Spiritual Blessings

Yesterday, we saw the three basic blessings : spiritual blessings, physical blessings and material blessings. 
Apostle John is the only disciple who had a natural death for God delivered him and extended his life to show him the things that were, that are and was yet to come while he was all alone in the Patmos island. Thus, he contributed 5 books in the Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit - the gospel of John, three letters of John and the book of Revelation. 

3 John :1-4 The Elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

So here, Apostle John in his old age prays for three basic blessings for his friend, Gaius - that his spirit, body and soul prospers. Many theologians are allergic to the word, ‘prosperity’, although they themselves would be living in prosperity; but based on what I’ve experienced in my own life and what I’ve seen in others’ lives I believe that God prospers His children.

In this world, we all will face troubles and we need not specially pray for it. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, but our focus in prayer should be that each child of God should reach to the fullness of blessing. 

1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Many children of God focus on the material blessings while our prime focus should be in the well-being of our spirit and that’s why Mathhew 6:33 says to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Long long ago, there was a skilled builder and as he grew old, he wished to retire and presented the matter to his boss. But the boss insisted that he build one last villa before he retires. So he reluctantly agreed and finished the project without any passion or commitment toward it and then handed over the key to his boss. The boss looked into his eyes and said, “I’d asked you to build this villa for yourself” and returned the key to him. As he held the keys, he began to regret thinking that had he known his boss’s intention earlier, he’d have built a villa with the finest material and made it his masterpiece; but now the work is all over and this villa was the worst of all that he built in his entire career.

Many times, we put all effort into building others’ lives and homes, by giving them good counsel and prayer support, etc but neglect to edify our own spirit. Also, we may fail to rightly prioritize things in our lives, and being lost in worldly/ family matters, we compromise on building our spirit through worship, applying the Word, a strong prayer life, ministering to others, etc. Today, let’s decide that this should not happen with us; instead make a strong decision to build your spirit-man with utmost care.

We see a theory of relativity here in reward to every child of God: as your spirit prospers, it will be reflected in your health and material blessings. 

Gaius who walked in truth had rightly prioritized things in his life: firstly his spirit, followed by his body and then material blessings.

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