By the Rev. Ed Ganus

In the first chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we find some spiritual blessings that Paul uses to teach and encourage the believers as they face the trials of dairy life.

These blessings also apply to believers today as we follow Jesus.

It is so wonderful to know that the Word of God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

First, Paul address this letter to the saints.

That does not mean some sinless individual who is high above everyone else, it simply means the born again, that is the sinner who has been forgiven by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Then the saint receives Jesus as lord of his life and begins to follow Him, so Paul includes with the saints, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Paul makes it clear that those who receive these spiritual blessings are the born again and the faithful.

Then in verse 4, He said, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

To be holy and without blame is accomplished within us by Jesus living within us through the Holy Spirit as Jesus stated in John 15:1-10.

The first spiritual blessing Paul list for the saints, faithful and abiding in Jesus, is adoption.

When persons adopt a child the adopted child becomes the same as a child that would be born to them, equal in every way, rights, privileges, responsibilities and inheritance.

This means that we are granted the same love, grace, peace and fellowship with God that was given to Jesus his only begotten Son.

The Second spiritual blessing is wisdom and insight found in verse 8, “Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; (9) Having make known unto us the mystery of his will…”

In James 1:5, we find, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraided not; and it shall be given to him.”

When a person who is not a believer begins to read the Bible, they find it very hard to understand and often cease to read because they do not understand it.

But when one reads, believes, and receives Jesus as saviour and lord the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to them the truths of Gods Word, because they seek to know God’s will and ask for direction.

And God fulfills His promise made in James 1:5, and Ephesians 1:8.

The third spiritual blessing is, inheritance, in verse 11, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance…,” inheritance is based upon relationship.

It includes the blessings of this life as a child such as fellowship, love, provisions, guidance, and even discipline.

But it also includes the eternal glory of heaven in the presence of the lather.

I read of a saint, faithful and abiding in Jesus, a young woman in Scotland, in the days of persecution in that land, one Lord’s Day she was on her way to a place of worship, when she was met by soldiers whose commander demanded she tell them where she was going.

She asked of God in a silent prayer for the right answer in all truth. These words came to her mind in an answer to the commander. “I am going to my Father’s house. My elder brother has died; His will is to be read today, and I have an interest in it.” The soldiers bid her go on her way. The church is the Fathers house, Jesus is our brother by adoption, the Bible is his word and will, and relationship and heaven are our inheritance. Praise God for His spiritual blessings.

 

-The Rev. Ed Ganus is the pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church and a member of the Greater Andalusia Ministerial Association.