Spiritual Blessings

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3)

God the Father has blessed all those who are Christians. What does it mean to be blessed by God? It means that one has been favoured by God to receive a good of some kind. Our God is a gracious God who blesses His people with various things. In the beginning, for example, God blessed Adam and Eve so that they would be fruitful and would increase in number (Genesis 1:28).

What specific blessings, however, does the Apostle Paul have in mind in our verse? He says we have been blessed with every "spiritual blessing." What does this mean? It refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit, every specific gift of the Spirit, and every fruit of the Spirit we have been given. We receive these spiritual blessings because of God's divine decree to choose us "before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to Sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). 

A believer is already blessed. He has received the eternal life in this life and before this gift all other blessing pale into insignificance.    And I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand (John  10:28); Whoever partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:54); And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3). These verses make it clear that:

1. God gives eternal life to every believer, right now, in this life
2. You don’t have to make a clean break with this worldly life, to enjoy eternal life.
3. The advance eternal life you are imparted will continue into eternity.

When you  pray for God’s blessings for us or for our kith and kin, what do we have in mind? Wealth, strength, health, comforts, fame, success?  These are what the world call ‘blessing’. But Jesus urged us to, ‘’ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6.33). He assures us , “If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you’’ (John 15:7). St. Paul assures us we have  been blessed with every "spiritual blessing”  Let us examine some of these in detail:

1) PREDESTINATION:  

Ephesians 1:4, 5  - chosen us before creation:  we are not saved because we deserve it, not because we were holy and blameless but through our faith in Jesus Christ, according to His eternal plan; God accepted us  through the  sacrifice Jesus made for us. We are rendered holy and blameless through the Holy Spirit living in us.           

Predestined to be adopted:  This statement renders it incontrovertible 

that salvation is not the result of what we do, that we cannot earn it, but it is what God does in us. We have been adopted into God’s family: we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for us, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

2) SONSHIP:

In a way, every human is a child of God, but not everyone is saved.  Many are invited, but unfortunately, only a few are chosen. Again we see ‘predestination’ here. Salvation is a new birth. Jesus said: “unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Writing to the Galatians (4:6), St. Paul asserts, ‘’ because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, ‘Abba, Father’.” As children of the living God, we have certain responsibilities. Jesus is named as light of the world.  like the moon borrows the sun’s light and illuminates the world, we must borrow Jesus’ light and clarify the truth to the world, be a witness for the living God. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-control. So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord       (2Tim 7, 8).

3) FORGIVENESS

We are sinners by birth, by choice, and because of our behaviour. We are destined to die without hope, die the second death that is eternal separation from God, if we are not forgiven. God doesn’t forgive us, just by ignoring our sinful activities. To illustrate: If A owes B money, but is not able to pay him and B decides to forget the debt, B is in effect paying A’s debt out of his pocket. Somebody had to pay the debt. Mankind owed to God for its rebellion, but couldn’t afford to pay the huge debt, and Jesus paid the price in His blood. That’s the work He did for us in Calvary. He redeemed us, bought us back; bought us back from the world of bondage, sin, flesh, devil – full price paid. We are morally, officially, and decidedly forgiven.

‘’With your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation’’ (Revelations  5:9).

4) WISDOM

The term ‘wisdom’ occurs more than 200 times in the Bible. Frequently it is placed opposite ‘foolishness’; otherwise it is coupled with the term ‘knowledge’. Psalms define ‘wisdom’ simply and directly—(111:10) ‘’Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom’’; atheists are called fools—(Psalms 53:1) ‘’Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’ They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!’’.  Knowledge is the starting point on your way to gain wisdom to revere God– acknowledge God as your only source of wisdom or your foundation to make the right decision becomes shaky. Academic knowledge, expertise and experience are necessary to live a comfortable life but they not sufficient.

Colossians  2:3  says ‘’In him are stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This ‘treasury’ is for us to draw from. Jesus is the mystery of ages even angels were not allowed to look into. “On the one hand, He was foreknown before the creation of the world, but on the other hand, He was revealed at the end of time for your sake” (1Peter  1:20). 

5) HEALTH

 
Can physical health be a spiritual blessing? Yes. A healthy body houses a healthy mind and a healthy mind is necessary to attain spiritual health. These days faith healing is used as a crowd puller, but true health means harmony of body, mind, spirit, society and environment. True health is freedom from illness, curse of sin, hold of Satan, dominance of darkness Psalms 103:3 says God forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

When Jesus healed peoples’ physical condition He frequently forgave their sins also. In an age when people believed diseases are the result of some hidden sin, Jesus worked to dispel this belief. He sent His disciples to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. The messianic prophecy of Malachi 4:2 says “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings”..

6) SEAL OF HOLY SPIRIT

Believers are sealed with Holy Spirit when saved. The verses Ephesians  1:13, 14 are  self-explanatory:  ‘’ In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory”

Ephesians 4:30  says “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.  Holy Spirit is a guarantee that believer will one day come to possess all blessings promised.

Sealing of a product ensures 1.  Genuineness  2. Security, tamperproof 3. Sign of ownership 4. Perfection, quality of manufacture. The Holy Spirit’s sealing guarantees our salvation is genuine, we belong to God, Satan has no control over us and  God’s work in us is complete.

7) PROMISES: Christians are children of covenant, children of promise. The Bible is replete with promises involving every conceivable human situation I have been told there are 7000 promises in the scripture.

Hebrews 10:23 the one who made the promise is faithful. God cannot go back on his promise. His promises are backed by His nature.

Romans 4:16 God’s promises based on faith and  are fulfilled through faith in Christ. Biblical promises are conditional. For instance,

Mathew  6:14  …. if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Mathew  11:28  Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest – you must go to Him! That’s a condition!

John 15:7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!--another condition!.

Joshua 1:5  I will not leave, nor forsake you …if you obey all the instructions that my servant Moses gave you.

Don’t tear promises out of context, don’t try to look for promises that are not there–while claiming in prayers or while counselling.

Where have we been blessed? Paul says that God has blessed us in "the heavenly realms" (or "heavenly places"). In the heavenly realms, where God has spiritually seated us with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:6), we have been blessed by receiving God's gift of the Spirit, including the specific gifts and fruit of the Spirit, all in accordance with God's divine decree. 

These spiritual blessings have been given to us "in Christ." That is, we have these blessings because we are Christians, because we are spiritually united with Christ as members of His body. Jesus Himself said, '"Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.' By this he meant the Spirit" (John 7:38-39).

Given the spiritual blessings we have received through Christ in the heavenly realms, we should give praise to God the Father. After all, He is the one who decided and decreed all this in His infinite wisdom and love.

Today, then, stop for a moment and consider the spiritual blessings God has given you and give Him praise for all of them.

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