“The Word of the Lord endures forever!” 1 Peter 1:25

Ephesians Chapter 1

2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul continues with his earnest desire for all the followers of Christ; that the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father pour out supernatural grace and peace on their lives. This is not a casual thought or passing greeting as we might say, “Have a great day!” Far more, this is from Pauls great desire that each follower of Christ walk in God’s grace and peace. Imagine those days when the whole ball of wax of our lives seems to melt before your eyes. Paul’s hope is that we will walk through the trials of life, understanding we have God’s eternal grace and peace every minute of every day.

3 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.

Stop and think what we’ve just read. Have you relished the power of these words? Go back and read them again. This is not a to-do list, a grocery list, a few reminders. These are God’s Words! The living Word of God, passed down from the beginning of time according to His holy plan.

Do you have a favorite book? One you take off the shelf once a year or so, knowing how you relish the story, the writing style, how it speaks to you with each reading? There’s just something you love about the book. You value it. As believers, that book should be the Bible; Written by God as He spoke the words via His Holy Spirit into the hearts of all the authors. Clearly then, reading our Bible should be an act of joyful anticipation, expecting the Holy Spirit to give us personal revelation.

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,—” Not some or lots of— ALL praise to God. How many billions of people inhabit the earth? How many billions have passed into eternity since the beginning of time? If we could fill the planet with every soul who has lived and every voice would continuously sing praises unto God— that would not be too much. He is worthy of all praise. His purity and perfection should generate spontaneous peals of HALLELUJAH! (Praise You, Jehovah!)

“Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms—” What can this mean? Do we understand such a glorious proclamation from God? In short, we do not understand this promise. And it is a promise from God. This must mean that in spite of our feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, and failure, we have been blessed with spiritual blessings by God. Specifically, every blessing in the heavenly realms. Since this is so mind boggling, we are tempted to set it aside as too hard to understand. Don’t do it. God does not lie and He has written in the Bible that we have been blessed with specific heavenly blessings whether or not we can grasp this fact. Pray about it. Ask God about it. Search the bible for the answer. Have faith! “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1)