Happy almost December sweet friends!
The scripture writing plan topic this month is over
Blessings and Gifts from God
God has given us (yep, YOU and ME!) so many blessings that we too often taken for granted. We get so used to these gifts that we fail to recognize and thank Him for these incredible gifts that can come to us only through Him. Now I don't necessarily mean physical gifts (although He does provide those), but spiritual gifts and blessings.
We hear the word and use the word blessed a LOT (seriously, it's on every other shirt and coffee mug you see these days), but what are these blessings from God? Ephesians 1:3 says: 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.
Did you catch that? God gives us EVERY spiritual blessing that He has and does not hold back or leave out any blessings to us! Not some or a few- EVERY one. Not some to me but all to you because you deserve them more- ALL of them to each of us. How awesome and incredible is that?
So what are these spiritual blessings? These are blessings given to us when we choose to follow Jesus. Of course the biggest gift God gave us was when He physically and outwardly showed us His love toward us, by giving us His only begotten Son to us, as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we might live through Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life. The giving of Jesus to us was the manifestation of the love of God for us. But there is a HUGE list of blessings and gifts from God that include things like:
- Our salvation
- Forgiveness of our sins
- Grace
- Righteousness
- Mercy
- Strength
- The Holy Spirit which gives us insight and power to do God’s will
- Eternal life with Jesus
- Anything that brings us closer to Jesus
Now God’s original plan was to bless us with a life of peace and fulfillment with Him. God wants to give all of His children all of His gifts. There is nothing that God wants to hold back from us- He wants to give all good things to us. Of course sin ruined that plan but thankfully he gives us the ultimate blessing of restoration, forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus. Thankfully Jesus pours out all His attributes onto us: His love and joy, His peace and patience, His kindness and goodness, His faithfulness and gentleness. What incredible blessings those are!
My prayer is that we spend this next month reading about and focusing on the many undeserving gifts and blessings from the Lord and remember to thank Him daily for them. I pray that during this Advent Season, just as Mary pondered the birth of her child, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the gifts and blessings that He brings and that is to come, we would be wise, just like the Wise Men were, to also ponder the meaning of these gifts that were given freely to us from the King of kings and Lord of lords and God Almighty, Himself!
FYI: I make all plans 31 days long so that they can be
done any month-not just the month I write them for.
done any month-not just the month I write them for.