“Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the
heavenly places in Christ.”—Ephesians 1:3
Too
many times the average Christian is pleading with God to bless her or him; but,
according to our scripture reading today, we are already blessed because
everything that we have need of is in
Him. And then we find that in Ephesians
1:3 that we have been blessed with every spiritual
blessing, “Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places in Christ.” Notice
that the scripture does not put the blessings
in the future tense, but in the past tense; the blessings have already been given. This means that in Christ Jesus, from the
time you are born-again and throughout eternity, He has already made provision
for you. Everything that you need, He
has blessed you with. It is yours. In the
mind of God every spiritual blessing is yours.
God
has given to you every spiritual benefit.
The word "blessing" has the idea of grace, of kindness, of advantage. So we could say it like this: Every spiritual
benefit, every spiritual advantage
has been given to us in Christ Jesus. It
is not something we take ourselves,
or have to obtain by works or self effort. It is
something He gives to us.
Many Christians spend their time asking God for something that they already have. They pray for love, but the spirit of Christ is already within them. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22 emphasis added). When peace is prayed for, we do not realize what Jesus has already said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you." We pray for joy, but Jesus said in John 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."
We
pray for strength; however the Scripture tells us that he is constantly
infusing strength within us. "I can do all things through"
Christ who consistently and constantly infuses His strength within us”
(Philippians 4:13). In fact 2 Peter 1:3
shows us that God’s, "divine power
has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true
knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."
When
we couple Colossians 2:10, “And you are
complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” with our
text Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God
and Father of our lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places in Christ” we can see that there is nothing left
that He can give us. He has given it
all.
However
we must get the revelation of what this means to us. Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians 1:18,
“The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Today I pray that the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened. Our resources in
Christ are beyond what we can comprehend. Every Christian has what Paul speaks
of in Ephesians 1:3. God cannot give us any more that He has
already given us in Christ Jesus. Outside
of Him there is nothing.
Today
ask the Lord to enlighten your spiritual eyes so that you can apprehend every spiritual blessing that Christ has provided
Prayer—Father thank You that You have given me everything that I have
need of in Christ Jesus. I ask you to
enlighten my spiritual eyes so that I can understand and apprehend every
spiritual blessing that Christ has provided for me, in Jesus Name. Amen.
