Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
In our last message we looked at some of the characteristics of the spiritually blessed believer. Spiritually blessed believers have:
1. A strong sense of personal destiny
2. A magnificent personal love for God
3. Extraordinary virtue love for mankind
4. A well balanced spiritual self-esteem due to objectivity toward the word of God
In addition, spiritually blessed believers adapt to the changes in life without becoming detailed out of the plan of God.
Spiritual blessings are the foundation for appreciating God and all the things he sends our way. As we said, God does not spoil his children by pouring out more blessings than they can handle, Jm.4:3. Our capacity to appreciate our blessings is intended to grow as we live out the Christian life. We are never to stay weak and immature in the word of God. We are never to substitute activity for edification. The edification, that is, our biblical knowledge, will spawn our good works. And the template for our good works is not what other churches are doing, but the example Jesus Christ gave us in his word.
1. We need to be spreading the gospel and edifying the saved.
2. We need to be looking for the coming of the Lord.
3. We need to be worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth.
4. We need our hearts and our homes to be places where God is respected and obeyed.
God’s word has the template for happy hearts and happy homes. We need to fit our hearts and our homes into his holy template, not the world’s template. We need to fit our church into His template, his pattern.
As believers we need to understand that divine blessings take on a whole new concept of worth that is foreign to the world’s idea of blessing. With God’s personal /tactical blessings the positive believer is filled with God’s joy when the blessing comes. Some of the blessings you will receive as an imputation from God may not appear at first to be a blessing. But God knows you will come to understand the blessing as it is unwrapped because He knows that you are willing to be lead by His Holy Spirit, Rom.8:14. You and I must learn to trust that God does only what is best for us.
The mind of Christ, I Cor.2:16; Phil.2:5 creates a new set of values and goals in the positive believer. You have a definitive purpose in life. You know the direction you are going in. You know why you are here on this earth. You do not question the integrity of God. You are not up one day and down in the next regarding your faithfulness to God. Your focus on Jesus Christ and his glory has made those past trivial non-consequential details of life a thing of the past. You no longer major on the minors because you know the battle is the Lord’s. You do not wrestle with God’s template, you will yourself to fit in with it.
Self-induced misery which once engulfed your soul, due to your lack of a relaxed mental attitude is gone. So now you do not spend your time pondering over your past shortcomings. And neither do you resent God for the present conditions of life in which you find yourself. You realize most of the conditions you live with are of your own doing in some way. You look to God for your happiness now, and because you are looking to him your problems do not seem so big.
The spiritual blessings of peace and understanding, which are by-products of resident Bible doctrine, cause you to rejoice in your salvation and you are filled with personal love for Jesus Christ.
Your personal love for the Lord changes your attitude toward people and life in general. People do not upset you like they use to. You have more tolerance with obnoxious people. That chip on your should is gone now. You no longer feel you have to keep on justifying your every word and actions to others. Your spiritual self-esteem is balanced and you know as long as you are right with the word of God, you are right with God,
I Jn.3:21 “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”
What people think and say about you is on them, not you. Wow! What a relief the word of God brings to the heavy laden heart of his positive children. You do not feel you have to straighten out weak minded legalistic Christians.
You do become inflexible regarding the importance of correct doctrinal teaching; however, you can be flexible on nonessential applications of some less essential doctrines.
All scripture is profitable and all scripture has its place, but you know that some teachings must be applied individually as they meet different needs in different people.
Thus you are flexible when you see how others try to apply the word which they have learned. No two saints have their edification complex built the exact same way though we all must start from the bottom and work our way up to maturity. You may learn some doctrines ahead of others, but they may be learning other important doctrines ahead of you. You can learn from each other, and you will if you both yield to the word and the Holy Spirit. You can learn to fellowship without a spirit of competition.
You do not try to apply doctrine for others. The providence of the Lord has to work with that person’s full understanding. The step to their next phase of growth must be made by them. You cannot push people into growing, you can only assist.
You and I need to be patient and supportive with those who are positive to Bible doctrine. And as long as others are positive to the word of God they must apply the word the best they know how and because you are a mature believer you are not upset with them because you understand that they stand before God, not you.
Inordinate competition and ambitions are eliminated when we understand this. This mindset creates greater harmony between you and the Lord and the rest of the positive believers in the body of Christ. The spiritual blessings we accrue from reaching spiritual maturity addresses the mental attitude sin problems we have, and as we are humbled by the Lord these sins are kept in check and the environment for a healthy happy church fellowship is fostered.
With these noted spiritual blessings you experience a contentment marked by a sense of well being. I Jn.1:4 tells us God’s word is written to us that our joy might be full. But it is only full when we learn and apply it. When we do we do not suffer those anguishing mental attitude sins and sins of the tongue. You have stopped trying to produce your own spirituality by straightening out every body else.
The pastor must preach the word to allow God to straighten out the thinking of his folks, but the pastor does not do it personally. God straightens out the pastor in his study.
With this in mind you are now positioned for additional personal blessings from the Lord.