Already Blessed! Already Prospered!
Throughout the Word of God we see evidence that God has already – past tense — blessed us, healed us, delivered us and prospered us. Here are just a few examples:
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ!
John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.
John 4:14
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end
Jeremiah 29:13
And you shall seek me, and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such, there is no law.
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.
In just these few examples, we see first of all that Christians are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the spiritual realm! That’s why we can honestly say we are blessed blessed blessed! We also see that hunger and thirst should not be part of our vocabulary or experience. Why? Because Jesus prophesied that we would not. Simple enough. If Jesus prophesied it, it is true; right? He told the woman at the well that whoever drank the water that He would give them, they would never thirst because His water would be like a well of living water – like an artesian well – bursting forth from you into everlasting life.
We need to learn how to draw from this well of living water that is within us. The only reason to be hopeless, helpless, and in despair is we don’t know who we are or what we have in Christ. That’s one of the reasons Paul wrote to Philemon that faith begins to work when we acknowledge all the good things already in us because of Christ’s finished work (Phil. 1:6).
We see the prophet Jeremiah speaking on behalf of the Lord telling us that His thoughts towards us are good thoughts, full of peace. Remember those angels that sang to the shepherds just before Jesus’ birth, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). For centuries many have believed that this is referring to peace and goodwill on earth between all humanity. We see this in our Christmas cards every year. We hear people talk about creating “pathways to peace” in the world. But the reality is we have not experienced peace and goodwill amongst the human race. We’ve experienced in many areas just the opposite: the absence of peace and goodwill amongst humankind.
We need a revelation of what these angels were genuinely excited about. When you study the Word and pray in the spirit as you do, you will begin to realize that the angels were excited about the fact that the birth of Jesus because they knew what Jesus would accomplish here on earth. They knew that before ascending back to the Father, Jesus would restore a friendly relationship between God and anyone who would believe and receive in their heart His message and His finish work.
We also need a revelation of how important it is to put time and energy into developing this relationship we have with God our Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. It will not happen accidentally. We need to discipline ourselves to take time to be still so we can hear His voice, respond to His leading, and do what He asks us to do.
As soon as we became new creations, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17, we received the fruit of the Spirit. Note that this is talking about a singular fruit: not many fruits. It’s like a diamond — one stone, but with many different cuts each reflecting light differently. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is inside of us. It includes love, joy, peace, patience, and several other things inside our born again Spirits. We don’t have to ask God any longer for these things because they are already in us. We have to learn to stir up the love and the joy and the peace inside us.
That’s why Paul told the Philippians to rejoice always! As effective as Paul’s ministry was, he faced many situations that were not worthy of rejoicing. But he chose to rejoice anyway knowing who He represented and the inheritance that was laid for him in heaven. This is what gave Paul the ability to endure on earth. It’s sort of like Jesus who for the joy set before Him, which was restored relationship with each of us, He was able to endure the Cross.
Yes, like Paul, we can always rejoice, even amid a storm, because we know Who goes before us. We know who stands behind us. And we know Who lives inside of us. For we have the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who is there to comfort us in all things so that when we get to the other side, we can take the same comfort and comfort others.
As you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him! He’s waiting for you to spend time with Him.