God's Blessings...Our Benefits!

When the subject of blessings is brought up, have you ever paused to think about the word "blessing," or how many times blessings are spoken of in the Bible? If not, maybe now is a good time for us to take a further look at blessings. F.E. Marsh recounted some of God's blessings and listed them. I gladly present them to you here:

An acceptance that can never be questioned. (Ephesians 1:6).
An inheritance that can never be lost (I Peter 1:3-5).
A deliverance that can never be excelled (2 Corinthians l:10).
A grace that can never be limited (2 Corinthians 12:9).
A hope that can never be disappointed. (Hebrews 6:18, 19).
A bounty that can never be withdrawn. (I Colossians 3:21-23).
A joy that need never be diminished (John 15:11).
A nearness to God that can never be reversed (Ephesians 2:13).
A peace that can never be disturbed (John 14:27).
A righteousness that can never be tarnished (2 Corinthians 5:21).
A salvation that can never be canceled (Hebrews 5:9).

Perhaps a good place to start this discussion is by taking a look at Ephesians 1:1-14. If you'd like, we can choose the central text of Ephesians 1:3 as the main idea of this particular selection. "Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ." Notice that Paul says all spiritual blessings. We have been given all the blessings that we need in Christ. Man is totally blessed by God, beyond all measure. All of these blessings spring from His grace and love towards us.

Take notice here of what the blessings are these verses (Ephesians 1:1-14). In verse 4, "We have been chosen." The word "chose" means " to pick out, choose, to pick or choose out for one's self. "We were chosen by God before the world was ever made. He thought of each one of us thousands of years before we were born and picked us to be His own. We were chosen to be holy and blameless "in His sight." Holy means to be "set apart to, or by God, consecrated; holy, morally pure, upright." Blameless, or "without blame" means to be "faultless; without fault." God's people are called "saints" (Ephesians 1:1). In the eyes of God, a saint is one who has been set apart for and by God and is without fault."

In Ephesians 1:5, "We have been adopted". Not just "taken in," but adopted. Adoption means "to be given sonship, or placed as a natural son." By adoption, we become the children of God. We are heirs to God; we will inherit what He has. A sinner who has been saved by grace and adopted as a child of God is equivalent to the proverbial "rags to riches" senerio. No sinner could ever have a hope of inheriting what God has unless he could be adopted.

Ephesians 1:7 tells us that, "We have been redeemed." Redemption means "to be released upon payment of a price." When we redeem something, we always give something for what we are getting. In releasing us from the bondage of sin and the life of eternal punishment that goes along with that bondage, God gave His Son's life, so that we would not have to give ours. We were helpless to redeem ourselves; we had nothing to give. But Christ had what the Father demanded in payment for sin: He was perfect. The death of His perfect life was the only thing that could purchase us from the bondage of sin.

We should never forget what Christ did for us. He willingly paid for our sin, dying in our place; suffering the pain and agony of not just the physical pain of dying, but the spiritual pain and agony of receiving the wrath of God.

In the same verse (Ephesians 1:7) we also learn that, "We have received forgiveness." Forgiveness means that we have been pardoned of our sins. Even more than that, it means that God looks at us as if we had never sinned. When God forgives our sins, He doesn't even remember them anymore. They are gone. He will never bring them up before us again. We will never be accused by God of our past sins. Men and Satan will, but God never will! The same way that God forgives us is the way that we should forgive others.

Ephesians 1:9 announces that, "We have been enlightened." "Having made known" is one Greek word which means " to know, to gain knowledge of, have thorough knowledge of." This word is in the active tense, which means that the subject, God, is the one doing the action. God Himself makes Himself known to His children. To those who are not children of God, He is a total mystery. Everything about Him, including His Will, are incomprehensible to those that are not saved.

One of the greatest blessings that we can have in this life time, is to know God. We can know what He likes and dislikes; we can know what He expects of us; we can know His love and His plan for eternity. The rest of the world does not know God in this way. This kind of "knowing" is in fact a relationship.

I appeal to you to take notice that these "blessings" are benefits of his purpose (Ephesians 1:11). God has a definite purpose that we will see completed in "the fullness of times." (Ephesians 1:10). We are part of that purpose and should never lose sight of this great truth. When life gets complicated and hectic, we need to remember that there is a purpose for everything, and that God controls everything. We must never lose trust in Him!

Closing Prayer:

Lord, I thank You for prayer, That I can come before You and call You Father. That I can cast my burdens on You. Lord, I thank You for my heart, the treasure and light You placed in there, the Holy Spirit. Amen

Bless you,

Connie