OUR SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 23, 2023.

SUBJECT: OUR SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST! 

Memory verse: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1 vs 3.)

READ: Ephesians 1 vs 3 - 6, 11 - 14:

1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, 

1:4: just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:

1:5: Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

1:6: to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

1:11: In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will:

1:12: that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

1:13: In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

1:14: who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.

INTIMATION:

God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1 vs 3). You are blessed with everything that you need to live for Him. His very fullness is yours. His love is yours. Yes, He Himself is yours. In Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God—being chosen for salvation, being adopted as His children, forgiveness, insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power to do God’s will, the hope of living forever with Christ. 

Because we have an intimate relationship with Christ, we can enjoy these blessings now. The “heavenly places” means that these blessings are eternal, not temporal. The blessings come from Christ’s spiritual realm. His righteousness and all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places was given to us in Christ with the intent that we bear fruit with them. We become the disciples of Christ in utilizing the blessings to bear fruit. 

God is making His grace to come leaping toward you in all its fullness, and that grace has within it His all sufficiency for every good work, and in every emergency. Do you understand what He means by "fruits of your righteousness?" It means all the gracious things you are able to do with these heavenly blessings at your disposal, just as Jesus did in His earth walk. All the gracious words that Jesus said and all the mighty acts that He performed were the fruits of His righteousness. I wonder if you have ever thought of it. In our fruit of righteousness God the Father is glorified. And He promised to increase and multiply whatever we do to bear fruit. (John 15 vs 😎. 

How little we have appreciated this, that His very sufficiency and ability—all the heavenly blessings—are all at our disposal. How ashamed we ought to be that we have ever talked about our weakness and our lack when the measureless ability of God is ours. You see when He took us over and came into us in the person of the Holy Spirit, and began to build His Word into us, He was building His sufficiency and His ability into us. He was enriching us liberally in everything, no restrictions. Why then do we restrict ourselves? Now, take note of this fact carefully; He is not only our ability, but He is also our sufficiency. 

The apostle Paul beautifully put it in First Corinthians 2 vs 12 thus, "Now we have received, not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." These things that are given to us are in the finished work of Christ. We have access to all the riches of His grace unveiled in that finished work of Christ. Jesus, in His benevolence, and knowing our inabilities, came in His Spirit form to abide with us, and be our Helper (John 14 vs 18), and also, primarily to reveal God and Himself to us, and also our inheritance in Him. 

That great, mighty Holy Spirit who has come to make His home in our body is guiding us into all the reality of the wealth that has been given to us in Christ. He is making us know what the resurrection means to us: that if we were raised together with Christ, we are masters of the forces that operated in slaying Jesus; that we are now taking Jesus' place in this earth walk. 

Take for instance, the Word of God created this universe; created this earth with all its richness; the flowers and fruits, its wealth of minerals, chemicals, and oils etc. His efficiency in that living Word created these things. Now He is building into us that living Word with its supernatural efficiency. Now, a prayer life of the believer, backed with this whole knowledge, becomes invincible. All we need to do now is to take our place and act our part for it is God who is at work within us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2 vs 13). Not only is He building Himself into us, but He is there to work through us.

Jesus was fearless in the presence of the enemy in every place. He had no fear of a storm at sea. He had no fear of lack. He wasn't afraid of death. He raised Lazarus who had been dead four days. He wasn't afraid of a mob. He exercised power over nature and its forces. Those were some of the fruits of His righteousness. When these fruits abound in us they will make us like Jesus, and these fruits can abound in us. Therefore, build yourself up in His Word, submit to the Holy Spirit do His great works of reminding and revealing the truth in the Word that you may be a true disciple of Christ, abounding in every good work.

Prayer: Abba Father, You have given everything I need to be sufficient in all things, and have made Your grace to overflow toward me that I should efficiently abound in good work in Your vineyard. May Your Spirit build me up in Your Word that I may abound in wisdom and knowledge of You, and my inheritance in Christ, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!