Receiving Our Inheritance: From Promise to Manifestation (Part 1)

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**LIVING IN THE SPIRIT**

*"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." — Ephesians 1:3*

**THE INHERITANCE THAT IS ALREADY OURS**

One of the greatest discoveries a believer can make is that God has already provided everything necessary for life and godliness in Christ. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus secured an inheritance that belongs to every child of God. Forgiveness, righteousness, peace, wisdom, strength, victory, healing, provision, authority, and the indwelling Holy Spirit are our inheritance in Christ, not rewards for exceptional Christians.

Yet an honest question remains. If these blessings already belong to us, why do we not experience them all immediately?

The answer lies in the difference between possession and experience.

By grace, our inheritance became ours the moment we were united with Christ. We do not work to obtain it, nor do we deserve it. Paul describes this transaction plainly: God has already made us "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Colossians 1:12). The qualifying has already been done. We are not waiting to become worthy; we have already been made worthy in Christ.

Yet receiving this inheritance requires our cooperation. When Jesus commissioned Paul, He described the purpose of his ministry: to open the eyes of the Gentiles, "and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:18). Paul's response follows one verse later: "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). The inheritance was offered; obedience laid hold of it. Possession is settled by grace. Experience is walked out through faith and obedience.

**THE SEED IS THE WORD OF GOD**

Every promise of our inheritance comes to us as seed. Before it becomes visible in our experience, it is first planted in the heart through God's Word. The Holy Spirit then nurtures that seed until it produces fruit.

In fact, the Word itself is called our inheritance. David testified, "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart" (Psalm 119:111). What God has spoken is not merely instruction for the inheritance; it is the very substance of it, carried to us in seed form. Because the Word is spirit, it has already been given to us in the spirit realm. Remaining in the Spirit is what enables us to apprehend what has already been given there, and to bring it into manifestation in the physical realm. The man in the flesh, being in enmity with God, has no root by which to lay hold of what has already been provided.

This is why the Parable of the Sower is foundational to the Christian life. It explains how God's promises move from revelation to manifestation. The order is always the same:

Promise. Receiving. Meditation. Faith. Obedience. Patience. Manifestation.

God does not merely give promises; He gives seed capable of producing what He has promised.

**A PRINCIPLE WOVEN THROUGH SCRIPTURE**

When the Lord commissioned Joshua to lead Israel into the Promised Land, He did not begin with military strategy. Instead, He said:

*"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night... then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." — Joshua 1:8*

The inheritance would be possessed through continual fellowship with God's Word.

David describes the same principle in Psalm 1. The blessed man delights in God's law and meditates upon it day and night. As a result, he becomes like a tree planted by rivers of water, bearing fruit in season. Fruit is never produced overnight; it flows continuously from a deep root.

Jeremiah presents the same contrast: *"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man... whose heart departeth from the LORD." — Jeremiah 17:5*. This is not the curse of the Law from which Christ redeemed us, but a spiritual principle describing the barrenness that results when the heart turns away from God.

How does the heart depart from the Lord? Scripture repeatedly answers by commanding us to keep God's Word within our hearts. Moses declared, "These words... shall be in thine heart." Solomon wrote, "Write them upon the table of thine heart." The heart departs from God whenever it ceases to treasure His Word.

The blessed man of Jeremiah 17 is the opposite. He trusts in the Lord because God's Word has taken root within him, remaining fruitful even in seasons of drought.

Jesus reveals exactly how that root is established. The seed must be received. It must be kept. It must not be stolen, neglected, or choked. It must remain until it bears fruit with patience. This is the pathway from promise to manifestation.

In Part 2, we will look at the difference between possession and experience, how our inheritance is progressively laid hold of, and how this article completes the first movement of the Living in the Spirit series.

Written by Hassan Thomas Nenger Author of "My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God"