3 John 2 Are You Prepared to Receive?
A pastor was visiting a family one day. He knocked on the door but no one answered it. He knocked again and again, but still no answer. He thought he heard someone inside but they just wouldn’t answer the door. Finally he wrote a note and slipped it under the door. It was Rev.3:20: “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in.”
Four days later he received a note in the mail and it was Genesis 3:10: “I heard the sound of thee in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.”
NKJ Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
Not much is known of Gaius, he was probably a faithful member in one of the churches of Asia Minor. The Apostle John conveys his own appreciation for Gaius by calling him “beloved,” 4 times in this one chapter. For the Apostle John to ask about Gaius’ health wasn’t uncommon in those days. However, for ‘one’ to compare a spiritual life with a physical was uncommon.
NLT Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.
In this verse, John alludes to two kinds of prosperity:
a. There is spiritual prosperity ("just as your soul prospers")
b. And there is material prosperity ("that you may prosper in all things and be in health"
Gaius’ Spiritual condition was so excellent that John prayed for his physical health to match his spiritual vigor.
Q&A: What if someone were to pray for your physical body to be as well as your Spiritual? Would it be a good thing?
Why was Gaius favored? Key verses: 3 John 3-4NLT Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth. 4 I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.
Three things everyone can receive out of this one verse.
First, “It’s God’s will that all may go well with you.” It’s God’s will for you to be found faithful!
It’s God’s will for you to prosper; it’s God’s will for you to live in a continue state of blessings.
In God’s Kingdom every heartache will bring promotion.
Listen to Paul’s daily struggles: Romans 8:35-36NLT Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” (Ps.44:22)
However hear Paul in the next verse, Romans 8:38NLT No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Q&A: “Most of us are more in tune with our physical bodies than our Spiritual.” What are you in tune with?
Secondly, “God wants your body whole.”
The fact is you are sick, but the truth is God’s word will bring you health.
The fact is you have no money, but the truth is God will provide every need in your life.
The fact is you live with hardship, but the truth is you are more that conquerors.
God wants you whole. Exodus 15:26NKJ and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
God wants you whole, Isaiah 53:1-6NLT Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? 2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
Finally, God wants your soul to prosper. (Your mind, will and emotions!
Romans 12:1-2NLT And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a-new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
What I’m teaching tonight isn’t some pie in the sky religion- “Jesus came to save that which was lost and to bring prosperity in every avenue of our lives.”
“So, are you prepared to receive?”
Prayer.
