A Panoramic Overview of God’s Intent for Your Life/Greatness

It is crystal clear that a great God has a great mind and the ability to create great things.  A good God cannot produce bad fruits. This implies that God who has a great, good mind has great, good intentions for His children. Thus, the desire of God for your life as His child is good and wonderful. It is the purpose of God for your life to be great. For example, in Jeremiah 29:11, He said:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

God wants you to be great indeed:

 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: (Deut.28:13).

He wants you to have all-round prosperity to make you a TOTAL MAN:

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth (3John 2).

Beloved, I wish (I desire; I want; I hope) above all things (as a priority, most important, very essential, primary, or take very serious) that thou mayest prosper (be blessed financially; not being poor;) and be in health(be physicallyfit; not sick either mentally or otherwise), even as thy soul prospereth (you must also be spiritually fit/sound; you are not to be sick spiritually, morally) (3John 2, emphasis mine).

          The above passage encapsulates the whole Gospel for GREATNESS and the TOTAL MAN. To be GREAT, you must be a TOTAL MAN, and to be a TOTAL MAN, you must be financially healthy, physically healthy, and spiritually healthy. Any man who lacks any of these indicators is not a GREAT or TOTAL MAN. This passage is what this author calls “a barometer or an indicator of GREATNESS and TOTAL MAN”. The following tripod of a TOTAL MAN in 3John 2 must be fulfilled before a man can be called a TOTAL MAN : he must be blessed financially; he must be blessed physically; and he must be blessed spiritually.

The Tripodal Barometer of a TOTAL MAN is premised on 3John2

1. When you are blessed financially, you will not serve God with complaints. How? To pay your tithe, offering, first fruit, to contribute to the work of God, blessing people, especially the poor and men and women of the household of faith, will not be difficult because you are already blessed spiritually and physically or mentally to know what to do at the right time without being forced. This will also culminate in your greatness financially, physically, and spiritually.
2. When you are blessed physically, you will be blazed for Christ; and you will be able to do the work of an Evangelist:

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry (2 Tim 4:5)

   Here, to do the work of an Evangelist effectively requires the three indicators of a GREAT-TOTAL MAN. But if you are not physically healthy, you cannot go out to preach the Gospel; you cannot think rightly because you are weak mentally. Your cognitive ability is important, other aspects of man’s physical health are also very important in the work of the ministry or in your service to the Lord. When you are physically sound, you will be able to attend programmes, organise programmes, and do some other spiritual programmes that require energy or physical exercises. No wonder, out of His love for you, He (God) said He will not treat you as He treated the Egyptians. In other words, He will not allow you to be afflicted with sickness and diseases. Even though you have any, He is your Healer, He will heal you. Exodus 15:26 and Deuteronomy 7:15 confirm this:

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee (Exo.15:26).

And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee (Deut.7:15).

3.       What is more, when you are spiritually blessed, you will always love to look unto Jesus as Author and Finisher of your faith in every situation:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb.12:2).

In fact, when you are spiritually blessed, your life will change for the better. This is graphically explainedin Colossian 3:1-17. When you are blessed spiritually, you will:

1. seek and Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth;
2. be dead in your flesh, and be alive with Christ in God;
3.  move from glory to glory;
4. mortify your members which are upon the earth;
5. shun fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
6. put off  anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth;
7. not tell lies again;
8. not go back to your vomit;
9. become a new creature because the ownership of your life has changed; you are now under new Administrator, JESUS (2Cor.5:17);
10.  have the right mental science;
11.  not discriminate;
12.   put on a new garment of  holiness, have  bowels of mercies,   kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering;
13.  be ready to forgive;
14.  love everyone;
15.  seek peace at all times;
16.  be thankful;
17.  be loved to allow the word of Christ to dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord;
18.  work by faith, not by sight (2Cor.5:7);
19.  do all things to glorify God;
20.  avoid the wrath of God.

With all these things, it is crystal clear that God has good intention for you. He has made plan for your greatness; He wants you to be great. He has done it before and He will do it again in your life. He made Abraham great, Jacob very great, and Isaac to be exceedingly great (Gen.18:8; 26:12-13; 30:43). Your own will not be difficult for Him to do. You may be thinking that how can this be possible given the present situation in your life. Be not afraid, it is possible. God will do it. Do not despise the day of small beginning (Zech.4:10). Just obey God, you will be great. Now, say to yourself that:

I WILL BE GREAT IN JESUS’ NAME, BECAUSE GOD HAS THE PROVISION FOR MY GREATNESS.

You can say this as many times as possible to yourself every day. Your Father is the owner of heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1-31; Ps.24:1);He is the owner of silver and gold (Hag.2:8); you should know that the thoughts that He thinks towards you are thoughts of peace, and not of evil, but to give you an expected end (Jer.29:11). Having been made great, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom (Lk.12:32).