Good day friends! We made it to week two of our study. Congratulations! I pray that you have been blessed by your time spent reading and writing through the beginning of Ephesians! I sure have. It has been a very tough, emotionally draining week yet at the same time so many treasured moments. So many pockets of God’s grace and mercy shown to me and the ones around me.
One of my dearest friends back home is dealing with some very heavy physical, mental, and spiritual issues and I slipped out of town to love on her and her family for a few days. While there, I was able to celebrate my oldest friends birthday(from 3rd grade), my Mom’s birthday, my mother-in-laws birthday, my youngest son’s birthday, and mine as well! Just one of the many blessings of homeschooling, being free to travel when needed. Even with all that went on, I was obedient and I stayed in the word every day in some shape or form. Prayer time was a constant, minute by minute, tear filled, plea unto the Lord. He has been so faithful through it all! How has he He blessed you and spoken to you this week? Please share.
Enough about me, let’s get into why you are here! This week we are in the last verses of chapter two, all of three, and into four! So many wonderful truths to think and pray over. Remember from last week’s post, do not get bogged down if you get behind, just keep plugging away and stay strong. Link to last weeks post.
Chapter two
- Jesus himself is the cornerstone: a stone that forms the base of a corner of a building; joining two walls. He is the core that takes us and joins us with God the Father. He is what takes the old sinful us and joins it with His salvation and makes a whole new creation that becomes a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. v20-22
Chapter three
- Verse three speaks of the administration of God’s grace to him(Paul) for us. God was gracious and so very merciful to Paul during his Damascus Road encounter and totally changed his life for the glory of God. Literally from a murderer to a member of God’s family in a blink of an eye. It is a mystery, that at times is very hard for me to wrap my brain around and fully understand in my tiny human ways. But God’s ways and motives are so much greater and grander than ours. All He requires from us is to simply believe and have faith and praise Him for what he can do with us. v 2-7
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We are free to approach to God at any time with any problem that we may have and have confidence that He hears and He cares! It is a gift of his great love and GRACE that was given with and by His power.
- It truly is a mystery of creation, that an infinitely rich God, would love us enough to send his Son as an ransom and die a perfect death so that we(sinners) could go to glory with Him one day. By just faith in Him alone! Bam! What a sweet promise to cling to in hard times. v12
- We have to remember that Paul is writing this from jail and he’s in jail for preaching the good news yet he is still faithful to the saints and encouraging through his suffering. Paul’s prayer is so powerful in verses 16-21. He prays that through faith, that we would have the Holy Spirit’s power in our hearts. He prays that we would be rooted and established in love to grasp the width, length, height, and depth of His awesome love. This love surpasses all knowledge!
- He is able to do so much more than we could ever think, dream, or imagine by his glorious power that is at work within us. v20
Chapter four
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Unity and maturity in the body of Christ, the church, the believers in Christ. Being one with Him. Being one with other believers in the works of service to Him. I think verse one says it all! Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
- God gave us the apostles, prophets, evangelist, and pastor-teachers to prepare us for the good works he planned. The building up of our bodies(our inner beings) our spirits and our minds. Think back to 1 Timothy 4:8, “but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” All for the unity of our faith and knowledge of Jesus. To become mature in our ways. To live separate from the world. v 1-13
- We have to grow up in Christ and know the whole truth and tell the truth in love. v15
- Once, we lived in our darkened ways, but now that we are Children of Light we must no longer live as Gentiles and in the futility(uselessness) of the dark thinking. No more going along with the crowd. We were called to much more than that. We are made to go against the grain and live with His purpose and His plans in mind. Set your minds on things above! v17-19
- We now have life and understanding. We have freedom to walk in truth and with hope! There is no truth outside of Christ. Stay rooted in Him. Stay close to Him. Stay in His word.
Dear sweet friends, that is my prayer for you now! That you would know the truth of Christ’s love, to know Him better, share what you know, and walk in that love!
Please feel free to share with family and friends if you have been blessed by this journey. Subscribe to the blog so that you will get an e-mail update when new blogs are posted! God bless you sweet friends!
