‘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)
Christians, no matter what their
financial situation, have been made ‘rich’ in Christ.
Paul outlines some of
these great riches in Ephesians 1:3-14.
These spiritual riches include:
- We have been chosen by God
- Made Holy
- Made Blameless
- Being Adopted into God’s family
- Redemption through His blood
- The forgiveness of sins
- Sealing with the Spirit- His assurance that we will live with Him forever.
Paul links these spiritual riches
to a transformed attitude to generousity,
‘I am not commanding you, but I
want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of
others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his
poverty might become rich’. (2 Corinthians 8:8-9)
Paul is saying that God is the
greatest giver! He died in our place and He continues this attitude of
generosity toward us in every spiritual blessing and by providing a measure of
material wealth with which to be generous like Him.
God’s love and generosity, if
embraced, will create trust and love in us, so that we become sacrificially
generous like Him.
You could pray something like
this,
“Lord Jesus, I thank you that
your poverty on the cross has purchased priceless spiritual riches for me.
Please guide me to have your heart of generosity, and particularly in regard to
this building project, amen.”
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