Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives On The Promises Of GodSample

You Are an Heir of God

Let’s talk about your inheritance for a minute. For indeed, you have been promised one. You are a child of God. You have everything you need to be everything God desires. Divine resources have been deposited in you. 

Need more patience? It’s yours. Need more joy? Ask for it. Running low on wisdom? God has plenty. Put in your order. Your father is rich! As Paul writes, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT).

Your imagination is too timid to understand God’s dream for you. He stands with you on the eastern side of the Jordan River. He gestures at the expanse of Canaan. And He tells you what He told Joshua: “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6), because this is your inheritance. 

All Joshua and the people had to do was trust God’s promise. And Joshua trusted . . . but they didn’t. It was a bad decision with a forty-year probation penalty. God left His people to wander in the wilderness for a generation. Upon Moses’ death, Joshua then became the leader of that generation. God reissued the promised land offer to Joshua.

We typically think of Joshua as taking the land. It’s more precise to think of Joshua as taking God at His word. Joshua took the land, for sure. But he did so because he trusted God’s promise. The great accomplishment of the Hebrew people was this: they lived out of their inheritance. In fact, the story ends with this declaration: “Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance” (Joshua 24:28). 

What if you did the same? What if you choose your inheritance rather than cower to your fears and circumstances? Will all your challenges disappear? They didn’t for Joshua. But he knew more victory than defeat. So can you.

You share in the same inheritance as Christ! Your portion isn’t a pittance. Your portion is Jesus’ portion! Whatever He has, you have! People of the promise believe in the abundance of supernatural resources. And don’t we need them? Are we not prone to depletions? 

How often do you find yourself thinking, “I’m out of solutions,” or, “there’s no way this will work,” or, “I can’t fix this”? Understand your place in the family. You come to God not as a stranger but as an heir to the promise. You approach God’s throne not as an interloper but as a child in whom the Spirit of God dwells. You are an heir with Christ of God’s estate. He will provide what you need to face the challenges of life. 

So trust God’s great promises. Choose hope, not despair. You are a new person . . . live like one!

Respond

What circumstances in your life make it difficult for you to see yourself as a child of God? What choices do you need to make to change your perspective? 

How would you describe Joshua’s faith? What have you learned from his example that encourages you to trust God’s promises? 

How can prayer help you to better rely on God’s resources to live out your inheritance?