I'm reminded of an incidence in my early childhood. I had my school bag on my shoulders, yet I went looking all over for it. I guess, it must have been rather light for me not to feel it. I was put out of my toil, when someone inquired if the bag I sought was like the one I was carrying. I dare say, I felt a bit foolish. Looking back at the incident, a few observations came to mind.

1. I already had what I was looking for right under my nose

2. Because I had it, I could not find it else where

3. I could not find it because I was looking for it in the wrong places

4. Because I had excluded my person from the list of possible locations, it never occurred to me to look there

5. It was an endless quest

6. It took an external observer to free me from my futile toil

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God placed everything we need to live in Christ and put Christ in us. The bible therefore concludes that we are complete in Christ. This translates to the fact that we possess all we need, right under our noses.

1. "God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness." (2 Peter 1:3 GNB)

2. "Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world." (Ephesians 1:3 GNB)

3. "..Christ..For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power," (Colossians 2:8-10 MKJV)

When we observe that we are not manifesting all that we have. Like a poor man who has just inherited a fortune, manifestation is not an automatic process. Faith must be applied to see what we have, before it manifests. The mindset of the past must be broken to make way for the new or else the rich will die poor.

1. "Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds and having put on the new, having been renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Christ is all things in all." (Colossians 3:9-11 MKJV)

2. "For we know that Christ has been raised from death and will never die again---death will no longer rule over him. And so, because he died, sin has no power over him; and now he lives his life in fellowship with God. In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus." (Romans 6:9-11 GNB)

3. "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (Romans 12:2 MSG)

We assume that because we are not manifesting hat we have, means we do not possess them and therefore begin to plead with God to give again or give more of the same. I can only imagine we leave Him lost for words. May the truth of His Word be your external observer, pointing out the fact that you already have it, renew your mind with that information, till you see it clearly and begin to act like it.

1. "Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. "If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you." (John 8:31-32 MSG)

2. "Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there. Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are--face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." (2 Corinthians 3:15-18 MSG)

We should stop looking for what is not lost and start enjoying all that is ours in Him. That would give Him great pleasure after all the trouble He went through to provide it all.

1. "..God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. " (1 Timothy 6:17 GNB)

2. ".."How great is the LORD! He is pleased with the success of his servant." (Psalms 35:27 GNB)

3. "If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?" (Romans 8:32 MSG)

Selah