At that time the Lord will punish the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens above. He will also punish the kings on the earth below.

“Blessed are those who are spiritually needy. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

They were happy to do it. And of course they owe it to them. The Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings. So the Gentiles should share their earthly blessings with the Jews.

That is what we speak about. We don’t use words taught to us by people. We use words taught to us by the Holy Spirit. We use the words taught by the Spirit to explain spiritual truths.

We have planted spiritual seed among you. Is it too much to ask that we receive from you some things we need?

They all ate the same spiritual food.

They all drank the same spiritual water. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was Christ.

It is planted as an earthly body. But it is raised as a spiritual body. Just as there is an earthly body, there is also a spiritual body.

What is spiritual did not come first. What is earthly came first. What is spiritual came after that.

Those who belong to the earth are like the one who came from the earth. And those who are spiritual are like the heavenly man.

It is the same with us. When we were children, we were slaves to the basic spiritual powers of the world.

Praise God for His Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Those blessings come from the heavenly world. They belong to us because we belong to Christ.

You used to live as sinners when you followed the ways of this world. You served the one who rules over the spiritual forces of evil. He is the spirit who is now at work in those who don’t obey God.

Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world.

Make sure no one controls you. They will try to control you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic spiritual powers of this world. They don’t depend on Christ.

Some people still follow the basic spiritual powers of the world. But you died with Christ as far as these powers are concerned. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Here are the rules you follow.

You also are like living stones. As you come to Christ, you are being built into a house for worship. There you will be holy priests. You will offer spiritual sacrifices. God will accept them because of what Jesus Christ has done.

Dear friend, I know that your spiritual life is going well. I pray that you also may enjoy good health. And I pray that everything else may go well with you.