Feel Blessed Yet?
This morning my New Testament reading began in the book of Ephesians, a really wonderful book of the Bible which contains so many great truths about who we are and who God is. The letter begins with a little sentence that has incredible meaning: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, That’s an amazing sentence. God has blessed His children with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…I think if I fully grasped that sentence I would fall off my chair! What does this mean? Well, I’m not sure I know exactly what Paul means here but I think I know enough to feel very blessed.
These blessings come through the Holy Spirit. The word “spiritual” in the English language is related to the same Greek word used for the Holy Spirit. When we come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ we are indwellt by the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit comes to live within us, He doesn’t just bring an overnight bag of blessings. He brings the full complement of every blessing that He has and that He is….and He doesn’t even ask for closet space! The phrase “the heavenly places in Christ” doesn’t refer just to eternity in heaven but it refers to the realm and dimension that we live in right now. We are in this world but we are also citizens of heaven. God’s spiritual blessings interact with each of us each day. The blessings Paul talks about are from the Holy Spirit and are active and available to each of us.
Here’s an important application to this. We often pray things like “Lord, give me patience” or “Lord, give me peace”. But in reality, according to Paul here in Ephesians and other scriptures, we already HAVE the patience and peace that we are asking for. What we need to do is to get out of the way so that the Holy Spirit who lives within us can manifest the peace and patience in our lives. We are often asking for what we already have! The Holy Spirit has brought to you all the peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control…etc. that you need for any and every situation you find yourself in. Let’s praise God for blessing us with every spiritual blessing!