Growing Our Purity
A Glorious Inheritance
Scripture: Ephesians 1:17-19
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength
The beatitudes were given to us by Jesus himself. He came to teach us Kingdom principles, obligations and benefits. When we commit ourselves to living out the beatitudes, we should expect the benefits to bless our lives. That is why each of the beatitudes starts with the word blessed. Jesus knew that if we trusted Him enough to listen and obey His teachings, we would soon realize it really is to our own wonderful benefit!
The Apostle Paul writes about some of these benefits in Ephesians. In our scripture for today, Paul is describing a prayer that he often prayed for them. It was a prayer that requested that the Ephesian Christ followers would know God better through a revelation given by the Holy Spirit! It is in verse 18 that Paul explains the benefit of knowing God better: that we would know about the riches of our glorious inheritance. Maybe you have known someone who knew they were about to inherit a large estate. Maybe you felt a little envious of them. Maybe you could see their happiness and sense of security and wished you had a “rich uncle” that would do the same for you. The Apostle Paul is painting this picture for us. We do have a massive inheritance coming our way. It is one of the great benefits of being in God’s family. The very first beatitude concludes with “for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Wow! That is a wonderful, peace-filling, security-giving benefit of these beatitudes!
Father, by faith I visualize my rich inheritance from you, given to me and all your children. Today I’ll live rejoicing in that reality! In Jesus’ name, amen.