You Are Already Blessed: Celebrate it! (Part 1)

Guest Post By: Live By The Word

You are already blessed beyond belief. That is the Gospel truth!


This is neither one of an April Fools pranks nor an attempt to psyche you. It is the reality of who you are. All I want to do is to open your eyes to your blessings if you don’t already know. If you are in Christ, you are blessed. It is not a matter of ‘you are going to be bless’-you are already blessed! God says in His word that you are a blessed man and woman. Please meditate thoroughly as you study the Scriptures below:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS BLESSED US in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (Eph 1:3 ESV) (Emphasis is mine )

His divine power HAS GIVEN US everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3NIV) (Emphasis is mine)

I hope you see what I am seeing? Didn’t the scriptures say,’ you have been blessed?’. It’s past tense, not future tense. What am I saying here? I’m saying that God already made provisions for you even before you were born. And the realization of it gets into reality when you are in Christ. Therefore, enjoy the here and now. Regardless of what you are going through right now as long as you are in Christ God have you covered.

Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” ( Num 23:11-12NIV)

I know you have some needs still not yet met. I know you have a challenge in one area of your life or the other. Whatever you might be going through makes no difference to what God says.

Sometimes we tend to focus on what we don’t have and forget what we already have.

If you can look inward, I believe there are things you have right now that you should be celebrating.

Nothing in this life should be more important than your spiritual life. (Mark 8:35)
We must all learn to appreciate our spirituality more than anything else. Your spirituality should be more valuable to you than anything else.

CELEBRATE WHAT YOU HAVE

If you have any of these, celebrate it:

Celebrate that you are a born again Christian
Celebrate that God is your God and Father
Celebrate that you have eternal life
Celebrate that you are a candidate for heaven
Celebrate that you are a candidate for Rapture
Celebrate the priceless peace of God you have
Celebrate the gift of God you are endowed with

The Disciples of Jesus came back from their assignment one day with the excitement of miracles wrought through them. But instead of Jesus to join them in the groove, He swiftly corrects them to rather rejoice that their names were written in Heaven. This should be our joy at all times. Every other thing is secondary.

But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20 (NLT)

The recognition of this fact has helped me greatly. It has availed me to avoid being envious of people that are achieving greater things than I around me. I know that if I die today, what is important in life is to reach heaven. It has also helped me to be contented with what I own. My duty is to continue to thank God every step all the way for where I am now before I get to another greater level He is taking me to.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.(Luke 17:15 NIV)

Ten lepers were healed in the Bible. Only the one that returned to appreciates God was made whole. The lesson from that story, tell me that it is possible to have fewer people appreciating God, comparable to those who don’t appreciate Him for what they own. Learn to thank him for what you have. If anything, for your spirituality. For me, I have made up my mind to always be among the few. But I want you to be part of the few too.

Anyone who is among the living has hope –even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! (Eccl 9:4NIV)

NO ONE CAN CURSE YOU 

Do you recognize that the Children of Israel doesn’t even know someone is trying to rain a curse on them? Every effort made to curse them was altered by God. Balaam was influenced to bless them instead. This is an instance of an unseen battle God fights for us. They are being protected because they belong to God. Imagined if they have been cursed, their destinies would have been changed. As long as they are obedient, they continued to enjoy God’s cover. There are many invisible battles God has fought and is still fighting for you. And you are to appreciate Him for that. He decided to keep you alive, there is HOPE for you.

If you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, this is the right time to do so. You are not reading this post by accident. Only confess your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour; prayerfully and from the depth of your heart. If you have done that, believe your sins are forgiven, and you are now a child of God. For your spiritual growth, you need to join yourself to a Bible believing Church in your area. You may contact me by submitting your details through the contact form in case you need guidance and counseling. God bless you.

Stay Blessed.

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About the writer:

Richard Okunade - Bible Teacher/Evangelist/Blogger

Blessed with a passion for serving God through teaching and evangelistic online ministry. I am a Bible Study Teacher in a local Parish Church. I believe the application of  Wisdom from God’s word is the solution to everyman’s problems.

You can find his blog at http://www.livebytheword.blog/

Do We Truly Forgive?

Over time, I have found one of the hardest things for a client to do is to forgive the other spouse, yet they wish to have forgiveness themselves. This article is within that same vain. What are we as Christians supposed to do about this thing called "forgiveness"?

 

Jesus Forgives Ex-Offenders, Do We?

Jim Liske, Prison Fellowship     Tuesday, February 07, 2012

In 1985, Darrell Langdon of Chicago was sentenced to probation for possessing half a gram of cocaine. It was his last run-in with the law. He got his life in order and has been sober since 1988.
A happy ending? Well, despite 25 years as a law-abiding citizen, there are still people who want to punish Langdon for his crime.

Langdon learned about the vindictive nature of American criminal justice in 2010, when he applied for a job as a boiler room engineer in the Chicago public schools. Under Illinois law, sex offenders and those convicted of violent crime are barred from working in public schools.

While that sounds reasonable, the law also bars people convicted of non-violent offenses, in particular drug offenses.

Thus, Langdon, who had turned his life around after being convicted of a relatively minor offense, was told his prior conviction made him ineligible for the job.

Read more

Women, Stop Submitting to Men

I found this article to be very well written and powerful. Let me know how you feel about it.  The entire article is presented, however, you can click the title below to see the article on it's website.

Women, Stop Submitting to Men
written by Russell Moore  12/5/11

Those of us who hold to so-called “traditional gender roles” are often assumed to believe that women should submit to men. This isn’t true.  Indeed, a primary problem in our culture and in our churches isn’t that women aren’t submissive enough to men, but instead that they are far too submissive.   First of all, it just isn’t so that women are called to submit while men are not. In Scripture, every creature is called to submit, often in different ways and at different times. Children are to submit to their parents, although this is certainly a different sort of submission than that envisioned for marriage. Church members are to submit to faithful pastors (Heb. 13:17). All of us are to submit to the governing authorities (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Of course, we are all to submit, as creatures, to our God (Jas. 4:7). And, yes, wives are called to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22; 1 Pet. 3:1-6). But that’s just the point. In the Bible, it is not that women, generally, are to submit to men, generally. Instead, “wives” are to submit “to your own husbands” (1 Pet. 3:1). Too often in our culture, women and girls are pressured to submit to men, as a category. This is the reason so many women, even feminist women, are consumed with what men, in general, think of them. This is the reason a woman’s value in our society, too often, is defined in terms of sexual attractiveness and availability. Is it any wonder that so many of our girls and women are destroyed by a predatory patriarchy that demeans the dignity and glory of what it means to be a woman? Submitting to men in general renders it impossible to submit to one’s “own husband.” Submission to one’s husband means faithfulness to him, and to him alone, which means saying “no” to other suitors. Submission to a right authority always means a corresponding refusal to submit to a false authority. Eve’s submission to the Serpent’s word meant she refused to submit to God’s. On the other hand, Mary’s submission to God’s word about the child within her meant she refused to submit to Herod’s.  God repeatedly charges his Bride, the people of Israel, with a refusal to submit to him because they have submitted to the advances of other lovers. The freedom of the gospel means, the apostle tells us, that we “do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Despite the promise of female empowerment in the present age, the sexual revolution has given us the reverse. Is it really an advance for women that the average high-school male has seen images of women sexually exploited and humiliated on the Internet? Is it really empowerment to have more and more women economically at the mercy of men who freely abandon them and their children, often with little legal recourse?  Is this really a “pro-woman” culture when restaurant chains enable men to pay to ogle women in tight T-shirts while they gobble down chicken wings? How likely is it that a woman with the attractiveness of Henry Kissinger will obtain power or celebrity status in American culture? What about the girl in your community pressured to perform oral sex on a boyfriend, what is this but a patriarchy brutal enough for a Bronze Age warlord? In the church it is little better. Too many of our girls and young women are tyrannized by the expectation to look a certain way, to weigh a certain amount, in order to gain the attention of “guys.”  Additionally, too many predatory men have crept in among us, all too willing to exploit young women by pretending to be “spiritual leaders” (2 Tim. 3:1-9; 2 Pet. 2). Do not be deceived: a man who will use spiritual categories for carnal purposes is a man who cannot be trusted with fidelity, with provision, with protection, with the fatherhood of children. The same is true for a man who will not guard the moral sanctity of a woman not, or not yet, his wife. We have empowered this pagan patriarchy. Fathers assume their responsibility to daughters in this regard starts and stops in walking a bride down an aisle at the end of the process. Pastors refuse to identify and call out spiritually impostors before it’s too late. And through it all we expect our girls and women to be submissive to men in general, rather than to one man in particular. Women, sexual and emotional purity means a refusal to submit to “men,” in order to submit to your own husband, even one whose name and face you do not yet know. Your closeness with your husband, present or future, means a distance from every man who isn’t, or who possibly might not be, him. Your beauty is found not in external (and fleeting) youth and “attractiveness” but in the “hidden person of the heart” which “in God’s sight is very precious” (1 Pet. 3:3-4). And it will be beautiful in the sight of a man who is propelled by the Spirit of this God. Sisters, you owe no submission to Hollywood or to Madison Avenue, or to those who listen to them. Your worth and dignity cannot be defined by them. Stop comparing yourselves to supermodels and porn stars. Stop loathing your body, or your age. Stop feeling inferior to vaporous glamor. You are beautiful.  Sisters, there is no biblical category for “boyfriend” or “lover,” and you owe such designation no submission. In fact, to be submissive to your future husband you must stand back and evaluate, with rigid scrutiny, “Is this the one who is to come, or is there another?” That requires an emotional and physical distance until there is a lifelong covenant made, until you stand before one who is your “own husband.” Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as unto the Lord. Yes and Amen. But, women, stop submitting to men. Dr. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at s the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  This article appeared on Dr. Moore’s Blog, Moore to the Point, and is used with permission.