A.    Overview of the Threefold Blessing

B.    The Blessing of Spiritual Well-being

C.    The Blessing of Our General Well-Being

D.    The Blessing to be in Health

A.     Overview of the Threefold Blessing

1. The meaning of the Threefold Blessing
Since the Fivefold Gospel represents the theory and doctrine for our lives of faith, there is a need for the practice and application of the Fivefold Gospel. A theory and doctrine without real application is nothing more than that which arises from table top discussions. The application of the Fivefold Gospel results in the Threefold Blessing. It does not emphasize any limited aspect of our lives but rather applies to the complete man: spirit, soul and body. The Threefold Blessing is a term which encompasses the complete salvation of mankind.

2. The Threefold Fall and the Threefold Blessing
1) The Threefold Fall
Just as God had said, as Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, their spirits died (Genesis 2:16,17). The death of the spirit refers to a state of separation from God. Having moved from God-centered lives to man-centered lives, they no longer could live in the Garden of Eden in faith and obedience. Instead, man must live according to what wisdom He has.

With the fall of Adam and Eve, the land was cursed and thorns and thistles began growing in the land (Genesis 17,18). Since that time, in every aspect of man's life, thorns and thistles grow. Although man is attempting to live a better life through greater development of science, he shakes at the thought of the thorns of hatred, the thorns of anxiety and fear, thorns of discouragement and despair, and the thorns of death. These thorns in homes, society and the world make him shiver and shake with suffering.

With Adam's rebellious sin against God, all of us became destined to die and return to the earth from whence we came (Genesis 3:19). Death and illness which drives all men to death approaches us ceaselessly.

2) The Threefold Blessing
The reason which drove Jesus Christ to be persecuted on the cross was to redeem all our sins and iniquities. When Christ called out, "All is done," upon the cross, all our sins from the past, present and the future were cleared and we were made completely sinless and without shame as we stand in front of our God.

In addition, the Son of God Who is the source of all blessings carried our curse and shed His blood on the cross and destroyed the forces of condemnation, to remove from us the thorns of hatred, anxiety, nervousness, fear and despair, disappointment and death, guilt and sin. Once done, the fountain of peace and the fountain of blessing begins to overflow in that person's life.

The physical curse of illness and death which were handed down through generations after the first sin of Adam were cleansed whole with no trace. Now, we must base our lives on the redemption of Christ, and claim our right to health and divine healing. Also, Christians receive the seed of eternal life (I Corinthinas 15:42-45).

B.    The Blessing of Spiritual Well-being

1. The Creative Order in Spiritual Life
When a man accepts Christ as his Saviour and his spirit comes alive, that reborn spirit becomes the master of the soul, having command over it, and uses the body as a place of residence. A person who experiences a rebirth of the spirit also experiences a rebirth of the conscience, a longing for the Word of God, a hope for the spiritual realm, and begins to communicate with God through prayer and worship and praises the Lord, and comes to feel the existence of God through every fiber of his body. In addition, his life values and directions change with God becoming the very source of his life, and he will enjoy a creative life which manifests miracles.

2. Training the Soul
When Christ tears down the walls of sin and the Holy Spirit resides in us, our spirits assert the need to live centered in the Word of God. To this assertion, the soul and the body adamantly protests. Up to that point the soul always had been the decision-maker in a person's life and does not willingly relinquish that privilege without a struggle. The soul attempts to put forth the well of experience, that of humanism, to rule over the body and to set the course toward the world which the body experiences through the five senses. However, once our spirits are reborn in us, God does not allow a proud soul to do as it pleases. Rather, through ordeals and tribulation, the soul is slowly but surely shattered and trained through the Word of God.

3. The Way to Destroy the Body
The physical body feels and knows the world through the senses. Without the body, one cannot possible take in and know the world. However, along with this body comes what is called 'the desire of the body'. When this desire of the body turns into 'greed', sin begins to enter soon followed by the devil.

The body, unlike the soul, cannot be shattered and trained. The body itself lacks any conscience understanding and acts in a spontaneous, reflexive manner. There is no method by which the body can understand the purpose of training.

The only way the body can be restrained and controlled is to nail it to a cross. The Bible states thus:

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." (Romans 6:6)

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:24)

The Bible informs us of three ways we can nail the body's desire and greed.

First is the baptism. The baptism symbolizes the death of the person whose past has been subjected to the mastery of sin and death, the death on the cross, and being reborn in Christ (Colossians 2:12).

Second, we can nail the body to the cross by being filled with the Holy Spirit following a baptism by the Holy Spirit. The fire of the Holy Spirit will burn away our desire to sin.

Third, we can be victorious over the devil who attacks us using the desires of the physical body, through fasting and prayer.

C.    The Blessing of Our General Well-Being

1. The Attitude Which Leads to Life's Blessings
1) Change in Thought Patterns
We must rethink our misguided thoughts considering material wealth as being equated with sin. We must drive out our subconsciously rooted thoughts of poverty, condemnation and despair. God acts in concordance with our conscience; If our thoughts are filled with poverty and despair, God cannot bless us with material blessing.

2) Utilize the Laws of Blessing
Once our thought patterns have been changed, it is time to learn the laws which govern the blessings in the Bible and apply them to our lives.
 

3) Expectation of the Blessing
God blesses those who look to Him as a good God, believing and expecting to be blessed. Regardless of how omnipotent and great God is, if we do not expect to be blessed, God will not bless us. The Bible tells us in Psalms 81:10, "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it."

2. The Attitude Toward Life Leading to Success
1) Have Clear Goals
Having clear goals in life will make our lives organized and dynamic, leading to bearing much fruit. The life which pursues these goals will make our faith more dynamic and vigorous.

2) Have a Burning Desire
Once goals have been set, one needs to have a burning hope for their accomplishment. God does not work in those who lack this burning hope and desire. Such fervent hopes are carried to God through prayers of burning resolve, which prompts God to manifest miracles, which then leads to the anwers to our prayers.

3) Keep a Successful Image in Mind
Once goals have been set and a burning hope arises, we must then keep our goals in mind in greater detail and ceaselessly meditate on our goals. This works in conjunction with the Law of Seeing. As a result, as we create an image of success in our minds, we will witness that success truly surrounds us.
 

4) Confess the Victory through words.
Our mouth can and does have influence over our character and even our destiny. When we confess with our mouth the great power of God, we shall find ourselves drawn toward success. When we confess with our mouth the great Salvation of Christ, we will be saved. When we confess the power of healing, then, power approaches us. When we confess that we have been blessed, God will indeed bless us.

3. God Who Accomplishes Good
Although we believe in God faithfully and try to live for His glory, there are times when we face unexpected events. At such times, we must remember Romans 8:28,

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

When we look back on our lives, we can see that in many instances God worked for our ultimate good when we made an effort to live according to our calling. For us, God transforms evil and makes it good; He changes failure and despair to glory. Even today God moves among men to do such work through the Holy Spirit.

D.    The Blessing to be in Health

1. The Passage to Divine Healing
God's grace and blessing does not occur on its own. It requires a decision of faith on the part of the one to receive it as well as a tangible follow-through on that decision. Divine healing is not an exception. For one to receive divine healing, he must prepare his vessel. What kind of vessel must he prepare?

1) Yearning for Divine Healing
As with all other blessings, divine healing is bestowed on one who yearns for it. To those who do not seek and yearn, God does not work miracles.

2) Be Forgiven of Your Sins
When a man sins, causing him to hide himself from God due to his fear arising from guilt, he cannot find happiness. When we are afflicted with some illness, we must look back on our lives to see whether we have committed any sin which grieved God or which caused harm to our neighbors. If so, we must first be forgiven of all our sin.

3) Guard Your Heart
Having accepted Christ as our Saviour, confessed our faith with our mouths, and having been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, means fundamental changes have come over us. Regardless, Satan waits like a roaring lion, forever seeking a chance to topple us and once again rule over us. When we guard our hearts through the Word of God from Satan's tricks and slander, we can keep our peace and health.

4) Resolve All Hatred, Jealousy, and Anger
We must first resolve our hatred. The only way we can resolve our hatred is to forgive and bless the person who is the object of our hatred. Forgiveness is an important condition for our prayers for divine healing to be answered.

In addition, having envy which leads to jealousy and anger to collect into a bitter pool in a person's heart will prevent him from attaining a healthy body and mind. When we have a proper relationship, and fellowship with those around us, then we can establish the Health of the body and mind.

5) The Prayer of Faith
The Prayer of faith is a creative declaration which allows one to see that which does not exsit. God allowed Christ to be whipped and to shed His blood because of His great love for man. When we take the name of Jesus Christ, believe in His authority, and then pray for divine healing, only then God works His miracles in us and we are healed (Acts 3:6, 4:12).

2. Maintaing Health
Just as important as being healed of an illness, maintaining one's health is of utmost importance. From a biblican viewpoint, shall examine what we must do in order to keep our health.

1) Do Not Sin
When we have faith in the benevolence of God, and Christ Who carried our sins and died on the Cross, we can experience divine healing. By accepting the Holy Spirit into the vessel we have prepared, making our bodies the temples of God where He resides, the devil who brings illnesses will not be able to approach nor enter into us.

2) Release Stress
First, we must fully understand the principle of life: where we come from, why we live, and where we are headed. These are the questions which all of must answer satisfactorily to ourselves. When we find the answers to these questions, we can be freed from the elements of this world which bind us and cause stress to build up.

Second, we must unburden our heavy load to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ promised to take charge of all our worries and fears.

Third, we can maintain our health when we work for six days and rest on the seventh, in accordance with the law of Sabbath which even God applied when he created this world.

Fourth, we must strengthen our inner selves. When we maintain a warm relationship of love with our families, friends and neighbors, our inner selves will be strengthened. In addition, when we depend upon and trust the Holy Spirit, our weak minds transform into ones of strength and we acquire new abilities and power.

3) A Life Filled with the Holy Spirit
The greatest secret to maintaining physical health is to fill oneself with peace and happiness. Especially for the modern man, doctors have reported that over 70% of illnesses arise from nervousness and emotional distress. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Peace. The key to being happy and peaceful emotionally, which in turn keeps the body healthy, is to always acknowledge, welcome, accept and trust in the Holy Spirit.