Knowing What Belongs to Us

By Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. —Ephesians 1:1-3

 

Thank God this letter to the Ephesians applies to the saints all over the world and wherever you live. Notice verse 3 does not say, “Blessed be the God who is going to bless us,” but it says, “Blessed be the God who hath [has] blessed us.” It’s past tense!

 

What has God blessed us with? Verse 3 tells us: with all spiritual blessings. God has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings there are. There aren’t any more that He hasn’t already blessed us with.

 

Many Christians don’t know what belongs to them, so they keep trying to obtain what is already theirs. Our wonderful Heavenly Father in His great grace has given enough to the Church to make us rich and strong. We’ve been given every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. (“In Christ” refers to all that God did in Christ’s redemptive work.)

 

Let’s learn from Scripture what some of these blessings are—these blessings that are ours in Christ.

 

One blessing that is ours is the blessing of reconciliation. Second Corinthians 5:19 tells us that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.

 

2 CORINTHIANS 5:19

19 To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

 

The word “impute” means to charge, ascribe, or attribute, especially something discreditable. The Amplified Bible says that God is not counting up and holding against mankind their trespasses, but canceling them.

 

Notice that God didn’t cancel just our sin. He canceled the whole world’s sins—every single person’s sins. Some may say, “Well, if that’s true, then won’t everyone be saved and go to Heaven?” No, because unless people accept Jesus as Savior, they’re still sinners. They need to be born again and become believers.

 

But that is what will be so terrible—if they go to hell and find out they didn’t have to go there, and then discover that God had canceled all their sins and wasn’t holding them against them. 2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, we are His ambassadors, charged with the mission of telling others that God has canceled their sins and reconciled them to Himself through Christ.

 

In God’s great redemptive work (from the time that He made Christ to be sin until the time Jesus ascended on High and sat down at the right hand of God), everything that God did in Christ belongs to the Body of Christ. Jesus didn’t do anything for Himself. He did it for us. We have been blessed!

 

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved THE WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus was our Father God’s gift to a lost world. He’s not God’s gift to the Church alone. He’s God’s gift to the whole world.

 

God has never taken the gift of Jesus back. Jesus still belongs to the whole world. Whether people acknowledge Him or not, Jesus still belongs to them because God gave Him to the world and hasn’t taken Him back.

 

The sinner does not need to beg God to save him. The work’s already been accomplished. All he needs to do is accept it and thank God for it—then it becomes his.

 

Romans 6:23 says, “The GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” What do you have to do to receive any gift? You just have to receive it! If I had a birthday gift for you in my hands, would you have to get on your knees and beg, and cry, fast, and pray before you could have the birthday gift? No! You wouldn’t have to do any of that. You just have to acknowledge the gift is yours, believe it’s yours, reach your hands out, and take it!

 

The gift of Jesus and all He purchased for us belong to everyone! I’ve been preaching this truth for more than 60 years. I’ve had pastors to say to me, “Brother Hagin, you make it too easy for people to get saved.” I tell them, “No. It wasn’t me who made it easy. It was God.” Thank God, in His great mercy, He made salvation possible—and made it easy.

 

Ephesians 2: 8 and 9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Salvation is a gift. We receive that gift by acting on the Word of God. We act on the Word and receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. We confess Him as our Lord, and we receive eternal life that very moment.

 

Now, let’s go just a step further. Thank God, salvation and the remission of sins belongs to us. But do you know that healing also belongs to us?

 

ISAIAH 53:4–5

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs [sickness and disease], and carried our sorrows [pains]: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

 

This passage is a prophecy Isaiah spoke before Jesus’ death on Calvary ever took place, giving us a preview of the coming Messiah and of what He would purchase for us through His death and resurrection.

 

Then in looking back at the Cross, Peter says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye WERE HEALED.” Isaiah prophesied, looking to the future at what would eventually come to pass. Peter is not prophesying. He’s stating the truth of a fact that has already taken place.

 

I’ve met people who had been seeking healing for years. Many wonderful, Spirit-filled people have said to me, “I don’t know why God won’t heal me.” And just to get their attention, I’ve told them, “He’s not going to heal you.”

 

They ask, “He’s not?”

 

“No,” I tell them. “He’s not going to heal you. Healing has already been bought and paid for. It’s yours.”

 

We think we believe what the Bible says. But many times we don’t really believe it at all. The Word says, “. . . by whose stripes YE WERE HEALED.” Well, if we were, I was. And if I was, I am!

 

Every single time that I have been able to move people to the place of simply believing what the Bible says, they have been healed—almost instantly, they were well. I’ve seen people who were crippled and couldn’t walk a step. The doctors had told them they would never walk again. They had been praying, begging, crying for God to heal them. But when I got them to see the truth that healing already belonged to them because of what God wrought in Christ—they walked again!

 

Very often in our early state of spiritual development, God will meet us where we are because we don’t know any better. We are spiritual babies, so to speak. I remember when I used to pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Did you ever pray that? But do you pray that way now? No. You’ve outgrown that kind of prayer.

 

The same thing is true spiritually speaking. When we are first born again, we are in the babyhood stage of development. And God meets us on that level because we don’t know any better. And, thank God, He does meet us where we are. But there comes a time when we have to grow up and walk in the light of the Word.

 

The believer doesn’t need to ask God to heal him because Jesus has already borne our sickness. All the believer needs to do is to know that healing belongs to him. You really don’t need to pray for something that already belongs to you.

 

We’re talking about what belongs to us. We’ve seen that salvation and healing belong to us. Now let’s look at Psalm 27:1.

 

PSALM 27:1

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

 

Who is the strength of our life? The Lord is. Isn’t He our present-tense Lord? Then this belongs to us now: He is our strength, light, and salvation.

 

The Hebrew word translated “salvation” in this verse means deliverance. God is my light and my deliverance. He’s the strength of my life. Light, salvation, deliverance, redemption—these belong to us now. That’s the reason I can say, “Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?”

 

I’m talking about things that belong to us now, not things that will be ours in the “Sweet by-and-by.”

 

1 CORINTHIANS 1:30

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

 

That’s enough to get you started shouting into the middle of next week! This is a list of what God has made Jesus to become unto us—wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption! These all belong to us now. They aren’t ours only if we’ll promise to be better and do better. They aren’t ours if we fast every other day. They belong to us now.

 

Notice that through Jesus, we have been made righteous. We believers (we who have been born again) don’t have to try to become righteous—because we are righteous.

 

I remember when I was holding a meeting in one of the northern states, and there was a gentleman who attended every morning service. The pastor had told me about him—about what a great Christian he was, the finest member in the church. During one service, I somehow started teaching on the subject of righteousness, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

 

After the service, this particular gentleman said to me, “Brother Hagin, I know I’ve been born again and filled with the Holy Ghost. All my family are saved and filled with the Holy Ghost and are in this church in regular attendance. I’m trying to be righteous, but I just don’t understand what you’re saying.”

 

I said, “I want to ask you a question. Are you a man or a woman?”

 

He answered, “Why, of course, I’m a man.”

 

I said, “Could you ever become a woman just by trying to be one? How did you get to be a man, anyway?”

 

“Well,” he said, “I was born that way.”

 

I told him, “That’s the way you get to be righteous. You’re born that way."

 

He saw it. I thought he was going go through the ceiling; he was so excited! He’d been working for years trying to be righteous, but when he saw the truth, I thought he was going up to Glory right then!

 

Very often, we’re praying for things that are already ours. Sometimes I wonder if God isn’t saying, “Why don’t you wake up, find out what belongs to you, and walk in the light of it?” It is time for us to believe God’s Word and walk in the light of what belongs to us!

 

Make this your daily confession: I am redeemed. I am delivered from the authority of darkness. Satan has no authority over me. Sin cannot dominate me. Jesus is my Lord. He has delivered me and given me authority. He is my Strength. He is my Light and Salvation. Through Him, I am righteous. I walk in the light of God’s Word. I walk in the fullness of everything that belongs to me through Jesus Christ.