Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.Matthew 7.7-8 [NIV]
Have you ever experienced a time in your life where you missed your chance towards something BIG due to negligence, the simple fact of never being informed or to shy to ask? This has happened to me multiple of times but my reasons are beyond the above. I just left things last minute.
Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve
There have been so many opportunities throughout my life where God has wanted to bless me (financially, emotionally, physically and mentally), but somewhere along the way those blessings never reached me. I know some of you are quick to blame the enemy, but I’m going to stop you right there. Let’s be honest, sometimes we’re the ones who have been out-of-tune with God’s voice, His times and more specifically His word. The many times where I‘ve missed out on God’s blessings have been mostly because of lack of information and not knowing what to ask for.
Let me clear something first. Many of us have a ton of information, but we’re not doing anything with it. I’ve been at church for a very long time now and sometimes I tend to forget church sermons and those amazing quotes pastor spoke, where I shouted “amen!” When trials and storms came my way, those quotes were nowhere to be found in my memory. If only I wrote those quotes down and referred to them every now-and-then.
Negligence
But my main focus is our go-to-source for information. Many of us have accepted Jesus, but because of our negligence or lack of discipline to dive in more into God’s word, we’ve missed out on so much blessings or what I like to call “The Christians Benefits Plan”. The average Christian accepts Jesus and remains there –which is amazing, don’t get me wrong. But what they don’t realize is that the salvation ‘program’ offers so much perks, but many don’t know about it because they remain at the cross. Remember, Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the father, in a position of authority. Here’s a spoiler for you: with that authority, Jesus now has power over sickness, poverty, sin and weaknesses, but above all we‘ve now been called sons and daughters –giving us access to all things through Christ. How many blessings have you prevented in your life, simply because you just didn’t know?
Looking back
I started working for a really great company a few years back and with that came really great work benefits. From past experiences, some health benefits have been really crappy. 3-years went by and I didn’t realize I had such an amazing benefits plan -never used- and to add unto this devastation, a small sum of my income was going into these benefits. Whose fault was this? As much as I wanted to blame everyone else, the reality was… I just never took the time to investigate more about my benefits plan or read the documentation the company had sent me.
Friends, how many times has this happened to you? How many blessings have we seen pass us by just because we’ve been careless. There are so many blessings and perks we have access to through Jesus, but if we don’t claim them, they’ll just be stored away for someone else to grasp. Many times I’ve heard people say they don’t want to inconvenience God or demand too much of Him, but the truth is, if you don’t someone else will. Matthew 11.12 tells us that the kingdom of God suffers violence and only the violent take it by force.
Join the plan
It’s really our choice if we want our miracle, our families to be made whole again, our financial breakthrough or for Jesus to heal a specific area in our emotions. Let me tell you something that I’ve learned from our Senior Pastor. When Jesus died for you on the cross, he didn’t only make a way for you in eternity, but he paid a great price for you to experience heaven on earth now!
This “Benefits Plan” has been paid for already. There’s nothing more you have to do but to read God’s word to discover a handful of promises and blessings that He wants you to claim. If you’re not already in the “Benefits Plan”, I encourage you to open your heart to Jesus today.
