In my old church, there is a phrase that the minister said from time to time when he led the holy communion. The phrase in a way says, "Come, for all has been provided." At that time, I didn't know how deep and powerful the phrase is. Actually that's what our Father God has done for mankind, whether they're born again or not yet.
God spoke in Ephesians 1:3-5, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
To bless is a covenant term. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord, we also receive the covenant that Father God has sealed with Jesus' blood. A blessing means a gift that is good, perfect, and brings increase or prosperity to the receiver. A blessing doesn't have any bad or negative meaning at all. We have never heard someone says, "Wow, poor kid, he's "blessed" with a lot debt from his late parents." If we heard someone speaks like that, it would be a cruel sarcasm.
We enter a covenant because we want to have better than what we can have alone. For example, we sign a work contract with a company because it mutually benefits. We agree to covenant with the company as we see that the deal will bring us to a better financial state. Another example, a wedding ring is a symbol of a marriage covenant where the lives of the two joint in holy matrimony will be better than if they live it on their own.
In every
covenant, all parties involved shall do their part in order to receive the
well-deserved right or benefit. If one party does not do his part, it will
cut the other part short too. This is also true with our covenant with
Father God. We have our duly duties toward our Father as well as Him
toward us. One thing that we must remember is that He Who promised is
faithful (read 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Peter 3:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:13;
Hebrew 10:23; Hebrew 11:11; 1 Peter 4:19; 1 John 1:9).
From Genesis to Revelation, it is clearly written that the God we serve in the Name of Jesus Christ is a faithful God. He is God who never fails to do His part. If He always does His part, then we must always receive what is ours. But how come there are times that we don't receive from God? Despite of all we've done (faith confession, intercession, fasting, praying all night, etc.), we still don't receive as the Bible says we can. The ones without job are still unemployed, the poor stay poor, the sick don't get any better, those with debts still can't pay their debt.
A lot of people fail to receive from God and they instantly become experts of excuses. Some look at the devil and blame him quoting John 10:10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy... It's true that the devil is a thief...and if he succeeds stealing from us it means that he's done a great job—perfect 100 score for him. Whose fault is it if a thief is able to steal? Of course not his fault. The devil is indeed a thief!!! There's no point for us standing and pointing finger at the devil each time we fail to receive what's rightfully ours. We cannot expect the devil to repent and not steal anymore. He is the devil and hell is his future. We may stand and cuss the devil for stealing until we dry our throat, and he will keep looking for another opportunity to steal from us (read again John 10:10). So what we must do is staying alert in the spirit, which is to find out what we must do to keep the devil away from us.
Others who fail immediately quote Ecclesiastes 3:1, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Say we were offered a job then suddenly it was called off. We come us with, "Perhaps it's not the time yet for me to have a job. God says everything has its own season." Do you know that that excuse is absolutely lame? That excuse is commonly used by the accepting people, those who believe that "working is fine, unemployed is fine, as long as I'm close to God." If we are out of job for six months, then it's about time for us to get a job. The Lord never tells us not to work so that we can "be in fellowship with Him" or "get to know Him."
Not
many people, who failed to receive, are willing to come to God and ask "Why
didn't I receive what I'm supposed to receive? Is there anything I should do but
didn't, God?" Not many people come to God with a teachable
heart. What a shame!!! God's covenant package includes the 24-hour
on call Counselor who dwells in our heart, the Holy Spirit. Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:
and he will show you things to come (John 16:13).
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26).
Then the Lord also suggested us to ask
the Holy Spirit if we don't understand spiritual matters (read James 1:5).
"So, if God always does His part, how come I sometimes don't receive His promise?" I'm sure this question pops up in your heart. The same also popped up in my heart when I found out that God never failed doing His part and always gives right on His time.
Father God is like a television station. We own the TV set to receive the broadcast. If our TV set doesn't receive well the picture or the sound, we don't call the TV station and blame them for not sending the signal right. If our TV set doesn't not receive well from a TV station, then we normally tune up the TV channel. If that doesn't get us to bring the expected result, then we will check our TV antenna (it may be placed too close to the ground or blocked by a tall building next to our house).
I once took a ride across to province of West Sumatra from Jambi province. The area that we passed by is mountainous and the weather is so cool. What amazed me was the local houses are only simple wooden houses, but almost every house has a satellite dish. I was then informed that they have to use a satellite dish in order to receive other national TV broadcasts other than the local government TV broadcast. The reason why they can't use normal TV antenna is that they're surrounded by tall mountains that the TV broadcasts from other national TV stations will not get through to them without the satellite dish.
Matthew 6:33 says, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. The Lord God, may be seen as the TV station, who always send His blessings to us in good, perfect timing. Consequently, if we can't receive His blessings in good, perfect timing, we should tune up ourselves. Our hearts need adjustments so that we can receive the kingdom of God's broadcast so that whatever that we receive from His kingdom is good, perfect and right on time. We often don't bother adjusting ourselves. Many of us are satisfied with voices without pictures, or pictures without voices, or unclear pictures. Some of us are blocked by "mountains of problems" that they have to work harder than others in order to receive the truth so that they can get out of that problems.
Don't be complacent with what you have this time, no matter how good it is according to human standard. Whatever it is that you have, I believe it's not yet the best and perfect one you can receive from Him. We serve the God who owns the whole universe. If you already have a good job, keep renewing your mind and learn to believe God for supernatural promotion. If you can lease a good house and always pay on time, don't stop there. Study to believe God for your own house. If you already received your divine healing, keep expanding your faith and believe God for divine health.
Am I teaching you to be continually unsatisfied and ungrateful for what you have? Definitely not! I challenge you to seek His righteousness so that God can add all things you need to have a perfect peace on earth as in heaven. I invite you to incessantly dig in the Word of God so that you can receive more than what you can think and pray for as He promised in Ephesians 3:20.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
will.
(Ephesians 1:3-5).
His Word says He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Since He blessed us with those blessings, we are made prosperous and lack nothing. Where should we live prosperous and lack nothing at all? On earth, of course. You remember the phrase in the Lord's Prayer saying, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? Jesus taught us to pray that Father's will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. If you say that only in heaven we can live prosperous and lack nothing, that means we should also live like that on earth. If not, then Jesus taught us wrongly... and Jesus can't be wrong, right?!
Besides that, all spiritual blessings have been given to us before the foundation of the world. Awesome! Imagine that before the world is formed, the Father has already determined for us to have it all. "But it's all spiritual, not material," you may ask in your heart. Of course it starts as spiritual blessings. God created the earth with spiritual things, His Word (Hebrews 1:3). But the end manifestation is material, right?!
Now let's see Adam. God never taught Adam to be a farmer. He didn't give Adam a shovel and a basket of seed for him to plant in the garden. He made the garden beautiful and filled with good things, there's even an irrigation system so that Adam didn't need to water the garden (read Genesis 2:10). All that were in the garden of Eden are given to Adam to cultivate (Genesis 2:15). Adam was blessed with a garden and made owner and manager of the garden. If that's God's initial plan for Adam, it's still is His plan for all of us—to become owner and manager of this earth (Genesis 1:26). You need to know that garden of Eden is not in heaven, it's on earth. I'm sure in heaven there's no "forbidden" sign at all. I think you can't even find a sign that says "Sin is not allowed to enter."
If we look back at how God provided everything for Adam to enjoy and cultivate, that's exactly how we should live on earth. In the garden Adam ruled with this words. All animals were named by Adam, even the word "woman" is Adam's own word (Genesis 2:23)—God didn't interfere in the management of the garden. God let Adam freely used his creative words. Adam didn't have to consult with God concerning the names he gave to God's other creations and also to his spouse. Freedom to create and reign with words is what we have now.
The power to create and conquer with words is still with us (Proverbs 18:21). Where was God when Eve was being tempted by the devil? Yes, He's in the garden and His eyes were not blind to see what's happening. Then why God didn't make the woman blind or Adam's mouth sealed so that he couldn't eat the forbidden fruit? God regards highly man of His creation whom He created in His image and after His likeness. Man is given freedom to will and man has to decide to obey Him. God couldn't force Adam to obey Him, even though He knew the result is spiritual death for Adam and his wife. If only, at the time, Adam spoke up what God has commanded him concerning the forbidden fruit, I'm positive his wife wouldn't eat the fruit. Adam could also kick the devil out of the garden and sure enough he should leave because Adam used his authority as owner of the garden.
That's also God's attitude toward us. His eyes are on us. He loves us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son to bear all mankind's sins that we don't have to bear it anymore. However, man has to choose to receive the salvation. God will never impose on us His will. Jesus died and raised from death so that we don't have to be poor, in debt, sick, barren, or be a looser. All good and perfect things are provided for us to enjoy (Ephesians 1:3-5; James 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:17). But still we have to choose to receive those things that are good and perfect.
Many people will say, "Who wants to be poor? This is beyond my will?" "Who wants to be sick? This is common disease for people of my age." These statements show that we don't have enough knowledge of our God and we may perish because of that (Hosea 4:6)—our finances, family, or physical body may perish. Find out what God has done on the cross for you. Find out who we are in Christ. Meditate on the Word and then command those blessings to come to us. We need to act like God, speaking the spiritual blessing to come forth into the natural existence (Romans 4:17).
Remember that all spiritual blessings have been given to us. It's yours and if you don't find out what belongs to you, how can you enjoy it? Find out and grab all that belongs to you. I am enjoying what the Lord has done on the cross. Divine health is mine and I'm enjoying it. So is divine prosperity. I still have to renew my mind to catch up with God so that I can give more to the gospel. Join me in abundant life as God has promised (John 10:10).