By Brenda Groves
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
I have not personally been present for the reading of someone’s last will and testament, but I have watched a few movies and TV shows where it’s done, so I have some idea of it.
From what I’ve seen, sometimes an attorney will read the will, or an executor will be appointed of the estate and this includes reading it to the heirs of the deceased.
Now, I don’t know about you, but as an heir I would get a copy of that will, and read it for myself to make sure they gave me the right information.
Not out of greed, but if it was the will of the deceased to leave it to me, then I should receive it.
But when it comes to receiving things from God, the church/body of Christ have been receiving only a portion of His will and New Testament for us.
Brother’s and sisters, I am about to say some things here that you may, or may not agree with, but I am asking you to hear me out.
For many years, perhaps hundreds of years now, the main body of Christ has been read to and taught to believe part of God’s will & testament given/handed down to all who will believe, His children.
In Matt. 28:19-20 the Lord Jesus gives His last will/commandment/permission/authority to His disciples before He ascends into heaven.
“Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”
I want you to notice the part where He said to teach them to observe “ALL things that I have commanded you …”
A large portion of the body of Christ are not teaching and raising up Christians to observe ALL of the commandments that Jesus gave.
Such as Mark 16:15-18
Right after Jesus rebuked the disciples for their unbelief He sent them out to “ALL who will believe…”
“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe; In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” This is not a suggestion, it is a commandment.
Look at Psalm 103:1-5. Other well known verses.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not ALL His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, WHO satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
We are the beneficiaries of His will for us, and throughout Jesus’s ministry we see God’s will in action. And what did Jesus do, “… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts. 10:38
But we cannot forget ALL of His benefits, because we have to hear them to forget them. Lol!
Somewhere down the road, doctrines of men have only remembered some of His benefits.
As beneficiaries we are “heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ,” Rom. 8:17, and Jesus said in John 3:35 that His Father loves the Son and “has given all to Him.” And Jesus shares ALL with us.
God does not give us sickness but His Son took illnesses into His own body for us …
“That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying. Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
If Jesus took them, and He did, then we don’t have any right to take them. The main body of Christ has been taking sickness here on this earth and teaching others to do this, because we didn’t know that it was God’s will for His Son to take them for us.
It is not God’s will that any person be sick. Just like it is not God’s will that anyone should perish. 2 Peter 3:9. There is no condemnation if we get sick, but I know now that it’s not God’s will for us, so I resist sickness, and actively fight against it when it comes at me.
Eventually, our bodies will die, and for believers we will live for eternity with our Heavenly Father. Yet, we don’t have to get there because we are riddled with disease/pain and bankrupt from hospital bills. We can just lay down one day, go to sleep, and wake up in the arms of our Lord.
We really need to pay attention to what we are taking.
Are we just going to keep accepting Satan’s will for us- passed down from the fall of man? Or, ALL the benefits of knowing the Lord Jesus, who proved God’s will and Testament when He, “… Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24.
And as beneficiaries, observing ALL that the love of God gave the world, when He willed us His Son, not forgetting ALL of His benefits.
You know, I was wrong to say I have not personally been present for the reading of someone’s will. Every time I read my Bible out loud in faith I am reading “His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
(Caps mine.)
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
(John 1:1, 6:63; Psalm 89: 34; 119:152; Isaiah 40:8; 48:17; Mark 13:31; Jeremiah 29:11-13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) NKJV
Contact Brenda Groves at: bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
