Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
You are rich. Rich beyond your wildest dreams. God, in His wonderful grace, has blessed the disciples of Jesus with every spiritual blessing. Not just one, or several; but every one. We are princes and princesses, guaranteed to share in the inheritance:
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
No matter what our financial position is here on Earth, we have a heavenly position of access to the royal treasury. Jesus tells us:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[e] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The verb translated as “lay up” in the Greek is thEsairozete, which is an imperative command (not a suggestion), and means “be ye hoarding!” You have unlimited resources from which to draw upon the moment you say “YES!” to Jesus! Because of this, even in abject Earthly poverty, you can smile; you have such vast wealth stored for you that you cannot even imagine. So much so that Paul asked God to show you how much because you probably wouldn’t believe it!
As human beings with sin natures, it is inherent within us to gripe and complain about our situation. Even when people receive Earthly wealth, it just never seems to be enough; we always seem to need just a little more. Paul himself said he needed to learn how to be content. Isn’t it ironic that we have all this wealth, but cannot seem to see it or access it? It is because we are blinded by our own selfish desires.
So lets ask the question: Given all of these things, are we truly content?
A short prayer of preparation:
Father in Heaven, Your mercies renew every morning, and I am thankful, for I am in need your your mercy and grace every moment of every day. Father, show me where in my heart that I am not content. Help me to bring these areas of the life You have loaned to me in stewardship into the light, where they can be recognized and addressed. Remove any bitterness in me from past experiences that I may move forward. Help me to recognize the extent of the treasure that You have for me in Your wonderful and glorious inheritance that you freely give to me. Help me to always come to You first and ask in faith for the things that are needed, for You greatly desire to give Your children good gifts. Wash me clean; sanctify me, and purge me of all unrighteousness. Help me to worship You with clean hands and a pure heart, that my every thought, word, and deed would be pleasing to you, an act of worship, and bring glory to Your name. This I ask in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Want more? Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?
CHRIST ALLIANCE CHURCH 