Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

Thanks so much for joining our group tonight as we continue to discuss one of the special blessings God has for His people: the blessing of PROSPERITY. We know it's a blessing because the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says so in writing (Deuteronomy 28:11) and then mentions it positively in all its various forms almost one hundred times. Under the previous Covenant with Moses, God made PROSPERITY available to Believers who obeyed the Law. But under the New Covenant that He made with Jesus, PROSPERITY has already been made available to ALL Believers in Christ by GRACE through FAITH.

 

One of the hindrances for that line of thinking though is that a lot of Christians, probably most think that God only doles out blessings when He's in a good mood or when He's feeling particularly responsive to someone's recent good conduct. Some people get blessings and some don't according to an elaborate inconsistent entitlements program that only God understands. The thinking is that the giving of a blessing is God's way of rewarding Believers for doing some good works like fasting a lot or not missing church for a long time or for teaching Sunday school faithfully or for carrying a lot of burdens stoically as an example for others or for trying real hard not to sin so much, etc. So a lot of effort and thought and prayer time goes into trying to impress God. And those folks then tend to get upset with Him when He seems to not notice all their good deeds and doesn't release that particular blessing or two that would have rescued them from something they were going through. Some of them will quickly tell you that all of us unworthy people will never be able to understand how God gives out His favor and blessings but that He knows what's best and we shouldn't question it.      

 

The Nature of Blessings

 

Well for sure God is bigger and stronger and smarter than we are and He can do whatever He wants to. However, He's chosen to bind Himself in His Word with His own assurances for how He intends to operate so we can know what to expect. For example, He doesn't show partiality among Believers (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11) so the criteria for receiving His blessings has to be uniformly administered. By definition a BLESSING from God like PROSPERITY is an expression of His FAVOR. Blessings under the Old Covenant tended to focus on material things but under the New Covenant they've been expanded to also include spiritual things. The mistake so many of us make though is to conclude that the material blessings of the Old Covenant were replaced by a new kind of blessing to the exclusion of material things. But that's not what the Bible teaches. Material blessings haven't been discontinued; they're just included in the broader and better concept of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6). PROSPERITY in the New Covenant applies to spirit, soul and body and not to just the material realm.  But the material realm is still in there.

 

Now also under the New Covenant, GRACE which IS God's FAVOR reigns through the righteousness of Christ (Romans 5:21) and GRACE by definition is UNMERITED. In other words there's absolutely nothing any of us can ever do to deserve GRACE. Our impressive good deeds have no impact on it whatsoever because Jesus ALREADY did ALL the good deeds which paid for ALL the sins of all mankind for ALL time (Hebrews 9:12, 10:12). The only thing we can do to RECEIVE ALL the related benefits is BELIEVE. Jesus has ALREADY completed ALL the impressive works that were needed and the Bible says that now it's God's intention that ALL of His GRACE would abound to us (2 Corinthians 9:8). In short, ALL of God's GRACE is ALREADY available to ALL Believers. It has to be that way because Jesus has already completed ALL the required work and has already entered into His rest (Hebrews 4:10). His work is finished!

 

Therefore, the Blessings of God under the New Covenant including PROSPERITY are an expression of His GRACE and they're ALREADY available to be received by a new way.

 

How Grace Works

 

In the New Covenant, Believers are supposed to live by FAITH (Romans 1:17). So, as born again Believers we need to trust and believe that God's GRACE is already available to us and that in Christ by GRACE we've been empowered to overcome ALL of life's difficulties and get the victory that God has for us on every single occasion (2 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, when we face a problem we simply have RECEIVE the GRACE through FAITH just like we did when we RECEIVED salvation. Sometimes the victory that GRACE produces doesn't quite match up with what our flesh wants but we can be assured by FAITH that it's exactly what's best for us and that it lines up perfectly with God's Word.

 

But living by FAITH is NOT about sitting around waiting for a blessing like God's PROSPERITY to just fall on us. Too many Christians are trying to live that way and it's not usually going to work. Since the GRACE is already available we have to learn how to connect to it through FAITH so we can RECEIVE the blessing and that requires some effort. Indeed, when we see in the Word that a blessing like PROSPERITY is available we need to PURSUE it with our FAITH until we can TAKE possession of it to use as God specifies. If we have in us somewhere a reluctance to use PROSPERITY the way He wants us to, then it's likely we'll have difficulty finding it until the Holy Spirit can help us renew our thinking. It's not that God's hiding the PROSPERITY from us or withholding it, it's simply that we're not spiritually perceptive enough to figure out how to take hold of it. But we SHOULD continue to PURSUE it with persistent FAITH until we get the victory. The benefits in the Kingdom of God are eventually taken by the force of our FAITH (Matthew 11:11-12).  

 

Now if GRACE is always going to produce the victory for us, you can be assured that there are forces lining up to diminish our FAITH and to make it difficult to PERCEIVE what the GRACE wants to accomplish. Satan is our enemy and his objective is to keep us in defeat and to separate us from God. Too many Christians forget that we have to deal with an active enemy which requires us to anticipate what he's going to do and to understand how to DEFEAT him. He's limited in what he can throw against us and here are the main issues:

 

·  He can tempt us to sin and although God is not holding us accountable for our sins (Romans 5:13, 2 Corinthians 5:19), the devil is still keeping track because sin opens the door to let him come into our lives with his curse.

 

·  He can use the world to attract us into ways of doing things that disagree with the Word of God.

 

·  He can use other people including Christians to distract or lead us into conduct that disagrees with the Word.

 

·  He can influence us through our Flesh into making wrong decisions and choices.

 

·  He can cause difficulty to come into our lives for the Word's sake.

 

·  He can accuse and condemn and lie to us and try to cause fear to come into our lives.

 

This is pretty much his entire arsenal and the Bible says to RESIST him when he comes around (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9) trying to use any of those approaches. When we do he'll have to flee. Otherwise he'll slowly have his way in our lives and cause us more discomfort than we ought to have to deal with. Jesus RESISTED him with the WORD (Matthew 4:4, 7, and 10) and so should we. That's the first line of defense and we also have our weapons of warfare to use against him straight out of the Word (Ephesians 6:10-18).

 

But there's another scriptural way to resist this enemy that he also doesn't like because it causes you to become the aggressor, to take hold of those weapons of spiritual warfare and go into battle to do as much harm to him as possible. When you wake up one morning and realize that the curse is operating in your life in some way  even though the Word of God says you've been redeemed from the curse (Galatians 3:13), then you need to get ANGRY at the devil and kick him and his curse out of your life. The Name of Jesus gives us the authority to do that. When Jesus found the money changers in His Father's house, He got angry and kicked them out (Matthew 21:12-13) and so should we when we find the devil messing around in our house where the Holy Spirit lives (1 Corinthians 6:19).

 

ANGER is an emotion and it can be used positively or negatively. If you use it positively on behalf of the Kingdom of God then that's Godly ANGER and that's precisely the reason God gave it to you. Get mad at the devil and kick him out! Righteous ANGER is a mighty weapon for all out warfare. You don't go into hand-to-hand combat unless you're ANGRY because you'll lose the battle. The devil is trying to steal or destroy everything you have and then kill you. Your ANGER turned back on him should have similar objectives: to recover with maximum restitution what you have lost to the enemy and to totally wipe out his influence in your life. Keep going after him on a daily basis actively, fervently, passionately, aggressively with determination and persistence because the battle won't end until Jesus returns.

 

In sum, if the curse is operating in some area of your life then it means that GRACE is not operating as it could be and that your enemy needs to be engaged because he's holding back your victory. Has he been stealing your PROSPERITY? Then it's time to get ANGRY about it. Godly ANGER over a period of time leads to a more energetic defense of your inheritance and causes the enemy to flee (James 4:7) which will cause your spiritual PERCEPTION to improve dramatically which will make it easier to find God's GRACE which contains the PROSPERITY you want so you can put your FAITH on it and RECEIVE it. Righteous ANGER is a huge weapon against the enemy and I guarantee that when you back it up with the Word your FAITH will explode. And friend, explosive FAITH gets results!  

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night on October 27. In the meantime may you RECEIVE through FAITH every available spiritual blessing while you PROSPER in every area of life.  

  

 

Sinners' Prayer 

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx

 

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1

 

 

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