Exposition Of Ephesians - Chapter 1Sample

If you need $1,000, and you have $1,000 in your bank account, then you do not need to go beg for that money. Why? Because it’s already yours. All you must do is withdraw the money that has already been deposited into your account.

Paul says everything God is ever going to do for believers He has already done. He’s blessed them with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” That is, he has deposited spiritual blessings in every believer’s account. Not only that, but Paul will go on to say that believers are seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. It’s like a video teleconference where you’re in two places at once—seated physically in one place but operating in another. Believers are present in two realms at the same time: physically on earth but operating from heavenly places. 

But what are the “heavenly places”? They comprise the spiritual realm where God and Satan battle for your allegiance. We live in the physical realm with our problems, needs, struggles, and sins. However, the authority and power to address our problems proceed from the spiritual realm. We must understand an important principle: everything that happens in the physical realm originates in the spiritual realm. This means that our problems are never merely physical in nature, but they always have spiritual implications. The problems are the visible fruit, but their root is always spiritual in nature. 

So if we want to fix our physical problems, we need to look for spiritual solutions, which means we must have a spiritual worldview. God wants our position in heavenly places to dictate our actions on earth. Only by operating from a spiritual perspective will you have access to God’s kingdom power and provisions to deal with life in the physical realm. And remember, we do not need to beg for it because God has already deposited it into our accounts!

What are some issues or problems you have personally faced (or are facing) in which you were tempted to overlook the invisible, spiritual causes of the problem?

If you are enjoying this reading plan on the book of Ephesians, you may want to take the entire course "Exposition of Ephesians" at the Tony Evans Training Center, an online learning resource easily found here.  There are courses on biblical exposition, contemporary topics and personal growth, and more.