Christ Brings Spiritual Blessings

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven!

God treated us with undeserved grace because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.

Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because of God's gift of undeserved grace to us. God has great wisdom and understanding,

and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways.

He did this so we Jews would bring honor to him and be the first ones to have hope because of him.

Christ also brought you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show you belong to God.

The Spirit also makes us sure we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honored and praised.

So I never stop being grateful for you, as I mention you in my prayers.

I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God.

I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used

when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven.

From Death to Life

In the past you were dead because you sinned and fought against God.

You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil. He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn't obey God.

Once we were also ruled by the selfish desires of our bodies and minds. We had made God angry, and we were going to be punished like everyone else.

But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much he made us alive with Christ, and God's gift of undeserved grace is what saves you.

God did this so in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done.

You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God's gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.

It isn't something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.

God planned for us to do good things and to live as he has always wanted us to live. This is why he sent Christ to make us what we are.

and you were far from God. But Christ offered his life's blood as a sacrifice and brought you near God.

Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and he has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us. Christ gave his own body

And because of Christ, all of us can come to the Father by the same Spirit.

You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God.

You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone.

And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God's own Spirit to live.