Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. – Ephesians 1:3

I recently read the story of a homeless man who had been living in a cardboard box in downtown Tampa, Florida, for over three years. It’s unclear how the man became homeless, but he did say he was born in Poland as a U.S. citizen because his mother was a U.S. citizen just visiting there. Now, what’s incredible about his story is that even though he had been living on the streets as a homeless man, he had social security benefits which were always being deposited into his banking account. He had lost his debit card, birth certificate & ID years ago and had actually forgotten about this banking account until help from the local Community Shelter where he eventually checked into, assisted him in. Though the man did not want to disclose the amount in his bank account, shelter officials said he was receiving enough in monthly pension payments to have enough to pay for rent for a modest apartment and food without having to work.

In a similar way, there are many people including believers who do not know or have forgotten what blessings they have and are entitled to in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1:3 says that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. What are these spiritual blessings, and what do they do for us? Contrary to some beliefs, they are not some mysterious power or cosmic connection reserved for a select few. They are the key benefits of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The first blessing listed is the election as saints. Ephesians 1:4 says that He has “chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” God has chosen to make us holy and blameless, and all because of His love, His good pleasure, and His grace. What a blessing friend, that “even when we were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5), God chose to extend His grace to us and offer us salvation. This is even more amazing when we realize that He made that decision before sin even entered into the world.

The second blessing listed is found in verse 5—our adoption as His children. Not only has God chosen us to be made holy, but He grants us full status as His children, with all the benefits thereof. John 1:12 says, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” When we believe the gospel, we receive full access to the Father, able to call out to Him as His children.

The third spiritual blessing is in verse 6, where we are made “accepted in the beloved.” The word is related to grace and gives the idea of making us graceful or favorable through Christ, the beloved of God. When we put on Christ, the Father sees His loveliness when He looks at us. The blood of Christ has taken away the guilt of our sins, and we stand before the Father as perfectly accepted.

This leads us right into the fourth blessing (Ephesians 1:7), the redemption through His blood. Redemption speaks of buying one’s freedom, paying a ransom. The price for our sins, the payment to buy us out of eternal condemnation, was fully paid by the blood of Christ. In Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but we become slaves to God. Since we are bought and paid for by His blood, we have an obligation to glorify God in our body and spirit (1 Corinthians 6:20).

The list could go on and on speaking of the privileges that are ours in Christ. We are laborers together with God (1 Corinthians 3:9); we are ambassadors bringing the message of reconciliation to a foreign land (2 Corinthians 5:20); and we are the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). We have available to us the peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7) and the assurance that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

You might be asking yourself, how do I access all of these blessings? They are readily accessible to everyone who is in Christ Jesus. The way to be in Christ is to repent, or turn away from our sins (Acts 17:30), confessing to God that we are sinners (Proverbs 28:13; Romans 10:9). When we believe that Christ died to take our punishment and now lives to give us new life (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), He grants us forgiveness of sins and all the blessings that accompany that salvation.

My friend, when you know who you are and most importantly, “whose” you are in relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ and what blessings you are entitled to, and walk in that revelation each day, your life will never be the same.

For His Kingdom,