Spirituality of Blessing in the Heavenly Realms

The “heavenly realms” are eternally set and contrastive:

“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 (NIV, 2010).

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

~Ephesians 6:12 (NIV, 2010).

The “heavenly realms” are hence deep in their concept—not only good and evil, but they’re dynamically based, even beyond our humble understanding. Spiritual blessing is derived from the heavenly realms, even in the midst of these dark powers which surround us and our world.

Conditioned by Transcendence – A Believer’s Reality

How is it that mainly Christians are the only ones seeing the heavenly realms at work in their lives? There are New Agers and others who speak in these terms but hardly at truth apart from Christ.

That we can be conscious of the blessings enfolded in the heavenlies as they combine to give us transcendent power in the Spirit is the manifestation of God—the difference the Holy Spirit makes. There’s a heaven-realm-blessed connection between us, the Spirit that resides within, the ether between us and heaven, and the place of heaven itself.

This is something we feel but don’t understand; we call it the experience of the blessings and Presence of God but we can’t define it better than it. It just is.

Trusted to the Heavenly Realms

Due to the repentance to engage in routine return to God, the believer’s advantage is they’re blessed of a fine reality. They’re seated in these heavenly realms (places) at the premise of Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). This is no short order. It’s the gift above all gifts, even though it doesn’t feel like we’re gifted most of the time.

We have been entrusted into the heavenly realm, and though the dark forces of the heavenly realm conspire over all, we—per our active, repentant belief—have recourse to the blessings of the Spirit and the heavenly host in seeing us through life.

The one counteracts the other and it’s when we know and accept God that the legion of Divine angels is compelled to operate active in our lives.

Apart from our acts of faithfulness to Divine law—the obedience to God’s Word—the help of Divine spirits is our only chance at blessing, apart from the underpinning blessing of the Lord in the eternal instant.

It’s good to appreciate this additional blessing; an inexplicable help to fight the good fight against evil we do not see.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General Reference: Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians – An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2002), pp. 168-72, 829-30.