Blessings Already Ours

Blessings Already Ours

All praise to God, the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Ephesians 1:3

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF EPHESIANS is one of the most encouraging, uplifting passages in all of Scripture. It presents God’s plan from ages past to love us, choose us, adopt us, bless us, seal us in his Spirit, and give us an inheritance. It includes a deep and powerful prayer for our ability to understand and receive all he has given. And all of these blessings are expressed with one very fascinating characteristic: They are in the past tense.

That’s important. God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He has already chosen, adopted, forgiven, and redeemed us. He has already unveiled the mystery of his will and guaranteed our inheritance. In other words, many of the assurances and promises we pray for have already been given.

But our prayers often follow a common trajectory: We ask for something God has already promised or given, see a lack of evidence for that particular thing, and continue to ask as though it has not yet come. We long for the things of his Kingdom he has already given us and pray from a place of insecurity, as though we are not yet fully blessed children of God. But faith takes God at his word. If, for example, he has already given us the power of the Holy Spirit, instead of looking at our powerlessness and then pleading for more power, we can look at the promise first and foremost and thank him for the gift. Then any hint of power from the Holy Spirit, no matter how small, becomes an occasion for huge celebration. We cultivate a spirit of worship and gratitude around the things God has done, and before long we realize how present those things are becoming in our lives.

We are not waiting for God to give certain gifts; he is waiting for us to celebrate them, unwrap them, try them out, and grow in them, giving thanks every step of the way. An eye for lack never sees what is there; an eye for fulfillment sees it a mile away. And whatever faith truly sees, faith then brings into our experience.

It is unbelief that prevents our minds from soaring into the celestial city and walking by faith with God across the golden streets.