“Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!” Ephesians 1:3 TPT

Once when I was spending time in prayer, I heard God ask me to forgive someone who had hurt me badly as a child. And my immediate response was, “No! She should’ve known better! She did know better!” God’s response was not what I expected. He said, “I am not asking you to forgive her, I am asking you to let Me forgive her through you.” My rather ungracious response was, “O.K. As long as it involves no effort on my part because I cannot do it!” I gave it no more thought.

About 3 months later I happened to be sitting next to that person in a small church service. The preacher was talking about how God mends relationships, and knowing us both she made the comment that if, for example, the two of us had a problem, God could fix it. It was just a passing comment, not at all designed to embarrass us or suggest we had a problem. Yet at precisely that moment I felt like a sword had been run through the me and I knew that the work of forgiveness had been done. It was a very real sense of release and healing. From that point on our relationship improved noticeably which I really appreciated.

This was a dramatic introduction to the understanding that God wants to bless us by giving us all the heavenly spiritual blessings.

What are these heavenly blessings? Forgiveness, cleansing from sin, holiness, purity, wholeness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, wisdom, righteousness, glory, eternal life, rest, healing, provision, resurrection power, intimacy with God and maybe you can think of more. God has lavished all that upon us in and through Jesus. Just as the father says to His older son in the parable of the prodigal son, “all I have is yours”, and this is the true heart of God towards us. Jesus life was the revelation of that desire to bless us.

How can we receive these gifts? Do just that, pick one and receive it. Let God lavish it on you and see what happens. Say for example you chose joy…

“God lovingly lavishes the joys of heaven on me”

Resting in God to make it real to you, use that statement

1. for a time of meditation.

2. as the basis of a daily thanksgiving prayer.

3. As inspiration for an artwork or writing.

4. As inspiration for a song or chant.

5. And write a blessing diary of what you experience

6. However else you can think of to remind you to just receive it.

“God lovingly lavishes the joys of heaven on me”

“God lovingly lavishes the joys of heaven on me”