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

 Good morning. Today we begin the book of Ephesians. It seems like every part of a sentence has some doctrinal nuance in it. As usual, Paul starts out by proclaiming that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus, and that it is by the will of God. He is writing to the saints at Ephesus who are faithful (not those who are just trying to sneak in the back door of heaven) in Christ Jesus. 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. We can’t even imagine us blessing God. My Bible says that the Jewish people used the word “blessed“ to express both God‘s kindness to us and our thanks or praise to Him. Notice that God blessed us with every spiritual blessing -  there aren’t any that He did not bless us with. Now it does say spiritual blessing; it does not say every physical blessing. Our blessing is in the heavenly places in Christ – but we are in Christ, even while we are here on earth. Father thank You that You have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Receive our blessing of You today and every day.

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