After a recent conversation with a Christian, it just struck me…it struck me so hard.
What struck me? That some Christians really don’t understand what it means to be blessed.
I pondered on it for a while…and I finally feel at peace to write about it.
So,
As a Christian, what does it really mean to be BLESSED?
I strongly believe that the above question should be answered with the scriptures in mind, because it’s easy to get an answer that originated from anywhere else but the Bible.
I’ll just dive right in and immediately say that, cars, houses, clothes and all other finer things in life can be (and should be) elements that pops out of our blessedness in Christ, but as children of God those aren’t the proof of our blessedness. We shouldn’t judge our blessedness based on how many cars we drive, how many clothes we have, and how much we live in luxury.
The blessedness we have in Christ doesn’t come and go…so if we’re judging how blessed we are based on the luxuries we have, it means Christians that don’t live in luxury aren’t blessed yet. It can also mean that if a Christian, for some or any reason, loses his physical possessions then the Christian has lost his blessedness. That can never be the case, because at every point in our lives, as Christians, we’re blessed…completely and thoroughly. The Bible makes us to understand that we’re loved with an everlasting love (SEE Jeremiah 31:3), and that the gifts of God are irrevocable (SEE Romans11:29), and of course God can’t be partial with His Love or the blessedness that come with His Love (SEE Romans 2:11).
We’re blessed because we have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus. We’re blessed because we have the very life of God. We’re blessed because God has adopted us. We’re blessed because we have jointed-sitting with Christ in the heavenly places. We’re blessed because we have the Godhead three-in-one living on our inside. We’re blessed because we have the privilege of talking to the Father and having Him talk right back to us. We’re blessed because we get to have the Holy Spirit help us train our physical bodies to align to who we are on the inside…in our spirits. We’re blessed because we don’t yield to the flesh, but to the Spirit. We’re blessed because we get to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We’re blessed because we get to possess the gifts of the Spirit. We’re blessed because we get to have the same Holy Spirit lead and guide us in life. We’re blessed because of where and how we get to spend eternity when we leave this side of eternity unto the other side that is not physical, but more real than the physical.
We’re blessed because of who we are in Christ, and Whose we are in Christ.
The scriptures make it clearer…
Little wonder why the Bible says mind-blowing things like “rejoice always.” It makes sense, because how else can someone have the courage to rejoice…”always” if the person don’t have something on the inside that supersedes what the person has on the outside? Hey, life experiences aren’t always about the rainbow and sunshine; we’ve got the lightings, thunders and stormy season too. Yet, we’re asked to rejoice “always” why? Because no matter our experiences in the physical…our blessed state in the spiritual won’t change, and again, the spiritual is more real than what we experience in the physical.
When Paul wrote to the Philippians and says to them “rejoice always”, he was a man that was without his freedom. He was a prisoner…yet he had a reason to rejoice, and even had the audacity to require it of other Christians. He understood that what he had…the reason to rejoice…the reason he is blessed… is way beyond what can be perceived in the physical.
This same Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Corinth says: “If we who are (abiding) in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians 15:19 (AMPC)
How do you feel about Paul’s words to the Christians in Corinth, honestly? And beyond how you feel, what does it mean to you? Personally, it helps me stay super excited, no matter what life has to offer. I’ll definitely do my very best, give in my very best and expect only the very best…at all times, but I refuse to let life define me because I know beyond everything great life has to offer…lies the greater, the greatest and way beyond the greatest…and I’ve got way beyond the greatest.
And Jesus makes it clearer in the scriptures…
In Mark 8:36, Jesus asks a question that I believe seals it for us. Jesus says, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life (in the eternal kingdom of God)?” (AMPC) . Now take a long pause…and then go back and read that again. Then pause yet again…and then go back and read that yet again. If you’ve gone back to read it again and again, then permit me to ask a question like: “can we say we aren’t blessed because we don’t have all we want on earth when we already have a place in the eternally kingdom of God? Of course not! What other blessing can go beyond the blessing of being a child of the Living God? I don’t see any other blessing.
Okay, if we want to further explore Jesus’ teaching in the scriptures, then the parable of the rich man and Lazarus should be brought up. In Luke 10:19-31, Jesus told the story of a man named Lazarus who was very poor. Lazarus got his daily belly supply from what fell from the rich man’s table. When Lazarus died, he was carried by the Angels to Abraham’s bosom in heaven. The rich man that had all…and made merry in splendor every day…also died, but his portion after life was hades.
Why did Jesus ever have to tell a story like this, and why did God allow it to be recorded in the Bible? It is so we can read and learn from it. Obviously, one of the lessons to learn from it is that who we are in Christ is far more important than luxuries of life.
That also explains why Jesus, in Matthew 6:33, admonishes us to seek first the kingdom of heaven and all of its righteousness, because that’s of great importance…more than anything else…because understanding the kingdom and how God will have us live in the kingdom is the real deal. Jesus went ahead to tell us that when we seek the kingdom of God and its way of being right that every other thing will be added unto us.
Let’s also recall Jesus’ parable about the wheat and the weeds, in Matthew 13: 24-30. The wheat was sowed and the enemy came and sowed weeds. The weeds grew alongside the wheat, and when the servants asked the Master if they should pull up the weeds, the Master’s responds was, “No…let them grow together until the harvest…” so, a weed can look as fresh as a wheat, and sometimes the weed tries to outshine the wheat, but that doesn’t really matter. Growth is not what is important; what’s important is who you are…or to put it in context, what you are. Are you a wheat or a weed? You’re blessed because you’re a wheat.
The reason we even struggle is because we don’t understand what it really means to be Blessed
It is when we realize that we’re blessed beyond what we experience on earth that we, effortlessly, get into the realm of experiencing other luxuries the earth has to offer us. God is a disciplined Father. He is more interested in what we are than what we have or do. So, if you’re ALL in for God, He’ll really want you to really learn the basics. He’ll really want you to get what is of great importance.
Giving you the finer things in life isn’t a problem with God. God actually wants us to have the finer things in life, but the finer things in life aren’t the blessedness. And if God knows that the finer things in life will distract you from Him, He wouldn’t let you have more than you need, until the Holy Spirit teaches you better, unless you decide to have them outside His will. God will definitely take good care of you. He’ll give you just enough. You’ll be fine, but until you understand the principles…His principles…that come with more than enough, He wouldn’t release more than enough to you.
Who we are in Christ Jesus is the blessedness. When we look to Jesus…and Him alone, every other thing will fall in place, even things we didn’t know we need and want. God knows what we need before we dare to ask Him. The numbers of others days are before Him…and He knows why we are here on earth, hence, understanding that the blessedness is in Him through Jesus, will definitely make every other thing easier…you’ll definitely step into the realm of more than enough.
God is more interested in our spiritual well-being, than any other thing else. He wants us to live out all we are in the spiritual in the physical. He knows that when our spirit is controlling our flesh, we’ll be safe and fine. He knows that if we can submit to the trainings of the Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t even need to ask Him for most of the things we spent our prayer time asking Him for, because they’ll naturally be added unto us. So, while we’re busy trying to get the things that life can offer; God is trying to get us ready for eternity, and if we focus on what God is doing, the other things will fall in place…that’s Jesus’ promise to us, as recorded in Matthew 6:33.
Let me sound it again…this is not to say that we get to live a beggarly life…not at all. When our lives are properly aligned to God’s will…poverty, sickness, depression, hurt, pain, and every other stamp from the pit of hell flee…and since the devil don’t like quitting, he’ll keep ordering them back…but they’ll keep fleeing when they see that we’re ALL in for and with Jesus. God doesn’t want us to suffer and just live a life in mediocrity here on earth. We get to enjoy the eternal life…the very life of God even here on earth. Jesus, in John 10:10, says, “…I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance—to the full, till it overflows.” (AMPC)
So, nobody is saying Christians don’t get to enjoy life. I’m saying, what life has to offer…all of what life has to offer aren’t the blessedness. The blessedness is who we are in Christ Jesus and that we belong to Christ Jesus.
We’ll never get to know how much we’re blessed until we get to the other side of eternity
I told someone, recently, that we won’t get all our rewards here on earth because most of our rewards are waiting for us in heaven. Sometimes, we just get so frustrated about what we have done to honour Jesus and didn’t get to see the reward here on earth…put a smile on…one day you’ll stand before Jesus and you’ll get the rewards for every single thing you did to honour Jesus in your life. Now, that’s how blessed you are.
You have the honour of having a store house filled with treasures in heaven. For every time you get pass the flesh and do what God will have you do. For every time you refused to use the harsh words. For every time you decided to forgive, even when the offender hasn’t come to the terms of being in the wrong. For every time you get to be bullied for doing the right thing. For every time you get to get pass the fear and just do something for the kingdom of God. For every time you honour Jesus…you add to your treasure house in heaven. That’s how blessed you are.
As a blessed one in Christ Jesus…you have to make Christ Jesus your only focus
Stop looking at the world and comparing yourself with them, stop wondering why you don’t get to be like them. First, ask God for Grace to know what to do and how to do it…and when God gives you the first hint…step out in Faith, don’t wait for the entire picture. Give in your best, and then you’ll see that it is not even that difficult to attain success in anything that is approved by God.
Then, do make sure that when you start seeing results from the process God gave to you, you don’t allow the results drift you away. Stay where God will have you stay. Make sure you don’t allow the devil to make you believe that the results are the blessedness…no they aren’t. The blessedness is who you are on the inside. I keep repeating it over and over again, because it is important for you to note it down. Why is this important to note?
It is important to note, so you don’t get to worship the process that yields results more than you worship God. So you don’t get to be so attached to the things that the process produces that you forget to understand that it was God who gave you the process and results in the first place. So you get to keep your entire focus on Jesus. That way when God tells you to do something insane that might defile the process you’re already used to…or say He asks you to surrender the results of the process, it will be easy for you to just yield to Him.
And yes, God has the habit of asking us to do things that our human minds can’t comprehend if we’re not focused on Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit. You know, like He told Abraham to go kill Isaac. The blessedness wasn’t Isaac; the blessedness was that Abraham had the privilege of being God’s friend. He was someone that had access to God. He was someone that God wouldn’t hide anything from. So, when God wanted a fruit from Abraham’s blessedness (in this case, Isaac), it wasn’t hard for Abraham to yield, because he was more focus on the relationship that gave him the blessedness than the fruit that sprouted from the blessedness.
Are you a child of the living God?
Have you accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
Are you baptized in the Holy Spirit?
Do you enjoy the things money cannot buy…like peace, Joy, health…?
Do you have the fruit of the Holy Spirit…with all its nine expressions?
Do you operate in any or some of gifts of the Spirit?
Now if your answer is yes to all of these questions… or even just the first and second questions…then know you’re already BLESSED…completely and thoroughly…so much and beyond…more than you can ever imagine or think. Any other thing that’s an issue or a desire, go to your heavenly Father and let you two sort it out…but while you’re going through the process of sorting it out with your heavenly Father…never lose your heart of gratitude because, again, you’re already BLESSED…completely and thoroughly…so much and beyond…more than you can ever imagine or think of.
My prayer for you:
I pray you get to focus on the One who has blessed you, because you’ll get to keep seeing how completely and thoroughly blessed you already are. I pray you get to experience the power that comes with being blessed, like never before.
I pray you get to see that the reason you’re blessed is because you’re loved, so loved by God…and I pray you fall back in love, like never before, with the One Who has blessed you…completely and thoroughly.
Amen.
Do get in the gym, and do
Stay Spiritually Fit.
Thank you for this revelation. You have redirected my focus. Indeed l will stay spiritually fit even as you stay spiritually fit. Remain blessed.