14. We Prosper in All Things

I love the way our verse became as I drew in all the nuances of meaning from the Greek. Beloved, I pray that in all things you would journey well and prosperously and be whole and of good health, just as your soul journeys well and prosperously. Most translations say only “prosper and be in good health,” which is certainly part of the meaning. But it could also be translated accurately as “journey well and be whole.”

Let’s bring in the statements of faith first, for I intend to focus this whole page on this one verse, with its wholeness inside of union and its journey into and as the Apocalypse.

Statements of Faith. I love my brethren inside of Truth. I pray for them. We pray for one another to prosper in all things. We together journey well and prosperously. We are whole and of good health. Our souls journey well and prosperously together. We walk together inside of Truth; we prosper in all things.

We are faithful in love to one another and to strangers. We receive and assist our fellow workers in Christ. We never imitate what is evil, but only what is good. Our testimony together of Christ our life bears witness against those who refuse and who do evil. We do good; we are out from God.

Prosperity Preachers. Sadly, with a verse like this, we must deal with using such a thing for self-gain without any interest in knowing the Father or in loving one another. Except – it’s not the “prosperity preachers” who have any meaning to us, but rather, those who condemn “prosperity.”

All too frequently, the mis-use of a verse like this causes many to tear out what God says and throw it away. The problem is their real wanting inside – to be righteous in themselves in this world and to be superior against all those “unrighteous Christians.” Self-rightness is more hostile to God than wanting money.

Favor versus Curse. The first question is always, “What do you want?” But it is followed immediately with, “Where do you live?” We want to know the Father; we live inside the Tree of Life. These two together then mean that we live inside of all the favor and outpoured abundance of God.

The man who just wants to be rich has enshrined the “good” in the tree of knowing good and evil and called his own desires “good.” The man who preaches curse, who wants to be right in self, has enshrined the “evil” in the tree of knowing good and evil and called his own desire to curse, “God.”

Giving Thanks; Expecting God. How, then, do we who live inside of the Tree of Life walk every moment? That’s easy. With one step we give thanks in all acceptance of our present moment, whether it be in abundance or lack. And with the next step we expect God to arise in all favor, that is, in the full accomplishment of our shared purpose. Back and forth, giving thanks and expecting God.

The man who places poverty as his self-rightness, does not give thanks inside of loss, but rather places curse upon himself, thankful that he is superior to others. The man who loves money has no interest in sharing Hheart with God.

To Tithe or Not to Tithe. One more thought before we leave the two kinds of tares. Consider Paul’s real argument in Romans 14 & 15. Here’s what he means. – If you tithe, tithe in all joy and confidence of faith that you and Jesus are tithing together. – AND – If you do not tithe, then do not tithe in all joy and confidence of faith that you and Jesus are not tithing together.

Let’s paraphrase Romans 14:3. – Let not the one who tithes despise the one who does not tithe; let not the one who does not tithe judge the one who tithes, for God has received him. It is despising our brother for whatever reason that is true hostility against God. Contempt is another word for death.

How Do We Live? Let’s now close the door to all such discussion. We want to know one thing – How do we live inside of God? God is All-Abundance. And inside that All-Abundance, God has one requirement, “Acknowledge Me with you.”

God often places Kingdom first and Covenant second; that is, He calls All-Completion even before He plants the Seed. Journey well and prosperously is Kingdom; it is the revelation of Christ. Be whole and of good health is Covenant; it is union with Christ. God surrounds us with favor before He teaches us to give thanks. It is His goodness that leads us to change our minds.

The Jesus Secret Page. I have now placed five boxes on the Jesus Secret page after the statements of faith. I don’t know for sure the final name or approach of each box, but here are my first titles. We start with “Into the Apocalypse,” because I want everything on this page to point into the Unveiling. Then, we have two boxes together, “Journey Well” and “Prosper in All.” You can see that these are Kingdom inwardly and outwardly. Then, we have two more boxes together, “Wholeness” and “Good Health.” And again, these are Covenant inwardly and outwardly.

God Is Determined. Sharing Hheart with God is sharing Christ Jesus with God. – Christ lives inside of your heart through faith. Christ Jesus is the Pro-Thesis of God, the speaking into becoming of all things, every Word God speaks. God’s Heart is the Pro-Determination of God, that He would prove Christ Jesus faithful and true first, and then become Himself known by all through the Apocalypse.

We will be defining the Apocalypse over and over. Let’s define it here in terms of Abundance flowing through. – God is DETERMINED to be known by all creation as Life and Love THROUGH Christians loving one another.

Sharing Hheart with God. “We want to be like God” MEANS – we want to Love One Another with all the Abundance of God outpoured. This is the revelation of Christ; it is God seen and known. It is Father’s Heart revealed through our own hearts, through sharing Hheart with us together, His only form.

And so I want to turn every consideration of this page into – Love One Another with all the Abundance of God outpoured. That is, I want to turn everything into the Apocalypse. This world has no idea of the Goodness and Life that is about to swallow it up.

Into the Apocalypse. John wrote 3 John not long before God gave him the visions of the Unveiling of Christ. The Spirit of God uses John’s letters to take us into the Apocalypse, in study and for real, with all the definitions we need to stand in confidence.

The Apocalypse – God is determined to be known by all creation as Life and Love THROUGH Christians loving one another. The Apocalypse, God seen and known, means that we love one another with all the abundance of God outpoured. We prosper in all; we prosper in Love.

Prepare a Path. I love the phrase, “Journey Well.” Before I started my autobiography, I imagined my life to have been a pointless series of disconnected failures all filled with pain. Having completed Prepare a Path, placing the Lord Jesus Christ upon myself in every moment and receiving into my heart every person with whom I interacted, I can now say one thing about my life with all truth.

– I have JOURNEYED WELL.

Yet to “journey well” also includes something as silly as coloring in lots of new counties after a long road trip!

Finding What We Seek. To journey is to seek. To journey well is to find what we seek. Yet, amazingly, having found what we seek, our journeying WELL has only just begun.

I have sought two things across the span of my life. I have sought to know God and I have sought to walk with a people who know God inside committed Christ Community. I have found the first in all joy, for now my every next step comes out from Father and me sharing life together; we journey well together forever. But the second thing can be stated with this phrase – Love One Another with all the Abundance of God outpoured.

How Do I Bless You? The second thing I have sought my whole life is the Apocalypse; it is God seen and known through life together. How do I love you with all the Abundance of God outpoured? I have never before thought in these terms. How do I en-RICH your life even as I receive you as you are, as my own treasure untold?

The last audible word God spoke to me thus far was His second command to me ~ “You provide for them.” ~ I’m finally beginning to understand what He meant. – How do I bless you with all abundance in all things spiritual, in all things material, in all goodness and joy of soul?

With All Favor. I KNOW that this life of abundance is found inside of Church, inside the Promised Land of Christ Fulfilled, inside of committed Christian Community.

I journey well. – I give thanks inside of all my present lack, turning my present aloneness into goodness for your sake. And I expect God to raise up the Community of my heart all around me, surprising me with all joy. – I journey well.

“‘Not by outward strength nor by inward fortitude, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of [Abundance]. You will [complete Christ Community] to shouts of ‘God bless it with all FAVOR!’” (Zechariah 4:6-7 – modified).

Journey Well. I journey well in a life shared every moment with Father. My every step is first the giving of thanks and second the expectation of God, always together. My life with God has led me immediately into life together with my brothers and sisters. We journey well together. We find all that we seek; we find God among us as Love for one another. We acknowledge Christ Jesus in one another. We bless one another with all abundance in all things spiritual, in all things material, and in all goodness and joy of soul. We shout, “God bless our journey together with all favor.”

All Sufficiency. Here is God’s rule for all material wealth. – Now God is powerfully able to make all grace abound into you, so that you may abound always, in every way, having all sufficiency in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8 – rough JSV).

God is sending you as His Love in every moment of your day and into every circumstance into which you and God step together. In that sending, God opens His abundance to you in all that is presently needed – having all sufficiency in every good work. Having enough money for the task is definitely one of many things inside that equation.

Always Prospering. Yet God sends each one of us for different purposes as He so pleases. If God sends a brother in Christ with millions of dollars to shepherd carefully, even inside of a business that provides for many, that is God on the one hand and none of my business on the other.

Here we want to see invisible substance becoming outward appearance, however; that is, we want the Apocalypse. We are ALWAYS prospering; that is the meaning of an endless life. For that reason, we call it to be so, regardless. The appearance of lack is untrue. The One who sends shares our life with us. We KNOW that all we need moves with us.

Abundance of Provision. Then, we turn that same thinking into life together as the Church, that is, our real journey together. In my community experience, we were always seeking to get God to do something for us, thinking that in so doing, we were practicing at being sons of God. We simply did not know the Truth.

What would be Community life wherein we acknowledge in confidence that God is sharing our Community life with us together, as Love outpoured, and that All Abundance is inside our every next step with God? Outward appearance cannot stand against the Truth.

Knowing our Sending. Let’s turn this way of thinking now towards our role in this present world in the year of our Lord, 2022. The key is to KNOW our sending, for the sending carries with it all provision, inwardly and outwardly.

We are sent in the present moment to pray together in each new confidence of faith and understanding the Lord brings to us, that the Devoted Spirit might use our words to open the hearts of many to hear Jesus in Truth. They will accomplish mighty things; we open the door to them in the heavens and send to them the knowing of all Word fulfilled. We prosper absolutely in our way.

Prosper in All. The One who sends us, sends us inside His own determination and purpose. We know that our sending carries with it all provision for any task at hand, whether inward provision or outward. In His sending of us, God opens His abundance to us to fulfill His desire. We have all sufficiency in every good work as we walk together inside of Jesus. We always prosper in God’s sending; we never regard any appearance of lack. Our giving of thanks in present lack takes place inside of all expectation of a God of abundance and favor. We prosper together always in our way and work.

Inward Completion First. Salvation is wholeness; it is Completion. In our journey, there are two things before us before we are saved. The first is the place of Salvation, our entrance into the commitment of Christ Community. And the second is the resurrection, our bodies swallowed up by Life, by the inability to die.

When we are walking as resurrected sons of God and as firstfruits inside the core of Christ Community, we will know in all outward reality the Salvation of God. But outward Completion comes only out from inward Completion now; it comes out from Covenant.

Inside of Christ as He Is. We are complete inside of Christ. Yet Christ is three things. First, Christ is the One who lives inside each of our hearts, who lives as us. Then, Christ is a many-membered Man, brethren walking daily in life together. And third, Christ is the revelation of the Father to all creation. We are complete inside of Christ as He is.

But Christ in our hearts is always the continuous source out from which Christ together and Father revealed must come, for it is the Completion of Christ inside each of us by which we each share life with God.

To Send Forth. I pray that in all things you would be whole. We give to others that which we have first received from God. By giving to others, we are giving back to God. To “pray” is to send forth to others by the Spirit the very wholeness God has wrought inside of us.

The completion of my life story has brought such a sense of wholeness inside of me. I must now accept God utterly with me. In essence, then, this is not a word to us to “be whole”; rather, our confession of faith is that we send our knowing of Covenant Wholeness into others through our prayer.

Wholeness. We pray together that our brothers and sisters across the earth would know and walk in all wholeness, in all the Salvation of God. Our completion as Christ is found first in Jesus as Covenant joining each of us together with Father. Our wholeness is found second in our life together as the fulness of Christ, His body. And our Salvation is found third as the revelation of Father together through immortal bodies. We walk in all wholeness now through faith, and we send forth wholeness into every gathering of Christians on earth through that same faith.

The Only Way to Learn Christ. I realize now that the whole point of 3 John 1:2 is not that “we” would prosper and be in health, for that is a given. Rather, that we would send into others that wondrous journeying well and in health that is the only way we live.

I learned early on that there is only one way to learn grammar and that is to teach it to others. They probably won’t learn it until they do the same, but you will. It is the same with sharing life with God. If we want to KNOW everything that such a wondrous life means and includes, we will know it for real only as we give it to others. – We pray God into others.

Goodness and Harmony. As I write the Jesus Secret box now, I will include our knowing even as we pray the same knowing into others.

“Good health” means goodness and harmony in all outward things, in our bodies, the harmony of spirit and physic, and in our surroundings, the harmony of heaven and earth. Two things rule “good health.” The first is the thoughts of our minds, and the second is the good things that we eat. The thing that directs the thoughts of our minds is the speaking of our mouths, as James said. We speak wholeness and good health always; we call it to be so regardless.

Harmony. Expecting God towards the healing of physical sickness and disability, however, is not turned into a denial of human weakness, or set in opposition to giving thanks first. It is, rather, an utter rest in God sharing my present whatever with me now, inside the expectation of the arising of all Life.

We walk in utter gratefulness for what is, that is, “I Am What I Am – This is Me.” And we walk in utter certainty in what must become, calling those things that be not as though they are. This is our sending forth into all the Church.

Good Health. We learn Christ as we speak the goodness and harmony of Christ into our brothers and sisters across the earth. We pray together that all health, inwardly and outwardly, would flow into the Churches everywhere. We pray harmony of spirit and physic into our brethren. We pray harmony of heaven and earth into them as well. We speak wholeness and good health always; we call it to be so regardless. We walk together grateful for our life with God as it is; we walk in utter certainty in what must be, Life swallowing up all death. We call all things by wholeness and health.

We Journey Well. We have gained so much inside our knowing for the journey of the Apocalypse in which we have embarked. We journey well.

We will come back to John’s letters for one more lesson, “15. Definitions for John’s Vision,” after we have introduced Revelation and our approach to it. We will limit our page to just seven definitions. My question here is how will we word the phrase out from 2 and 3 John to be defined, and what will be its definition?

Reading for Next Time. For this introduction to John’s vision, read Revelation Chapters 1–7 in the Jesus Secret version on my website, whether semi-final or rough. You have three purposes in your reading, to refresh your memory of what the vision actually says, to note any differences between the JSV and how you have known these words before, and to gain an overview of the book as a whole before we start piece by piece.

The Unveiling, the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must happen immediately. And Jesus signed the Unveiling, having sent it through His angel to His servant, John.

Let’s Pray Together. “Lord Jesus, You are so good. You cause us to know our Father always with us. You keep us safe from all that opposes. You fill our lives with abundance of Joy. You keep us ever inside Your way.

“We journey well, Lord Jesus, even when we are pushed by others. We journey well, for Father is always with us, carrying us together with Himself inside every step. Lord Jesus, we prosper in all things, in every direction we might look. We prosper in the little blessings of every day life. We prosper in the knowledge of God, of Father sharing our lives with us. We prosper in all that we need in Your sending of us. Lord Jesus, You are so good.

“Lord Jesus, we pray for our brothers and sisters all across the earth, all who love Jesus and who call upon You in whatever way You have shown Yourself to them. Lord Jesus, we pray that our brethren would journey well and that they would prosper. We pray that they would journey into the knowledge of God, into the commitment of Christ, into Your Church, into loving one another with pure hearts fervently.

“Lord Jesus, we pray for wholeness, for all Your people, for the certainty inside of them in their Covenant Bond with God. We pray for goodness and harmony in their lives, that their spirits and physics would sing together, that heaven and earth would sing together in all their steps. Lord Jesus, we receive with joy all we have asked.”