We read and sing about God's blessings but I've never tried to put down
in one place a representative list for myself, with notes, so that I
could encourage myself by reading of the goodness that God has
in his heart towards me.
This is not a definitive list, just my list, and I'll add to it as time
goes on but it may strike a chord in you so that you start your
own list of the blessings God has and will shower on you if you ask in faith.
God has many blessing stored up in heaven for us (spiritual and physical)
but if we don't know what's available we won't ask for them in faith! And,
all of them are waiting for us stored in our mansions which Jesus has
prepared for us. We just have to ask our God, for God is Good. Jesus'
brother James knew this, which is why he said...
Jam 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask.
While actually all the time the things that we need and want are
available to us from God if we would only turn to him realising that
as a loving parent He wants to give the best to his children. God
is Good!
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him (Jesus) are yes,
and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us.
So what are some of the things that are available to God's
children who live under grace and allow grace to be their guide?
REDEMPTION
Well the first blessing that most of us will think about is that
of Eternal Life. God sent his son Jesus to die for us on a cross
so that our sins could be forgiven in him. He bore the punishment
for our sins.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
What's more the writer of Hebrews confirms that Jesus paid for our
sins with a perfect sacrifice which bought us Eternal Redemption.
Heb 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he
entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having
obtained eternal redemption.
So all our sins have been forgiven, not just the past ones, but
past, present and future. Eternal redemption. And this eternal
redemption includes not just sin but diseases both mental and
physical and all opression of the Devil.
Psa 103:1-14 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being,
praise his holy name.
What love and concern for us this shows. God's love just overflows
in mercy and graciousness towards us.
Under the old covenant it was impossible to deserve these benefits
because no-one is good of themselves and no-one kept it or can keep
it now. So it should elicit fear even dread in those who knew they
were sinners and relied on themselves rather that throw themselves
upon the mercy of God.
If anyone rejected God's mercy, before Jesus came, or rejects his
grace now by despising Jesus, it's a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of God as an unrepentant sinner. But for those who have
accepted God's mercy and grace and have turned to him for guidance
in life, then God only has blessings for us.
This doesn't mean that Satan won't come against us or that we don't
have our own bad habits and wrong attitudes and sin nature to
overcome but living by the Holy Spirit in us and following his
prompting we grow each day to be more like our elder brother, Jesus.
GOD'S FAVOUR
Because we have been redeemed from the curse of the Law, we, now
being righteous through faith in Jesus (the blessing of Abraham),
can live under all the blessings God wants to give his people and
which are available only through grace.
Deu 28:3-13 You shall be blessed in the city, and be blessed in the field.
These verses in Deut 28:3-13 act as a good shorthand listing of many
of the blessings that God will give his people because they are righteous,
not through commandment keeping, but because of the finished redemptive
work of Jesus.
If you think commandment keeping is the way to righteousness then
Deut 28:14-68 is a good wake-up call showing what you will really have
as your right, since you will not be able to keep the Law. Actually for
someone looking to 'Law keeping' for righteousness even verses 3-13 are
a sad part of the curse that you're under, since to you they are an
unattainable dream! But for us in the NC they are Yes and Amen in Jesus.
RIGHT LIVING
Through His grace God enables us, in fact empowers us, to live lives
pleasing to him.
You see 'the just shall live by faith' and 'the Law is not of faith'.
But under grace and living by faith in Him we have all blessings
in the heavenlies through Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
One of these blessings is that we are clothed in Jesus' righteousness so
are acceptable to God with the same standing as His son.
Not letting Jesus live His life through us though will limit what God
can do for and through us. But, the Holy Spirit in us will guide us into
all truth so that we learn to live right. Grace teaches us to say 'NO'
to unrighteousness and live according to our internal guide where we
could not live by an external law on tablets of stone.
Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared
to all men, It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in
this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope --
the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,...
Holy spirit convicts us of only one sin - the sin of not believing in
Jesus. Jesus himself told us this in John 16:8-11
Joh 16:8-11 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning
sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do
not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to
the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because
the ruler of this world has been judged.
But on believing in Jesus and following in His footsteps our hearts
will not condemn us because all our sins have been forgiven and so
when we ask in Jesus' name we know that we will receive what we
have requested.
1 Joh 3:21-23 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have
confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because
we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His
sight. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His
Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
And so we live right because we are led by Holy Spirit in us. Our
guide is a person. The guide that Jesus said would be better for us
even than having Him here on earth walking alongside us!
John 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go
away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go,
I will send Him to you.
MIRACLE WORKING POWER
Having Holy Spirit in us, the Spirit of Power, means that we have miracle
working power inside of us.
Jesus even told us the details of how we can use this blessings that he has
for us by putting faith in him. Have a look at Mar 11:23-24.
Mar 11:23-24 I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go,
throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes
that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore
I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have
received it, and it will be yours.
Here Jesus told his disciples how they personally could access the
miracle working power of God as they advanced the kingdom. Actually
if you look back at verse 22 you'll find that the original greek
says "Have the faith of God", not "Have faith in God". We are to have
God's kind of faith which, "speaks and it is done!" Now with God's
kind of faith in us (we have the Holy Spirit) verses 23-24 make
perfect sense.
Now some who want an excuse for not having this power in their lives
will say that this was just for the Apostles, but to counter that,
Jesus said in Mar 16:17-18....
Mar 16:17-18 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in
my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any
deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on
the sick, and they will recover."
Notice that miracle working signs and wonders will accompany those
who "Believe". Using a mountain as an example may have been for
emphasis but there were real mountains all around Him and the physical
examples that Jesus modelled for us like the fig tree dying and the
storm being rebuked and told to 'shut up' and the sea
being calmed are not small things by any means!
So ask in Jesus' name; Ask in Faith; Ask according to God's will (according
to His word); Do not doubt; Believe that you have already
received it (it's in your storeroom in your heavenly mansion so to speak);
and it will manifest into the physical realm and be yours now. See
It's
In The Spirit.
Attlee.
Speak The Oracles Of God. Click
Here.
|