With Every Spiritual Blessing

[Sue J Love]

“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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:3-8 NASB’95)

Who are the “us” being spoken of here? We are the saints of God who are faithful in Christ Jesus (v. 1). And who are the “saints”? We are those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of God and of his righteousness. Therefore we are no longer to let sin be our practice, for if sin is what we obey, its end is death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, that results in sanctification and eternal life with God.

We are God’s holy people. And to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, if indeed we are. For what does it mean to be faithful? Well faith itself means to be persuaded, in this case to be persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of (turn away from, die to) our sins and to now follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands. And to be faithful means to be full of this faith and to be trustworthy, dependable, and committed to our Lord.

We are the blessed of God who God has blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So this is not for everyone who gives only a verbal confession of faith in Jesus Christ, or who “prayed the prayer to receive Christ into their hearts,” but who never became the faithful in Christ Jesus, and who never became God’s holy people because they never died with Christ to their sins, and so they were never raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So they are still living in their sins.

And I am certainly not saying that such faith or faithfulness will mean that we will be absolutely perfect from that point forward, or that we will never sin again (1 John 2:1-2), but that there is a distinct difference between those who merely verbalize faith in Jesus Christ and those who actually walk in that faith, in obedience to the Lord, in practice, and in the putting of sin to death, in practice, by the Spirit. It is where God draws the line. If sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to God, then we don’t know God, we don’t love him, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.

Why? Because God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him, but not in form or in status only, but in daily practice, which gives evidence that such genuine faith in Jesus exists in our lives. And to be holy is to be different from the world because we are being made to be like Jesus, if we are. And to be blameless is to be righteous, upright, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful and obedient to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, all because of God’s grace, and all because of Jesus’ sacrifice, that we might die to sin and live for him.

So, you cannot just make a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now claim all the blessings of God on yourself if you have not died with Christ to sin, but sin is still your practice, and if you are still obeying sin and not God, in practice. Heaven is not secured for you on the basis of lip service only. We must all deny self, die to sin daily (in practice), and follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands (in practice), by his grace, in his power, if we are going to have his blessings in our lives, and if we are to have the hope of salvation from our bondage to sin and eternal life with God in heaven.

For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will now serve the Lord Jesus with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy living, and in putting sin to death daily, by the Spirit. For forgiveness of sins is not carte blanche to continue living in sin without guilt. With forgiveness comes deliverance from slavery to sin so that we can live holy lives, pleasing to God, in surrender of our lives to God, in submission to him as Lord of our lives, in walks of obedience to the will of God for our lives, in his power.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Lead Me Gently Home, Father

By Will L. Thompson, 1879

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
When life’s toils are ended,
And parting days have come,
Sin no more shall tempt me,
Ne’er from Thee I’ll roam,
If Thou’ll only lead me, Father,
Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
In life’s darkest hours, Father,
When life’s troubles come,
Keep my feet from wand’ring,
Lest from Thee I roam,
Lest I fall upon the wayside,
Lead me gently home.

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With Every Spiritual Blessing
An Original Work / April 4, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love