Eph 1:1-23

Do you ever say “God bless!” to someone, or end an email to a Christian with “Blessings”. Sometimes I might say “Oh, bless!” when someone has done something a bit silly. Trouble is we may have made the word a bit meaningless and wet! The word ‘bless’ is pretty powerful! It means to pronounce words in a religious rite in order to confer or invoke divine favour upon [a thing or person]. So when we bless someone we are announcing God’s favour on them in particular ways!

God loves to bless – in today’s reading we realise that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places v.3. You have every spiritual blessing already. That’s amazing!

He has blessed us with

• His choice of us before he created the world, v.4
• Destiny – to be holy and blameless, v.4
• Adoption – chosen to be God’s sons, v.5
• Redemption – freedom, v.7
• Forgiveness, v.7
• Riches of grace, v.7
• Inheritance, v.11
• Hope, v.12
• Holy Spirit – sealed as a guarantee, v.13-14.

Because God’s blessing of us starts before we are aware of it – in fact before the creation of the world, it is about grace, it’s the grace of God at work.

• To The Father of Glory and
• Our Lord Jesus Christ
• For the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

The whole of the Godhead is involved in opening eyes, to grasp wisdom and revelation so their hearts and ours may be enlightened to know:

1. The hope of our calling – the calling is the enjoyment of knowing Father God and those lavish blessings listed earlier
2. The riches of our glorious inheritance – eternal life and reward in the new heaven on earth in the age to come
3. The immeasurable greatness of God’s power – resurrection power, more powerful than a defibrillator that brings temporary life back to a stopped heart. Power that rose a very dead Jesus back to life in a new resurrection body. Power that ascended him to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father with authority over everything.

What glory, what blessing!

Andy Moyle