Abba, Father, I …

To understand this post, you must read it in the right context. That means you need to read parts one , two and three. Find them here. This is part four of the Blessed series.

Today’s topic will be strange to most people. It will be difficult especially to those who have lived in the “west” ( where there is generally plenty of stuff ) or have lived the “western” lifestyle. It will also be strange to those who may have not have had much stuff to begin with, but have now acquired the western mindset and forgotten where they came from.

I came to these conclusion after much thought, some revelation from on high, and a sincere look at my own experience.

Having nothing

First, let me state that no child of God can have nothing.

³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ( Romans 8:32 NIV)

But there is that state, where a child of God decides to have a little, the just-barely-enough, which in the eyes of the world, amounts to nothing. And having that nothing, not out of coercion or laziness, but out of choice, for reasons we shall shortly see. And, in having the nothing, to be still joyous and be pleasing the Lord, and not cause His name to be ill spoken of.

That is what i mean by nothing.

Why we went to the Lord

Many Christians communicate with the Lord, their Heavenly Father, the way infants and little children communicate with their parents: on need to have basis.

An infant demands the attention of its parents when it’s needs are not met. They will give you no peace, till they have had it “their way”. Once they have what they need, they will generally leave you alone and be preoccupied with  themselves. Until they have the next need.

Toddlers are much better. There are times they seek you for your own sake. But they also do fall into the want mode once in a while. But their demands are mainly motivated by what they see out there: what Luke has, or what “the girl in my class” has, or what Hannah Montana is wearing, or what the Disney Channel has just advertised on TV ( and boy, do they fill the TV with adverts! I pity the little kids, they do not stand a chance ), or that toy or pair of shoes that is displayed on the store shelf.

A truly balanced grown up ( say your spouse) would seek communication with another grown-up because of the existing relationship between them. ( A balanced grown-up, i say. I know there are many baby grown-ups out there who seek others to please them.)

Are you better than the kids? Be honest and take an inventory of the times that you sincerely seek out the Lord in prayer. When do you pray? What was it that you wanted?

But, He is our Father?

Yes. So it is alright o approach Him thus:

³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ( Romans 8:32 NIV)

After all He said “ask…”.

While as a child it is okay to only seek the Lord when you have need, material need, as you grow up, that selfish reason should be reducing. It would be great when you are all grown up so that you can seek the Lord out, not for the sole purpose of getting something from Him, but so that you can just spend time with Him.

Huh?

Okay, if you do not get that, let us not dwell on it. Let us leave it at that.
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Are you prosperous? Do you want to be prosperous? Do you feel like you do not have “it”? Do you find yourself pleading “Lord, prosper me!”? Then you have company in me and many other Christian. This is your message.

In Part one, we saw that the Lord God originated the idea of blessing man by giving a promise to Abraham. As a result of that promise, Abraham was, among other things, a  very prosperous person in his lifetime.

In Part two, we learned that Christ was the end of the promise to Abraham, which was, mankind having a shot at Godness. We noted that, when one has Christ, they are already blessed beyond measure.

To get the most out of this post, i suggest you read the previous two, in order, before you read this one, because this is a continuation of the last two posts.

In this post we take  a look at prosperity, material prosperity, and how to “get it”.

Why? Because there are so many Christians who are stuck in the past. They are seeking Abraham’s prosperity, when they already have the end of Abraham’s blessing. There are so many blessed Christians out there who are running around frantically as if they were some poor orphan children of i-do-not-know-who.

What you are

Just a remind on what your blessedness means:

You posses Godness. If you have the Holy Spirit, that’s it. You got ALL. It may not be apparent, but you, poor simple you,  are “walking with the gods”.

That, being able to walk with the gods,  is the absolute thing a man can have. There is nothing else beyond that. You could not climb any higher than that.

What you are, in Christ, is the highest position a man can be honored with.

Your position is really really so high  that even the prince of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the one who now rules all the nations of earth so mercilessly, the devil himself, cannot attain. In fact, the reason he fell was because he was seeking that position that you now have.

And of course that is why he is your enemy. That is why he hates you with a vengeance.

You have what he could not have.

That is why he would wish that you believed otherwise. That is why he lies to so many already blessed Christians. The Lord has said of you, “you are blessed”. The enemy says to you “you are not blessed if you are not prosperous. If you become prosperous you will be truly happy”.

Prosperity: the art of getting stuff

No one can argue with the fact that the Lord God can give you stuff, lots and lots of stuff. If you desire lots of stuff, how do you get the Lord to give it to you?

You don’t. He just gives it to you.

Let me say something about the people who are the pivotal examples of the prosperity movement: Abraham and Solomon.

Consider Abraham. Did Abram pray “Lord, give me wealth!”? No. It is the Lord who came to him and told him, “Abram, I will give you wealth”. How about Solomon? The Lord came to him and told him “Ask anything of me”. Solomon did not ask to be wealthy. So the Lord tells him, “because you did not ask for wealth, i will give it to you anyway, in great abundance.”
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Are you seeking God’s blessing? Do you pray “God bless me?” Then this post is for you.

In the last post, Blessed! The old blessing, we looked at the blessing that the Lord God promised to man, through Abraham. That blessing was started off with Abraham. But that was just the start:

I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” ( Gen. 12:3 NIV)

See, it was meant for ” all peoples on earth”, not just Abraham’s descendants.

As you most likely know, the promise was fulfilled in Christ Jesus about 2000 years ago.

Heirs of a blessing

That means that we Christians are living that blessing. Do note this: in Abraham’s time, the blessing’s  fulfillment date was a “future” time. Abraham received the material portion of the blessing, as a foretaste of what was to come.

When Christ said “it is finished”, he ushered in that blessed period, where, anyone, absolutely anyone, who believes in Him, is empowered to partake of the nature of God. That believing person is given chance to become a son of God, inherit eternal life and live forever. In other words, to that person, God becomes his “very great reward” as Abraham was promised.

That, becoming a child of God, was the blessing promised to mankind!

And it is here.

“It is finished!”, said Christ.

It is done. You are blessed!

That is the gospel.

So, this should be obvious to every Christian who is a child of God, right? Right. But this great truth seems to have been lost in all the noise and shouts that proclaim  “God wants you to prosper”. This truth is not being fully appreciated especially by those who have bought into the mind boggling  teaching of the prosperity Gospel.

If you listened in to a typical prayer that results from that “other” gospel, the prosperity gospel, you hear these:

“Lord bless me. Lord prosper me. Lord give me houses i did not build. Lord give me the riches of darkness. Lord give the riches of the heathen. Lord i have sowed this $$ seed, now multiply it to $$$$$$”,

What would anyone conclude from these quests? That, to the Christian, Christ is but the beginning and material prosperity is the end or fulfillment of the Christian lifestyle here on earth.

What more do you want?
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What is blessed? What does it mean to be blessed? How is the blessing exercised or expressed?

When most Christians think of blessings, the blessing of the Lord, they automatically think of Abraham. And when they think of prosperity, the more popular form of blessing, they almost always lean heavily on Abraham.

And that is befitting. Because,  as we shall see shortly, blessings can only come from our Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We will therefore begin our study of blessedness from that very beginning.

Blessed, the simple man’s definition

This is my simple man’s definition of blessed

To have no lack whatsoever, in every aspect of being.

In that definition, i am going for the ultimate meaning the concept. Granted, that definition is the ideal. But any efforts geared towards that ideal may be sufficient this side of the cosmos.

What that means, in street terms, is that, if it is wealth that we are considering,  that one has no discernible shortage of it, or one has so much of it such that he/she is not impeded in any pursuit he/she might want to undertake.

But it really cannot  just stop there. It also means that, in terms of power, one has as much power as to be able to do as they  wish, within reasonable limits, without another constraining them unnecessarily.

And, having all these, one is capable of great joy and pleasure when exercising the use of the said wealth and power.

And, in joyously exercising his great wealth and power, commits not sin at any time.

It should be obvious, then, that the one who is ultimately “blessed”, is the Lord God Himself. None and nothing impedes Him. And if that is so, it also means, that since He can impede and impose on all others, only He can bestow a blessing  or two on lesser beings.

I repeat;

True blessing can only come from the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The promise of blessing

The promise of blessing that we are considering  is reported in Genesis 12. There is no indication how Abram ( later Abraham) came to know about the Lord God, but they certainly must have had some contact and exchanges:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

And out of “no where”, and for no apparent reason, the Lord offers to bless him:

² “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

Do remember this for future reference;

• One, Abram did not ask to be blessed.
• Two, Abraham is being blessed so that he would in turn be a blessing to many others.

God gives out his blessings for a greater good:

³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

What is the Lord saying?  This:

“Abe, i know you did not seek this thing that i want to do with you, so i will reward you greatly by blessing you. As a result, there are those who will be against you because of my choosing you. But do not worry about it, for i will be looking out for you. I will be your defense against all them.”

The result of the blessing

So what results from this blessing?
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I just have to talk about this great blessedness that exists within our reach.

The blessedness that i, and you, have. The blessedness which, tragically, so many of God’s children are unaware of. And being unaware,  they go seeking the other blessed, seeking to be prospered.

This will be a five part series.

I dare you to read all the five parts. If, afterward reading it, you do not have an “Aha” moment, i strong advice you to stop reading this blog, for it is of no benefit to you.

1. Part One: Blessed! The old blessing
2. Part Two: Blessed! Now!
3. Part Four: Blessed to have “nothing”.
4. Part Three: Prosperity, when your heart is right.
5. Part Five: Blessed? Ask yourself this.