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SHOW NOTES
What do you think of when you think of blessings? What does it mean to be blessed? This week on the Hope Rescue Podcast we are discussing what it really means to be blessed by God. Keep reading to find out more.
James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." In other words, the way up is down. Tim explains that this is one of the great paradoxes in the bible. The Oxford Dictionary defines a paradox as “a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.” When we hear it at first, it may seem nonsensical but it actually is revealed to be true time and time again in scripture.
Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” These two scriptures, in Matthew and Acts, were some of the last words Jesus spoke before He was ascended to the Father. When we accept Jesus as our Lord, we receive power through the Holy Spirit and blessings that are with us forever.
Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” We spend so much time trying to be more blessed by God, but the truth is we have already received every spiritual blessing from the Father.
What do you think of when you think of blessings? What does it mean to be blessed? Tim explains that people often think of four different things as blessings: health, wealth, family, and social status. We may say we are so blessed to be healthy and not have any lingering illnesses. We may say we have been blessed with a high paying job or a raise. We may say we have been blessed with a beautiful, loving family. Or we may say we have been blessed with a solid reputation. What happens when these “blessings” start to fall apart? What if we lose our health, our wealth, our family, or our reputations? Are we still blessed?
As we shared before, Ephesians 1:3 says we have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Paul the Apostle wrote these words in prison, so what blessings was he talking about?
The greatest blessing we have already been blessed with is the blessing of eternal life in Jesus Christ. The very moment that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He gives us salvation.
Another blessing we have is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Another blessing is the presence of God that dwells in us. We have the indwelling of the godhead in our being; we are His sanctuary.
We have also been blessed with the fact that we have the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. All believers are sons and daughters, children of God.
These spiritual blessings are all ours the moment that we believe. Tim is not denying that physical blessings exist because a new baby is certainly a blessing, but physical blessings may be fleeting. The spiritual blessings we obtain upon receiving Jesus as our Lord are without end. Ephesians 2:4-6 says, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The place we are blessed is where we are seated, which is with Christ in the heavenly places. These spiritual blessings can never be corrupted. Our blessings are secure in heaven where they cannot be taken away, no matter what we endure on earth.
