Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who reads aloud [in the assemblies] the word of this prophecy; and blessed (happy, to be envied) are those who hear [it read] and who keep themselves true to the things which are written in it [heeding them and laying them to heart], for the time [for them to be fulfilled] is near. Revelation 1:3 [Amplified Bible]
One of the reasons why God often uses the word "blessed" without specifying the blessing is because when we take this word as a rhema word, personally for ourselves, God wants us to know He is the Great "I AM" (WHATSOEVER YOU WANT ME TO BE – my interpretation) Exodus 3 vs 14.
As Moses the man of God would learn God became whatever Moses and the children of Israel needed at the time. When He introduced Himself by that Name He literally signed a "blank cheque" and gave it to Moses. So, when they called upon His Name in the desert, water gushed out of a rock when they needed it. When I visited Sudan for the first time and they took me to the desert, all I could see were waves and waves of sand dunes and one needed to have a compass or to be an experienced desert tracker to know their bearings. So when Moses and the Israelites needed guidance in the desert and there were no compasses that time, God led them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When bitten by snakes because of their disobedience Moses was instructed to make a bronze snake which they simply looked at and got healed. You get the idea.
Today approach the Lord your God in full confidence and assurance that when you call upon His Name and ask for anything you need according to His will, He will answer you.
These verses sum it all up:
I write this to you who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) the name of the Son of God [in the peculiar services and blessings conferred by Him on men], so that you may know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that you [already] have life, yes, eternal life.
And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.
And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him. 1 John 5:13-15 [Amplified Bible]
If you need salvation, healing, provision, wisdom, or anything then dare to ask and believe. You may have your own doubts. Thomas who doubted what others had seen declared he would not believe until he saw the risen Christ with his own eyes. A week later his request was granted. Jesus later reassured every believer that blessed is he who believes what God says without seeing any evidence that what has been said will actually happen.
We have all come a long way. We have journeyed for very long with our problems and unmet desires and prayers. We are reading the last book of the bible as we finish our bible reading plan in one year. And God still says we are "blessed" even though we are not seeing what we want. So what do we do?
I would rather be like the four lepers (in 2 Kings 7 vs 4 – 7) who saw their miracle when they said to each other if we stay in this same place (outside the city where they had been condemned to live) we die and if we go back to the city we die of famine and if we go to the camp of the Aramean enemy (who besieged the city) - if they spare us, we live and if they kill us, we die for whichever way we look at the situation it seems we are going to die. So they went to the Arameans and God seeing their persevering faith, amplified their footsteps and the enemy thought chariots were coming and they fled. The lepers got their eleventh hour breakthrough.
Farai Mutsambiwa
Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 140:1-5; Zechariah 9:1-11:17; Revelation 1:1-20
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