The role of the Holy Spirit is to help believers reach the goal of inheriting the Kingdom. God also looks at our faithfulness, our obedience, and our perseverance.
We need to develop a Kingdom perspective rather than an earthly view. Let us stop before we react, think before we respond, and pray before we move.
Wisdom recorded in Proverbs chapter 13:
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
The “hope of our salvation” is our inheritance in Christ, and that includes positions of authority in the coming Millennial Kingdom. When that hope is embraced, apprehended, and made real in our lives, it will become a tree of Life! Hope is our positive imagination, and we should see what FATHER has for us and come to expect it in our lives.
All believers will be with Christ in the coming Millennium, but only the overcomers—the ones who constantly recognize their choices and choose to turn around and follow Christ—will inherit levels of responsibility in that Kingdom. So not only our rewards, but also our places of responsibility in the future Kingdom will be won or lost according to our faithfulness, perseverance, and obedience in this life. Our life here is simply the training ground for the next life there.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Philippians chapter 3:
12 I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me His own.
13 I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.
14 I run straight for the Divine invitation of reaching the Heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.
15 So let all who are fully mature have this same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them.
16 And let us all advance together to reach this victory-prize, following one path with one passion.
What is the point of a Heavenly victory without a prize? Notice that Paul, who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament admitted that he had yet to acquire the fullness of what was revealed to him.
Do not worry about your past or your insufficiency of attaining the goal. Focus on the present and future! It is not how you start the race, it is how you end.
The Millennial Kingdom is one of the major themes of the Bible. There are 1,518 identified verses in the Old Testament and hundreds in the New Testament that speak about this coming Kingdom and the importance of our being able to inherit it.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Galatians chapter 4:
6 And so that we would know that we are His true children, God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts—moving us to cry out intimately, “My Father! My true Father!”
7 Now we’re no longer living like slaves under the law, but we enjoy being God’s very own Sons and Daughters! And because we’re his, we can access everything our Father has—for we are heirs because of what God has done!
An heir has an inheritance and as Sons and Daughters, we have been given an inheritance as co-heirs with Jesus Christ! This sonship inheritance is unconditional and automatic.
There is a second type of inheritance called an inheritance from the Lord (Strong’s #2817, kleronomia). This is an inheritance given by the Lord because of faithfulness, obedience, and perseverance. It’s an earned inheritance and it entitles one to positions, rewards, authority, and blessings in the Millennial Kingdom. Colossians 3:24 calls this “a reward of inheritance.” So this type of inheritance is conditional.
Paul reveals this second type of inheritance when he recorded by The Holy Spirit in Colossians 3:
22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
There are two levels of inheritance: who you are and what you are doing.