When I ask people if they are living in the will of God, immediately most think of something they believe they should be doing or should stop doing. Some will say, "I've got to stop drinking and smoking and get back to church"; others will say, "I've got to stop being selfish and start showing more love to others." Whenever the subject of God's will for our lives is mentioned, right away, most of us think of how we are performing for the Lord.

Is it any wonder that we are performance oriented? Almost from the day we were born we have been taught to be performers. This pressure to perform has hurt our identity; we do not identify with who we are as much as with what we do. And that is not the will of God for our lives.

The kind of will I am referring to is not about doing, but about receiving. It is an estate of gifts and bequeathals, one that requires a testator (giver), an executor (administrator) and a beneficiary (receiver). You may not realize it but you have measureless wealth--more than you could ever imagine--all prepared for you by the hand of God, waiting to be received by you right now. I don't want you to miss out on this priceless treasure, but I am afraid that is just what is happening. Every day there are vast amounts of wealth in inheritances that go unclaimed simply because the beneficiaries don't know about it, don't believe it is there, don't believe it belongs to them, or don't know how to stake their claim to receive it.

You may be thinking that the great riches in the Estate of Christ are for others but not for you until you get your life more straightened out. It is difficult for anyone who is performance oriented to be a good beneficiary of the will of God. Your Heavenly Father wants to daily load you with benefits; it just doesn't make any sense for you to live your days here on earth as an empty-handed beneficiary. If you let this tremendous inheritance slip through your fingers, you will live like a beggar when you could be living like a king!

I have made up a short story to use as a parable. I would like to tell it to you now and then give you a little test by asking you a few questions just to see how good you would be at staking a claim to a will; or, in other words, to see--if the opportunity arose--if you would "go for the gold."

Once upon a time there lived a man named Joseph J. Jones III, just an ordinary man living a rather quiet life; that is, until the day the mailman came to his door and handed him a certified letter. He noticed the return address was that of a law firm and thought it must be important, so he quickly opened the envelope and found within a letter which read, in part:

Dear Joseph J. Jones III:

You are hereby notified that Mr. Robert Smith of this law firm is the duly appointed executor of the will of the late Joseph J. Jones, Jr. The will of the said testator stipulates that his entire estate, valued at twenty million dollars, be bequeathed to his son Joseph J. Jones III. The due time has come for the distribution of the contents of the will. To receive the inheritance, the claimant must report in person with proof of identity as the son of the testator. If you are the son of the late Joseph J. Jones, Jr., please come to this office with proper identification so the estate can be settled . . .

Well, Joseph J. Jones III was overwhelmed, to say the least. He read the letter over and over and kept saying, "I can't believe this, I just can't believe this!" He had no idea his father had been so wealthy. In fact, he knew very little about him because at an early age he had rebelled against his father, declared his independence, and departed from his presence.

For many years Joseph J. Jones, Jr., kept trying to contact his son, but there was never a response. Now, after he had been dead for over a year, he still, in a way, was reaching out with love to his wayward child, this time in the form of a will. The contact was made. What would Joseph J. Jones 111 do? How would he respond this time to his father's love?

This is a test to see if you are a good receiver, to see if you really know how to stake a claim for an inheritance: What would you do if you were Joseph J. Jones 111? There you are, holding in your hand a document stating that you are the heir to a twenty million dollar estate. Would you say, "This is too good to be true, I don't believe it," and completely discard it? Or, "Even though my father loved me, I didn't love him, and I treated him so badly that I don't deserve this gift; therefore, I must refuse it"? Or would you say, "I've always worked hard and earned what I have, so--no thank you--I will not accept this gift from my father!"?

Or . . . if you had a chance to pick up twenty million dollars, would you not even wait until the executor got to his office, but be pounding on the door of his house, saying, "I'm here to collect my inheritance!"?

In the parable, I used money for the substance in the inheritance because I thought it would get your attention. Money is such an attraction in this world that I think most of us, even after we come to Christ, place much too much emphasis on it or just don't know how to handle it. Some Christians use it for their security and want to store it up for the future, while others think it is more spiritual to be poor and to try to get along with as little as possible.

There was a man named Agur who spoke some of the sayings that King Solomon recorded. It appears that he knew the danger of the love of money and wanted nothing to do with it. He feared that if he were poor, he would steal, and if he were rich, he would forget about the Lord. All he wanted was enough food on his table (Prov.30:8, 9). It seems to me that if this man were a beneficiary to a will, he would not make a good claimant. Rather than us trying to give the Lord instructions, as Agur did, on how to portion out His gifts, we should--with a thankful heart--receive all He wants to give us, which will include wisdom to know how to use the gifts properly.

The Bible does not teach that money is evil, but rather that the love of money is the root of all evil; and that some have coveted after it and have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1Tim. 6:10). Whether we are rich or poor should not affect our relationship with God. Abraham's wealth did not affect his love for God, and Paul the apostle wrote, ". . . I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound . . ." (Phil.4:11,12). If we who belong to the Lord simply choose to walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal.5:16); then, if we have money, it will not control us, but be put to good use.

I have a feeling our Lord does not value money the way we do. Look at which one of His disciples He chose to be the treasurer (John 12:6)! Money should not be all that important to us--it certainly should not be our security or our identity. If we keep in mind what our true riches are, money will fit into the category of "that which is least." Still, we should be faithful in all we do, regardless of the value of the gifts and talents entrusted to us. Jesus said, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" (Luke 16:10-12).

"The true riches" and "that which is your own"? Do you know what that is referring to? IT IS YOUR INHERITANCE! You are the beneficiary of an inheritance that would make twenty million dollars look like peanuts! You are the heir to a spiritual gold mine! In it there are unclaimed riches for you that men would spend all their worldly fortunes to obtain; that is, if such treasure could be purchased. But money cannot buy the priceless substance of your inheritance.

God has bequeathed to you a glorious inheritance. In it is wealth that the world cannot behold, wealth that angels cannot behold. Your Heavenly Father longs for you to have and enjoy all the glorious gifts He has prepared for you--treasures that are for the present; riches you can take with you when you leave this world!

God drew up His will for you not only before He created you but before He created the world. There has to be a death before a will can be put into effect. The Bible says that Christ, the Lamb, was "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev.13:8). Yes, in the time and space realm we live in, the crucifixion took place about two thousand years ago; but reality is God's Word, and when He ordains something, that is when it happens.

Your whole inheritance is based upon the death of God's Son; it is all in the realm of what Christ accomplished for you on the cross. There was an awesome cost to God to make you a beneficiary of the Estate of His Son. If you dare to look at the price tag attached to the Cross of Calvary, you will see how much He paid to make you a child of His with full inheritance rights. After looking at the price tag, how could anyone doubt the love of God and not want to receive all He has promised for them?

Part of the Estate of Christ will be dispensed to you on the other side of Heaven's shore; that is when you will receive your glorious resurrection body (1Cor.15:35-54). But first things must come first, and the first payment is given to you here on earth. It is called the "earnest" or first payment of your inheritance, which is the sealing of the Holy Spirit (2Cor. 1:22), making you a permanent child of God. The Bible says, ". . . after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Eph.1:12-14).

The Greek word for "earnest" is "arrhabon" which means "a pledge," referring to part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest. The "earnest" of your inheritance is the great down payment from the Estate of Christ for you. It is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. That must come before any of the other true riches of your inheritance can be dispensed.

The first thing every one of us who have received Christ and have become a child of God (John 1:12,13) should have settled in our hearts and minds is the fact that we will always be a child of God. We should never have any concern whatsoever about losing our salvation. Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44), will try to convince you that you can lose your salvation after you become a Christian. Don't believe him! There are preachers who will tell you that atrocious lie because they believe it themselves, or they will use it as a weapon to keep you in line so you will obey their rules and regulations. But don't believe them! Believe Jesus; He said that all who believe in Him will never perish (John 3:15; 10:28).

It is simply impossible for a Christian to live in the will of God who has such a poor concept of their Heavenly Father that they believe He would disown them and cast them into eternal damnation because they have acted badly by walking in the flesh after they are saved. Would the Executor of the Estate of Christ portion out the benefits of love, peace and joy to a Christian staking a claim while that Christian is believing God would lie to him?!

The Heavenly Father is absolutely precise in the distribution of the Estate of His Beloved Son. Even though your name was written in His will before you were born (Eph.1:5), you must truly present yourself as His child to claim your inheritance. If we were speaking of a man made inheritance of worldly goods, it might be possible to stake a claim with a false I.D.; but it is very unlikely anyone could get away with doing something like that.

Recently, in the state of New Hampshire, a young man named Bill Harding was in an eighteen-month entanglement with the legal system before he could collect a four million dollar inheritance left to him by his father. His right to inherit his father's estate was challenged by other relatives; they contended that he was not the biological son. They went to a great extent to make sure he was not staking a false claim. They had vials of the father's blood preserved before he was cremated, and demanded that this young man undergo a DNA testing to prove he was the biological child.

The claimant, Mr. Harding, was uncertain about the chain of custody of the blood samples, and there was the possibility they could have been tampered with; so, for a long time, he hesitated to take the DNA test. Finally, he consented to it, and the laboratory results proved he was indeed the biological son. He was immediately awarded the full inheritance.

When a child of God gets serious about making a claim for his or her rightful inheritance, there will be contention--you can count on it. Satan will contend, legalistic preachers still locked into the Old Covenant will contend, your natural mind will contend, and your feelings will contend. But if you are serious about receiving your true riches, don't be discouraged; use your faith, present your claim, and don't let anyone or anything stop you from receiving all God wants you to have.

You may be well along in years and have wasted a lot of those years storing up goods that will amount to nothing but a pile of dust, but your true riches are still there waiting to be claimed. It is not too late, whatever your age; go for it. You can do it! You will find staking your claim both easy and enjoyable; that is, if you go about it the right way.

The Holy Spirit is the Executor of the will that Christ bequeathed to you. Jesus, speaking of the Holy Spirit, said, "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit takes His work seriously; no one can fake a claim with Him! The Bible says, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do," and that He "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb.4:12, 13). It is foolish for anyone to think they could get away with presenting a fake claim to Him, and He will allow no one to tamper with the Blood of Christ! He does not need a DNA test to know who is a child of God, cleansed by the blood! He is the One who distributes not only the gift of salvation, but all the other gifts in the inheritance that accompany eternal life.

The Bible says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (Jas. 1:17). Even though God longs for us to receive Christ and become a child of His, He will not force salvation upon us, but will call us and patiently wait until we come to Him. Then, after we receive Jesus and are born again into the family of God, He longs for us to enjoy the true riches He has available for us in the Estate of Christ; He is patiently waiting for us to come stake our claim. It is so easy and enjoyable to go with the flow of the Holy Spirit and so hard and frustrating when we resist Him. It is unreasonable for us to resist the Holy Spirit, for all He wants to do is bring us into the love of God.

It is not difficult to stake a claim for the inheritance of Christ. There is no complicated legal terminology that takes a lawyer to interpret--nothing written between the lines, no hard-to-read fine print. It is really quite simple. You must first become a child of God by receiving Christ into your heart (John 1:12). Then you just present your new I.D. to the Holy Spirit; in other words, you must live in the new creation.

Recently, a woman spoke to me about a problem she has that causes her much anxiety. She went to the doctor, and he prescribed a drug he said would take care of her problem. She got the prescription filled but does not want to take it except in an emergency. I was surprised when I heard that her ailment was impatience; I didn't realize how serious an affliction that can be. She explained that one afternoon she got so upset with her three-year-old daughter that she almost hit her. Now she lives in constant fear that she will go out of control and hurt one of her children.

This is a woman who has been a Christian for more than twenty years and has appeared to always be in control. She has a strong will and usually accomplishes what she sets out to do, but this impatience has become more than she can handle, and it frightens her.

Imagine, going to a doctor whose only help is a bottle of pills to give some kind of temporary, unreal relief, while right there in her unclaimed inheritance are the supernatural riches of longsuffering (patience) and temperance (self-control).

Another child of God recently said to me, "I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm not happy and I know I should be. I've tried everything to get some joy in my life. I don't want to go on living like this. What am I doing that is wrong? Why won't God open His hand and give me some joy?!"

The man is right about one thing; he is doing something wrong. If we miss a blessing from the Lord, the problem is never with the Giver, it is always the receiver. God is a good Giver; He loves to give good gifts to His children. Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).

God is not only standing before this man with open hands full of precious gifts (including joy), but also with outstretched arms to hold him and love him. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom.5:5). It is on the top of the list of what is bequeathed to us in the inheritance of Christ. But the man has a problem receiving the gift of the love of God--He is not a good beneficiary. When he tries to stake a claim for his rightful inheritance, he comes before the Executor and tells Him what a rotten apple he is and how badly he has been performing, rather than presenting his true identity as a precious child of God--a new creation in Christ; forever forgiven; perfected forever; and washed pure by the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus said, regarding His Estate, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27), and "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). Peace that passes understanding; joy that abounds even in tribulation; patience you never knew existed . . . are all gifts for you in the Estate of Christ, all topped off with the love of God that you can bask in and enjoy both here and throughout eternity. But remember, they all come through your inheritance, which is for the new you and has been purchased by the Blood of Christ. They are not for the self image you have tried to build, nor are they for your old man who was crucified with Christ on the cross. Living in the will of God is living in your new creation.

The one thing for all beneficiaries of God's will to remember is that all the true riches are in Jesus. It is HIS love, HIS joy, HIS faith, HIS peace, HIS patience, HIS kindness . . . and HIS righteousness! There is only one place to be in order to collect the true riches of your inheritance, and that is--ABIDING IN CHRIST!