Did you know that once you believe in Jesus Christ you have every spiritual blessing bestowed to you? When you join the family of God there is an infinitely wonderful endowment you receive from Father God.

God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Why? Because we are united with Christ.

Paraphrase of Ephesians 1:3 (NLT)

What is “every spiritual blessing” exactly? The Apostle Paul doesn’t just throw around vague terms in the letters he wrote to the various churches he led. In the next several verses he unpacks what all these spiritual blessings we’ve received in Jesus are.

What I would say is don’t forget the reason why we’ve received every spiritual blessing, because we are united with Christ. You and Jesus Christ enter into a relationship when you accept his gift of salvation. When you believe in Jesus, you are united with him in an eternal relationship.

That relationship with Jesus is our first spiritual blessing. As I said, this relationship is eternal. It will never end. But the other part to meditate on is that what he offers us are spiritual blessings. These are different from temporal or earthly blessings. He doesn’t promise us that we will be insanely wealthy, or have a long, healthy life free from pain, or even enjoy some degree of comfort where things come easily to us. No, these spiritual blessings are heavenly blessings, things that we cannot buy or achieve or attain by any other means, only through our union with Christ.

The next eleven verses in Ephesians 1, Paul begins to unpack to spiritual blessings we have in Christ and why a shift in mindset towards heavenly things will alter our outlook on everything else.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)

God loves you. He wants you in His family. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die a horrible death so that you could be with Him for eternity. He chose you to be in His family. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we are made holy, without fault, before the Lord God, our Maker. This is an amazing spiritual blessing that we have because we are united in Christ.

Paul drives this point home in the next verse as well.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)

How do you know God is calling you, choosing you to join His family? Because you found this blogpost! Amidst the thousands, maybe millions of other blogs you could have happened upon today, this one drew you in. You are still reading this far, and guess what you can feel Him drawing you to Himself.

God did all this, he adopts you into His family, because it makes Him happy! It is his great pleasure to do this. When you come in to His family there is a huge party celebrating your crossing from death into His eternal life.

Our response to His sacrifice, His glorious grace, His adoption of us into His family can only be praise. Thanksgiving for all that we have and all that we receive when we enter into His family.

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

Ephesians 1:6 (NLT)

God isn’t stingy with grace. He pours it out. He covers us from head to toe and it’s not just a one time thing, his grace is extended over and over to us as we move forward, trip and fall, and then get right back up again.

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 1:7-8 (NLT)

He is so rich in kindness and grace. He lavishes His kindness and grace on us. He has showered it on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. Paul sneaks in this last part. There is a transformation of our mind that occurs when we believe in Jesus. It is a new perspective on things. When you are united with Christ there is a new understanding and new wisdom about the world that you receive. You see things through a new heavenly lens. Things that used to be really important seem trivial and hollow. You see others through the eyes of Christ.

This wisdom and understanding flows into not just a new perspective but you can now clearly see God’s plan.

God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.

Ephesians 1:9-10 (NLT)

What is God’s plan? To bring all of heaven and earth under the authority of Christ. Despite the news, despite the political climate, despite climate change, despite news of wars, famine, storms, and every thing else swirling around us at a million miles per hour, God will bring it all under the authority of Jesus Christ. That is the plan. And guess what, one of our spiritual blessings is a part of that plan.

Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

Ephesians 1:11 (NLT)

Part of our inheritance in Jesus is a place in His kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth. If your dad is the king, then you are a prince or a princess in his kingdom. Another part of that inheritance He has promised us is the Holy Spirit.

God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.

Ephesians 1:12-13

God first was revealed to the Jews, then when Jesus came he opened it up to the Gentiles, all who were not Jewish. When you believe in Christ, he gives you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells inside your soul and takes up residence there. His presence inside you is a part of your inheritance and an important spiritual blessing you receive when you are united in Christ. Jesus promised His disciples that they would receive the Holy Spirit when he left. He even told them it was better for Him to go, so that the Holy Spirit would come dwell within them (John 16:7).

The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Ephesians 1:14

The Holy Spirit is our guarantee of God’s promised inheritance. He redeemed us by sending Jesus to die for all the sins of the world. The Spirit is the promise that we have been chosen by God to follow Him. When we have this spiritual blessing, we can know that we are secure in His promised inheritance when this life ends and the earth passes away. It really is every spiritual blessing that we have received in Jesus.

I hope you are encouraged today as you go about your day and struggle with the things of this earth that you would remember the fleeting nature of life here and now, and meditate on God’s coming kingdom then and the rich inheritance and promises he has in store for your future.

– Jason