Dear Christian,

Is your life filled with all the blessings of God? Do you often pray for
peace, or wisdom, or strength, and sometimes wonder how God might
actually answer such prayers? Do you frequently feel that your Christian
life is lacking something?

Many of God's dear children have these concerns. We often feel that, in
some way, our Christian lives are deficient of the blessings we read
about in the Bible. We see verses such as Colossians 2:10, "In Him you
have been made complete," and when we do not feel complete, not wanting
to question God's Word, we wonder what exactly is meant by such inspired
statements. For years I lived thinking that maybe I did not have enough
faith to be fully blest of God, or that perhaps I did not know enough,
or that possibly I was just not surrendered enough to experience God's
fullness. All that has changed, however, since the Lord has graciously
opened my heart to one foundational truth from His Word, which may be
expressed in these words: In Christ are all spiritual things.

In Psalm 28:7, King David wrote, "The Lord is my strength." Notice, he
did not write, the Lord gives me strength. The Lord does not give us
strength, He is our strength! We see the same point in I Timothy 1:1,
where the apostle Paul wrote, "Jesus Christ, who is our hope." Hope,
dear Christian, is not something Jesus gives, hope is who Jesus is. In
the Gospel of John, chapter 14, our Lord said, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life." He did not say, I provide the way, or I teach the truth,
or I give life. The way, the truth, and the life are not things He
gives, they are who He is!

Now, although I could site many more verses, here is just one more. At
the end of I Corinthians 1, we read, "By His doing you are in Christ
Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption." The Holy Spirit does not say that Jesus
gives us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, but
that Jesus has become all of these things to us. Now you might be
thinking, "Wait a second, are there not verses in the Bible that also
state that God gives us strength, and hope, and life, and all these
things?" Yes there are! But the point the Holy Spirit is making is this:
When God gives us spiritual things, He never gives them apart from His
Son, rather He gives them by giving us His Son. I do not mean to confuse
you, and may the Lord grace me to explain it clearly.

When God gives us life, for example, He gives us His Son, and in having
His Son, we have life. And when God gives us salvation, He gives us His
Son, and in having His Son we have salvation. God does not give us His
Son and then life and salvation in addition to His Son. He gives us His
Son, and in having His Son, we have life and salvation. It is the same
with love, or joy, or peace, or hope, or strength, or any spiritual
thing. These are not given by God apart from, or in addition to, His
Son. They are things God gives by giving His Son.

Romans 8:32 is a great summation of this truth. "He who did not spare
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with
Him freely give us all things?" God, the Father, has freely given us all
things with Jesus! Colossians 1:19 and 3:11 reveal this truth as well.
"It was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in
Him." and "Christ is all." In other words, Jesus Christ is God's
everything. Everything God is and has is in Jesus. Everything that comes
to us from God, comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ. In true
Christianity, therefore, there are no spiritual things, there is only Jesus.

Dear Christian, do you see the wonder of such a truth? Since Jesus
Christ is God's everything and we have Him, then we have all God longs
to give us. And since we have Jesus, we have all spiritual things,
because all spiritual things are in Him. May the Holy Spirit open our
eyes to this! Jesus is not the first of many gifts that God, the Father,
gives us. He is the only gift that God, the Father, gives us; and with
Jesus comes everything!

Ephesians 1:3 has greatly aided me to enter into all this. "Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blest us with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ." Notice, the Holy
Spirit does not say that God will bless us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ. He says that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ. It is already done! And He does not say that God has blessed
us with some spiritual blessings in Christ. You and I and every
Christian have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. One
can not receive any more than all!

Dear believer, this fullness of blessing is not something that will
become true for us if we pray more, or trust more, or become more
committed to serving God. This is already true. It became true for you
and me and every Christian on the day Jesus saved us. On that day, Jesus
applied to our individual lives all the spiritual blessings He secured
through His work at the cross. And being fully blessed in Christ will
not become more true if we believe it. It is true whether we believe it
or not. It is a fact!

At the moment we received Jesus, we received everything we will ever
receive from God, except one thing - eyes to see it all! And it was this
spiritual eyesight for which Paul prayed in his letter to the Ephesian
Christians. "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so
that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe" (Ephesians
1:18&19). May the Holy Spirit open the eyes of our hearts to see the
fullness that is ours in the person of Christ. If we have Jesus, dear
Christian, we need not pray, or hope, or wish for more things from God,
but simply appropriate by faith what He has already given.
Now why is this truth so important? It is because it reveals that true
Christian living is not all wrapped up in acquiring spiritual things
like peace, rest, love, strength and holiness; rather it is all wrapped
up in a Person, and enjoying union with that Person. Christianity is
relationship to Jesus, not relationship to things! Too often we miss
this. As Christians we have the Lord Jesus, and yet we ask the Father to
give us more spiritual things, as if Jesus is not enough. He is more than enough!

May I encourage you, dear Christian, do not ask for God to bless you, as
if you are lacking blessing. Rather, ask Him to open the eyes of your
heart to see that you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in
Christ. Do not ask God to provide for you as if you lack provision. In
Philippians 4:19, did not our Lord say He would, "supply all of your
needs in Christ Jesus?" That promise is for you, dear believer!
And do not ask God to guide you, as if He is not. Instead, ask Him to
reveal to your heart the revelation of Christ as your Faithful Shepherd
guiding you, "in paths of righteousness for His name's sake" as He
promises in Psalm 23:3. And do not ask the Father to keep you as if
somehow the Lord's prayer, "Holy Father, keep them" in John 17:11 is not
enough. As a Christian, God the Father, in answer to His Son's prayer,
is keeping you. Ask God to awaken your heart to live in the "keeping"
assurance of such a precious reality!

Some may tell you that you need to secure the blessings of God by
meeting certain conditions and requirements. Some may say that God will
bless you only after you pray or give or serve, or surrender. Yes, we
are to pray and give and serve and surrender, but God's blessings in our
lives is not based upon our doing spiritual things. God's blessing is
entirely based upon what Jesus did for us at the cross.
The Christian life, dear believer, is not a pursuit of spiritual
blessings, it is a pursuit of Christ. May the Holy Spirit work within
our hearts to see that all we need, we have in Jesus. As He does, watch
as many of your prayers of requests progressively turn into prayers of thanksgiving.

In His All Prevailing Love,
Your Brother In Christ

Thou, Lord, alone, art all Thy children need,
And there is none beside;
 From Thee the streams of blessedness proceed
In Thee the blest abide,
Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace,
Our source, our center, and our dwelling-place.

- Jeanne Guyon