Grace and peace to everyone. As we enter the month of March, let us spend this time recollecting our blessings in Christ from the letters to Ephesians

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:3-6

There are no spiritual blessings withheld for you. For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). You are chosen in Christ, he called you by name, before billions of years, before anything ever came into existence. God was pleased to call you his own child and called you to be holy and without blame. You are accepted. Let there not be any lingering doubts of His love for you; run to him however far you are.

He has redeemed you. The word “redeemed’ means to loose, unbind. The primary idea in “redemption” is deliverance from a bondage of sin, and sentence of sin. We plunged ourselves into that bondage, God redeems us out of his infinite mercy.

In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise

There is an order, Firstly, The gospel should be heard by us, Secondly, we believe the gospel of our salvation and we place our trust in God. Thirdly, we are sealed by a special gift of the Holy Spirit.

You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. When we are sealed, we are progressively made to be His temple. This seal is a safety amidst the destruction coming upon the earth. This seal is the “circumcision not made with hands”. This sealing produces in every person that possesses it, a new nature, a new creation. So that Paul could say, “It is Christ that lives in me” The Spirit, like a seal, impresses on the soul at regeneration the image of our Father. We become like Christ because of the Holy Spirit. You are secure and certain of your eternal life. This sealing of the Holy Spirit produces new passions; it is a mark of authenticity. In Revelation 20:3, God throws Satan into a pit and seals it over so he can’t escape, So, sealing is locking something up, closing it in.

As genuine believers, you do not need to doubt the presence of the Holy Spirit. Even when we sin as believers, the Spirit of God still resides in us, but he is saddened and grieved; yet the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Satan will make you feel that God has rejected you because of your sins, but we have to fight him back by reflecting on the truth of being sealed with the Holy Spirit. Things precious and highly valuable are sealed up, that they may be kept safe and inviolable; the sealing is an act of your preservation. You are God’s forever

Let’s pray, Father, thank you for sealing us with the Holy Spirit, I apologise the times I have grieved the Holy Spirit, may I be conformed to Christ, may I become the new creation with new love and hunger for you, and scorch out the unbelief of my heart and the implantations of the devil about my identity, your choosing of me, my shame and guilt, and thank you for your assurance of my special relation with you, and marking me as your own. In Jesus name we pray, amen.