“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,” Ephesians 1:3 NKJ
Can you even begin to imagine what it was like for the Apostle Paul when he received the revelation of Jesus Christ and came to understand what being IN Christ meant? In the first chapter of Ephesians you can sense the intensity of Paul’s emotions when you see how he wrote this chapter. Sentences run into sentences as he pours out the revelation of what being IN Christ means and what it entitles us to. He is so passionate in portraying his revelation that you can’t help but be transported in your thoughts to the time and place of this writing. He is driven to tell believers who they are IN Christ and to tell them what it means to operate IN the mindset of Christ and how to access the spiritual blessings that are available to us IN Christ.
This is the reason we are going to begin this 40 day journey of renewal in learning how to operate IN the mindset of Christ in the book of Ephesians. My desire for you is that you too will become passionate about who you are IN Christ to the point that the revelation of Jesus Christ begins to flow out of you in a similar way to the people you care about the most; and the ones you want to reach with the Gospel.
Notice that in verse three Paul uses the word bless three times in one form or another. First He blesses God, and then he acknowledges that God blesses us, and then he explains what the blessing is. You might be wondering why this is significant to us as we are learning how to operate in the mindset of Christ? The answer is that our reverence for God is the beginning of all knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The fear of the Lord for the New Covenant Disciple means reverence. It doesn’t mean being afraid of God’s wrath. So when we begin every study or time of meditation we reverence God with thanksgiving for who He is as our loving Father. Begin to praise God right now for who He is and for loving you to the point of sacrificing His own Son on the Cross for you!
This is what will enable you to accept that our God is a good God who blesses you and who only gives good gifts to His children as Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:11, which leads us to do what Jesus instructs us to do in Matthew 7:12 with man. He said, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” You see we have to understand that in order to operate IN the mindset of Christ with others; we have to first accept what God has done for us in providing every good gift we need to succeed in our own life. If we don’t accept that God gives us good gifts (every spiritual blessing) we can’t access it for ourselves which means we can’t begin to pour them out to others.
And what does Paul mean when he says, “every spiritual blessing”? God’s blessings are innumerable! This side of heaven we will not know just how many blessings He has made available to us because most people won’t live long enough to access all of them. And for others they won’t even accept that God has blessings so they deny themselves the right to access them. Throughout Paul’s writings he details many of the spiritual blessings and these are the ones we will focus on as we learn how to operate IN the mindset of Jesus Christ. We will also look at other blessings as detailed in different passages throughout the Bible as well.
So your first step today is to begin by praising God for what He did for you through Christ’s death and resurrection. Then begin to believe by faith that God is a good God who loves you so much that He only gives you good gifts. Start telling yourself that because of what Jesus did for you at the Cross, you deserve every blessing God has stored up for you! Believe by faith that as you operate IN the mindset of Christ, He makes those blessings available to you.
Denounce the lies that the enemy tells you in regards to you being worthy of God’s blessings. Be bold and tell the devil he is a liar and remind him that he was defeated at the Cross so that you could reign in life, IN Christ! Jesus gave us the example to follow when he encountered the devil in the Valley of Temptation. Follow His example! Stand firm IN the Word of God, knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that God will perform His Word in your life as you do His will; just like He did for Jesus. You are worthy of the blessings of God and you can operate IN the mindset of Jesus on a daily basis. Believe it without doubting and watch what begins to happen in your life as a result!
Prayer: Set aside the time to meditate on this passage and praise God for what He has made available to you IN Christ.
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