By: Kenneth E. Hagin
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ. – Ephesians 1:3
What would you do if someone told you that you had been blessed with all of God’s riches in Christ and that Heaven’s resources were available for your benefit today?
Well, if you’ve been born again, everything God has is yours. Your Heavenly Father is saying to you today, “Receive My best because it’s all been provided for you in Christ!”
The Bible is God personally speaking to each one of us. And the Bible says God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3)!
The Bible doesn’t say God is going to bless us; it says He has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings. From our natural standpoint, we’re sometimes slow to accept or appropriate what God has provided for us. But as far as God is concerned, all of His blessings belong to us today.
Notice that last phrase in Ephesians 1:3: “… who hath blessed us WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS…” God has already blessed us with every blessing we would ever need in this life, including divine healing.
The Bible says God has already blessed us with divine healing. First Peter 2:24 says, “… by whose (Jesus’) stripes ye WERE healed.” The word “were” is past tense. Did you ever notice those folks who believe God is going to heal them sometime usually never get healed? That’s because they keep pushing off receiving their
healing to some time in the future.
That’s where a lot of people miss it when it comes to receiving healing or any of God’s blessings and benefits. They keep believing that God is going to heal them sometime, or that God is going to bless them sometime. Instead, they should be walking in the reality of their inheritance in Christ right now.
Why? Because faith is now (Heb. 11:1)! And your confession of faith in God’s Word will bring healing or whatever it is you need from God into the present tense and make it a reality in your life!
All of God’s blessings are already yours to receive! There aren’t any more blessings God can give you. He has given you all of them. In Christ, God has blessed you with everything you will ever need that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).
In other words, in God’s great plan of redemption that He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to consummate, God made provision for every need man could ever have. From the time you are born again until you step out into eternity, your every need has already been met in Christ! You may not be enjoying all the blessings God has provided for you. In fact, you may not know these blessings exist or that they even belong to you. But “all spiritual blessings” do exist, and they belong to you in Christ.
The Bible says, “… all things are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21). However, in order to enjoy the blessings God has provided for you, you have to receive or appropriate those blessings by faith.
Faith begins when you know the will of God. And God’s will is revealed in His Word. You can’t believe God for something you don’t know belongs to you. So if you don’t know what the Word says, you won’t be, able to receive God’s best even though it belongs to you in Christ.
Some people think faith is just taking a leap in the dark – into the unknown. But it isn’t. When you know what God’s Word says and you act on it, you’re not taking a leap into the unknown, you’re stepping out on God’s eternal Word.
You’re walking in the light, not in darkness, because you know that underneath are the Lord’s everlasting arms. You know that you cannot be shaken and that you will cross over to the other side of your test or trial in victory.
When you know the blessings that belong to you in God’s Word, you can take your stand on God’s promises in absolute confidence that He will make you a success!
I remember many years ago after I was healed, physical symptoms came back and tried to fasten themselves on my body. The devil said to me, “Doctors have already told you that they can’t do anything for you, so there’s no use going to the doctor. You’re going to die; that’s what’s going to happen!”
When the devil said that, I laid my Bible on the floor and literally stood on it. I said to the devil, “Mr. Devil, I’m standing on the Word. And if I go down, it’ll be because the Word went down under me. Not only am I standing on the Word, Mr. Devil, but I’ve got my arms around Jesus, and before I can fail, Jesus will have to fail. But I won’t fail, because Jesus never fails.”
Within just a few seconds, the devil and all of his symptoms were gone! In fact, you never saw anybody scurry around, gather up his belongings, and leave as fast as the devil did that day!
Jesus purchased my healing and defeated Satan for me nearly 2,000 years ago in His death, burial, and resurrection. But I appropriated the victory that belonged to me that very day as I stood my ground on the Word.
As I said, we cannot believe God beyond our actual knowledge of His Word. It’s through the Word, for example, that we know that Satan is a defeated foe. He’s not going to be defeated. He’s already been defeated, because Jesus defeated him in His redemptive work on the Cross (Col. 2:15). And He did it for us!
Someone might ask, “Well, if Satan is defeated, and God has blessed me with all spiritual blessings, then why don’t I have all the blessings that are mine?”
People who say that are defeated in life by their wrong thinking. One reason their thinking is wrong is they believe that if God provided something for them, it will automatically fall on them like ripe cherries off a tree! But that’s not the case. No, the promises of God must be appropriated – believed and acted upon –
before they will become a reality in a person’s life.
For example, the new birth with the remission of sin has already been provided for every unsaved person in the world. Through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, eternal redemption has been obtained for every person who will ever live on this earth. Yet every sinner isn’t saved. One reason the new birth isn’t a
reality in a sinner’s life is that he hasn’t believed and accepted God’s Word concerning the redemption Jesus purchased for him.
When God sent Jesus to fulfill His plan of redemption, God did all He was ever going to do to provide salvation for mankind. In other words, Jesus doesn’t have to die and be resurrected again every time a sinner wants to be saved. No, the Bible says, “… by his own blood he (Jesus) entered in ONCE into the holy place, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION FOR US” (Heb. 9:12).
Then why isn’t everyone saved? For the same reason everyone isn’t healed, set free, and blessed – because everyone hasn’t received the redemption and all the other blessings that belong to him in Christ.
For example, some people haven’t received eternal life because they haven’t heard the gospel message. That’s why God said, “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The word “gospel” means good news. We are to tell people the good news that God has blessed them with all spiritual blessings and that those blessings belong to them in Christ!
Did you ever stop to think about it – the new birth belongs to the worst person who ever lived? It belongs to the prostitute and the drunkard on skid row just as much as it belongs to the finest citizen in your town. The new birth belongs to all those in the penitentiary, too, including those on death row.
Years ago at Christmastime, I received a Christmas card from the men on death row at a state penitentiary. They thanked me for the books and tapes our ministry had sent them, and one fellow wrote: “They used to call this death row, but now they call it hallelujah row!”
These men found out that all spiritual blessings – including the new birth and the remission of sin – belonged to them in Christ, even though they were facing execution on death row!
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Most Christians walk in the light of their new birth experience from the standpoint that they believe God saved them in His mercy and that Heaven will be their eternal home.
But, as I said, many Christians don’t walk in the light of all the blessings God has provided for them in Christ. They either don’t know these blessings exist or they don’t know they can appropriate “all spiritual blessings” by faith as their rightful inheritance in Christ.
For example, in my fifty-eight years of ministry, I’ve heard folks say over and over again, “I know the Lord won’t heal me, because since I’ve become a Christian, I’ve fallen so short of God’s grace.”
Well, who of us hasn’t missed it? There’s only one perfect Person who ever lived on the earth, and His Name is Jesus.
Many Christians think God is punishing them if they get sick or if something bad happens to them. Others think they must have committed some awful sin or that they’ve done something wrong to cause sickness and hardship to come into their lives.
Some Christians don’t even know they’ve been restored to favor with God! The Bible says, “It was God (personally present) in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but canceling them]…” (2 Cor. 5:19 Amp).
“Well, what if I miss it after I get saved?” someone may ask. If you’ve done wrong and you’ve confessed it to God, then He forgave you, and He forgot it (1 John 1:9). Once God forgives you, as far as He is concerned, He has no knowledge that you ever did anything wrong.
All spiritual blessings belong to us in Christ Jesus, including the forgiveness and remission of sin! I have found in ministering healing to Christians that just as soon as I can get them to see the truth that they have favor with God, most of them are healed. I don’t even have to lay hands on them; their symptoms just
disappear.
We need to know what belongs to us! In Christ, God has provision – for our every need. If people aren’t enjoying God’s blessings, it’s usually because they don’t know what the Word teaches.
But, you see, wrong thinking defeats so many people. Wrong teaching, wrong believing, wrong thinking, and wrong speaking – that’s what whips folks and robs them of God’s best for them. Yet all spiritual blessings belong to them in Christ and could be theirs to enjoy!
Jesus fulfilled God’s great plan of redemption through His death, burial, and resurrection. Through Jesus’ redemptive work, God has given us all spiritual blessings in Christ. Hebrews 10:12 says, “But this man (Jesus), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, SAT DOWN on the right hand of God.” Jesus didn’t sit down until he finished the job He needed to do!
If you are a new creature in Christ, then for you, old things – including old ideas and religious traditions that are not based on the Word – have passed away. For you, all things have become new. In Christ, God has already made provision for your every need. So take your place as a believing one and receive by faith the riches of God’s abundant blessings. God’s best belongs to you!
(The above material appeared in the December 1992 issue of The Word of Faith.)
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