Triumphant

"The life of the children of God should be as fantastical as a 100-year-old man named Abraham having a son."

“I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8 BSB)

ALL OF THE plan of God was so that we could dwell securely (Psalm 16:9 BSB) and not be shaken. Before time began, God set in motion what would happen to return man to His presence and give Him all that heaven contains. We are meant to not worry about anything (Philippians 4:6). Not ungodly governments, not restless people, not persecution of the church, not financial loss, not weather catastrophes, nor health crises either expected or unexpected. We should walk free of all fear and worry all day every single day. This sounds impossible, except God said, Nothing was impossible. We must raise our expectations and in so doing, watch our words.

We speak death and destruction, theft and loss. We participate with failing banking systems, with money troubles, with family unrest by what we say. So stop saying it. The life of the children of God should be as fantastical as a 100-year-old man named Abraham having a son, as a nation of one million people crossing a sea which parted for them into dry land. It should be as much a dream as a girl named Mary, who had never been with a man, carrying the Christ child. Look at the stories in the Bible and see your life on the same scale. We have been given so much more than eternal life in heaven. We have all of God’s goodness now, today.

Jesus’ death and Resurrection gives us “soteria” meaning “salvation, health, prosperity, wellness.” He is the Prince of Shalom, nothing missing or broken. We can be at peace while the price of gas goes through the roof. We can be calm and quiet when the election cycle goes nuts. We can be loving and generous and kind to people who have no idea who Jesus is. We can walk in unity as a church and across denominations, proclaim Jesus as Lord, becoming the strong people of God that He desires. We should be joyful in every situation because our Father is Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth. We should rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4:4). Anger and hatred and strife and arguments, depression and suicide and anxiety and panic, should be as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

If we’re willing to believe a man who was God living on the earth was killed on a cross but rose from the dead three days later, then walked on the earth for 40 days and ascended to heaven, if we believe He will return with a trumpet and angels, and we’re all going go into the sky without dying, then what stops us from believing we never need to want for anything (Psalm 23:1). God made Israel a promise in Malachi 3:10. This verse has been used a lot to prove we need to tithe, and though giving is part of the gospel, the tithe itself, the ten percent from our income, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. When the Spirit said, “Prove me now herewith (Malachi 3:10),” those words were prophetic of the moment described in Ephesians 1:3. We are now seated in heavenly places with all of heaven’s goodness, all of Jesus’ authority, all of the healing power and wisdom of the Spirit, for our every need, those things our Father knows way ahead of time we have need of (Matthew 6:32).

God has been proven. It is finished. Today, we give as the Spirit leads us, not counting the cost, for He will return it to us in abundance. This is the promise of Scripture. John 3:16, We are given abundant life. Ephesians 3:20 Our God can do exceeding abundantly far over and above all that we ask our think. Philippians 4:7, We are given peace beyond understanding. We’re not only supposed to have the clothing we need, and food on our table, and our heads anointed with oil, and our cup overflowing, with goodness and mercy following behind us every single day (Psalm 23:6), but no evil shall befall us and no plague come nigh our dwelling (Psalm 91:10). These promises are given to us, but we must take a stand on them and hold fast to them under pressure.

When the fiery darts come at us, we speak the Word, which is our shield of faith, and we swing our Sword, and God backs us up. He is with us. Emmanuel. He never leaves us or forsakes us. Not to be there, invisible, but to be working on our behalf. To be a companion to us, a Father, a Brother, a Best Friend. We are given a language that the enemy hears but can’t interpret. God-code, if you will. And Romans 8:27 says it’s perfect, the Spirit prays the will of God every time through our Spirit language. Our Father left nothing out of what we need to live with a prosperous soul, our health in body and mind reflecting His goodness (1 John 1:2). We determine to think like Him, to see like Him, to look at what seems to be a river in our way and see it pushed back some six miles (Joshua 3:13). We see the walls of a city and praise our way around it until they fall flat. Then the fullness of what we have here becomes a life in two locations, one here on earth that is so incredibly blessed, alongside one in God’s kingdom that becomes so clear and visible to us that the earth is what’s dim.

And the church our Savior comes back for isn’t one crammed in a hole looking upward but a redeemed one, a triumphant one, capturing every heart that He died for, unwilling to let anyone die without God’s grace.

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” (Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG)

“At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.” (Ephesians 1:22-23 MSG)

READ EPHESIANS 1 in The Message

Image by Ronald Sandino from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com