Eph 1:3 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,

As I read this verse today I’m struck with awe of our Lord. In addition to Paul placing God the Father into His proper position for the Ephesians, there are three specific things I see in this one verse alone. We are:

• Blessed with every spiritual blessing
• Our blessing is in the heavenly places
• It is done through, or “In Christ”

God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

Verse three begins with the words “Blessed be.” Paul is placing God the Father into proper position for the Ephesians right from the start. As with us today, unless all we are in Christ comes from an attitude of praise then we are not properly aligned with him. He is showing that God is to be praised and He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. With this proper place of honor, he then speaks to us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We have all of the blessings of God the Father in heaven through the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we have must go through Christ. No good could be expected to a sinful creature from a righteous and holy God apart from Jesus.

As I think on this verse today I can’t help but ask, “What are these spiritual blessings Paul is talking about?” Many of today’s churches might want to turn them into material things, but I see as we look deeply into the next several verses, Paul will lay out more than a dozen that we can hold onto as promises from God to help us in our walk of faith.

Life gives us many obstacles to derail us in our walk with Christ. Job difficulties, health issues, sin, whatever it may be, it is nice to be reminded that we have all of our security and assurance in Christ alone.

Be blessed,

Keith