven is the final piece of our inheritance, one which is due to us as adopted sons of the Father (Galatians 4:7).

When you buy a home, the bank often requires that you make some form of down-payment on the property. This assures that your collateral has value from the first day of your loan, and it provides the bank with security, that you have a vested interest in repaying the note. Your down-payment can also be used to hold a property, allowing you to secure the remainder of the funds.

Christ has paid for all of our inheritance. His payment was not only adequate in the eyes of God, but was actually an overpayment for our sins. So great was the finished work of Christ, that God sees no more sin in the life of the believer, and He provides all abounding grace every time we fail (Romans 5:20).

We cannot take possession of all of our inheritance yet, as much of it is not of this world. But God has established us in Christ and anointed us as His vessels (2 Corinthians 1:21). Furthermore, He has sealed us and given us the earnest of His Spirit in our hearts (1:22). The seal of the Spirit is not to bind us with unbreakable cords to a life of slavery and hardship, but rather, the seal is to keep us secure in the Father, with no fear of contamination from a world of sin and pain.

The word “earnest” in the King James Version of the Bible is “arrabon” in Greek, meaning “money given as down-payment; or earnest money”. Paul uses it again in 2 Corinthians 5:5: “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”. Again, in Ephesians 1:14, “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”. Every time, it is referring to the Holy Spirit in us as a down-payment by God, assuring us that the inheritance is ours.

Don’t view the Holy Spirit inside of you as a traffic cop, blowing His whistle to tell you when to go, and staring you down when you disobey. He is your Comforter, and He loves you unconditionally. He has been placed in you by the Father to remind you of your right standing, regardless of how bad things might get (John 16:10). He is the guarantee in all believers that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and that we will make heaven as our eternal home.

Rejoice in the Lord today for the seal of the Spirit in your heart. You are guarded by the Spirit from every harmful attack of the enemy, and nothing can penetrate your heart, to take away what is rightfully yours by Jesus’ blood. Praise the Lord!

The Promise, Not the Present

2 Corinthians 5:1-8

It is fitting to open this devotion with the last verse of the preceding chapter, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Paul is encouraging the reader to live beyond the things that they see, and hold fast to the unseen promises of glory. He continues with the theme into chapter 5.

Remember that there is a distinct difference between the promise and present. Oftentimes the present seems dark and discouraging, with persecutions and trials, but we can rest in the knowledge that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus and that we have an eternal inheritance. I am not saying that Christianity is gloom and doom, for I don’t believe that in the least, but there are going to be rough seas on this journey, and persecutions will come (Mark 10:30).

Paul uses this section of his letter to give hope to the church, that there is more than meets the eye. He differentiates between the physical body of the believer and the spirit man. If we were to have this physical body stripped away, he assures us that we have a glorified spirit body that we will live in forever in heaven. The burden that is faced by the saint is “not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Corinthians 5:4). We are not groaning to “be unclothed”, which means that as saints we are not begging God to kill us so that we can escape this world; instead we are longing for the glory that will come with being in His presence.

God actually implanted the desire inside of us to be with Him (5:5), and then gave us the “earnest of the Spirit”. The “earnest” is the “down-payment” in Greek, meaning that God put a down-payment on our eternity by placing the Holy Spirit in each one of us. We get a taste of His heavenly goodness everyday due to the presence of the Holy Ghost as He speaks to us and ministers to us of God’s love. Remember, the Holy Spirit’s first job within the heart of every believer is to shed the love of God abroad in every area of our heart (Romans 5:5).

Because we have this down-payment in our hearts, “we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight)” (2 Corinthians 5:6, 7). The Lord is not absent from us, for He never leaves us nor forsakes us, but we are absent from His physical presence. We know this for we do not walk by what we see, but by faith. Paul has already stated this case to the Romans when he said, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

Paul’s final piece of “blessed assurance” as I like to call it is to guarantee the believer that if we are absent from our body, we shall be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). This is a glorious promise for those who have lost a loved one who was a Christian, for we can know that they are at home with Jesus. They are not in some state of spiritual limbo, nor are they in a deep spiritual sleep awaiting the resurrection, but rather they are presently with the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are fully aware of all that is happening around them (Luke 15:19-31; Revelation 6:9-11).

Don’t fall into the trap of always looking at your surroundings. They will deceive you and cause you to fear the circumstances. Keep your heart focused on the promise that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

His Goodness Will Hunt You Down

Psalms 23:6

The Psalmist is so confident that his Shepherd is good that he opens the final verse of the 23rd Psalm with “Surely goodness…” There is no doubt that goodness and mercy will come his way. When the sheep have the past experience of watching their shepherd protect them and bless them, they are confident that He will always do so.

It is important to note the word that the English uses in this verse, and how different that it is from the original Hebrew. David says that goodness and mercy “shall follow me all the days of my life”, but the word ‘follow’ is a bit misleading. The Hebrew word for ‘follow’ is ‘radaph’ which means, “To pursue, to run after, to chase” or literally, “to hunt you down”. It is first found in Genesis 14, when Abram finds that his nephew Lot has been kidnapped. Abram assembles his own army of 318 men and “pursued them unto Dan” (Genesis 14:14). The word ‘pursued’ is ‘radaph’.

Just as Abram hunted the kidnappers down and brought them to justice, the Holy Spirit is saying through the Psalmist that we can be assured that God’s goodness and mercy will hunt us down as well. This entire Psalm has been about the accompaniment of our Good Shepherd. If He leads, we follow. If we leave the path, He restores us. If we are hurt, He heals us. It even shows Him go with us into areas that He did not lead us. The finality is that as we follow the footprints of the Shepherd, His goodness and mercy follow close after us.

We do not have to look for the goodness and the mercy, for it will look for us. Many believers have become sidetracked and discouraged because they are always looking for goodness and blessings. They have actually turned Christianity into one big blessing, rather than the relationship that it is. Follow after blessings and you will always be on the chasing end. Follow after Jesus and the blessings will chase you!

David found that dwelling in the house of the LORD for ever was the most blessed thing. He commented that he would rather be a “doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalms 84:10). It was for this cause that he wanted to build the temple, but God deferred that honor to his son Solomon. David was a New Covenant thinker living in an Old Covenant world. You and I are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19), so we dwell in His house forever. This promise in Psalms 23:6 is ours everyday because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Follow your shepherd today and fully expect that He is going to do the same to you with good things in your life and mercy in your spirit.

A Guaranteed Inheritance

Ephesians 1:11-14

Paul told the church at Ephesus, and thus he is telling us, that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, and all of it according to the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7). Paul believed in making the grace of God sound rich, as opposed to ‘just enough’. While some preach a grace that is only as good as your last sin, Paul preached a radical grace that covers all of your sins and encompasses the fullness of God’s goodness.

Because of rich grace, we have further obtained an inheritance. This inheritance is a guarantee, since Paul says that we “have obtained”. That phrase is odd to us if we are convinced that we are unworthy. If we are convinced of that, then we feel that we cannot possibly receive anything from the Lord, for we have not earned it. However, Paul’s message of grace was to inform us that the sins were forgiven and we were redeemed. If we believe that, then we can believe that the inheritance is ours!

As soon as you believed on Jesus Christ, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). Just as a seal is placed on a jar to keep the goods secure inside, the Holy Spirit is sealing us to keep our righteousness safe inside of our hearts. That can is also sealed to keep the elements out of the goods, so that they retain their taste. The Holy Spirit is in us to seal us off from the tainted wickedness of this world. No matter what the believer goes through, there is nothing that can break through that seal. You can neither lose your righteousness, nor have the curse placed upon you, for the Holy Spirit is tireless in watching over you.

Paul concludes the thought with this statement, “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14). The ‘which is’ refers back to the previous verse, pointing to the Holy Spirit. The seal of the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance”. Unfortunately, the word ‘earnest’ doesn’t tell us much in our English translation, but in the Greek, of which the New Testament was originally written; it refers to a ‘down-payment’. Paul is telling us that the seal of the Spirit in our hearts is the down-payment on our inheritance. We may not see all of the inheritance now, but we have Holy Ghost earnest money laid down on it, so we are guaranteed that it is ours.

He says it again to the church at Corinth:

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us , and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22).

He also speaks of the inheritance to the church at Rome, assuring them that they will receive it, not because of their works or abilities but because they have entered into Christ, and they have the Holy Spirit in them. Look at what He does in us according to these verses, and how it assures our inheritance:

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16, 17)

You have the down-payment of the Spirit in your heart, and the guarantee of a heavenly inheritance. Rejoice in your salvation, and thank God for your joint-heir!

The Down-Payment on Your Inheritance

2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

Jesus promised that He was going away to prepare a place for us to dwell, and that when He was finished, He would return again and take us home (John 14:1-3). The Bible calls this place, heaven; a place where Jesus is the light and we will never die. Heaven is the final piece of our inheritance, one which is due to us as adopted sons of the Father (Galatians 4:7).

When you buy a home, the bank often requires that you make some form of down-payment on the property. This assures that your collateral has value from the first day of your loan, and it provides the bank with security, that you have a vested interest in repaying the note. Your down-payment can also be used to hold a property, allowing you to secure the remainder of the funds.

Christ has paid for all of our inheritance. His payment was not only adequate in the eyes of God, but was actually an overpayment for our sins. So great was the finished work of Christ, that God sees no more sin in the life of the believer, and He provides all abounding grace every time we fail (Romans 5:20).

We cannot take possession of all of our inheritance yet, as much of it is not of this world. But God has established us in Christ and anointed us as His vessels (2 Corinthians 1:21). Furthermore, He has sealed us and given us the earnest of His Spirit in our hearts (1:22). The seal of the Spirit is not to bind us with unbreakable cords to a life of slavery and hardship, but rather, the seal is to keep us secure in the Father, with no fear of contamination from a world of sin and pain.

The word “earnest” in the King James Version of the Bible is “arrabon” in Greek, meaning “money given as down-payment; or earnest money”. Paul uses it again in 2 Corinthians 5:5: “Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”. Again, in Ephesians 1:14, “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”. Every time, it is referring to the Holy Spirit in us as a down-payment by God, assuring us that the inheritance is ours.

Don’t view the Holy Spirit inside of you as a traffic cop, blowing His whistle to tell you when to go, and staring you down when you disobey. He is your Comforter, and He loves you unconditionally. He has been placed in you by the Father to remind you of your right standing, regardless of how bad things might get (John 16:10). He is the guarantee in all believers that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and that we will make heaven as our eternal home.

Rejoice in the Lord today for the seal of the Spirit in your heart. You are guarded by the Spirit from every harmful attack of the enemy, and nothing can penetrate your heart, to take away what is rightfully yours by Jesus’ blood. Praise the Lord!