You are blessed of the Most High God!

Genesis 14:19: Blessed be Abram of God Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth.

As a believer, and because you are a descendant of Abraham by faith, you are also blessed of the Most High God! Who is this Most High God? The Bible says He is the possessor of heaven and earth! In the New Testament, Ephesians 1:3 says 'in Christ, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places'.

To start with, let's look at the word 'bless'. It is ‘barak’ in Hebrew, which means ‘to kneel before God (an act of adoration)’. In Greek, it is ‘eulogeo’ which comes from ‘eu’ (means ‘well, good’) and ‘logeo’ (means ‘speak, say’). So, ‘eulogeo’ means ‘to speak well of’. It can also mean ‘to invoke a benediction (blessings) upon’. To 'invoke' is to 'call on God (for help)'. So when you say “God bless you” to someone, you are actually ‘calling on God to bless that person, i.e for him/her to be blessed with blessings of the Most High God’.

The word ‘blessings’ in Hebrew is ‘barakah’ which means 'having all the goodness/benefit from Him’. The word 'blessed’ therefore means ‘all the goodness/benefit of the Lord be on the person’. So when Genesis 14:19 says 'Abraham is blessed of the Most High God', he was indeed 'blessed with all the goodness/benefit of the Most High God'! Beloved, the good news is you are too!

Let's now look at the word ‘barakah’ again. As mentioned, it means ‘blessings’, but interestingly, it can also mean ‘a place at which camels kneel as a resting place, a pool’ (refer Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). This ‘resting place (pool)’ is a 'picture' of ‘we resting in Christ’s finished work on the cross'. He has carried all your curse (Isaiah 53:3-5) and what you have now is only 'blessings' ('barakah'). Note the opposite of 'curse' is 'blessings'. In fact, Jesus has also carried all your sorrows, pains, and sicknesses on the cross, so now you can have joy, comfort, and good health. The Bible also says, 'the chastisement (punishment) for our peace was upon Him'. He even suffered violence, so now you can have shalom peace. Jesus' finished work on the cross some 2,000 years ago made all the difference!

But why are there still so many Christians living in defeat today? They simply do not believe (& receive) this simple truth! Beloved, never miss His every blessing (Ephesians 1:3) for your life. Start seeing yourself 'blessed of the Most High God' today. It's yours, and it's meant to be yours! Believe & receive.

You are a 'dwelling place' of God!

Ephesians 2:22: In Christ, you are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

You are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit! The Bible also says your body is the ‘temple’ of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) who is (stays) in you, whom you have from God. The word ‘temple’ here in Greek is ‘naos’, which means ‘dwelling place’. This word comes from the verb ‘naio’, which means ‘to dwell’. So, the word ‘temple’ is a general, neutral word which simply means ‘a dwelling place’, and it can be a dwelling place for either God’s Spirit (Holy Spirit), or for any other spirits (even demonic spirit, or spirit of idolatry). As a believer, know that it’s the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, and not any other!

So beloved, as an individual, or as a ‘church’ (‘ekklesia’ in Greek, which means ‘a congregation of God’s people’), you are being built together as a ‘temple’ of the Holy Spirit, a place where the Holy Spirit dwells in. Notice the word ‘ekklesia’ (church) here refers to a ‘people’, not a building made of bricks, wood, etc.

In the Old Covenant, the ‘temple’ was a physical place, consisting of three parts, the ‘outer court’, the ‘Holy Place’, and the ‘Holy of Holies’ (also known as the ‘Most Holy Place’), where the ‘ark of the covenant’ was placed. It’s in this ‘Holy of Holies’ that the high priest would ‘meet with God’ once a year on the Day of Atonement on behalf of the Israelites. This, of course, was a ‘shadow’ of the things to come in our time. Today in the New Covenant, Ephesians 2:22 says you are now the ‘dwelling place’ of God, and the Holy Spirit resides in you, instead of in a ‘physical building’. Just as the temple in Jerusalem had three parts, you are also a ‘tri-partite’, consisting of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The ‘Holy of Holies’ is therefore a picture of your ‘spirit’, the ‘Holy Place’ is a picture of your ‘soul’ (mind, will, emotions), while the ‘outer court’ is a picture of your ‘body’.

When Jesus was crucified on the cross, the ‘veil’ between the ‘Holy of Holies’ & the ‘Holy Place’ of the temple in Jerusalem was torn in two (Luke 23:45), and because of His perfect sacrifice on the cross (where His blood was shed, and His body was broken), done once for all (Hebrews 10:14), as believers, you can now ‘meet with God’ and have access to His very presence every day, and wherever you are, unlike in the Old Covenant time. The Bible also says as believers, your spirit is joined to Him, and is one spirit (in union) with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Notice the Old Covenant priests would ‘stand ministering’ daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which actually can never take away sins (Hebrews 10:11). In fact, interestingly, there wasn’t any piece of furniture in the Holy Place on which the priests can sit on! But Jesus, after having offered Himself (the one sacrifice that takes away sins forever), He ‘sat down’ at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12). This act of ‘sitting down’ by Jesus is a picture of ‘His work being accomplished or completed’. Imagine after a whole day’s work, feeling accomplished and at rest, one would just ‘sit down’ on his/her comfy sofa and have a cool glass of ice-cream soda! Jesus Himself said “It is finished!” (John 19:30) when He gave up His Spirit at the cross. The work has already been completed once for all to take away our sins, and to reconcile us back to God! Hebrews 10:14 says ‘by this one offering (on the cross), He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified’. Jesus is indeed our perfect Lamb of God! His one sacrifice on the cross has made all the difference for you & me! And the best part is this: not only did He sit down, He also made you sit together with Him! (Ephesians 2:6) Today, you can rule and reign with Him in the heavenly places!

Beloved, you are indeed a ‘temple’ (dwelling place) of the Holy Spirit! I see droves and droves of people come running to this ‘temple’ that is you, because 'the way, the truth & the life’, the ‘answer’ is in you! Believe & receive! The broken shall be restored through you. The lost shall find their ‘answer’ through you. The sick shall be healed through you. Praise the Lord! Dedicate yourself today as His holy ‘temple’, washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus, just as King Solomon did for the temple in Jerusalem, and that’s when the glory of the Lord filled the whole ‘dwelling place’! (2 Chronicles 5:14) Amen!