The Daily Word of Righteousness

Four Aspects of Our Inheritance, #4

You have made  known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalms 16:11—NIV)

When God is satisfied that He alone is our God, He then is able to make some aspect of His creation desirable to us. In God there are endless delights. At His right hand there are eternal pleasures. In His Presence is fullness of joy.

We may think Paradise would be wonderful. But Paradise is not desirable unless God and other people are there. And if the other people are not those whom God has given to us, then Paradise soon would become a place of trouble for us.

We may think the wonders of Heaven would satisfy us. Impossible! Our heart's cry is for God and loving relationships with people, not for things. How long does it take us to learn that this is true?

When God is with us and in us we can find contentment wherever we are. But when God is not with us or in us, there is no place that is any better than a muddle of confusion.

The best part of the original Eden was that God was present. Apart from God we soon come to an end of joy and peace.

It is sensible to wish to escape Hell and go to Paradise. But this is not the emphasis of the New Testament. The emphasis of the New Testament is eternal life, that is, the Life that is God and Christ.

We have churches full of people who are satisfied that they have escaped Hell and are on their way to Paradise. But they are not being pointed toward a fuller knowledge of God, in many instances. They are not, as was true of Paul, laying aside all else that they might come to know Christ.

Because the believers are not seeking to know Christ in a fuller measure, we have assemblies filled with spiritual babies. They are no threat to the kingdom of Satan. They are not a testimony of good works that the secular world can observe. In fact, it often is true that they cannot get along with one another.

We have been called to preach Christ, not Heaven. Let us now return to the Scriptures and do God's will, for days of trouble are approaching the United States of America.

The first, and most important aspect of our inheritance, is composed of God and Christ Themselves.

The second aspect of our inheritance is life lived in the fullness of the Spirit of God.

The Fullness of Resurrection Life

Our introduction to life lived in the Spirit of God may have occurred as we spoke in tongues for the first time. Speaking in tongues does not indicate, however, that we have the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Rather, tongues is the way into the rest of God, into life lived in the Spirit.

Being filled with the Spirit gives us the power to bear witness of Jesus Christ, and also to gain victory over worldliness, lust, and self-will.

It is God's will that every saved individual walk in His Spirit rather than in the wisdom and passions of the flesh.

To be continued.