Ephesians 1:3 is one of the popular scriptures every congregant knows in my local church because of the strong teachings we have received for years concerning that scripture from my senior pastor. I don’t know about you, but I hope you are familiar with that scripture too. Maybe not. So, let’s take a read.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” – Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)
From this verse, I derived today’s article topic: “Blessed with every spiritual blessing.” Have you ever thought of what it means? If not, I guess this article is for you.
Download the PDF version of the article here.
What spiritual blessings mean
The Bible says God has blessed every believer with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ—no doubt about that. But to think of the phrase “spiritual blessing,” many have skipped its study. You see, many people, including believers, attribute blessings to only material possessions. So, people label poor people as those who don’t have money or access to certain basic life necessities. In fact, that has distorted a lot of Christians’ mindsets on what it means for God’s Word to say, “You are blessed.”
God is a Spirit
God is a Spirit (see John 4:24). That means, what He will directly give you will be of spiritual substance, not material things. So, if He wants to provide you with something material, He’ll use a human or something earthly (including animals) to give you that, not He Himself. Therefore, for the Bible to say He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing means that whatever spiritual provision He wants to give you in your whole lifetime is already done. So, declare to yourself, “I don’t lack any spiritual blessing.” Maybe you want more proof from the Word. Let’s read 2 Peter 1:3.
“as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,” – 2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)
Just look at that! God used His power to give you everything you need to live out the eternal life of Christ you received when you got saved. But in that verse, there is a revelation explaining why some believers struggle to walk in God’s abundant blessings. It’s called divine knowledge.
Accessing the blessings in grace by faith
No matter how wealthy a country is, it’ll still be in poverty if its citizens and its leaders don’t know the treasures they have and even how to use them effectively. In the same way, in Christ, one of the worst things that can happen to a believer is lack of knowledge of who God has made him and what He has given him. Ignorance makes people struggle (see Hosea 4:6). This is why many Christians aren’t walking in abundance: they don’t know God intimately or see that they are blessed.
In order to translate the spiritual blessings you have into reality, you need God. That is why you need Him to get authentic ideas for wealth creation in your life.
Several people, especially in Africa, live with the notion that they have to struggle so much to walk in wealth. So, instead of studying what the Bible says about their lives and using faith to access their spiritual blessings into reality, they leave God aside and focus on hustling. Excuse me. That won’t work. I’m not saying you shouldn’t work. No! Work is good, and the Bible says we must work (1 Thessalonians 4:11). But you don’t have to weary yourself to be rich.
The power to get wealth
In Deuteronomy 8:18 (NKJV), the Bible says,
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” – Deuteronomy 8:18 (NKJV)
When Moses was telling the Israelites these, he was warning them that they shouldn’t forget God after they have gotten what they wanted in life, such as building fine houses and having fat wealth assets, which is the same desire many people crave these days. It is God who gives you the power to get wealth. So, in order to translate the spiritual blessings you have into reality, you need God. That is why you need Him to get authentic ideas for wealth creation in your life. You can get some of such ideas from the Bible. But to distinguish yourself from the masses, you need Him to give that code to you. Spiritual blessings will remain spiritual until you engage God to teach you how to work them out to reality.
Don’t settle for less
Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them, not read them (see John 13:17). As sound as this teaching may be to you today, getting the most out of it is in you utilising this resource for your life well. Don’t settle for less in life and blame your predicaments on economic crises. The changing phases of this world cannot suck up God’s blessings upon your life. Always draw near Him so you’ll receive divine direction on how to get wealth and manage His resources well, not forgetting to use some to fund His work in the ministry.
You are a blessing!
