Daily Bible Verses for 4/23/2017

We Have Been Chosen and Blessed Through Jesus – (Ephesians 1:3-6)

Daily Verse(s)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

Reading Notes
In these passages we see clearly the doctrine of election, which is emphasized throughout scripture. The Greek verb behind “chose” indicates that God chose us by Himself, for Himself, to His own glory and praise. Moreover, these passages demonstrate that God through His own sovereign will, made this choice before creation and independent of any human influence or merit. This means we who are followers of Christ are eternally united with Jesus and we were chosen before the foundations of the world were laid in place. The mystery is God’s sovereignty does not operate apart from man’s responsibility to believe in, and accept Jesus as God and Savior. In other words, God chose us before creation, but we still have to accept and believe in Jesus, which we do as a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts.

The word for “blessed” used here is the same word from which we get “eulogy” which means to praise and glorify God. This is the duty of all creatures within God’s creation. First and foremost, our calling is to praise and worship God for who He is, knowing God in His providence has already given believers total blessings. The term for blessings does not refer to material verses immaterial things, but rather it refers to the complete work of God in our lives. Because God is the divine and spiritual source behind all blessings material and otherwise. In addition, because of Jesus, our inheritance includes His imputed righteousness which is given freely to us by faith alone, through God’s grace alone. We also receive many other gifts as a result of our salvation, they include God’s resources available to us through prayer, a restored relationship with God the Father, our privileged position as children of God and the power of God in our lives through the working of the Holy Spirit who indwells all followers of Christ. Therefore, it’s our privilege and joy to praise God always for His abundant blessings!