There is a quality of life that Christians enjoy that results from being a believer and follower of Jesus.
The Apostle Paul expounds on the spiritual blessings that God supplies His people in the opening chapter and verses of the book of Ephesians.
These verses are formed from one long sentence in the Greek. So I have organized them into a checklist that enumerates the various spiritual blessings God supplies to every Christian as mentioned in these verses.
Use my checklist to perform a spiritual checkup to determine the quality of your spiritual life:
"He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens" (vs. 3). Everything that is available from God spiritually, we got it! We all got everything! Some don't get more and some get less. We all get it all. All spiritual blessings--redemption, adoption, election, wisdom, giftings, etc.--are available to you!
"He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight" (vs. 4). God chooses us to be His children. We respond by choosing to be God's chosen ones and then He causes us to become holy and blameless before Him. We no longer have to live life on a guilt trip because He makes us guiltless. By Christ's sacrifice on the cross, He takes our place as the guilty party and takes our guilt upon Himself!
"He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself" (vs. 5). Through God's purposeful love He makes us His children and we receive all the rights, privileges and duties belonging to the members of God's family.
"We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the richness of His grace that He lavished on us" (vs. 7-8). We are no longer subject to God's wrath because we have right standing with God through the blood of Jesus, who sacrificed Himself to save us. God struck down sin, Satan, and selfishness from our lives.
"He made known to us the mystery of His will" (vs. 9). God has made us citizens of His new world order. We know what His plan is and so we work in conjunction with Him to help establish this new world order. And our assignment in this new order of life is to help Him accomplish His will because He reveals it to us!
"We have also received an inheritance in Him" (vs. 11). Because we are God's children, we have received an inheritance in Him. That inheritance is life beyond this life--everlasting life, eternal life. What's more, eternal life starts now--in life in this present age. In God's Kingdom, your life in this present age is the beginning, a preparation, for life everlasting!
"You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession" (vs. 13-14). We have received an advance on our inheritance. In eternity we will always be in the presence of God. But God enables us to experience some of the fullness of His presence now, in this present age, by imparting His Holy Spirit into the lives of His children. The Holy Spirit indwells us and is the Facilitator for all these spiritual blessings!
To receive these spiritual blessings so you can experience the quality of life God has promised for you, pray as the Apostle Paul did in the subsequent verses (vs. 17-19):
"I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and
what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of his vast strength."
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