How long does it take to be blessed ?

[Giluesorirgate]

I’ve been following Christ for 7 years now. I AM blessed in the little things. I do pray for more joy, peace, independence and sense of self respect, which I haven’t really felt. How long could these take to work their way into my life?

 

[Articles]

We hear your heart and we thank you for sharing honestly after seven years of following Christ. We rejoice with you that you already recognize you are blessed in the little things, for that is a sign of eyes that are learning to see God's hand. We want to encourage you that in Christ you are already blessed, not waiting to become blessed.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Eph 1:3. That means our greatest blessings are not delayed or earned by time, but are already given to us in Jesus. Forgiveness, adoption, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and eternal hope are yours now, even while you still wait for deeper experience of joy and peace in daily life.

We understand your longing for more joy, peace, independence and a sense of self respect. Scripture teaches us that joy and peace are not simply feelings that arrive after enough time has passed, but fruit that grows as we abide in Christ. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control Gal 5:22-23. They grow as we remain rooted in His Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with other believers. We also read In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus Phil 4:6-7. That peace guards us even when circumstances have not yet changed.

We want to gently speak to the ideas of independence and self respect, because God reframes them so beautifully. Biblical independence is not striving to need no one, but learning to depend fully on God and to walk in the freedom Christ has purchased for us. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed John 8:36. And our sense of worth does not come from building up self respect in our own strength, but from knowing who we are in Him. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works Eph 2:10 and you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession 1 Pet 2:9. When we see ourselves as God sees us, redeemed, loved, and called with purpose, true dignity and respect take root.

You ask how long these things take to work their way into your life. We do not have a timetable to give, for God's work in us is a lifelong process of sanctification. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing James 1:2-4. We also know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose Rom 8:28. Sometimes the waiting itself is part of how God forms joy and peace that cannot be shaken. Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh Ps 27:14 and those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength Isa 40:31. He is not slow as we count slowness, but patient and purposeful.

We encourage you to continue to abide in Jesus through daily prayer and the Word, to remain in fellowship with other believers, and to bring these honest prayers to Him again and again without shame. He delights to hear you.

We pray together for you now.

Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, through whom alone we have access to Your throne of grace. We thank You for this dear brother or sister who has followed You for seven years and who has a thankful heart for the little blessings. We ask You to deepen their experience of Your joy and Your peace that surpasses all understanding. Guard their heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Teach them to depend more fully on You and to walk in the true freedom You give, and reveal to them their great worth and dignity as Your child created in Your image and redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Grow the fruit of Your Spirit in them day by day, and help them to wait on You with courage and hope, trusting that You are at work even when they cannot yet feel it. Renew their strength, establish them in Your love, and let them know more and more the blessedness they already have in Christ. We ask this in the precious and saving name of Jesus, amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We have been thinking about your question and the seven years you have walked with Christ. Thank you for naming both gratitude for the little blessings and the honest longing for more joy, peace, independence and a steadier sense of self respect. Holding both at once takes humility.

What you are feeling is common. Growth in these areas is usually not sudden. It happens gradually, often so slowly we barely notice day to day, with seasons of progress and setbacks over a lifetime. The fact that you are noticing small blessings already matters. Over the long haul that attentiveness tends to bear more fruit.

There is no set timetable, and God works uniquely in each life, so comparing your timeline to others can be discouraging. What does help is tending the ordinary means of growth in a consistent, gentle way.

One practical step many find helpful is to notice the quiet thoughts you speak to yourself during the day, especially about your worth and your future, and to pause and ask whether those thoughts line up with how God sees you as someone made with dignity and purpose. Pairing that reflection with steady time in prayer, in Scripture, and with other believers for worship and encouragement can slowly reshape that inner conversation.

Father, we bring our friend to You. Thank You for seven years of faithfulness and for the blessings they already see. Draw them closer, deepen their joy and peace in Your presence, and grow in them a quiet confidence rooted in being Yours. Guide them day by day and help them sense Your nearness. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

You have walked seven years with Christ and you ask how long it will be before joy and peace and a settled strength take their place within you, and you confess that you are blessed in little things yet still wait for more. That waiting itself is not a sign that God has forgotten you.

There is a waiting God and there is a waiting people. Scripture says the Lord waiteth that He may be gracious unto you. His heart yearns toward His people and His patience is singular. He waited for you before you sought Him, and He waits still, not grudgingly but lovingly, ready to pardon and to bless. And when God has waited for the soul, that soul is brought to wait on Him. His patience toward His chosen is not in vain.

You must not measure His grace by the calendar. Joy and peace come not by counting years but in believing. The apostle prays that the God of hope would fill you with all joy and peace in believing. True joy and peace may be very satisfactory evidences of faith, but the absence of joy and peace during certain seasons can often be accounted for on some other ground than that there is no faith within. You may be fighting hard with inbred sin and with heaviness of heart, and yet have joy and peace while the fighting is going on. Indeed it is only as you have that joy and peace that you have any chance of victory.

Let your confidence be not in your peace, not in your joy, but in Christ. There is no joy in God except as you see Jesus Christ intimately knit with Him and with yourself. Do not try to go to God by any other way than through the great sacrifice of your redeeming Lord. If you have nothing in the house but God, if there is nothing for you to rely upon but God, nothing you can call your own but God, you still have enough to joy in. We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, whether the house be full or empty, whether the prospects be bright or clouded. Perhaps when you reach your door there will be bad news, perhaps there will be no comfort in the house, perhaps the question will arise where the next meal will be found, yet still joy in God. That joy is the happiest of all joys, the most elevating, the most solid and abiding. He who joys in God has good reasons for rejoicing which will justify his joy at any time.

Peace is of the same root. He is the God of peace because He created peace, because He restores it through the blood of the everlasting covenant, because He preserves it and will at last perfect it. What you need first is peace with God through being justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Then comes the peace of God which passes all understanding to keep your heart and mind. That peace is not the false peace which comes from forgetting God. If a man has to forget God before he has peace, that peace is a mere writing upon the sand. The solid and abiding peace is that which is founded on eternal truth and guaranteed by the God of holiness, and it comes when your mind is stayed on Him.

You pray also for independence and for a sense of self respect. Hear what the psalmist says, My soul, wait thou only upon God. Calvin renders it, My soul, be thou silent before God. Rest calm and undisturbed. They that wait on the Lord shall not want any good thing. That is the right kind of independency, the independency of the man who knows no dependence except upon God. Your faith should hang on nothing but the promise of God and have no other support but that. To float in the ether of confidence, needing nothing to uphold you but the right hand of the Majesty on high, that is true strength.

And as for respect of self, beware of building a palace for God out of the mud of your own selfishness. That worship and that worship only which is for God and not for self in any sense does God accept. If in all your praying and hearing and serving you still ask, Have I gained respect for myself, you will miss the mark. Joy in God makes a man grow like God, while joy in self makes him grow greedy and little. When the soul becomes reconciled to God its view of God alters entirely. He is seen to be gracious and powerful and faithful, and to think of Him as your exceeding joy is to find peace. You cannot always rejoice in yourself, for you greatly vary, and you cannot always rejoice in your circumstances, but the Lord never changes. Rejoice in the Lord always.

So wait only upon God. Bring your want of joy and peace and settledness to Him through Jesus Christ and leave the timing with Him. He who has begun a good work will not leave it unfinished. Continue in prayer, continue in believing, and let your daily care be to serve God and to joy in God, and He will keep you in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

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