SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2018 10:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 The Aspects of Blessing”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
1:3
Message of the
verse: “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,”
In today’s SD we continue to look at
the different sub-sections under the main section “The Aspects of Blessing,”
and as we continue to look at these we see that there are a lot of things
packed into this third verse of Ephesians chapter one, and it is good for us to
remember that verses 3-14 comprise of one very long sentence in the original
Greek language.
THE BLESSINGS—EVERYTHING SPIRITUAL
We see from this section that our
heavenly Father blesses “us with every spiritual blessing.” As I look at this section and I have to say
that this overwhelms me, and at times when I am overwhelmed I just have a
tendency of giving up and it’s mainly for this reason that I was not sure that
I even wanted to study this book of the Bible, and yet it seemed to me that
this was what the Lord wanted me to study, and so I desire to take the time to
look at the details of this book in a way that will bring glory to the Lord as
His Spirit opens to me some of the things that have been hidden from me in
studying this book before.
John MacArthur writes “In the New
Testament pneumatikos (spiritual) is
always used in relation to the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore it does not here refer to
immaterial blessings as opposed to material ones but to the divine origin of the blessings—whether
they help us in our spirits, our minds, our bodies, our daily living, or
however else. Spiritual refers to the source, not the extent, of
blessing.”
One of the problems that believers
in Christ have is that they will ask Him for things that He has already given to
them. I think of many prayers that I
have made and have heard others make saying something like “be with me” or “be
with him or her” and we know that God has said that He will never leave us nor
forsake us. Sometimes believers pray
that God will give them more love, yet God’s love is perfect and what He gives
us is perfect, for God is perfect. “"Peace
I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful (John
14:27).” John 15:11 “"These things
I have spoken to you so
that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God
has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to
us.” Strength is found in
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” God has already given believers love, peace,
joy, and strength.
2 Peter 1:13 tells us “seeing that His divine power has granted to
us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by
His own glory and excellence.” MacArthur
writes “It is not that God will give us but that He has already given us
‘everything pertaining to life and godliness.’
He has blessed us already with every spiritual blessing. We are complete ‘in Him’ (Col. 2:10).”
The very resources in God are not simply promised; they
are possessed. Paul writes to the
Philippians in 1:19 telling them that believers have “the provision of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ.” God is perfect
and what He gives us is perfect as we learned yesterday, and so what He gives
us is perfect, for there is nothing more to receive. “The believer’s need, therefore, is not to receive something more but
to do something more with what he has (MacArthur).” Now as we end this
section, think about how secure what God has given to us as we look at Ephesians
2:6 “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with
Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” for that is how secure believers
are as He sees us already seated with Him in the heavenly places.
I think that what we have already
written about here is enough for us all to think about and so we will continue
looking at more things found in 1:3 in our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: In
studying the attributes of God I have come to realize that they are perfect
because God is perfect, and sometimes I find myself forgetting that because of
being human. Being human means that I
can do a better job in showing love to my wife and family, or being joyful over
things that bring joy to me, but as stated this is not the case with God, as He
is perfect. I cannot compare myself with
God when it comes to giving love to others or being joyful. It just won’t work.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Let God be
God in my life and trust Him to better understand these truths that have been
talked about today.
Answer to
yesterday’s Bible question: “Jerusalem”
(Acts 9:2).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who first ate the forbidden
fruit?”
Answer in our
next SD.
10/22/2018
11:06 AM
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