Ephesians 1
For the next several weeks we will be in the book of Ephesians. I love the study of God’s Word and I pray as we go through this book together that you will develop a deeper understanding of God, who we are in Him and who He has created us to be. I encourage you to read the entire book of Ephesians at least once during this study, once weekly, if possible. God continuously reveals new truths each time we read through His Word. Please take a few moments to prepare your heart to hear from God. Spend some time just being still and asking him to speak to you today through His Word.
(I will be quoting from the NKJV)
This letter was written by the Apostle Paul to Gentile believers. (Eph. 2:11, 3:1, 3:8, 4:17) Gentile simply means non-Jew. So that includes you and me. Verse three of chapter one says “Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”
Paul begins by praising God. “blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” We should give the Lord praise, first and foremost and always. I know as humans our first instinct is to complain. To complain about all that we don’t have, all that we see others have that we don’t, all the trials and tribulations that we endure in our lives, but we don’t think about how blessed we truly are and praise Him for it. The next part of this verse says, “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”
So what are spiritual blessings?
The rest of this chapter names just a few…
Adoption, acceptance, redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, inheritance, the seal of the Holy Spirit, life, grace, inheritance, and so much more!
Verse four goes on to tell us, “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 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved.”
He chose us! Take a moment to wrap your mind around this truth. God knew before he created the world that we would accept his call to follow Him. (Romans 8:28-30) In fact, knew each of us before we knew him. Verse 13 says, “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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Once we heard the truth and accepted and believed the truth, we received salvation and we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. That is a Divine gift, a precious gift, a gift that comes with power to defeat the enemy. Yet we so often overlook this or don’t believe it applies to us. We believe the lie that Holy Spirit power and spiritual blessings only come to the “super holy” or the saints in Scripture. If you are a child of God who has accepted His gift of salvation, then you have access to the power of God and the spiritual blessings that He offers. Paul ends this chapter praying for these Gentile believers. (Eph. 1: 15-22) He gives thanks for them (us) and prays that God gives them (us) wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that they have an understanding and enlightenment to know what His calling is for them. If we have accepted Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, He has given us an abundance of spiritual gifts and the power of His Holy Spirit. Things that we are to use to further his kingdom and to bring Him glory. My challenge for us today, is to give Him praise in all things and to recognize and thank Him for what He has done for us and for the blessings, gifts, and power He has given us.
As we continue through the book of Ephesians, we’ll study deeper about what our responsibility is as gifted believers. I pray that you each have a blessed day.
Here are links to read other posts in this series. Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.
Trusting God 
Leave a Reply