Ephesians 1:3 NLT
[3] “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”
Three little words, “has blessed us…” should change our perspective from what God wants us to do (according to the Old Covenant) into what God has already done (in the New Covenant).
In Paul’s magnificent letter to the Ephesian church, he explains, in detail, what God has done, through Jesus, to reverse the consequences of Adam’s rebellion.
Engaging His attributes as God – love, mercy, sovereignty, and power – He set in motion a process to undo what Adam did and to restore what He set out to do from the beginning.
God wanted a family of sons and daughters like Himself with whom He could fellowship. He also designed humans to rule in His kingdom, equipped with His authority to carry out His will on a redeemed earth as it is done in heaven.
We know that His plan went awry when Adam chose to side with the devil. However, God had already built in a way to overcome Satan and neutralise his power over humans before He set about preparing the earth for human habitation.
Paul assures his readers that, from God’s perspective, what He planned was already complete before He began the process.
Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
[4] “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Nothing took God by surprise. Nothing fazed Him when Adam went astray. Since God is omniscient, He knew the end from the beginning. His rescue plan was foolproof because He entrusted the outworking of His plan to His Son.
How desperately we need that assurance as we navigate a world dedicated, under Satan’s rule, to derail us and take us down with God’s enemy. Unfortunately for us, we still have a part of us that sides with the devil. He has a foothold through the evil desires, directed towards doing our own selfish stuff, that lurk within us.
God has designed it this way because life on this earth is our training ground for life with Him in eternity. We are on probation. We are apprentices, learning to rule over our wayward hearts before we can rule over His earth when we live with Him in glory.
However, we also have a powerful ally living in us, God’s own Spirit. He is dedicated to putting all the provisions of God’s rescue plan into effect so that most important of all His attributes, His “chesed” – His covenant love, (an untranslatable word in English), would be clearly seen, especially by the principalities and powers that oppose Him.
God wants us to know His power in us before He can use His power through us to do His will on earth around us.
For us, it means that the operative word in the New Covenant, “done!”, applies to us. This assures us that nothing can derail God’s mission. He has done what He set out to do and nothing can change that! We are already safely entrenched in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, and living in His kingdom.
Colossians 1:13 NLT
[13] “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.”
There are several blessings that flow from our union with Jesus.
Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
[4] Even before he made the world, God loved us and CHOSE us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to ADOPT us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
[7] He is so rich in kindness and grace that he PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM with the blood of his Son and FORGAVE our sins.
Chosen, adopted, freed, and forgiven! Can there be any greater blessings in a world controlled by fear, evil behaviour, and chaos than these? Can we be that secure in the midst of insecurity that nothing moves us? The answer is, “Definitely! For sure!” if we believe God’s Word.
Now let me come to the crux of my thought. If God has reassured us that everything He needed to do for us is done, why do we still pray for God to do what He has already done?
Much of our prayer is still coming from our confusion between Old and New Covenants. The value of the Old Covenant lies in the revelation of God’s holiness and the total inability of Israel (and all people) to measure up to His perfection.
Romans 3:23 NLT
[23″For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.“
This conclusion leaves us without a leg to stand on. Without God’s intervention, we are done! However, God DID step in. He Himself took care of the problem by taking our place in Jesus, the man, facing the Father’s wrath against sin, fully paying sin’s debt, and then transferring all the benefits of what He did for us, to us as a gift.
Romans 6:23 NLT
[23] “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So, what is left for us to do?
We keep complicating what God made simple. God requires only two responses to everything He accomplished for us in Jesus… believe in Jesus and love one another.
1 John 3:21-24 NLT
[21] “Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. [22] And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. [23] And this is his commandment: We must BELIEVE in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and LOVE one another, just as he commanded us. [24] Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.“
Something amazing flows from this faith that does what God REQUIRES, praise, gratitude, thanksgiving, WORSHIP. Isn’t that what God wants from us above all else?
John 4:23-24 NLT
[23] But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. [24] For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
God isn’t looking for people who will invent new ways to worship Him, in music, dance, rituals, whatever foolish people think up. Again, He has only two criteria… spirit (heart, attitude, focus) and truth (based securely on what is written in His Word).
So, where does prayer fit in to God’s requirements? Again, God has made it simple.
2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
[20] “For all of God’s promises HAVE BEEN fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”
This assurance also puts prayer squarely in the middle of God’s Word; do what God says!
For our daily physical, material, and financial needs, God has given us a promise…
Matthew 6:33 NLT
[33]”Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously (generously), and he will give you everything you need.”
When we live under God’s authority, always being generous in our attitude towards others, meeting needs when and where we can, God takes care of our needs without our having to ask.
So that takes care of much about which we focus on in prayer!
…and for our spiritual growth and development…
2 Peter 1:4 NLT
[4] “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”
Hebrews 6:12 NIV
[12] “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
Can you see, then, that prayer in the New Covenant is a confident “amen!” to all God’s promises because Jesus has already approved and fulfilled them all. This “amen” must always be accompanied by heartfelt expressions of gratitude and praise because whatever we need has already been granted.
1 John 5:14-15 NIV
[14] “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
The Holy Spirit taught me years, ago, not to ask for a miracle but to ask for a word. Miracles are open-ended, according to God’s will which we don’t know for sure. When God gives us a word, we know He will honour His promise. So…
We can encapsulate our entire Christian experience in four words, DONE! THANK YOU! and AMEN! .