Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Quantity of These Spiritual Blessings


…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  Ephesians 1:4-6

This week we are looking at Gods Best Blessings and how to recognize them in our lives. 

The quantity of these spiritual blessings can be summed up in one little word found in verse 3. It is the word "ALL". That word tells us that in the Lord ,we find every single thing we need to live the Christian life.

You see, God has held nothing back from His children. When He saved us, He gave us everything we needed to serve Him. We have everything we need right now to be content, to be successful, to be obedient, to be useful to the Kingdom and to be happy in Jesus!
When you and I got saved, we got everything Jesus had to offer us! We got it at that very moment, there is nothing else!

The Quality of These Spiritual Blessings
In the verse above  Paul describes blessings as "blessings in heavenly places." This means literally means that these blessings are things that originated in heaven. They are not earthly blessings, but they are heavenly blessings! In the most literal sense, they are "Heavenly Things!" With that in mind, it will help us all to learn just what these heavenly things are. We are told in verses 4-14.

·      He Speaks Of Foreknowledge v.4 - This verse deals with the matter of election. For some reason, God, in His wisdom, chose me before the world was formed. He knew me before He formed me in my mother's womb and He had already determined that I would be in His family. I cannot explain election and all the ramifications of it, but I am still going to rejoice in it! One of the greatest spiritual blessings we enjoy as saved people is the fact that we were chosen in Christ by the grace of God, Rom. 8:28-31. (Ill. He loved me even though He knew all about me. What a blessing!)

·      He Speaks Of Family v. 5 - This verse tells us that we were adopted into the family of God. That is, at the moment of salvation, you and I became the children of God, 1 John 3:2. We are His sons and daughters with all the rights and privileges that come to any child born in to the family, Rom. 8:17. (Ill. The Father brought me into His family and made me His child. What a blessing!)

·      He Speaks Of Favor v.6 - This verse reminds us that we are "accepted" by the Father! When we received Jesus, we were reconciled to the Lord! There was a time when we were outcasts and aliens, Eph. 2:12, but now, in Jesus, we are approved by the Father! We have been brought near to Him by the blood of Jesus, Eph. 2:13. We used to be on God's hit list, so to speak, but now, we are on His list of favorites! This means that God is literally pleased with us! A lot of Christians waste a lot of time trying to do what Jesus did when He died on the cross - please the Father! (Ill. The Father is pleased with me, because I wear the righteousness of Christ. What a blessing!)

Scripture to Claim:
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him.  Hebrews 11:6

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