Every human who lives on this planet, according to the Bible, is a receiver of God's bodily blessings. “For He raises His sun on the evil and on the good, and showers rain on the just and on the unjust,” Jesus stated (Matthew 5:45b). We should be grateful that God has provided us with everything we require for physical survival through His material creation and natural law. God's blessings, however, are not restricted to the physical realm. God want to shower immense spiritual blessings on those who are willing to accept them.
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The food that maintains our physical bodies is one of God's tangible favors. Consider the case of someone who has an abundance of food but refuses to consume it. Refusing to accept God's blessing of food for an extended period of time will result in famine and death. To get the physical gift of eating, one must first choose to eat and then act on that decision.
In the same way, receiving God's spiritual rewards is conditional. God makes His spiritual blessings available to everyone (Titus 2:11), yet just as someone who refuses to consume food will refuse to receive God's spiritual blessings, so too can someone refuse to receive God's spiritual blessings. All spiritual blessings are only available “in Christ,” according to the Bible (Ephesians 1:3). Consider “in Christ” to be a spiritual location. To receive God's spiritual blessings, one must be spiritually located in Christ. “In Christ Jesus” is where salvation is found (2 Timothy 2:10). Before receiving all spiritual rewards, one must first choose to follow Christ and then act on that decision. How does one become a Christian? A penitent believer who declares faith in Jesus as the Son of God can alter their spiritual location by being baptized, according to the Bible. “For everyone who was baptized into Christ has put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Because one is baptized into Christ, one is outside of Christ and hence outside of the spiritual place where all spiritual rewards, including salvation, are obtained prior to baptism.
What are all spiritual blessings in Ephesians?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly realms in Christ,” the apostle Paul said in his introduction to the epistle to the church at Ephesus (Eph. 1:3). We would have adequate motivation to move in that path even if we had no other passage of scripture that linked any desirable end consequence to entering into Christ than this one verse. Although this phrase states that “all” spiritual blessings are “in Christ,” there are several verses that list one or more specific blessings that can be found there. We'll take notice of a handful of them.
However, before getting into the many benefits found in Christ, we would be remiss if we did not state up front exactly what one must do to get there. Only two verses directly indicate how we can enter Christ, while one verse depicts the same thing from a different perspective. “Know ye not that so many of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” Paul asked the Roman Christians. (Romans 6:3) “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,” he wrote to the Galatians (Gal. 3:27). I Corinthians 12:13, which indicates that we are baptized into His body, is the third passage mentioned. Being baptized into Christ is the only way to enter the kingdom of God. To misunderstand that, you'll need assistance.
When it comes to knowing where one has to go in order to be saved, one must first know what he needs to be saved from. The ark that Noah built was the best location to be if you wanted to be saved from the flood of Noah's day. By being in that area, eight souls were saved (I Pet. 3:20). If one wishes to be redeemed from the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23), or from eternal destruction, one must be in Christ Jesus, who is the source of all spiritual blessings. “I endured all things for the elect's sakes,” Paul informed Timothy, “so they may also get the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (II Tim. 2:10). “And this is the record,” said the apostle John, “that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (I John 5:11). The text we mentioned from the book of Romans also reveals that our salvation is in Christ, but the words are not spoken. “Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death,” Paul said, “that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also might live in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4). Take note of when the newness of life began, at the time of baptism into Christ. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new,” Paul told the Corinthians (II Cor. 5:17). It is self-evident that one must be baptized into Christ in order to be saved, for salvation is found there. And, once again, one would need assistance to misunderstand that. However, we must recognize that there is a lot of assistance accessible in the area of misunderstanding.
Now, let's look at some of the other benefits that can be found “in” Christ Jesus. We might easily fill the rest of our space with specific blessings that the exact words used to describe them are employed to describe. Following the assertion that “all spiritual blessings in heavenly regions” are in Christ (Eph. 1:3), Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians that we are chosen in Him (Eph. 1:4), that we have redemption via His blood (Eph. 1:7), and that we have forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:8). (Eph. 1:7). He also remarked that we have received an inheritance via Christ (Eph. 1:11). It would take all of our room and more to go through the New Testament and list all of the blessings we have “in Christ.”
With the remaining space, let us focus on one particular blessing that is frequently missed by the world at large. People who profess to be Christians but have never been baptized into Christ can be found all around our country. Many people have been baptized, but not in the way that the baptism that brings us into Christ requires. To be baptized into Christ for the remission of sins, one must believe the gospel, repent of their sins, confess Christ as the Son of God, and confess Christ as the Son of God. The Lord then accepts that person into His body, the church (Acts 2:41, 47). Many people who haven't done so still pray to God with their heads bowed. Prayer is a blessing that is conferred upon people who are in Christ Jesus, dear friends and brethren. Those who accept Christ have the ability to become God's sons (John 1:12). This demonstrates that mankind as a whole is not God's child. Paul declared to the Philippians that they were God's sons (Phil. 2:15). We can't pray to God as “our Father” because God isn't our Father. “God heareth not sinners,” the previously blind man said (John 9:31), yet he was not an inspired speaker. “For the Lord's eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers,” Peter wrote, “but the Lord's face is against those who do evil” (I Pet. 3:12). The blessing of prayer is one of the many magnificent blessings that God has bestowed upon us via His precious Son. Thank God for that, since it is your birthright.
What are the blessings of the Holy Spirit?
Four of these gifts (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel), according to Saint Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae I.II, q. 68, a1, lead the intellect, while the other three gifts (fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) direct the will toward God.
The virtues function under the impetus of human reason (prompted by grace), whereas the gifts operate under the impetus of the Holy Spirit; the former can be employed whenever one desires, while the latter, according to Aquinas, can only be used when the Holy Spirit wishes. In the case of Fortitude, the gift shares the same Latin and English name as the virtue with which it is associated, but must be identified.
Thomas Aquinas argues the following correspondences between the seven Heavenly Virtues and the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit in his Summa Theologiae II.II:
No Gift is specifically attributed to the virtue of temperance; nevertheless, the gift of fear can be considered as such, because fear motivates people to abstain from forbidden pleasures.
“What the gifts do over and above the theological virtues (which they presuppose) is dispose the agent to special promptings of the Holy Spirit in actively exercising the life of the virtues; the gifts are necessary for the perfect operations of the virtues, especially in the face of our human weakness and in difficult situations,” says the Rev. Brian Shanley.
What is the heavenly realm?
Supreme God Tathagata created the Heavenly Realm ( (), Shingye; lit. “Divine World”). The Heavenly Realm is one of the God of High School's three recognized domains. It is inhabited by a number of gods. The Sage Realm is the most powerful realm, followed by the Human Realm. The Heavenly Realm and the Sage Realm fought a major war over a thousand years ago, with the Sage Realm losing and the Heavenly Realm winning.
What are the spiritual gifts of the spirit?
A spiritual gift, also known as a charism (plural: charisms or charismata; Greek singular: charisma, plural: charismata), is a supernatural ability bestowed by the Holy Spirit. Followers think that these are supernatural graces that individual Christians require (and that were required in the days of the Apostles) in order to fulfill the Church's mission. In the strictest sense, it is a theological word for the special graces bestowed on individual Christians for the benefit of others, as opposed to personal sanctification graces such as the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
The word of knowledge, enhanced faith, healing gifts, miraculous gifts, prophecy, spirit discernment, various kinds of tongues, and tongue interpretation are examples of these skills, which are often referred to as “charismatic gifts.” The gifts of apostles, prophets, teachers, aids (associated with service to the destitute and sick), and governments (or leadership abilities) are also associated with various Church ministries. Individuals are given these gifts by the Holy Spirit, but their mission is to build up the entire Church. They're mentioned in the New Testament, namely in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. Spiritual gifts are also mentioned in 1 Peter 4.
The gifts are tied to both “natural” and “miraculous” abilities, both of which are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The two primary theological viewpoints on their nature are that they have long since ceased or that they continue (Cessationism versus Continuationism).
What do you mean by spirituality?
Spirituality is defined as the awareness of a feeling, sense, or belief that there is something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater total of which we are a part is cosmic or divine in nature.
Type 2 diabetes affects approximately 25.8 million people in the United States, or 8.3 percent of the population.
1 Non-Hispanic Blacks aged 20 and up account for 4.9 million (18.7%) of the total. 1 Complications of type 2 diabetes, such as cerebrovascular illness, renal failure, and amputations, are substantially more common among African Americans than in non-Hispanic Whites.1
With proper diabetic self-care, these problems can be decreased or avoided. Diabetes therapy relies heavily on self-care knowledge, skills, and activities. The intricacy of sustaining and managing daily self-care activities, such as exercise, food change, and medication adherence, makes diabetic self-care difficult. The American Association of Diabetes Educators2 lists seven diabetes self-care behaviors: being active (physical activity and exercise); eating healthy (diet composition and caloric content); taking medications; monitoring (e.g., blood glucose, weight, blood pressure); problem solving, particularly for blood glucose (high and low levels, sick days); reducing risks (to reduce diabetes complications; smoking cessation); and healthy coping (psychosocial adaptation). These behaviors have been recognized as measurable results of effective diabetes education and should be practiced at both the individual and population level to accomplish the targeted outcomes of diabetes complications prevention and physical and psychological well-being.
Spiritual and religious beliefs and activities can either help people cope with a chronic illness by providing support, confidence, and hope, or they might obstruct successful coping by causing them to ignore self-care activities in favor of prayer and/or meditation.
3 While there is evidence of a link between spirituality and hypertension self-management4, few research have looked at the impact of spirituality on diabetes self-management.
5 As a result, less is known about how spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as social support, influence diabetic self-care among African American adults. 6 Spirituality is an important source of emotional support; God is perceived as central in providing strength to deal with daily challenges; God is frequently called upon for help in controlling diabetes; and a strong belief in God, prayer, meditation, and support from church members were all sources of support in previous studies concerning spirituality, religion, and diabetes in African Americans. 3, 5, and 8 Religion and spirituality were linked to better glycemic control in Black women with type 2 diabetes in one study,9 while religion and spirituality were linked to a lower likelihood of lifelong smoking among African Americans in another. 10
Because of the foregoing findings and a gap in the literature, we decided to look into the possibilities of incorporating spiritual and religious views into diabetic self-management. Spiritual views encompass a connection to a higher being as well as an existential outlook on life, death, and the nature of reality. 11 Religious practices/rituals such as prayer or meditation, as well as interaction with religious community members, are examples of religious beliefs. While spiritual and religious views have a lot in common, the authors decided to look into both of them because they are commonly brought up when dealing with disease. It's also necessary to look into both of these concepts because some people consider themselves spiritual but don't necessarily believe in religion. While religious beliefs and practices are more easily measured, the authors intended to look at the larger context of people's belief systems, specifically their perspectives on life's meaning, disease, and existential concerns. 13 The Systems of Belief Inventory (SBI) was chosen to measure these constructs due to the requirement to examine both spiritual and religious beliefs and practices in the process of coping with an illness.
The researchers wanted to see if there was a link between (a) spiritual and religious beliefs and practices and social support, and (b) diabetic self-care activities in African Americans with type 2 diabetes. Because African Americans have numerous diabetes inequities, this is an essential topic (i.e., highest rates of diabetes, diabetes complications, and diabetes-related mortality rates). 14
Because little is known about how spiritual and religious beliefs and practices affect diabetes self-care in African American adults, this study looked at the relationship between spirituality, religion, and diabetes self-care activities in this population, such as diet, physical activity, blood glucose self-testing, and foot care behaviors. Because some evidence suggests a link between spirituality and religion and lifetime smoking in African Americans10, a negative link between spirituality and religion and smoking was hypothesized. It was expected, in particular, that those who scored higher on spiritual and religious beliefs and practices, as well as social support, would engage in more diabetes self-care activities and smoke less.
Where in the Bible does it talk about blessings?
God's blessings on mankind. God's first blessing to man is recorded in Genesis 1:28: “God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the world and master it.” 1. God bestows blessings (rather than commands!).