SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/24/2018 11:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “The Aspects of Blessings”
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,”
I want everyone to understand what
we have been looking at as we move through verse three of Ephesians chapter
one. “Paul here presents six aspects of
the divine blessing he is about to unfold.”
(John MacArthur) We have looked
at four of these aspects in the last few days and want to move onto the fifth
and hopefully the sixth aspect of the divine blessing that Paul is about to
unfold. I guess one could say that this
is a preview of the blessings that hopefully we will begin to look at in our
next SD.
The Location of Blessing—The Heavenly Places
I suppose that this section from
Ephesians 1:3 is the most difficult part of this verse to understand, at least
it has always been for me. We read that
our God and Father along with His Son, Jesus Christ has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Now the question perhaps most of us would ask is where is the heavenly
places, and as I look at the NASB95 the word “places” is written in italics
which means that it was not there in the original, but was added in the English
to make it more understandable. The
Amplified Bible “Blessing (praise, laudation and eulogy) be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
Who has blessed us in Christ with
every spiritual (Holy Spirit given) blessing in the heavenly realm!” Not sure this is helpful or not. I want to look at Philips Paraphrased Bible “3
Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving us through
Christ every spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven!” I think that is more help in the section we
are looking at today as he writes “as citizens of Heaven” John MacArthur writes “The heavenly places
(cf. 1:20; 2:6; 3:10) encompass
the entire supernatural realm of God, His complete domain, the full
extent of His divine operation.”
He goes on to state that “Christians
have a paradoxical, two-level existence—a dual citizenship. While we remain on earth we are citizens of
earth. But in Christ our primary and
infinitely more important citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20).” “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which
also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;” As believers Jesus Christ is our Lord and King,
thus we are citizens of His realm which is “the heavenly realm.” Paul wrote the following in Colossians 3:1 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
It is because we are members of
God’s dominion, which is unlike what Luke writes in Luke 16:8 “"And his
master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are
more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.” The highlighted portion is what unbelievers
are, “the sons of this age.” We are now
and so we are able to understand the supernatural things of God, things which
as Paul writes the “natural man does not accept” and “cannot understand” as
seen in 2 Cor. 2:14.”
Hopefully this little illustration
will help us understand what we are talking about at this time. Suppose a person from the United States of
America travels to another country, now when he gets there he is every bit as
much an American citizen as when he is in the United States. It makes no difference as to where he goes he
is still a citizen of America even though he is outside his homeland, and still
has all the rights and privileges that such citizenship holds.
MacArthur
writes “As citizens of God’s heavenly dominion, Christians hold all the rights
and privileges that citizenship grants, even while they are living in the
‘foreign’ and sometimes hostile land of earth.
Our true life is in the supernatural, the heavenly places. Our Father is there, our Savior is there, our family and loved ones are there, our
name is there, and our eternal dwelling place and throne are there.” However we are presently trapped in the tension between the earthly and
the heavenly. I don’t know about
you but I can truly relate to that tension.
Paul explains more about that “tension.”
“8 we are afflicted in every way, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed…as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet
making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things (2 Cor. 4:8-9;
6:10).” So what is the key to living as
a heavenly citizen since we live in an unheavenly situation? Well the answer is found in the book of
Galatians where Paul writes “Walk by the Spirit.” If we do that then “we will not carry out the
desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). Paul
goes on in verses 22-23 of Galatians 5 to show us that when we walk in His
power He produces His fruit in us which is “love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” MacArthur concludes “We receive our heavenly
blessings by living in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.”
I
am thinking of another verse which I think goes well with what we are to be
doing: “Php 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear
and trembling; Php 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” We have a responsibility in all of this and I
think a part of that responsibility is to trust in the Lord to do what He says
He has already done for us because we are “in Christ.”
I
wanted to get done with these six aspects of blessing but I have to admit that
this has been a drain on me just to get through this fifth aspect and so we
will, Lord willing, look at the sixth aspect in our next SD which is a shorter
one.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit of
God in order to live in the heavenly realm with power to do what God has called
me to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord to accomplish the
things He has planned in eternity past for me to accomplish.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Exodus 20.”
Today’s Bible question: “For how many generations did Jehu’s sons
rule?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/24/2018 12:19 PM
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