God really does want to bless you!

I know, some of my readers will have read a headline like that and panicked. Has Warnie slipped into “Health wealth and prosperity” or “Word of Faith” ?

Nope, not at all.

But I do feel that it is so easy for us to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I remember at one point a few years ago I even began to wonder if we would be better off to stop talking about faith. Perhaps, I argued, we should simply talk about “trust” in God.

Trust is a much more passive thing, and it is a component of faith.

But God says it is faith that pleases him.

Full blooded, rip-roaring Faith with a capital F. Faith that propels us to take risk. Faith that is relentlessly full of positivity and hope.

Faith that dares to believe that Romans 8:28 is true, quite literally. God is structuring the entire universe for the good of those who love him.

Me and you.

Wow!

Shouldn’t that thought thrill us. Why then do we settle for a weak, passive faith that is basically no different from fatalism all too often.

Can I guarantee you will be healed? No

Am I saying that God will give you all the stuff you lust after?

Of course not.

But only because if he did, it wouldn’t be good for you!

He really, truly wants your good. He longs to bless you, to make you a demonstration of his undeserved favor.

Oh, and if you follow his principles and walk with him, guess what, the concept of a “lift” is often right. There are many things he will teach you, that just might make you a better candidate for that promotion at work.

But the first thing he will teach you, is to die to selfish ambition. The irony is, that very first lesson, to put others needs before your own, could be the very key to unlock doors for you.

Basically, although Jesus promise that those who are last will be first, and those who try to save their life will lose it, are both perfectly fulfilled in the next age, they are principles that often work out in the here and now.

Don’t seek your comfort, seek the Kindgom. But, it was Jesus himself who promised that if we did so he would give us “all good things.” (Matthew 6:33)