"And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein" (Joshua 21:43). God graciously gave to the children of Israel the land of Canaan for their possession. Just so, today He gives to His blood-bought children spiritual blessings for our possession (Ephesians 1:3).

What are these spiritual blessings? Many are found in the Epistle to the Ephesians:

1. Forgiven of our sins (1:7).

2. Made sons of God, with access to the Father (1:5; 2:18).

3. Accepted, or made objects of grace (1:6).

4. Made holy (1:4; 5:27).

5. Sealed with the Holy Spirit (1:13).

6. Made members of the Church (1:22,23; 2:22; 5:30).

7. Seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (2:6).

8. Reconciled to God (2:13,16).

These, along with many others, are our spiritual blessings in Christ. Are we enjoying these blessings, or are we like some of the children of Israel who were "slack to go to possess the land" (Joshua 18:3)? How is it with you, dear Christian reader? Are you seeking to possess your spiritual possessions? Let us consider some ways we can possess our possessions.

Forgiveness of sins is one of the first blessings the new believer in Christ learns about. Forgiveness means that God has delivered us from the penalty (eternal judgment) that our sins deserve. If a believer sins and thinks that he is lost and needs to be saved again, he has lost the sense of God's forgiveness of sins. The fact of God's forgiveness is not altered one bit because of our new sins. God forgave all of our sins, past, present, and future, when we first trusted in Christ for salvation. We must possess our possession by remembering, whenever we sin, that Christ died for that sin too. Thus we will thank Him afresh for His wonderful salvation, while also confessing that sin to reestablish full fellowship with God (1 John 1:9; Psalm 51:12).

God did not stop with delivering us from the penalty that our sins deserve. He added the even greater blessing of making each believer His own son (1:5). This sounds great, but how do we lay hold of it? How do we possess this possession? Well, how do we enjoy the fact that we have a loving, caring human father? We spend time with him, ask for help with our problems, run to him for protection from the neighborhood bully, tell him about getting a perfect score on the spelling test, and sit on his lap. Just so, our heavenly Father delights to have His children come to Him often for advice, comfort, protection, instruction, and a listening ear.

We are "accepted in the beloved," or made objects of God's grace through the work of Christ on the cross. God has wonderfully shown His grace—His favor to us who deserve the opposite—in saving us from our sins. He continues to show it in many ways each day. Let us be alert to these manifestations of God's loving favor toward us and be thankful daily for them. We will know that we are really possessing our possession of God's grace when we find ourselves manifesting that same grace to the people around us.

We are accounted by God even now as holy, sanctified, saints. Holy means to be set apart to God from all that is contrary to His nature. When we get to heaven, we shall be actually holy in every sense of the word. God views His children now in the way that we shall actually be in heaven. We do not have to wait until we get to heaven to possess this possession. We are exhorted: "Be holy" (1 Peter 1:16); "Possess [your] vessel in sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3,4); "Reckon…yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin" (Romans 6:11). Heaven is not only a happy place, it is also a holy place. The fact that everyone there will be perfectly holy and without sin will surely help to make it a wonderfully happy place. To the extent that we live holy lives here on earth, we shall experience a foretaste of the happiness of heaven (Matthew 5:8).

These are a few ways we can begin to possess our spiritual possessions even here on earth. Space limitations do not permit a discussion of all the items in the above list, but they are all meant to be possessed and enjoyed here and now. Let us apply ourselves, like Caleb and his family (Joshua 14:6-15; Judges 1:12-15) to enlarging our capacity for these possessions.

—Paul L. Canner