Wall of Separation

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.--Ephesians 2:11-22

To My Beloved Daughters in Him

Looking at verses 11 and 12 Paul speaks here to the Gentile Christians, but the exhortation is good for us as well.  Remember who you used to be!!  Aliens and strangers from the covenant of the promise...having no hope and without God!  Dead men walking.  God's chosen people were the Jews.  Gentiles were not able to partake of the promises given to the Jewish nation.   Thinking about living for a moment without my God and the sure and certain hope I have in Him makes me literally shudder.  

In Christ Jesus, I, who was once afar off have been brought near by the blood of my Savior, Jesus.  Without Christ, I am not only bereft of spiritual blessings, but I am in darkness...without peace, without rest, without safety and without protection.  My God is the anchor of my soul.  He is my sure and steadfast hope.  I was once a child of darkness but now I am light in the Lord.  By my belief in His Son, I am now a Jew inwardly where circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.   Read the following from Acts 10...Peter is speaking.

Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean....“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— .... To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

There was contention between the Jew and the Gentile.  The source of it stemmed from the fact that the Gentile did not keep the law...  Jesus brought these two people groups together by the great love with which He loved us both....even when we were both dead in trespasses and sins. 

The middle wall of separation spoken of in these verses refers to a wall in the temple that separated the Jew and the Gentile.  Through His death Jesus, the Prince of Peace, broke down this wall of separation.  He abolished in His flesh the handwriting of the requirements that were against both Jew and Gentile...The Jew who was trying to be righteous before God under the law and the Gentile who was alienated from God spiritually and who did not keep the law.   Jesus became the common denominator...the One way  that both could draw near.   There is now no distinction between Jew and Gentile for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him....for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Read John 17 and see the desire of Jesus...

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

1st Timothy 2:5 says, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus"  We  have no access to God apart from Jesus Christ. 

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.--Galatians 3:26-29

Jesus took the Jew and the Gentile and brought them together into a new man and a new body...the church.  Stop and think for a moment what a beautiful picture that is.  The body of Christ is the church...this is the household of God that has been built on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles with Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone.  

Jesus is the foundation upon which we are built and are to build.  The message of the apostles and the prophets is that God has provided salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.  He is the way the truth and the life.  He is how we come to God.   Unless the Lord builds the house we labor in vain...  

This whole body even today is being fitted together and growing into the temple of the Lord...each one of us who believe is being grown into a holy dwelling place of God in the Spirit.  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.--2nd Corinthians 5:17

What is the main application I took away from this particular passage of Scripture? 

Simply that you cannot practice partiality and be consistent with calling yourself a Christian. You cannot hold the Christian faith which is centered with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. God shows no partiality.

Beloved, we are saved by God's grace alone. To treat those around us based on anything else is utterly and totally inconsistent with the doctrine of grace and with the Lord of glory.  If we really believe that we are saved by grace and it is nothing of ourselves, than that is the basis we will relate to others.  We will be good stewards of the manifold grace He has given us and show His grace to others.  Jesus broke down the wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile and brought peace. Grace keeps the wall of separation down and provides the opportunity for the Spirit of God to work. 

The basis of our relationship with anyone should be the person and work of Jesus Christ.  We need to look at everyone with the eyes of Christ.  What we see will guide our thoughts, words and our actions in His love.  Warren Wiersbe puts it into such practical terms.  If the person is a Christian, we can accept him because Christ lives in him.  If the person is an unbeliever, we can receive him because Christ died for him."  Christ is the link between us and others.  Any other basis is not going to work.

Love

Mom

Forgiveness: The Greatest Evidence of Love

By John MacArthur from Ephesians Commentary. 

The greatest evidence of love is undeserved forgiveness. The supreme act of God’s love was to give “His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God’s love brought man’s forgiveness. God loved the world with such a great love that He offered forgiveness to sinful, rebellious, wretched, vile mankind, by sending His own Son to give His life on the cross that they might not suffer death. He offered the world the free gift of eternal fellowship with Him. 

Because forgiveness is the supreme evidence of God’s love, it will also be the most convincing proof of our love. Love will always lead us to forgive others just as love led God in Christ to forgive us (Eph. 4:32). 

Nothing more clearly discloses a hard, loveless heart than lack of forgiveness. Lack of forgiveness betrays lack of love (see 4:31). The presence of forgiveness always proves the presence of love, because only love has the motive and power to forgive. The extent of our love is the extent of our ability to forgive. Whatever another believer may do against us, no matter how terrible or destructive or unjustified, Christ has paid the penalty for that sin. No matter how others may hurt, slander, persecute, or in any way harm us, Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to pay their penalty. When a Christian expresses, or even harbors, vengeance toward a brother, he not only sins by allowing selfish hatred to control him but he sins by profaning Christ’s sacrifice—by seeking to mete out punishment for a sin whose penalty has already been paid by his Lord.

The Grinch's Expanded Heart...

 1 Peter 3:8-9  Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 

To My Beautiful Daughters in Him...

Been spending some time meditating a bit on these verses.  There is so much here. So many marvelous truths.  How do we as Christians, relate to others in a God glorifying manner...it is right here in these two verses.  

Verse 11 of Chapter 2 says "You're aliens and strangers...You're in a war not only against the soul but a war against the society around you and you must keep your behavior excellent among the pagans."  Peter went on to talk about three social relationships which demand godly living...citizens, employees and mates. Peter exhorts us to live out pure, godly lives...to live specifically in an evangelistic way before the world so that we glorify God in these relationships and we bring other people to the point where they will glorify Him in their day of visitation.  Visitation here means in the day of judgment.  In the day of judgment, then, they will face God redeemed and will not suffer His wrath.  It means you live your life in such a way as to bring others to Christ. It is living in accordance with God's will rather than self-will. That is the bottom line of living the good life.  How to do this is a paradox as it always is living for Jesus.  It is living opposite of how the world lives.

The first thing we are to do to live this way and heap not only blessings on ourselves but on others is to live with the right heart attitude.  The right heart attitude will be one of love.  Love is where it all begins.  The love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts will be made manifest in our dealings with others.

It will be evidenced by our like mindedness with other believers. There will be a harmony with God's people.   A unity of mind and a working together  for the purpose of doing the will of God here on earth. 

The right attitude also involves putting on of brotherly love and compassion for those God has placed in your lives...everyone..not just fellow Christians.  It is so easy to become hard-hearted in this world. We are constantly bombarded with bad news and evil.  It is easier just to insulate ourselves from all of it.  It hurts to love.  It hurts to open up your heart.  This is, however, what God wants us to do. Dig your roots down deep in the knowledge of what God has done for you...let mercy triumph in your heart and by His Spirit be actively compassionate, and lovingly concerned towards one another.  We are to love as brothers...sharing one another's joys and sorrows.  We are members of the same family.  When one hurts, the others should also.  When one is joyful, the others should be also.

Our hearts will be tender towards others...feeling their pain and sympathizing with them in an active way.  The right heart attitude also involves being courteous which means simply that you will be meek, humble and put others and their needs ahead of your own.

Peter goes on in verse 9 and exhorts us not to retaliate in kind when someone offends us or does evil toward us.  The right "God glorifying" response to offenses is not to return evil for evil or reviling for reviling but to respond with blessing.  Girls, the bible speaks to this very thing in so many many places.  God truly wanted us to hear this message and He exampled it mightily in His Son.  Returning good for evil goes so much against our flesh which almost always wants very much to respond with even greater evil.  If we want to obey our God, however, we will respond with blessings.  This CANNOT be done in our own strength. It must be done by the power of His Spirit working in our hearts.

When we do respond with blessing to evil done against us, oh, what blessings are ours. I can only describe the heart feeling that comes when I heap a blessing on someone who is not out for my good like this.  Think of when the Grinch's heart grew...that is how it feels...your chest expands...you can breathe easier.  You relax.  and your shoulders come down. You let go of something you didn't need and your whole body feels lighter somehow.  Joy has entered our heart and our capacity to love has been expanded!  What a lifting of the veil occurs as we see Jesus and what He has done for us then so much more clearly in our own hearts.  We begin to understand  the love that He wants us to show to others. We see the "self" that we need to die to. God operates with us on the basis of mercy...if it were not for His mercy all of us would be consumed and die in our sins. Returning evil for good is satanic.  Returning good for good or evil for evil is human.  Returning good for evil is divine.

We are to respond divinely as Jesus did.  "For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."  I LOVE this statement. You were called, that's your election to salvation,  for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.  Your  election...your salvation is a free undeserved, unmerited gift from God.  You have been freely given and are to freely give in return.  Instead of wrath and vengeance from God for your sin and offense, He has given you mercy, salvation and abundant blessings in Him.  We should know then very well how to show mercy and give blessings to those that have offended us.  If we do not do this, then we are not even close to being aware of what we have been delivered from and blessed with. We should be jumping at the opportunity to bless someone else with the undeserved, unmerited free gift of forgiveness that we ourselves received from God.  

1 Peter 2:21-23 puts it this way: "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:  "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;"

We are to depend on Him knowing that it is His battle and that the ONLY way to overcome evil is with good. Leave the vengeance and retaliation to Him.  He suffers long but as my pastor says, "do not mistake the longsuffering of God for indifference".  The time of judgment will come.  Our weapons are not carnal but spiritual...mighty in God.  We are to depend on prayer and His power. The greatest evil was overcome by the greatest goodness the world has ever seen...the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary.

Love

Mom

Remember Me...

Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.--Psalm 25:6-7

Father,

Remember me, O LORD, according to thy mercy...remember Thou, me, for thy goodness' sake. You are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort!  You regard my affliction...you hear my cry...you remember me according to the multitude of your tender mercies.  You remembered me in my lowest estate and made me your beloved daughter.   Your mercy, O God,  endures forever.

I want Your lovingkindness and truth to continually preserve me. So many evils surround me and my heart fails...be pleased O Lord to be with me and deliver me.  In the acceptable time, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me...bring me up out of the mire.  Keep me from sinking, Father!

Despite the wickedness of my heart, You, Father, have delivered my soul from the pit of corruption and cast my sins behind my back.  You are my God that blots out my transgressions and remembers my sin no more.  Help me O God and save me for Your mercy's sake.  Make Your face shine upon me...I have called upon You...let me not be ashamed.  I am accepted in Your beloved Son, Jesus.  Through Him I have obtained redemption by His blood...in Him I have forgiveness of sins...in Him I have an inheritance  that is incorruptible and undefiled, that will not fade away...reserved in heaven for me!

Walking Worthy!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.--Ephesians 2:10


Father,


I am your workmanship...ME!  I love meditating on that!  I am precious to You, my God...chosen, set apart and loved BEFORE the foundation of the world.  I am Yours...You have formed me for Yourself that I might show forth Your praise.   Lord, You have made me, bought me and established me.  You will make perfect all that concerns me.  I will not be forgotten of You nor will You forsake the work of Your hands.   I am confident that You who began a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ...for it is You who works in me both to will and to do for Your good pleasure.



Before I can do anything good, Father, You must do Your good work of salvation in me.  Without You, I can do nothing.  You have created in me a clean heart and renewed a right spirit within me.  I have been renewed in Your knowledge.   I am in your Son!  I am a new creature; old things have passed away...You, Father, make all things new! Fill me with your forgiveness and tender mercies toward others.   Let them emanate from my innermost being and may my outward demeanor reflect my inward heart that is set on You.  I want your fruits evident in my life.  


I have been created in Your image...in Your likeness for good works which You prepared beforehand for ME!  I beseech You, help me to walk worthy of the calling with which I have been called!  I want to be holy and blameless before You in love!  Let me walk with all lowliness, meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with others in love.   Your love...is the bond of perfection..pour it out in my heart! As much as depends on me Father, let me live peaceably with all men.  Help me to hearken unto You and walk in Your ways.   Let my light so shine that others will see my good works and glorify You, my Father in heaven.  Make me perfect in every good work...Work in me what is well pleasing in Your sight.  

AND YOU HE MADE ALIVE

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,  in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,  among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised usup together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.--Ephesians 2:1-10


To My Daughters in Him,


I memorized the first 10 verses of Ephesians chapter 2 over 15 years ago.  No other set of verses in the Bible have been more of a blessing to my heart than these.  They remind me that at one time I was dead in trespasses and sins...a child of wrath...I was a slave to sin....a dead man walking.  They remind me that but for the grace, mercy and love of my God, I would still be in that state.  My God made me alive together with Him, forgiving all my sins by blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were not only against me, but contrary to me.  He did not wave what stood against me (my sins) in my face and send me to hell.  NO!  He took them out of the way and nailed them to the cross and the spike used went through the palms of my Jesus.  My God disarmed principalities and powers  and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. 


When I am tempted in pride to feel superior to another,  I recall this verse:  AND YOU HE MADE ALIVE WHO WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS.  It is so easy for me to think I am something...I so need the reminders in the word of God that tell me otherwise...that tell me that apart from God I am nothing.  I am spiritually dead...unable to experience anything good.   Possession of true life comes through Jesus.  He who has the Son has life, He who does not have the Son does not have life.  


We have been saved by grace alone through faith alone...there is nothing in salvation that man can glory in but God.  Because of the work of my Jesus on the cross, I are now and forever under His banner of love and delivered from the kingdom of darkness, from condemnation and from divine judgment. Salvation from sin and death is by and because of the love of God.  That is the motivator. It was because of His great love that He provided a way for us to return to Him. When we reject Him, we not only reject His Lordship in our lives but we reject the great love with which He loved us.  It is His love that reaches out to each one of us who are His enemies...sinful, rebellious and depraved....and offers us not only salvation but every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 


What then should be my response to God as His chosen one...holy and beloved?  Colossians 3 comes to mind...pay special attention to the last paragraph (verses 12-17).  


If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  


Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,  in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.


But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,  and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slavenor free, but Christ is all and in all.


Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;  bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.--Colossians 3:1-17


Love
Mom

The Fullness of God!

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.--Ephesians 1:21-23


Paul's first request was that our eyes would be enlightened to see the greatness of His plan...his second request... that we would know the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe...His third... that we would be able to comprehend His majesty.  To really see as Isaiah did.. the Lord..high and lifted up.

Girls,  let us be overcome by His majesty...let us stand in awe of the greatness of He who lives and reigns within our very own hearts.  Remember Jesus...the One whom God sent to die for us...the One who now lives to make intercession for us.  Remember the Man seated at the right hand of the throne of God...He identifies with us, sympathizes with us and completely and utterly understands all that we go through.  Behold the Son of God!  Focus on the greatness of His plan, the might of His power and the exceeding beauty of His holiness and majesty.  Take your eyes off of all your "issues" and "problems" and place them on the Lord of glory Himself.

Allow His Spirit to give you the understanding to comprehend even a teeny bit of what Paul has prayed.  My Jesus is above every name that is named in both heaven and earth.  This is My Jesus...I am His...He is the One that fights for me...sustains me...secures me and empowers me to live for Him.  He who is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion...not only in this age but also in the age to come has placed His banner of love over me.  My Beloved is mine and I am His.

His majesty should terrify us but He is a Father to us...His humility not only increases His greatness but also allows us to draw close to Him without fear.  In fact, it is His kindness that leads us to repentance.  Yes, my God is high above the nations and His glory above the heavens but He who dwells on high humbles Himself to behold the things that are on the earth.  He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the ash heap that He may sit him with princes.  My awesome God, who is rich in mercy and loves me with an everlasting love even when I was dead in trespasses and sin, made ME alive together with Him and raised me up together with His Son and has made me sit in together with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I am filled with the One whose love passes all knowledge!   I am filled with the fullness of God!

The Exceeding Greatness of His Power...

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,--Ephesians 1:19-20

In verses 17 and 18 Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know the greatness of God's plan for them...what was the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of their inheritance.  Here in verses 19 and 20 he prays that they would understand the exceeding greatness of His power that will bring them who believe to their inheritance in glory.

Believers are given all the power, strength and ability they could ever have in Christ.   It is His power that saves us and His power that sustains and keeps us.  Whatever His plan for us,  we have been given the power to do it.   He is able to do exceedingly abundantly Paul says, above all that we could ask or think according to His power that works in us. IT IS NOT OF US.  We have this treasure in our earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.  For it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  We are not sufficient of ourselves, our sufficiency is from Him.  He is the one who makes us perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus, His Son.  Are you getting the message...that it is His strength, His ability, His power....not ours.  Oh, that my God would count me worthy of this calling, and fulfill in me all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power.

Don't ask God for more power...you already have it.  His strength....His might supplies every believer and will glorify every believer.  This is the same power that God brought about in Jesus His Son when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.  The same divine power that lifted Jesus from the grave to the earth and then from the earth to heaven is the very power that will lift us to glory and will seat us there with Him in the heavenly places.  If you doubt anything...look to what God our Father wrought in Christ...He is faithful and will complete this work on our behalf.  Truly we have no grounds for doubting.  We have been raised with Christ...seek therefore those things which are from above where Christ sits at the right hand of God.  Set your affection there...not on things of the earth...For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When He, who is our life appears, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will,  working in You that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen. --Hebrews 13:20-21

Open My Eyes...

Ephesians 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Father,

Open my eyes that I may see the wondrous things out of Your word.  Open the eyes of my understanding.....I want to walk as a child of light.  Lord, You commanded the light to shine out of darkness....You have shined in my heart...Give me the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Your Son, Jesus Christ...not just for me but for all whom You have placed in my life.

My hope is in You.   I, who was once an enemy of Christ...alone in this world and without God, have been brought nigh to You by the blood of Your Son.  You, Jesus, are my peace.  I have been justified by Your grace and have obtained eternal life.  Whether I  "awake" or "sleep" in death, I am with my God.  What a comfort that is.  I belong to You....there is no where I can flee from Your Spirit.  When I awake in heaven it will be in Your likeness and in You, right now, is where I live, move, and have my being.  Biblical hope is not like worldly hope...biblical hope is sure and certain..as if it had already occurred.  My hope that I have in You is based on your sure and certain word.  You are the same yesterday today and forever.  You do not change and magnify Your word above Your name.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:35-39


Father...your plan of redemption from before the dawn of time itself...from before the foundation of the world is so magnificent and wondrous.  My finite brain cannot begin to comprehend it.  It is only by your Spirit that I can even begin to fathom its depths and soar to its heights.  MY LIFE IS AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN ANCHORED IN ETERNITY.  YOU HAVE PLANNED EACH AND EVERY ONE OF MY DAYS AS PART OF YOUR ETERNAL PLAN.  TRULY COMPREHENDING WHO I AM IN CHRIST WOULD MAKE ALL THINGS IN THIS WORLD FADE.  


"Eye has not seen nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”  

"Our being glorious children of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ of all God possesses is the consummation and end of salvation promised from eternity past and held in hope until the future manifestation of Christ. There is nothing more to seek, nothing more to be given or received. We have it all now, and we will have it throughout eternity--John MacArthur

Your plan for me is that I would be conformed to the image of Your Son...that is the goal.  Help me Father, to walk worthy of this vocation into which I have been called.  Help me to walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.  I want to press on like Paul toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Help me, Lord, to be likeminded with Your Son and follow the example He set.  Whatever I do or say may it be for your glory.  

My Desire...

Today we will be looking at verse 17 of Chapter 1 of Ephesians...


"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:"

God the Father is not only our God but also the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This makes my brain hurt.  I do not claim to even begin to understand it.  Verse 2 of Ephesians, Chapter 1 begins with this verse: "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."  The bolded conjunction "and" indicates equivalence; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ is equally divine with the Father.  So Jesus is God...He is equally divine with the Father and yet God is not only our Father but His as well.  Jesus says this in John 20:17:

"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

Paul begins his prayer for these precious believers with thanksgiving.  True faith cannot exist apart from true love.  We can't love Jesus without loving His people.  (1 John 5:1) Paul is rejoicing and thanking His God that the Ephesians had both.  He then petitions God.  Read the prayer again here...it is beautiful. 

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,   Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.--Ephesians 1:15-23

Paul prays here that the Ephesians saints would be given the spirit of wisdom and knowledge of Him so that their predominant mindset would be one of total comprehension of what they have been given in Christ.  I so want that...I don't want head knowledge only...I want heart knowledge.  I want the disposition of my mind and heart to be filled with Him.  I want to really know...to really comprehend and appreciate the magnificent blessings that belong to me in Him.  I want to truly "see" what I have in Him already...I don't want to waste time searching for what is already available to me.  Instead, I want to remember to look to my God...He is the source of all I need...He is the Becoming One...the Great I AM.  He has all I need...my job is to open my mouth wide and receive it.  This is the mindset I am praying for!!!  2nd Peter 1 tells us that "His divine power has already granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." We are in need of nothing else...


Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ" 


Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should (reverence) Him"


So often we pray for what is already ours in Him.  Do not pray for those things you have already been given as if God were withholding them from you...pray with the attitude Paul has here.  Seek in prayer to appropriate what is already yours in Him.  John MacArthur tells us that our problem as believers is not our lack of blessings, but lack of insight and wisdom to understand and use them properly and faithfully.  Our blessings are so vast that the human mind cannot comprehend them.  Only the Spirit who searches the deep things of the mind of God can bring them to our understanding.  We can't comprehend them in our finite mind, but now we have the mind of Christ... and God has revealed them through the Spirit...for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.  


1 Corinthians 2:9-16  But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Praying for the Saints of God..

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,   Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.--Ephesians 1:15-23


To My Beloved Daughters:


Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 


Verses 3-14 of this chapter speak to the amazing and inexhaustible blessings we, who are in Christ, have.  All that belongs to Him is ours!  In this last part of chapter 1, we find Paul praying for the people he is writing this letter to...the saints of Ephesus...the beloved of God.  For this study we are looking at verses 15 and 16.  Paul's heart is so evident here.  He not only shares the gospel with them and tells them about the spiritual blessings they have in Christ, but He completes the loop by praying for them and interceding on their behalf.  His desire was that they would know all that was theirs in Christ to the fullest extent.



Beloved, pray for the saints of God...they are God's delight.  Pray that they would know that He was their inheritance, their portion both in this world and the one to come.  Paul's own desire and prayer for them was this:


 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe."  


Yup...as a saint of God, that is what I want.  Scripture tells us that Paul ceases not to give thanks for them and mention them in his prayers.  This verse has always spoken to my heart.  At the beginning of my Christian walk there were times when as I looked around at the world and at my sisters and brothers in Christ, that I felt overwhelmed with the need for prayer...but how could I remember everything and everyone???  Fortunately, that is exactly the reaction my God wanted me to have because then I looked up.  With God, all things are possible.    The one prayer that was necessary was the one where I implored my God to show me how to do this and He answered by bringing people and situations to mind as I went about my day that were in need of prayer.  After that prayer became like breathing...I trusted God to recall to my mind those who He would have me intercede for.  This blesses and helps me I think so much more than the people I might pray for.  My connection with my God is often open...my eyes focused on the spiritual...what a blessing for me at those times, because I am so much better off when I am thinking on God and others rather than me, myself, and I...the trinity of stupidity as Pastor Lloyd Pulley speaks of it.


Next up...verse 17.


Love
Mom

To The Praise of His Glory...

you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.--Ephesians 1:13b-14


The last part of verse 13 tells us that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise at the time of our salvation.  We who believe have been give the earnest of the Spirit of God in our hearts. At the moment of salvation every believer is given the Holy Spirit of God which secures and preserves His eternal salvation.  The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance that is reserved in heaven for us.  God's  word to us should be enough but in His grace and mercy,  He sealed us with His Spirit.  It is a divine engagement ring...we are now the betrothed of Christ who will never be forsaken. The Spirit is our guarantee.  


 "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you,  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.--Romans 8:9-11


We as believers are temples of the Holy Spirit.  


Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.--1 Corinthians 6:19-20


Those of us who believe now live and move and have our being in Him.  We have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. The Spirit of God is our Helper and our Advocate... He empowers us, encourages us and equips us for ministry.  He is also, as Ephesians 1:14 tells us, the guarantee of our inheritance in Jesus Christ.


The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.--Romans 8:16-17


We are not our own....We are His purchased possession. We do not live to ourselves because we do not belong to ourselves.  We belong to God so we live to Him.   In His grace and mercy He chose to provide us fallen creatures made in His image with redemption.   We are not saved and blessed in the heavenly places with all spiritual blessings for our glory but for God's.  Isaiah 43:20-21 says this:


The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
²¹ This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise.


We are saved to to declare His praise....to serve Him and glorify Him.  "My" accomplishments, "my" life are not for my glory...but for HIS because without Him I can do nothing.  I am His clay...His pot!  I am vessel for His use.  I am the work of His hand...any power or glory in this earthen vessel is of Him not me.  My God is the preeminent One!  He created me...He is the potter...He does as He wills with me, the clay.  I bear His image and am to proclaim and display His glory in my words, actions and life.  This is why He redeemed me...that I should be to the praise of His glory.  

The Secret of the Christian Life...

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.


To My Beloved Daughters in Him....


What is the secret of the Christian life...the secret of happiness?  Our God tells us right here in Psalm 1.  Blessed is the man...or happy is the man whose delight is in the law of His God and who meditates in it day and night.  The word meditate speaks to what a cow does after grazing all day.  She chews her cud over and over again...extracting every nutrient.  We are to do the same with the word of God...we are to ponder it and extract all we can from it.   Read on...


This man who abides in the word of God will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water...are you seeing that picture.  This tree will never lack for anything.  The leaves of this tree will not wither.  It will bring forth fruit in its season..and whatever this man does shall prosper.  


So often in my Christian life I have looked at all that "other" believers do "for God."  I get trapped into thinking that it is my "doing" that my God cares about.  Ha!  My God does not need me for anything.  He uses me in His plan as a blessing to me...I am privileged to be a part of it.  Here is the thing though when I look back over the last 18 years of walking with Him.  Here is what I see.  My job was abiding.  Abiding is what brought the fruit and I can take credit for none of it.  On the day of salvation my God gave me an "extreme" hunger for His word...so much so that I could not put it down.  I slept with my bible, ate with my bible, worked with my bible and relaxed with my bible.  This really has not diminished over time.  A love for His word in my heart is a daily prayer...And as in everything else, He has been faithful!  My fruit came from spending time with Him and His word.  My job was to abide...He did the rest.  It was the abiding part...you know....the sitting in my chair and studying His word or the meditating on a verse while I waited for the light to change...it was that part that brought the fruit.  Nothing about it was me...it was all Him!


Here are three words of advice found several times in Isaiah that would change hearts all over the world if heeded.  "Behold, My Servant!"  How was my heart changed the first time...by looking up by faith and beholding Jesus, God's Son, the One who was willing to go to the cross and die for me while I was still dead in trespasses and sins.  The One who lives to make intercession for me.  How is my heart changed now...how is it that I become more like Him...THE SAME WAY...by looking up by faith, surrendering to Him and allowing His grace to pour down like rain and perform beautiful miracles in my heart just as He did at my first cry! 


2 Corinthians 3:18: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The word "behold" means to gaze, to look steadily at.  When I look steadily into the face of Jesus and keep my eyes off people who disappoint and circumstances that distract I am at peace (Isa 26:3) 

I am changed and become more like Him.  Beloved, allow His word to penetrate your heart...it is alive, living and powerful....and okay sometimes very sharp.   Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind with the Word of God.  This is your job...and He gives you the grace to do it....all the rest will be added.  God promises. 

Love 

Mom