Indeed we are all inheritor's of the kingdom of God. This is exactly what the word tells us. Paul writes it in his letter to the church planted in Rome.
Romans 8:17 specifically states we are co-heirs with Christ. This tells us so many things. To start with this tells us that Christ's character is on of generosity! He does not wish to horde the whole thing to himself but to share in it with us! Yet the thing I want to point out here is the word "heir".
As we are heirs with Christ, we are the children of God. God being a king this makes us absolutely Princes and Princesses of the Kingdom! If you take the prayer, you say you accept Jesus, and you go into the fold of that membership in this family, you are automatically royalty. Royalty means responsibility. It means, my friends, that you are meant to rule!
What do we rule over? That is a question that is easy enough to answer honestly. We rule here. We rule in heaven. As Jesus said, "What you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Stewardship starts right then. The very second you say yes to Christ, you are a steward of this world and the next. You are not the ONLY steward of these places but you are certainly A steward of these places. From that moment on, it would behoove many of us to realize that now is the time of our training begun.
An odd thing to talk about after confessing to the readers, the world really, the way things had been going for me. Fact is, it is this reality that has begun to sink in that is starting to help me to realize that this life is so important and so worth living.
It has also helped be to understand to what extent the devil is happy to try to keep me down. Suicidal thoughts are, I believe, often there because the devil takes the weak nature of the flesh, and he pushes things that our body is inclined to think at times of trouble and distress. Then he comes in with whispers of all sorts. It happens to be for me that it was to not talk about it. To stay silent was better. No one would look at me strangely if I didn't talk about it. How awful I felt inside didn't matter, because it was how people perceived me that mattered. Well, to some degree perhaps it can be good to know that you are well thought of, but in general I have to go back to the reference I made to the house plant and the pet. We have value because we exist, period.
To accept Christ, however, is to become a whole other level of this. We were always princes and princesses. Some of us choose to accept the crown, however, and some of us push it away, wishing to be ruler of our own domain. That is a choice. Let's pray that more find it is better to be steward of something eternal than king or queen of something finite and momentary. But! I digress.
The point I am trying to make is much more important actually, for those of us who DO believe and HAVE accepted this. We now have responsibility.
Right this second I want to point out that some of us do not realize this right away, and that is alright. Do not consider the time waisted. It may be used as a way to teach us if we will look on the past with eyes and mind to learn rather than to be hard on ourselves.
Another thing to point out is that if you are a new christian, and you look inside and find you are damaged, as I am damaged and had been and am actively working on healing now, do not expect yourself to get it all perfect right out. Additionally, do not push yourself too far too fast. When you have a broken limb, or in some of our cases several rather important bones being broken, or for that matter being so spiritually broken you may well be in a spiritual full body cast right now, understand that this is a time of healing, a time of resting, and by that measure, the verse I started this all with in the image at the top is that much more important! You, and me, must learn to depend on HIM now. Understand that right now is a chance for YOU to learn more of God, to get close to HIM. Being in the infirmary is time for you to understand your healer! When we get out of a doctor's care, we should know that doctor, and there should be a very healthy level of respect built between you and them. Such is the case here. You may very well end up back in that doctor's office again. And again. And again. Many times of your life time! Yet when we are injured we go TO THE DOCTOR. This is necessary. We need not be ashamed. Understand that if you need the infirmary before you can get to boot camp and training, then so-be-it! This is time you can use to make your mind strong with knowledge of the Character of God.
In short ladies and gentlemen, this is a time for you to discover who God is, what His nature is, and for you to understand that you are valuable. Literally whatever it is that you have done, it is okay. Because God can use that. The bad, the ugly, the good, the weird, it can all be used by God to do His work through your hands, mouth, actions.
Being in the spiritual hospital is a time for you to know that God sees all the things that make you who you are, all the things that are in your past, and all the things that need to change or be healed. This will be a time for you to come to terms with these things, and to understand that you do not need to be ashamed any more. What your job is during these times is to understand that not only do you have value but because you exist, but that you are now a member of the royal family, and that makes you so valuable that God went to extreme lengths to win you for keeps.
This is very hard to get into our heads. Yet it is so key to our lives as Christ-Walkers. We need to start seeing ourselves as the princes and princesses we truly are. Not because we are going to be catered to. Not because we are not entitled to all sorts of things. Because it makes us important to Him, and it makes even that basic value ten fold to us.
Think of it this way: You think of yourself as a rock. You don't really have a name you call what you are, you just are. Then you come to understand that you are a rock in something that matters, life. That makes being a rock more bearable. One day, along comes someone much bigger and much wiser and much more full of love, one who in fact knows you to your very genetic code. If you will listen, this someone will tell you what you are. In listening to this someone, you discover you are a rare jewel. You and those around you just think your rocks. Come to discover that you are infinitely more that just stones. You are precious gems that other's come and seek.
As with any precious thing, we must guard ourselves to some degree. I will maintain that openness is often the best defense. Another great defense is in knowing who you are and being at peace with yourself.
Knowing what your flaws and defects are is important. We do not need to flog ourselves for these short-comings. That is so far removed from the point it's laughable. Knowing our weaknesses and our flaws is part of being real, of being aware. A good leader, even just in a stewardship role, must know their own short comings. This is critical. Being blind to such things, denying them, or just ignoring them, leaves us wide open to so many things, mockery is only the start. Self awareness is important. I find that when I own my flaws, and when I own who I am, the good and the bad, I am a calm and rational person. Which is very important when facing an enemy.
When I say that we face an enemy we do. It is important to know who you are and what your value is when you face him. He was the original liar, and murderer. He dared to tempt even Jesus. We would be foolhardy indeed to think for a solitary moment that some how we are immune. Being a prince or princess is not fun and games. It can be. Jesus enjoyed his life. Food, laughter, drink, prayer, people, healing, he reveled in so much of it, and he had emotions, and he lived life! We are supposed to enjoy this life, this place God created with the intention of being a place for His creation, His beloved!
What I am saying is along with this we have responsibilities. We must take who we are and what we are here for seriously. To do this, we must know who we are. What we are. Co-heirs with Christ Jesus himself.
That can be a lot of pressure. I am aware. It was an awful lot to handle for me for a long time. Its been nearly 9 years for me. I have being under the new covenant that long. Yet it is only recently that I have started to pray, and pray, and pray to surrender. My natural self wants to continue to pick up the earthly. To continue to carry the bondage, the baggage, the chains.
Our flesh is stupid, folks. It doesn't have much of a brain, and it needs to be retrained just as the mind does to get way from seeking the comfort of old bondages. The prison is known. If you've never seen Shawshank Redemption, there is a part where they have to calm down a man who ran the prison library. The man had been in prison for so many years. He didn't want to go out to what he didn't know. They calmed him down. Yet in short order he writes a letter to his old prison mates, and he hangs himself. The flesh and the body cling to what is known. Unless we take up to train it, to let it get use to something better. An effort made a bit more difficult by the fact that we are also going to have an enemy who will try to whisper in our ears and poke and broad at is as well.
Sounds daunting. But there isn't any easier way to put it. Other than for you to know this: The body of the saints is here for exactly this purpose (among others).
A few years ago I have a woman I had known when we weren't even out of middle school yet a book and encouraged her in her faith as best as I could. What I told her was to ask lots of questions, and if the people she was asking these questions with were discouraging her from asking, find another body of believers to be a part of.
We ARE Princesses and Princes, heirs and heiresses of the Kingdom of Heaven. We require training to do good work. Not all of us are called to do big things, and that is alright. There is just as much value and importance in the person who only ever helps one person to Christ as there is to the person getting up in front of the world and declaring Christ is Lord. Kevin and Sue up the road are every bit as important to the King, they are every bit as much heirs to the exact same Kingdom as Billy Graham and Joyce Meyers over here or there giving their big talks and so-on.
Our value is not determined by what is outside. It is determined by what is inside.
It is this lesson that I am most wanting to get across to all of you right now. This lesson is the one lesson that is still going to take me weeks or months to fully get in my mind, and to fully understand myself. To turn the lens inward, rather than placing so much more emphasis on what the world says of me. It says in the world not to be concerned with what the world says of us. For me, this has been a particularly hard lesson to understand. Anyone who has lived their life trying to get by, to please others, who has had a hard time growing up because they had a parent that was difficult to please, or perhaps seemed impossible to please. Understand this, my friends, you are reading the words of one who has lived exactly this life. Believe me when I say that is not only doesn't work, but it is entirely possible to change it! And you will change it. I believe in you. But that isn't as important as this:
HE BLIEVES IN YOU. If He didn't, you wouldn't have turned to Him in the first place...
God bless you.
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