“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Ephesians 1:3
Friends, I am part of a wonderful Bible study, weekly meeting with women who love the Lord and seek His will. We are in the middle of Beth Moore’s Believing God and it is powerful stuff.
Last week she had us focus on the above verse and gave the Greek transliteration for blessed, which is eulogeo and means to “praise, celebrate with praises; to invoke blessings; to consecrate a thing with solemn prayers; to ask God’s blessing on a thing; pray God to bless it to one’s use; pronounce a consecratory blessing on; of God; to cause to prosper, to make happy, to bestow blessings on; favoured of God, blessed.”
All that to say that when God blesses us in the spiritual realms He is speaking praises over us. As Beth Moore says it, “In other words, to be blessed with this kind of blessing is to have God speaking a good word over us.”
That knowledge blows me backward. God praises us in the heavenly realms. He praises ME in the heavenly realms. The creator of heaven and earth speaks aloud a good word over me? The thought of that is too overwhelming and humbling. The progression my mind takes is this: The creator of heaven and earth knows who I am -> He loves me in spite of who I am -> He sent His Son to die for me -> He keeps no record of my sins -> He speaks to me, individually -> He speaks praises about me.
It is too much. I am both humbled and empowered by His love. If He loves and is proud of me in spite of my human nature, I am emboldened to live for Him.
“I want you to understand and celebrate today, Dear One, that God has used His powerful mouth to call you by name and speak blessing over you. Absorb this: God has been talking about you. That’s right. Behind your back. And God has been talking over you. Eulogizing you, of all things. Look at one segment of the definition of eulogeo from The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament: ‘Of God toward men, to bless, i.e., to distinguish with favor. . . . When the subject is God, His speaking is action, for God’s speech is energy released.’ ” -Beth Moore