There are many verses in Scriptures that say God will bless us. But Paul says that we are to bless God. What? This daily devotional looks at how we can and should bless God.
Nuggets
- Blessings begin with God, the Father.
- Spiritual blessings are delivered by the Holy Spirit.
- The reason we can receive the blessings is because Jesus died for our sins.
Devotions in the The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians series
Sometimes, Satan tempts us to take our focus off of God. It seems like we get stuck on the what’s-in-it-for-me cycle. That is quickly followed by what-has-God-done-for-me-lately whine.
Paul kind of flipped that on its ear, though. (He was good at doing that, wasn’t he?) Paul said that we were to bless God.
Wait! How is that even possible? I mean, we are talking about Sovereign God here — Creator of the universe. Author of salvation.
Yes, God would be like a parent. What could you get Him for birthdays and Christmas? He has everything — and made it.
So, how are we going to bless God?
This is just a foreign concept for me. Stroll along beside me as I try to figure this one out.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
First things first. What does bless even mean?
Bless is one of those words that have several meanings. We generally think of it as an act of God that shows His favor toward us.
If you look at the definition, it does say that it is an act or words that imparts a special favor or mercy. It doesn’t limit it to just God.
We know that mercy is where God doesn’t judge us to the extent He could. Even though we deserve bad things, God doesn’t give them to us.
But we also say we bless the meal when we eat. That is a type of praise or worship.
So, let’s dive into the verse now.
God the Father
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …” (Eph. 1: 3 KJV).
Blessings begin with God, the Father.
We know there are many verses saying God blesses. Numbers 6: 24-26 says, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace” (NIV). The whole Beatitudes is about those who are blessed.
Then we get to John 1: 16. “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (Jn. 1: 16 NIV). The Plan of Salvation that God devised is our greatest blessing.
But what about “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Ps. 103: 1 KJV)?
You see, it isn’t a one-sided blessing. No, we will never be able to out-bless God.
But we are supposed to praise God with every fiber of our being. Praise is our response to God, but it usually involves music.
We are supposed to continuously praise Him. We are supposed to humble ourselves so that our praise is real.
I see you jumping up and down over there, saying you are too smart to give your allegiance to an unseen God. If you think about it, we need our intelligence, our will, and our intent to praise God.
No, we will never understand everything. But we have to process it enough to say, “You know, it may not make sense to some, but it makes sense to me. God is supreme.”
Paul addressed that in his letter to the Corinthians. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2: 14 ESV).
We have to give up our will (in other words, control of our lives) in order to do what God is calling us to do. When we do this, we have to go whole hog. We can’t keep some area back for our control.
We can’t say, “Well, I am going to pretend to follow Him until He convinces me He is real.” We can tell from the Stories About the End Times series that, if you do that, it isn’t going to end well for you.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
We have to really, really want to do what God wants us to do. Remember, God can see the desires of our hearts. The desire to obey Him really has to be there.
We bless God when things don’t go the way we want, but we are okay with that. When we give up our expectations and desires and truly follow His will, we bless Him.
How can we bless God even more? We can by witnessing. If we love Him so much that we want others to share in what we have, that blesses God.
Let’s look at it this way. How did God describe Himself in the Old Testament? He was “… the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob …” (Ex. 3: 15 ESV).
Now, how did Jesus describe Him? “… I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn. 20: 17 ESV).
What does that say about the expectation of a relationship? To me, it went from God way off in heaven to God taking residence in our hearts and lives.
What Kind of Blessings?
“… who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1: 3 ESV).
Spiritual blessings are delivered by the Holy Spirit.
What kind of blessings can we expect? Yes, we can expect earthly blessings. God will provide what we need (Phil. 4: 19).
God is more interested in spiritual, heavenly blessing. What are spiritual blessings? They are blessings that address heavenly things.
They are about our salvation. They are about our relationship with God.
We get spiritual blessings through the Holy Spirit. God blesses us as we change to become more like Him.
Go back to Abraham a second. When God established His covenant with Abraham, Abraham didn’t own any land in Canaan. In fact, when Abraham died, he only owned the land on which he was buried.
But the blessing wasn’t all about Abraham. The covenant was about Israel. Ultimately, it was about God. That is His singular focus.
God is going to bless His children in order to expand His kingdom. He will bless those faithful to Him: “A faithful man will abound with blessings” (Prov. 28: 20 ESV).
Full Circle
“… in Christ ...” (Eph. 1: 3 ESV).
The reason we can receive the blessings is because Jesus died for our sins.
It comes back to Christ. Jesus came to earth, lived, died an agonizing death, and rose again so that our relationship with God can be restored.
To restore that relationship, we have to admit our sins, believe on Jesus as Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Once this relationship has been restored, God can bless us — all because of and through Jesus. We can only approach Him through the name of Jesus in prayer and praise.
Making the Connections
We have to remember the Paul of old days — back when He was Saul and held the cloaks when Stephen was stoned (Ac. 7: 54-60).
This, however, is 25 to 30 years after Paul met Jesus on the Damascus Road. That encounter changed Paul’s entire life. He had done a drastic 180 degree turn.
Paul had learned to be content (Phil. 4: 11), even though he encountered trials and hardships daily.
How Do We Apply This?
Jesus wants to change our lives so that God can bless us, also. He wants us to ABCD.
We need to bless God by praising Him. We don’t do this just when things are going good. We do this all the time. We need to break into praise as Paul did — frequently.
So, we can bless God. We do every time that we praise Him. We have to become more intentional in our own worship of God and in leading others to accept Him.
Loving Father. We do praise You. We thank You that You loved us enough to send Jesus as our Savior. Forgive us when we get so caught up in this world that we don’t praise You and thank You as we should. We claim all the blessings that You have in store for us today. Amen.
What do you think?
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