My, Devotion to Him #57
Today we are going to talk about inheritance. We are not going to talk about the kind of inheritance that a child gets from your estate. However, we will talk about the Godly inheritance you should leave your children. What many people fail to understand or even care about is leaving a spiritual inheritance. This should be a gift worth wild not some empty box.
We would all like to leave our children an inheritance. But when we talk of an inheritance we are normally speaking of a monetary inheritance, property, money, items. What is most important in Life is to leave them a Godly inheritance. Below is a list of traits we need to display in our lives so that we can leave our children a Godly inheritance. When we start working on ourselves we are automatically investing into our children’s future. We are automatically building our children’s inheritance. As a soon to be father my heart was turned this way. What is something I can do in myself that I can invest into my child’s future. What can I leave them spiritually.
1. A Desire to Follow Jesus.
VERSE PASSAGE: Isaiah 26:9 “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: Psalms 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: Psalms 63:1-5 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.” – NIV
These 3 passages show so much desire for God and to follow. There is nothing we should desire on earth but Him. We should long for Him in the morning and night. We should seek Him, glorify Him, praise Him, and be satisfied in Him. Wouldn’t it be amazing to love Him so much and stay steadfast in your walk with Him that you can leave that type of desire as an inheritance for your kids. I want to be so full of Him and follow Him faithfully and do so with such longing that my kid will have a desire to follow Jesus.
2. A Reverence for God & His Word.
The Hebrew word for fear is “yare” and it literally means “to fear, be afraid, or to revere.” Other meanings of this word in Hebraic (Qal) are to “stand in awe, to have a deep respect or honor.”
VERSE PASSAGE: Hebrews 12:28-29 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: Hebrews 5:7-8 “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” – NIV
We need to be respectable when coming to Him. He is God. We need to show reverence in what we do. As Jesus prayed to the Father He showed reverence. I want to show how much respect I have to God that my child will learn and apply that respect for God also.
3. A Pattern of Obedience.
VERSE PASSAGE: 2 Chronicles 31:21 “In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: Revelations 14:12 “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands.” – NIV
There is a call to obey and love God. If we love Him we obey Him. When we do something we need to do it wholeheartedly and seek God in this we shall prosper. We need to be patient in our endurance with keeping His commands as we remain faithful. We need to submit every thought to God. Remember if we love Him we will follow as we follow we listen and obey.
1. Love
2. Following
3. Listening
4. Obeying
These four things are all connected together. I want to show a pattern of obeying and following Christ that my child with learn and follow in the ways of the Lord through obedience to Him.
4. A Faith that overcomes the Trials of Life.
VERSE PASSAGE: Psalms 66:10-12 “For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” – NIV
VERSE PASSAGE: James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” – NIV
Many trials we will face and sometimes we might be confused. As accusations came my way of having committed high crimes I broke. I was confused wondering how this could be. I was angry with God that my life was being ruined, my families life was getting ruined, finances were being destroyed. The Church on the brink of forsaking us. Yet, through this I found Him in the mist. His sweet presence overflowed. Finally when I fell on my knees and cried out for help and my need for Him and a declaration that I would trust wholly in Him. He came. I finally told God I trust in Him. It doesn’t matter if I get put away for 8yrs or more, it doesn’t matter it friends and brothers and sisters in Christ forsake me. It doesn’t matter if my world comes crumbling down. I will trust in Him that this is His plan that He knows what He is doing. He has a plan. Through this He will be glorified and His work will be done.
VERSE PASSAGE: Psalm 66:10-12 “For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” – NIV
This indicates that God refines us through trials and that is His method is to mold us into the person that He wants us to be. If our children see us turn to God during our trials in our lives and use our faith to overcome those trials then they in turn will inherit a willingness to come to Him during their own trials.
5. A Desire to Serve.
Now, this next one is going to be a lengthy verse but it is vital to read it in whole and not a piece.
VERSE PASSAGE: Joshua 24:14-24 “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.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.” Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.” Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied. “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.” – NIV
I understand that was a massive piece of text. But it lays out strong words. Such commitment and constant decrees of serving God as Lord. Getting rid of false gods and serving the one true living God. A true desire to serve. This is the kind of desire we should seek to leave our kids.
6. Generosity.
VERSE PASSAGE: Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” – NIV
We see here that God rewards those that show generosity toward others. Children need to see this example in us if they are going to give with their heart.
7. Love in the home.
VERSE PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – NIV
Paul tells us that the greatest gift of God is Love. This should be the greatest gift that we give our children as they learn to extend this gift toward others. Love is a very important factor to have in home.
Copyright © 2017 by Jacob D. Olinger
Spirit Warrior Ministry 