Abounding with blessing!  By James Lantz

       God is a rich God! God does not live in lack but rather in a place of great wealth, beauty, and splendor! God is love and his very nature is to love and to bless! He is the biggest giver there ever was and ever will be.  John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  Jesus exhorted his disciples (us) to focus our rejoicing on what he was doing and now has accomplished for us in the new birth.  Luke 10:20  Not withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.   Jesus was exhorting them and us to rejoice in

    “It is no small thing that God has given every believer, even the least in the kingdom of God, authority over Satan and demons. You will not find one place in the new testament where we are instructed to pray and ask God to get the devil off of us, but rather that we are to resist the devil and give him no place.  (Mark 16:17, Eph. 4:27, James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8&9, Rev. 12:11) “

what God did and what He would carry out in the coming days in the work of redemption! We are to be rejoicing in what God did for us in granting us eternal life because this is the greatest gift that has ever been given. The demons will not flee and the sick will not be healed until we have been reconnected to the power source. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has empowered us! Salvation is an all inclusive package deal that reconnects us to the Father of lights and qualifies us to receive every blessing and promise of God. Our Heavenly Father provided much more than just relief from our pain and suffering but made provision for us to experience every good gift. Our good God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt (type of the world) and  planned for them to immediately enter into the promised land (type of our inheritance). It was not God’s will for that first generation to die in the wilderness but rather go into the promised land and live in houses they didn’t build and own farms that they didn’t have to buy.  Deut. 6:23  And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.   God fully intended to make his people rich by giving them houses, lands, vineyards, and orchards without a mortgage, but most of that first generation refused.  Pro. 10:22  The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.  Many of us know what it is like to toil for the blessing and find out God has a better way. God’s way is for us to diligently and faithfully serve him in building his church and believe him to add the blessings to us. Yes, we still work, but the toiling and the stress is gone, because our number one focus is building the kingdom of God while God’s blessing overtakes us.  Ps. 23  The Lord is my sheperd; I shall not want   .   .   .   surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life   . .   .   .  To many of God’s people are running after the blessings in their own strength not realizing that we are to be running after our part of the great commission in his strength. The prodigal son’s brother was working hard out of a sense of obedience but not fully yielded to the vision of his father. The prodigal’s father is another example of how our Heavenly Father desires us to be not only forgiven but also restored to our place of us ruling and reigning with him. When our name is in the book of life, this

Jesus said, Rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.   

means that we have been granted eternal life and all that goes with it.

       Let us rejoice in what God did through Christ, when he raised him from the dead, according to the working of his mighty power! All the glory goes to our good God and all the blessing of the Lord has been restored through Christ! 

• Our sins have been forgiven and are removed from us, through the blood of Jesus!
• We have been delivered from Satan’s dominion and eternal damnation!
• We have received power to become sons of God, made alive together with Christ!
• We have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son!
• We have a High Priest (Jesus) who will forgive and cleanse us when we confess our sin!
• We have been qualified to receive of the inheritance with the saints who walk in the light!
• We are offered the gift of the infilling of the Holy Spirit!
• Healing has been purchased for us through Jesus suffering in his body!
• Prosperity is for God’s righteous saints!

      Since God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:32)  We are a blessed people! There is no good thing that he will withhold from us. By rejoicing in our salvation we can stay in a place of rejoicing continually and not be limited to special occasions or spectacular events. We walk by faith and not by sight. We can not see our names written in the book of life but we believe our name is there on the integrity of God’s word. He said, if we would call upon the name of Jesus, believe him, and do what he said, we would be saved. Faith for healing works the same way. We do not have to wait to see if the symptoms are gone before we thank and praise God that we are healed. Faith knows the outcome ahead of time! We don’t know how it is going to manifest, but we know it will, because whoever believes will not be ashamed. As soon as we prayed and asked God for healing and believed we received healing we know that it is done. So many of God’s people are endeavoring to receive healing after they see they are healed but God said if you will believe you will see. The ten lepers who lifted up their voices to Jesus, asking for healing mercy, didn’t wait till their leprosy disappeared to obey the Lord. When they heard the word they immediately started off to see the priests (before they saw that they were healed) so they could be examined and declared healed and clean!  Luke 17:14&15  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back  and with a loud voice glorified God    Faith calls those things which be not as though they were! This separates the believers from the doubters, those who receive from those who go without. Faith takes what God through his grace offers. Salvation is offered right now to everyone who is here on this earth. We do not get to choose the method (believe and confess before we see) but we do get to choose heaven before it is to late.  Believer’s, don’t wait till you get to heaven to start rejoicing, the blessing is your’s right now!

Romans 15:29  And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the   

    blessing of the gospel of Christ.