Good day dear listeners and welcome again to overcoming temptations, My name is Oyisi Okatahi. Today our topic is titled “The Inheritance of a Promise”. An inheritance is something your parents give to you, usually parents could write a will to state how their property and wealth should be shared among their children when they pass on. Today we shall see that there are several people in the Bible who only inherited a promise from their parents and this was more than enough to make them succeed.
Lets us start with Isaac. Isaac was the only Son of Abraham, the Bible in Genesis 13 tells us that Abraham was very wealthy, he had livestock, gold and silver. However we do not really know how much property and wealth Abraham gave Isaac, probably not much. However he gave him a promise. So in Genesis 26 the Bible says there was famine in the land, so even if Isaac had inherited anything from Abraham the famine would have wiped it out, but the Bible says that Isaac planted even in the period of famine and hunger and he reaped in hundred of folds and became very rich. So Isaac prospered because he inherited a promise.
So let us look at Isaac’s son Jacob. In Genesis 27, Jacob deceived his father Isaac and got the blessing of Esau his brother, since Esau had sold his birth right to him. Anyway after the blessing because Esau was angry with him he fled away to stay with his uncle Laban, he did not inherit anything from my father Isaac, only a promise. So in Genesis 30 the Bible says that Jacob became very rich, he made so much money and gained livestock with Laban. All Jacob inherited from his father was the blessing of a promise
Now let us look at Jacob’s son Joseph. Jacob loved Joseph and this made his brothers jealous of him and they conspired against him and sold him as a slave to Egypt. Joseph went to Egypt with no money, no property, nothing, a common slave. But in Egypt God prospered him and he became the Prime Minister, or second in command to the King, and was in fact one of the richest men not only in Egypt but the world. Again all he inherited from his father was a promise.
Let us now look at Joseph’s son Ephraim. In Genesis 48, Joseph took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim to his father Jacob to bless. So Jacob blessed them and blessed Ephraim more than Manasseh even though he was younger. Anyway Ephraim prospered and became a tribe in Israel long after his father and grand-father had passed on. All he received was an inheritance of a promise.
So we see from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph to Ephraim, in this chain all each son received from the father was an inheritance of a promise. So don’t fight or lobby for your parents wealth or money all you need from them is their blessings, it is more than enough to guarantee success.
Do you wonder why the Jews are always prosperous, it is because of the inheritance of a promise that God gave to their father Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, not only Jews many Arab nations are also prosperous still due to Abraham however from his son Ishmael. Many times these people don’t do anything special, it is just that God blessed the works of their hands and whatever they do prospers. So don’t be afraid, once you have the inheritance of a promise through Jesus Christ our savior you are bound to succeed.
So you may ask, how about if your parents are not believers, how can they now bless you with the inheritance of a promise. Abraham’s father Terah was an idol worshipper, but God gave Abraham the inheritance of a promise. Jesus said in John 14:13 – And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. So accept and receive Jesus into your life today, you will receive the inheritance and have a life that is fulfilled. He said in John 3: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Wish you a blessed day in Jesus name.