Lesson for July 7, 2019
The Integrity of God – Lesson 6
Sixth Imputation: Greater Blessings to Believers
Every believer in Christ is blessed at the moment of salvation with the five previous imputations from God. However, there are greater blessings available to believers who advance to the various stages of spiritual adulthood and beyond. Logistical grace blessings are given to all members of the Royal Family of God, blessings such as food, clothing, shelter, etc. The sixth and seventh imputations are reserved for those who are serious about their spiritual lives, those who are living the Christian Way of Life by residing in the Divine Dynasphere and fulfilling the Protocol Plan of God. To receive these greater blessings a believer must have capacity to receive them. Therefore, every believer has the potential of greater blessing from God because they all possess the righteousness of God. God can never compromise His character and He can always bless His righteousness wherever He finds it. (Matthew 6:33; Romans 1:17. 6:13,19; II Corinthians 9:6-11; Ephesians 3:20-21; Philippians 1:9-11)
Greater blessings fall into six categories: spiritual blessings, temporal blessings, blessings by association, historical blessings, undeserved suffering blessings and dying blessings. These greater blessings are the spiritual prosperity of believers in Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings
Spiritual blessings are the foundation upon which all greater blessings are realized. When a believer, through the consistent study and application of Bible doctrine over a period of time, reaches spiritual maturity, life takes on new meaning. Problems that once weakened you spiritually are solved through the application of the doctrine resident in your soul. It is impossible to reach spiritual maturity without a tremendous amount of Bible doctrine in your soul. Maximum Bible doctrine in your soul resulting in spiritual maturity means that you are sharing the happiness of God, are occupied with Jesus Christ and you are utilizing Divine Viewpoint Thinking. It also means that you have come to understand and appreciate the grace of God and have developed a strong personal sense of destiny. You understand the plan of God regarding human history and you are living your life in light of eternity. On this basis, things that bother others such as national disaster, historical trends, social and economic failures are viewed in light of the plan of God and your knowledge of prophetic events. In other words, you have read the last chapter and know how human history ends and you are confident in your eternal future.
With the mind of Christ (Bible doctrine) as your focal point for life, everything that happens to you or around you is evaluated on the basis of the Bible doctrine in your soul. This gives you the ability through the filling of the Holy Spirit to have a relaxed mental attitude toward life and other people regardless of how you are treated. Thoughts that once plagued your soul become inconsequential and have been replaced with the mind of Christ (Bible doctrine). Utilization of the Ten Problem-Solving Devices has become automatic in handling and resolving any and all issues that life brings your way.
As you consistently reside in God’s power system, the Divine Dynasphere, your priorities change, your norms and standards change and your entire outlook on life changes. These changes are the result of reaching and staying in spiritual maturity where you are exhibiting personal love for God and impersonal love for all mankind. It is the greatest way to live and brings a satisfaction that only God can provide. (Psalms 119:129-135; Romans 12:1-3; I Corinthians 2:16; Ephesians 4:14-15;II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 3:18)
Temporal Blessings
Temporal blessings are those that believers receive while on earth. These temporal blessings include a variety of categories that God in His grace gives us to sustain us while we reside in Satan’s cosmic system. These blessings also vary among believers. God is the only One Who knows what we need or should have, and what, how and when to bless each of us with those needs and desires.
Temporal blessings are not the same for all believers. God does not have a uniform set of blessings for the entire body of Christ. This makes perfect sense because a believer’s needs in a prosperous country such as ours and the needs of a believer in a poverty-stricken country are vastly different. God in His sovereignty provides the appropriate blessing at the appropriate time. Therefore, believers are not to be envious when another believer receives blessing from God. We are to be content with and thankful for what God has provided for us. (Philippians 4:11-13)
The necessities of life are temporal blessings and designed by God for all believers regardless of spiritual advance in the Protocol Plan of God. For those who choose to fulfill the Protocol Plan of God, there are greater temporal blessings in store for them. Remember that God blesses on the basis of spiritual capacity to receive blessings.
Blessings by Association
As a spiritually mature believer, the blessings that God gives to you often overflow to others in your life. This often begins with a pastor-teacher who has reached spiritual maturity and is teaching accurately to his congregation the truth of the Word of God. When those in the congregation also reach spiritual maturity the overflow of blessing continues into the lives of those in their family, friends or associates. This overflow of blessings may be in the form of comfort, financial assistance, or sharing the knowledge they have from Bible doctrine.
Family heritage is also a way in which people are blessed by association with a spiritually mature believer, even after death. Parents who teach their children or expose them to accurate Bible doctrine are giving them by association blessings that will stay with them forever. The very best thing a parent can do for a child is lead them to Jesus Christ and make sure they are exposed to the accurate teaching of the Word of God. All other blessings that children receive from their parents pale in comparison to knowing God and His Word. (Proverbs 22:6)
Historical Blessings
Historical blessings are those that follow a pivot of spiritually mature believers. The fate of a nation is always based on the number of spiritually mature believers within that nation. Because God blesses the spiritually mature believer with greater blessings, those blessings overflow into the nation and God in His grace preserves the nation. However, when the number of spiritually mature believers shrinks, there is a danger of divine discipline to the nation. This doctrinal principle is illustrated time after time with the nation of Israel.
The pivot of spiritually mature believers is often called “the remnant according to grace” throughout the Word of God. It simply means that there exists within a nation a group of believers who are fulfilling the Protocol Plan of God and advancing in their spiritual lives. It is actually this group of spiritually mature believers who are responsible for the protection and perpetuation of the nation. When any nation turns it back on God, He will eventually, in His own perfect time, discipline that nation even to the point of removing them under the various cycles of discipline. (II Chronicles 7:14)
Undeserved Suffering Blessings
Undeserved suffering blessings may seem like a contradiction to most believers. However, God in His magnificent wisdom has designed a category of suffering for blessing that is actually beneficial to spiritually mature believers. Designed by God, undeserved suffering blessings accomplish some things in the life of a spiritually mature believer that could not be accomplished in any other way.
Undeserved suffering is never pleasant from a human point of view but understood in light of God’s plan for our lives it makes perfect sense. Romans 8:31-39 is the perfect passage with regard to this doctrine. In this passage God has given us the explanation of why in His wisdom He allows us to suffer. One important reason God permits undeserved suffering is to create in us a longing for Heaven, where we will be with the Lord forever. Earth is not the permanent home for believers in Christ. We are citizens of Heaven, merely passing through this life on our way to life in Heaven for all eternity with our Savior Jesus Christ. Undeserved suffering gives a longing for Heaven like nothing else in this life can give us. We know that Heaven is a perfect place and that those who are already there are in a place of no more sorrow, no more pain and no more suffering. Heaven is a place of perfect peace and happiness and underserved suffering makes us long to be there as it did for the Apostle Paul when he wrote the above passage in Romans and other passages. (John 14:1-7; II Corinthians 5:1-8; Philippians 3:20-21)
Undeserved suffering is also a blessing because it draws attention to our spiritual lives. As a test of faith and application of doctrine, underserved suffering causes spiritually mature believers to examine their lives and make any necessary corrections. Undeserved suffering drives us to the Word of God for the endurance we need, the comfort we need and the understanding we need as we stay focused on God. Therefore, the test of undeserved suffering is a blessing, proving that Bible doctrine applied in the Life of a believer works. Job is the perfect example of a believer who suffered undeservedly and passed the test.
Undeserved suffering also gives the believer hope. Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. For by this [kind of] faith the men of old gained [divine] approval.(Hebrews 11:1-2 Amplified Bible) The Greek word for hope is “elpis” meaning confident anticipation or confident expectation. Therefore, biblical hope is a part of the problem-solving device we call a Personal Sense of Destiny.
When you have any kind of suffering you should look into the future at the fantastic blessings that await you. This brings you into a realm of thinking that brings you back into the present with confidence and strength. If you have a personal sense of destiny, then you have confident, unlimited, certain, positive expectation. Hope therefore is confident, positive, certain, unlimited expectation about the future.
Hope becomes confident and certain expectation as a result of the study and application of Bible doctrine under the filling of the Holy Spirit. The source of hope therefore is Bible doctrine. Hope becomes the key to the function of the plan of God. Without understanding hope, your doctrinal motivation and momentum is completely destroyed. Hope is the monopoly of the believer who is positive to Bible doctrine. I Thessalonians 4:13, “that you may not grieve with the rest who have no hope.” All definitions of hope in the Bible include the word expectation, because hope is always projected into the future. Expectation means looking forward under the principle of living in the light of eternity. Hope is certainty. Hope is absolute security about every moment of your future.
Dying Blessings
Dying grace is the spiritually mature believer’s experience of physical death or process of dying under the provision of grace whereby a believer has blessing and happiness at the time of death. His death has maximum happiness, and his soul is stimulated to the maximum in its last moments in the physical body. Not all believers experience dying grace, but they still go to Heaven. Living by the grace principles of God’s Word prepares a believer for dying under the provision of grace. (Psalm 33:18-22; Philippians 3:12-14)
Therefore, death is not to be feared by the spiritually mature believer, because he has prepared himself by his advance to spiritual maturity. Application of the doctrine of dying grace removes the fear of death. Psalm 23:4 is describing the manner of dying grace. “I will not fear” — dying grace eliminates the idea of fear connected with death. “For you are with me” — God is with every spiritually mature believer because of the doctrine in his soul when dying. Dying grace is a blessing. Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones [spiritually mature believers].”