Ephesians Chapter 1

Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:  NIV

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: NKJV

 Paul Introduces Himself

  By just his name. Paul could have written a biography of himself showing off his many accomplishments and successes as a world class Evangelist and author. In today’s culture, his educational degrees. He could have repeated what God did for him at various locations and the many miracles that accompanied his ministry, even though his ministry included “signs, wonders and miracles” (2 Cor 12:12). He could introduce himself in many languages for he spoke “tongues more than all” (1 Cor 14:18) of the church. But he did NOT. In the entire letters of the Ephesians or its twin book Colossians he never mentions it.

       Paul was a man of letters, less than 10% of the Roman males could read and write with a very small number of females, but neither was his elite grammar skills a reason for Paul to boast about himself. Paul’s writing skills were top of the class; several times he created new Greek words to express more clearly what he was teaching. But none of this mattered at all to Paul. Instead, Paul declared “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor 11:30)

An Apostle of Christ Jesus by the Will of God

  Paul started his letters to Ephesians, Colossians, Corinthians with the same expression “Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.”  Paul kept his calling uppermost in mind, so that he would never forget who he represents in his teachings. So that he would never slip into the foolishness of dwelling on himself, as if to brag about the success of his mission trips, so as to bring honour to himself the eyes of others. This is a sure path to transferring faith and dependence on God, to oneself, which will always lead to spiritual death. As the “angel of the church in Sardis” wrote, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (Rev 3:1).

       We can move throughout our day, attending to the many tasks that need to be done. With the Lord’s prayer on our lips “your will be done, on earth [in my life] as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

  Paul tells us “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed,” throughout the day, “do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:17). Permitting God to direct us, so that we may do His will, in the work we are assigned to do. With much thanksgiving and warm praise, with deep appreciation for the presence of grace, because you know you are “alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11).

By the Will of God

  Paul tells us that this letter was written under the direction and will of God, for all believers. God provided the time, place for this letter to be written, the content was God’s will. Paul “received” the content of his letters not by education but “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:12). The things that Paul teaches us should be regarded similar to post resurrection instruction from Jesus Himself.

  Now, in front of you, is a message from God the Father and his Son, preserved for over 2,000 years. It is for us to be blessed every day. This letter carries self-authenticity by each reader because it comes from God, the “everlasting God” (Isa 40:28).

  God has directed Paul to author this book of Ephesians, and God has preserved it for several thousand years, for us to read today. This book did not come from Paul himself, as is obvious to high esteem millions daily give to this letter. Would anyone today read Roman or Greek literature for inspiration? No, of course not.

God’s Holy People

  They are believers that have made a personal commitment to be faithful to what Jesus taught. They follow Him, His teachings as Peter says that we are to be, “obedient to Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:2). This is what a New Testament believer looks like and acts like.

  The word saint, used in the NKJV in Greek simply means to be set apart, not the newer meaning given today as one who has been canonized. Saint was a common word in the Roman world; it was used by pagan devotees because they were dedicated and set apart in their service to a god or goddess. All believers who are faithful to Jesus are today called Christians; a term that was only once used in the New Testament in Acts 11:26. This term has more meaning to us, in our culture then the word saint.

Praise to God the Father 1:3-6

Ephesians 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. NIV & NKJV

Grace & Peace

Twin blessings from two sources making it double strength.

Grace

  Is His undeserved favor, seen in always freely leaning toward us. Reaching out to us because of God’s pre-eminent kindness to bless us. To Love us, to care for us, to be Father to us, to forgive us and remove our guilt. To offer us the privilege of calling Him Father in prayer and justify us of our dark sins and mischievous guilty actions, that would, under normal circumstances, cause others to shun us.

  Grace is like a natural fountain, inside God himself, innate, it is inherent in God, directed toward unworthy and unruly sinners. For “all” of us in this world have “sinned” (Rom 3:23), but now we “are justified freely [forgiven] by His grace through the redemption [so we can belong to God] that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).

  The last verse in Ephesians places grace next to the love of God. “Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love [imperishable]” (6:24). The love of God is evidence of grace, his love and favour on us, is received and welcomed in our lives. Love may be the only thing that we come up from the grave with, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

  In the last verse of the book of Philippians says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Phil 4:23). Here grace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be in “our spirit.” This is a place, somewhere inside us, where “the [Holy] Spirit himself testifies with our [human] spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:16)! When God puts His loving grace inside us, we know it to be true and believe it because we have come to know the love and grace of God individually.

  Paul says that God had chosen him to be the revelator of God’s grace saying, “God’s grace that was given to me for you…made known to me by revelation” (3:2,3). This is the same expression that the book of Revelation says, “the revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him” (Rev 1:1). John is the revelator of prophecy, while Paul is the revelator of God’s grace.

  Paul used this term about 110 times. In Revelation grace is only used twice, both as greetings. In Ephesians Paul uses peace 7 times. There are many expressions of God’s grace, “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8) that are unique to Paul. How poor would be for our understanding of the love and grace of God, without Paul!

Peace

  Is a state of inner harmony, sourced from within the body temple by the Spirit. It is the third fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:23).  When we lose this peace, its absence will create a feeling of spiritual discomfort. This peace has unique attributes, it is called “the peace of God” because it is a gift from God. This unique gift Paul describes as transcending “all understanding” and it “will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). It has a protective effect in our lives, when confronted with anxiety and depression, enabling us to more quickly rise above them.

       Peace is sent to us by the Spirit, to dwell in us and with us wherever we go. For “the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:6), for “For the kingdom of God is… righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). God at creation “fashioned us for the very purpose” to give “us the Spirit” (2 Cor 5:5). This peace, sourced from God, can’t be explained on paper or in words. Because it is a Divine Influence that creates a peace that does not come from something that is human in origin.

  This heavenly peace that is God-given through “His Spirit” (Phil 3:3) will “guard” our hearts and minds “in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7). When we lose peace, its absence will create spiritual discomfort. The loss of peace warns us to stop and pray for direction and discernment or confession of something in your life that is numbing you spiritually. Peace is the guard of our hearts that spiritually alerts us when false steps have been taken. Peace comes from the “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). This precious gift is something that unbelievers do not have in the same manner as belivers, “There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked” (Isa 57:21).

Paul Writes in a Single Sentence 1:3-14

  The next 12 verses form one single sentence. This is a unique section, no one could ever know some of the details revealed here, unless God personally told Paul. It gives the closest appearance of God Himself speaking to us, about Himself. Paul presents the words of God in such a way that they seem to be speaking to the readers in first person. He mingles praise for many specific actions that God our Father does in our behalf. It is a brief description of the “message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (1:13) or as described by John as “the eternal gospel” that is “to proclaim to those who live on the earth” (Rev 14:6). Let this section warm your heart with love to God your Father.

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who [God] has blessed us with every [all]-spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. NIV

1:3 Blessed [praise be] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who [God] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ NKJV

Praise

  We should praise God because He has blessed us with every [all]-spiritual blessing. This is mind-blowing, they are not maybe, but available to you. These blessings come from heavenly places, from the very presence of God, where we have a welcomed place, in “my Father’s house” (John 14:2), the home of God. The larger part of our prayers should be in thankful praise.

Every Spiritual blessing

  The word spiritual relates to the influence of the Spirit, the invisible sphere in which the Holy Spirit imparts faith and love in all its forms to the believer. If it is your wish to have greater spiritual blessings, as in spiritual understanding, for the honour of God, not yourself. Then ask God in faith and it will be given to you. Open yourself up to what Scriptures actually say, not what a specific church tells you what to believe. Sadly, many church traditions, customs and doctrines form a filter, with dark glasses, that prevent clear understanding of what Paul is teaching.

In Christ

  This is where God sends all His spiritual blessings to us. Never ever can we count all the blessings of being in Christ, an expression used by Paul about 165 times. This is the same idea Jesus taught his disciples in John 15 about abiding in the vine. This is accomplished by means of the Spirit that “lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). The Spirit brings us into Christ and makes Christ “living water” (John 7:38) for our hearts and souls. Once tasted, we thirst again and again, always to be satisfied again. While we want more than just not a taste but seek for “rivers of living water” that flow from “within” our hearts (John 7:38). The redeemed of the Lord, in heaven will be led in hand by “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’” (Rev 7:17). This living water has a high mixture of joy with reason to be thankful and offer heartfelt praise.

  Paul expands this concept when he repeats it in Ephesians 2:6 “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him [God] in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  Imagine seeing yourself seated, next to Father God.  Being brought close to God the Father, we are given assurance that our prayers, praise and thankfulness are heard by the “God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:6).

Every Spiritual Blessing

God’s grace and love in action

1.     God gives us every spiritual blessing from heavenly places (1:3)

2.     God has chosen us (1:4)

3.     God has predestined us (1:5)

4.     God has adopted us (1:5)

5.     God has accepted us in the beloved (1:6),

6.     God has given us redemption. (1:7)

7.     God has given us forgiveness of our sins (1:7)

8.     God has given us an eternal inheritance (1:11);

9.     God wants to give the seal of the Holy Spirit to us (1:13).

10. God wants to give us the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our eternal inheritance (1:14)

  Thus, we should bless and praise God for what He has done for us with humility, we have not initiated this or worked for it. It is all of grace, God’s personal supply of grace. Direct from Himself, personally to you.

       It’s the Spiritual first, it is the Spirit that really counts. However, God gives tons of blessings every day, gifts, talents, common graces, like mechanical, carpentry or musical abilities, engineering, physical and mental abilities that are given to us to do good and be a blessing to others.

God has blessed YOU from Heavenly Places, where God’s presence can be seen somewhere in the center of the encircling universe, in this unimaginably, organized, proud, immeasurable cosmos. God is seen as blessing us first without us asking him. God is loving us first, before we even knew of his love as John wrote, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God carried his love for us so that we could see it, in earth time and place, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

It is estimated that there are between 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. This is only a human guess, for we can see just 5% of everything in the Universe. The remaining 95% we can't see. There is dark matter that are different dimensions of space, not discernible by a camera. Space does not all lie on a linear plain.

From within the Cosmos, perhaps even a different dimension of space that we can see—God sends to you—every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

  The story is told about a person who asked God if he could show him the universe of stars. Upon this request an Angel was sent to take him on a tour of the cosmos. The Angel picked him up and carried him up into the sky. Soon the earth disappeared and then our sun. Millions and more millions of Galaxies, spiral, elliptical, flat like a disk, round, oblong, pointed, shrouded in midst or like a column, multi-coloured galaxies passed by at amazing speeds. So, this person asked the if there an end to the universe of God and the Angel said nothing. After three times the Angel replied to the question if there as an end to God’s universe?  He replied, “There is no beginning.”  

 Ephesians 1:4 For He [God] chose us [you] in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his [God's] sight. In love. . . NIV

1:4 just as He [God] chose us [you] in Him [Christ] before the foundation [creation] of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, NKJV  

God chose you as first importance

  Take note of the flow of history: Before God started His endless creation, called the cosmos or universe. God chose you, as of first importance. People like you and your loved ones, were God’s first concern, before galaxies were created by unnumbered amounts. God set in motion ways to bring us home. Although God knew we would turn from Eden innocence to “do evil in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Sam 15:19). God planned the opposite. His plans see us far into the future where, passing over the years of darkness, instead God sees you in his sight as blameless, when in fact you were at one time the opposite, in every way possible.

God chose you

       It is not possible for us to choose him before creation. We did not use our free will to choose him first, since it was God’s act and “grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim 1:9), that we today are belivers. This was not a casual choice on the part of God, it was purposeful and methodical, he chose us, He loved us and wanted us. This was God's initiative or none of us would make it alive out of this evil world. This happens “because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16).

       When God made the world, he also prepared a kingdom, such as described as the New Jerusalem. Jesus has told us of the welcome given to the redeemed from earth, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34).

  Take this in for a moment, when God created the earth, he had prepared, a place for the fallen from earth, to come and live next to Him. This was not an afterthought on the part of God but deliberate and planned. When God calls us and chooses us, he also calls us to have a dwelling place next to Him.  While on earth we are by faith brought into the dwelling place, but in heaven we will be privileged to actually live, work, eat in the very home of God the Father. “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:3). God is not thinking of just your pleasure of being in the eternal dwelling place in the house of God. No. God is thinking of his pleasure of having you around Him! Yes believe it!

God sees YOU

  God, right now, sees you as blameless in heaven beside Him. All the mess on earth of thousands of years, He does not even notice. God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11).

  God sees you not guilty of anything because all is forgiven and forgotten. “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:34). We humans have a hard time forgetting an offense, when we do, we often say: “I have “forgiven them, however I will never forget.” Not so with God. If His love for us is forgetful, He could not say that the redeemed of the Lord will be blameless in his sight. For “all are justified freely by His [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

In Love

  This is a prepositional phrase. In love, the word “in” acts as the preposition and “love” is the object of the preposition, which describes a state of being deeply affectionate towards someone. God’s love should be understood as He is reaching out, to us, affectionately and emotionally. Not in judgment, not in reproofs, not waiting for our response first—No! God with his emotional love, seeks us out first, in love. Why? Because “He is good. His love endures forever” (Ps 136:1).

Best of all we, as sinners, can know something of the love of God for ourselves, in a very personal matter. Because “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

  Here is the point, God himself loves us, and He uses emotionally charged words, saying “He chose us” (1:4) and “He predestined us for adoption” (1:5) to Himself. When those “loved by the Lord, because God chose you” (2 Thess 2:13) are redeemed. John’s book of Revelation describes their welcome into heaven as a “wedding celebration” (Rev 19:9). A time of love for one another, like what a wedding here means to us. Love from God to us and love from us to God, an emotional bonding, a cementing relationship of trust built on affection for each other.

       We must not underestimate the importance of this phrase “in love.” We are reminded of the story that “Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, ‘I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel’” (Gen 29:18). Can you feel Jacob’s emotion and love for Rachel? Since we are created in the “image of God” (Gen 1:27), our emotions of love are representative of His.

God is Abounding in Love

  This expression of in love is a way that God has frequently described Himself. “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6).

Also, this expression in love is a common way God is described by others. “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you” (Ps 86:5).

       In Paul’s longest prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 he says, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love…” (Eph 3:17). What a privilege.

       The Apostle John is even more plain saying, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). And “Do everything in love” (1 Cor 16:14). Why not?

God has given to us a two-word picture of Himself. We can use as we pray for others. We can pray taking out request for spiritual awakening of someone, asking God “in love” to assure them they are loved by God.

Before the Creation of the World

   God’s eyes were always on you. Of course they are on you, God would not wait for something so long and lose it. God sees you safe and honoured at his side. All due to God’s own personal love. It is historically a very long-lasting love, nothing to compare with, before the creation of the earth. Although we did not exist, God waited a long time for us, not to lose us to forces of darkness. God, from his calm eternity, before the earth was created, viewed us, not as sinners, as we really are, but without blemish in eternity. It was a deliberate choice with a definite outcome. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” (Rom 8:33).

       David wrote as a reason why God should forgive him is that God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us "according to our iniquities." Why? Because “His tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old” (Ps 25:6; Ps 103:10 NKJV). In other words, this is the way God has always been. He has always acted in this manner since the times everlasting. Constantly God, as “the judge of the earth” (Gen 18:25), does not treat us as we deserve, but instead He is stunningly gracious.

God Chose you Deliberately

   “The hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2). This is before time even existed, in the sense as created life counts time. Perhaps the cosmos had no galaxies, no creation yet begun, anywhere. The real fact is that God knew you, God loved you. God chose you. Deliberately.

   But more surprising of all. God made a promise, to Himself, who was greater that God could promise? He promised Himself that He would see you through this life, so you can in reality sit with Him in heavenly places. This is not in our earthly body which Paul metaphorically calls a “tent.” But a “building from God, and eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands…a heavenly dwelling” (2 Cor 5:1-4). When Christ returns, He “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Imagine a body like that? Never feel you are alone…remember God’s promised Himself, there is no greater promise in this world then that?  Here is an important thing to remember: “In hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2).

       We are less than a moment in the full span of eternity. For “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Ps 90:2). In the midst of God’s eternity, you mattered to God.

Ephesians 1:5 (In love) He [God] predestined us for adoption [to Himself] to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his [God’s good] pleasure and will— NIV

1:5 (In love) …having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will NKJV

In Love

       This prepositional phrase belongs to previous verse and the present verse. It is the content, the reason for both of the two sentences. It is the glue that holds them, the hinge that both the present and previous thoughts swing together. In love God chose us before the creation of the cosmos and in love God predestined and adopted us—all of this because it was his pleasure and his will. Imagine God, if we can place him in humanlike settings, finding immense pleasure looking at all the redeemed his love is going to save. While in our lives this happens in real time, God’s love finds us, “while we were sinners” (Rom 5:8), hiding from God in darkness.

God has Predestined Us

       This Greek word means to pre-determined and foreordain, which is to determine the results in advance of the event. None of us can pre-determine the winning lottery number, for much of what we do we have to strive to do, hoping for good results.  

       God makes pre-arrangements, in your life, for your good, months and years before the event. Time and distance mean nothing to God.  We call this God’s quantum planning, expanding his resources where needed to prearrange things for our good.

  God opens the road removing the obstacles, ahead of you, most often unknown by us at all. God provides, ahead of time a way of escape from traps and snares of the evil to sidetrack you.

God planned from eternity your adoption for Himself, sonship. God has had a lot of time to accomplish his plans; thus, He knows what he is doing. It is not impulsive on God’s part; He has preplanned or predestined events and given to you the necessary natural talent for God’s purposes.  This could mean the person you married, your career, or opportunity that opened especially for you, was actually planned, designed and to be handed to you before time had started yet in the cosmos.  

  God pointed his finger at you, before you were born, saying, “I want you.” God moves on us, by his own choice, calling us to be His own Sons and Daughters.

Good Pleasure of His Will

  No one made God adopt us, there was no mental confusion, He did not have to weigh the cost of all the trouble believers have caused Him personally.

  It is all because it is the good pleasure of His will, which is God’s free unfettered will. There is great comfort in this for believers. Rest on that!

Adoption

  This is God’s plan for us, to become His sons and daughters with all the privileges implied. He has not left such an important matter as our adoption to ourselves, “not by works” of yourself, “so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:9). Not in name only, not paperwork— God gives of Himself, through “His Spirit” (Eph 3:16) which “proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26), coming from within Himself, now we are those “who worship God in the Spirit” (Phil 3:3 NKJV).

  Jesus promised, “I will send the Spirit to you, from the Father” (Jn 15:26)—to live in your human spirit. From His Spirit, inside the spirit of the believer, we know within ourselves our heavenly Father that loves us and has adopted us. For “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:16), those who are adopted. 

God’s Good Pleasure in Action—Ephesians

       1:5—By God’s good pleasure, with no regret, he has adopted us

       1:3—God blesses us with every Spiritual blessing

       1:4—God chose us in his own mind before created time

       1:5—God predestined us to be adopted as his son/daughter

       1:6—God did all this because of his glorious grace

       1:7—God did this because of the riches of his grace

       1:8—God has lavished upon us his grace

       1:9—All due to God’s good pleasure

       1:11—All due to the purpose of God’s sovereign will

       1:12—That we might be for the praise of God’s glory.

       1:14—God gives the Spirit to show we are His possession, to His praise.

       1:17—God is entitled to us as our glorious Father.

   1:17—God gives us from the Holy Spirit wisdom and revelation so we can know Him

       1:18—God freely gives us the riches of His glorious inheritance.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of his [God’s] glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he [continuously] loves. NIV

1:6 to the praise of the glory of His [God’s] grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. NKJV [Some Manuscripts read: “within His beloved Son”] NKJV

1:6 The Geneva Bible of 1587—"To the prayse of the glory of his grace, wherewith he hath made vs freely accepted in his beloved.” (The Geneva Bible preceded the King James by 24 years, translates the text more clearly then the KJV or NKJV)

 Freely Given

  The Greek word for freely is charitoó, meaning to give favour and to bestow it freely. It is best translated in the NIV as “freely given”. This word carries a deeper meaning, giving us a picture of God freely pouring out this grace upon us, individually. Why? Because God’s kindness is seen in giving to us grace in abundance., “we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” (1 John 1:16).

  This same Greek word is also used in the greeting given to Virgin Mary by the Angel Gabriel. “Greetings you who are highly favoured [freely], the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28).  

  This grace of God given to us, should make us feel we also are highly favoured in the sight of God. God wants us to see Him as having glorious grace toward us. Not given because of something that we have earned or sought after. It comes because a perfect and holy God that does not esteem a believer as impure as they really are, so he covers them with his grace. This is what Jesus asked of His Father, in mercy to forgive the soldiers that were placing him on the cross. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:14).

To His Glorious Grace or the Glory of his Grace

  God’s grace is given so that it can be publicly display to his honor. He has no need to hide his grace to sinful humanity because God is not ashamed of loving, having mercy on us and showing undeserved favor to dark sinners. God blesses us from his own honor.

    God has mercy on many people that have limited understanding of the Word of God. They may act out of duty to a church that tells them what to do or to the collective conscience of their society and families. So, God meets with mercy, even though they often are following the teachings of men, in sincerity.

     For example, David had about eight wives and many concubines, which was not the Garden of Eden model. This was later affirmed in the New Testament teaching that an elder must be “husband of one wife” (Titus 1:6). God, out of his personal mercy, had kindness on David, despite his cultural misunderstandings, that it was a Kings duty to have many wives. So should we have mercy on others, which are confused in theology, in sincerity.

Paul has expressed God’s wonderful grace in other passages in his letters. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace” (Rom 3:23,24).

“Having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

There are very few parents that are as gracious as God is toward evil and rebellious, disobedient runaway children, as is God. It is like God is not ashamed of their evil, instead his grace reaches out to them to get their attention.

      In short, God is proudly honourable by freely giving us His grace. If God asked us to pay it by being good first, we would all fail. It has to be freely given, or we would never in a lifetime deserve or earn it.

God’s Glorious Grace

  Is His undeserved favor, seen in always freely leaning toward us. Reaching out to us because of God’s pre-eminent kindness to bless us. To Love us, to care for us, to be Father to us. To offer to us the privilege of calling Him Father in prayer and justify us of our dark sins and mischievous guilty actions, that would, under normal circumstances, cause others to shun us.  

God made us accepted in the beloved

  Also translated we are accepted in “His dearly loved son” and “the One he loves.” God has placed us next to his Son, whom God dearly loves, that is dear to the heart of God. This is what it means to be “in Christ”. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Let that sink in, God has no condemnation when you look to God in faith.

Praise To Jesus Christ (1:7)

“So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet 4:11

Ephesians 1:7 In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace NIV

1:7 In Him [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His [God’s] grace [1:6] 

1—Redemption in Christ, Christ our Redeemer 

  The word forgiveness means to let go and send away. Our sins are no longer held against us. God will not hold them against us; they have been paid by another.  This is the extravagance of divine goodwill, to justify the guilty and let the innocent pay for the crime. But this was no ordinary innocent person—it was the Son of God Himself. God’s Son, in ways we are unable to understand this eternal relationship between God his Son. It could be truthful to say, God participated in our forgiveness in the shared blood between Father and Son, not from a distance, but with and by and through, all the time, in all ways—in His Son.

  The Bible magnifies the wonder of God’s power of forgiveness, saying that “God forgives all my sins” (Ps 103:3). Again, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:34). John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and purify us of all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Now, by your faith accept Jesus as your redeemer. For “all” of us, “are justified freely by his [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

2—Redemption in Christ, Christ our Redeemer 

  This word, in the Roman world, redemption was to go to the marketplace where slaves are sold and purchased. Here God is seen as releasing us from the slavery of sin, by a payment of ransom, His blood. Christ become the ransom price to free the sinner, through purchasing the slave at the cost of his own blood and life on earth.

  Christ becomes our dear redeemer. This is His principal work to pay a redemption price for believers. It is central to Christianity; it’s most beloved term. There is nothing more precious to believers than the title Redeemer.

It is a picture of releasing and freeing prisoners of war on payment or ransom. In Exodus 21:28-32 shows there was a redemption in a payment option, of someone under the sentence of death. 

  “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole” (Gal 3:13, Dt 21:23). The idea here is that a person hanging on wood poll was regarded as a curse. Jesus freely took the curse upon Himself, when he was hung on the wood cross, like a poll. He died under a Roman curse, a cruel punishment method for killing criminals. So, at his resurrection he becomes our redeemer, having paid the price of our sins.

  But more than that, the price He paid is His right to forgive our sins, justify us of all that wrongful things we have done in life. Welcome us into greater heavenly family, with countless Angels, and so vast a cosmos making up endless different unmeasured dimensions. But more, we have permanent residence in a city that is approximately 1,400 miles, high and wide, of transparent gold.  None of this would be ours except for the price made by God and his Son. But more, they did not do this because of obligation, but love, looking at you. Love that envisions you as already, soon to be, present with a joyful endless life.

Forgiveness of sins

  The word forgiveness means to let go and send away. Our sins are no longer held against us and if God does not hold them against us, nobody can! We are free from guilt that may plague our thoughts with depression and sorrow.

  This is the extravagance of divine goodwill, to justify the guilty and let the innocent pay for the crime. But this was no ordinary innocent person—it was the Son of God Himself. God’s Son provides necessary forgiveness that God the Father accepts. It could be truthful to say, God participated in our forgiveness in the shared blood between Father and Son, not from a distance, but with and by and through, all the time, in all ways—in His Son.

  It must be understood that our forgiveness is very serious to God. It was not cavalier, offhandedly accomplished on the part of God. It was very costly business to make available to us sinners a forgiveness, a righteousness, which effects the uniqueness between God and Son. Because the forgiven and redeemed from this earth, become part of the larger family of God in heaven. When a believer is in Christ, they are to be brought, in the future, to somehow share in the blessed relationship between Father and Son. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). As the Father has his arms around His son, the forgiven and redeemed are included in this embrace.

  The Bible magnifies the wonder of God’s power of forgiveness, saying that “God forgives all my sins” (Ps 103:3). Again, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:34). John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and purify us of all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Now, by your faith accept Jesus as your redeemer. For “all” of us, “are justified freely by his [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).

Riches of his grace

  This points to boundlessness of divine wealth in the currency of grace. If we could open the vaults of heaven to see the stored gold and silver, what would we see? God’s vast unmeasured, unweighable, uncountable currency of Grace.

       God spends his currency in overflowing, unexpected grace, giving rich benefits to the underserving, chiefly forgiveness—"All to His good pleasure” (1:9) In this process God forgives all their sins, through the riches of His grace. He takes ownership of us from the marketplace of enslavement of sin.

  There is not enough English prose to describe God's superlative great mercy of God toward us. This is the reason why we have redemption and forgiveness is because of the—riches of his grace. If it were not for grace, God would not pardon us in love when He rightfully should be angry at our willful abandoned sins.

Praise to God our Father 1:8-10

Ephesians 1:8 [Riches of his grace 1:7] That he [God] lavished on us [his grace] with all wisdom and understanding

1:8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence” NKJV

To Lavish On Us

  This Greek word lavish means, “to be over and above and beyond the expected measure, to surpass expectation.” God wants us to know that He has a super-abundant supply of divine grace, for us. It is like God has showered, in a flood of grace, upon us the “riches of his grace” (Eph 2:7). The KJV and the NKJV poorly translates this wonderful expression describing the superabundance of God’s grace with the word “abounded” or “abound”.

       We need this lavished “grace” on us humans: Humanity has problems, they are murderers, thieves, abusers of children and women, betrayals in marriage, anger, slanderers, using filthy language and demeaning others, dishonourable in betraying friends with no respect for truth. These can come to Christ and find forgiveness. If God did not have such an endless humanity already would have exhausted the fund of God’s available grace. 

There are many examples of God’s mercy in the Old Testament. Just consider King David, sending an assassin to kill a man so that he could take his wife for himself. Yet God had mercy on him and spared him the worst of his deserved punishments and best of all still loved him. But more, Jesus came in the lineage of David, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).

All Wisdom

  Divine wisdom of God in dealing with us, and not throwing in the towel saying, “I give up on you.” All provisions needed by sinners, God has foreseen and provided for ahead of time. His provision for you is more than adequate, due to His lavished grace and love. When you come to Christ, you will know this to be personally true for you.

All Understanding

  Knowing that we are weak, broken, sick, addicted, over medicated, raised with nothing but violence around us. Yet God has understanding that is not from human origin. In honesty each of us can acknowledge that God has been gracious to us, instead of being judgmental and condemning as we deserve.  

  A Pastor told the story about an older Christian who was asked to give his testimony. He told how God had sought him out and found him. How God had loved him, called him, saved him, delivered him, cleansed him, and healed him.  A great witness to the power of God’s grace which is the glory of God.

  But after the meeting a brother took him aside and said to him, “I appreciate all you said about what God did for you, but you didn't mention anything about your part in its salvation.”

  “Oh yes” the older Christian said “I apologize for that I'm sorry I really should have said something about my part. My part was running away, and God’s part was running after me until he caught me.”

“Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?
    You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.” Ps 89:8

“Who is a God like you,

who pardons sin and forgives the [our] transgressions…

but delights to show mercy.

You will again have compassion on us;

you will tread our sins underfoot

and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18-19

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins, and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.”

“Who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

  As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
or he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust…
But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with [stays with] those who fear him,

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Ps 103 (NIV; NKJV adapted)

Ephesians 1:9 he [God] made known to us [revealed, opened up] the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure [delight], which he purposed [set forth publicly] in Christ NIV

1:9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself NKJV Note: (Greek: “He proposed in Him,” Not “In Himself,”)

Geneva Bible of 1587:” according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in him”

Berean Literal Bible….“according to His pleasure, which He purposed in Him”

Mystery of His Will

  Once it was hidden from full view but now revealed in the gospel as Paul has been describing since the beginning of this chapter.

This Mystery

  Is hard to work out, something that appears impossible to be accomplished. Now, Paul tells us God has revealed this mystery in Christ. His birth in a manger, his humble first 30 years as a physical labourer, His baptism and the voice from heaven declaring Him to be is Son, the Son of God. Followed was his teaching, his death and resurrection. Unheard of from all time.

This Mystery

  Points to something new—the appearance of the Son of God, on earth and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which moves into the human heart setting up a sacred temple.

This Mystery

  Who could have, in past ages, thought of a plan whereby God would publicly display his good pleasure in the story of His Son Jesus Christ? Nobody! Ever could have thought of, dreamed up, such a detailed plan on how God “in love” “predestined” us for “adoption” to himself (1:4,5).

  It was God the Father’s plan. How God was going to forgive and redeem sinners, by means of coming to knowledge of Christ as revealed in the four gospels and what the Apostles proclaimed. Who in ages past could have imagined a plan that has moved millions and billions of people over the world, for so long a period of time. Nobody! It is God’s mystery now opened to us.

Wonderful, merciful Savior
Precious Redeemer and Friend
Who would have thought that a Lamb
Could rescue the souls of men
Oh, You rescue the souls of men

A song by trio Selah 1989

Good Pleasure

       The nature of God is when he does something for us, it is by his own good pleasure. God enjoys, finds delight what he does for our benefit. God does not do anything out of obligation. He revealed the mystery of how he was going to save sinners; it was not due to please someone else, even his own Son. It was a natural for God to provide a generous way to offer us eternity, that he was pleased to reveal it to us.

       Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Matt 12:32). What else might God be planning to give the redeemed in heaven? Who could even hazard a guess?  What God has planned for the redeemed, he already has everything in place. Because he planned it all out ahead of time. The idea of giving us something that will last forever brings Him much pleasure.

Ephesians 1:10 [the mystery of His will] to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment [fullness of the times]—to bring unity to all things in heaven [cosmos] and on earth under Christ. NIV

Ephesians 1:10 reworded: “God has a plan to carry out, when the right time comes, the fullness of the time. God will join together and bring into unity all things in heaven and on earth, under Christ, his authority.

 1:10 that in the dispensation [a period of time] of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth—in Him [Christ]. NKJV

Put Into Effect—Plan to Carry Out

  God plans to open the reality for all to see this “mystery” (Eph 1:9) of how God is going to make good on his promise to give eternal life, to “obtain an inheritance” (Eph 1:11) with sonship with Himself. He has revealed his plan in first coming of Christ. Which demonstrates that God really does love the world, all the people that live in this world called earth

All Things in Heaven

  We the redeemed of the Lord are join together with all angelic hosts and inhabitants of unlimited, unnumbered Galaxies of the cosmos.

To Bring Unity to All Things in Heaven [cosmos] and On Earth Under Christ (1:10)

  This is the second “mystery of His will” (1:9). It points to a future time when God brings all things together in Christ, including all belivers from earth who are in Christ Jesus by faith, together with those in heaven, since creation.

  This is the grand conclusion of God’s mystery, when at last all things on earth are concluded. Apostle Paul says, “After that” the Second Coming, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them [those raised from their graves] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess 4:17).

  After this, you are there standing “in front of the [God’s] throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal” (Rev 4:6). You are standing in and among the “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb [a prophetic symbol for Christ]. They were wearing white robes [all humanity as in unity and purity] and were holding palm branches in their hands [symbol of celebration]. And they cried out [joyous expression] in a loud voice [all together]: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev 7:9-10). Meaning we are all here, not because of ourselves but for no other reason than God the Father accomplished it through his Son.

  Now at last all things are at peace. All peoples, races, from centuries past to the present age, educated, illiterate, children, male, females, seniors and youth—all together in peace and love with joy, thankfulness, as “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). You will hear the words of God saying to you “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34). There you “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:42).

  There you will be “giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col 1:12,13).

Times Reach Their Fulfilment or The Right Time Comes

       This fulfilment is the conclusion of God’s mystery, then there will be a grand celebration, with Christ and his brothers and sisters, now, not just in faith, then we will be the real children of God.

  Can we imagine that in heaven, in the endless cosmos, there will be a celebration, maybe with cosmic wide fireworks, when Christ is enthroned, so that “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything” (Eph 1:22). Along with his sons and daughters at his side. With the beaming face of God, which had personally called and saved, having predestined them (1:11), all who stand before Him.  

  Then we will give “joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:12-14).

  Tell the Lord, you want to be there. When you will be present in your Father’s house, when it becomes a reality, where it can be said, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Rev 21).

Unity to (in) All Things

  First and foremost, we rebellious souls, are now God’s adopted children, “blameless in his sight” (1:4). Now, Satan and his followers, the fallen angels and unsaved humans are in justice excluded from the gathering of all things under Christ. Unity is restored in heaven, from the crack of disunity created by Satan and his host that is the father of evil, hate and discord enough for murder and betrayal of best friends.

       Why is Satan and his host excluded? Not because they have sinned and rebelled against heaven. For this would exclude all of us standing there in “white robes” (Rev 7:9). Oh no, not because they sinned, yes, they have sinned grievously, so have the redeemed. Why then?

       Because “those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Satan and his host have steadfastly refused to believe in Jesus the Son of God. Thus, along with many other individuals from earth, they themselves have forfeited any claim to eternal life.

Sin and its Author Satan has Created Disharmony. Now Unity is Restored.

  God’s answer, His mystery now revealed, is found in a new elevated position of Christ through the entire cosmos, Satan is vanquished. Perhaps the biggest difference is not the announcement of a new position for Christ the Son of God. His prior position already has been described as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15).

  The biggest difference with Christ is present alongside, all his family that are “co-heirs” with him (Rom 8:17). As Christ is elevated, in ways yet to be disclosed the redeemed of the Lord share in His elevation in heaven.

Praise to Jesus Christ and God the Father 1:11-14

 Ephesians 1:11 In him [in Christ 1:10] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined [past tense] according to the purpose of him [God] who works all things [in our lives] according to the counsel of his will. (English Standard Version, ESV)

1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will NIV

1:11 In Him [Christ] also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined [past tense] according to the purpose of Him [God] who works all things [in our lives] according to the counsel of His [God’s] will, NKJV

God’s Purpose and Counsel of His Will

       God, from within Himself sets a course of action that will result in us receiving an eternal inheritance, “Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you” (2 Chron 20:6). “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

The context is that when we are in Christ, by faith, it is because it is in accordance with God’s will, because God has predestined it and purposed it. Meaning that God has made pre-arrangements, in your life, for your good, months and years before the event. Time and distance mean nothing to God.  We call this God’s quantum planning, expanding his resources where needed to prearrange things for our good. God opens the road removing the obstacles, ahead of you, most often unknown by us at all. God provides, how many times we will never know, saving, helpful solutions to problems you face, a long time ago.

  Meaning that in the mind of God long ago, what he willed has finally become a reality in your life today. It must bring to God much satisfaction to see and hear your prayers of trust and faith in Him. To hear you say to Him “Abba Father” (Rom 8:15) is like music to Him.

  Never forget that God Himself “chose” (Eph 1:4) you, He planned a way for you to be in Christ. When we are belivers in the gospel, it is because it is the will of God our Father. Celebrate this and acknowledge that you have been “born of God” (1 John 1:13; 4:7; 5:1,4). With Peter be thankful for what God the Father has done for you, “In his [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3).

  When we find ourselves as believers in Christ, we should realize that God predestined this for us who works all things out according to the purpose of his will. Meaning as God once said, “Who is like me and who can challenge me?” (Jer 50:44). No one.

  Now we can give “joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of eternal life in his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). “He [God] called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Thess 2:14). That's true, you who are born again, of the will of God, will have part of the glory and honour given by God the Father to His Son as part of your eternal inheritance, for “in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Col 2:10).

  But let’s not misunderstand God’s planned purpose for our lives, for He “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). God does not plan only some to be saved and some to be lost. “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Rom 8:34). The truth is that “God so love the world” (John 3:16), not just some.

Obtained an Inheritance

       The Greek means to be assigned a portion, to receive a share of our inheritance. In Christ, we have our inheritance allotted to us, decreed by the purpose of the will of God the Father, who works out everything he does, in accordance with the counsel of his deliberate mind and choice, within the motive of his “love” (1:4), to carry out His desires. “This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Pet 1:4).

       Paul acknowledged that this gospel he is teaching us, “I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:12). So, God has left this letter to the Ephesians, to know all about our promised inheritance, all by the will of God. So that we may gain the right to be citizens of the kingdom belonging to God, but more “members of God’s household” (2:19).

  Amazingly as Christ is promoted, we as his “chosen” and “loved” (1:4,11; 3:17) “predestined” (1:5,11) and “adopted” (1:5) and “redeemed” (1:7) are likewise elevated. Christ is a new head, the new leader for the entire cosmos, for ever and ever. Due to God’s good pleasure. This is the kind of love we know nothing of, at all, that willingly yields some of His absolute power to people like us? This kind of humility and love from a God of absolute power and righteouness, is assurance that “righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you” (Ps 89:14).

Redeemed in Heaven

  When the redeemed of the Lord are all together in the Holy City, there is a river that flows all throughout this city called the “river of the water of life, as clear as crystal.” It has its endless vibrant life-giving source “from the throne of God” (Rev 22:1,2). On each side of the river of life, there grows a large tree, united above the river of life, spreading its branches, arching over the entire city, loaded with the fruit of life. There are two sources of eternal life that the redeemed of the Lord, can drink and eat. And “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2).

       Why do we need additional healing in heaven. Just an idea, consider the number of peoples, who are not cultural or political friends while on earth. For instance, a Viking warrior in the year 1,000 AD with a boat load of other warriors were known for robbing and killing priest and nuns in their monasteries. Just imagine a nun meeting the very warrior that killed her, who later in his life was change by faith in God. Around that tree of ultimate healing and life, love is restored, and they embrace each other in heart felt care for the other and friendship blossoms, not only among them, but between everyone that eats and drinks of the fruit and water of life. Be there or be nowhere.

  “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34). There you “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:42). Be there or be nowhere.

Ephesians 1:12 in order that [so that] we, who were the first [who already] to put our hope in Christ [past tense], might be for the praise of his [God’s] glory. NIV

1:12 [So] that we who first trusted [hoped] in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. NKJV

First to put our hope in Christ

  The Greek means to hope, not “trusted” as in the NKJV. Translated as “hope” in the NIV, NAS, NET and ESV.

Speaking to the early Ephesian believers Paul could rightly say that they were the first who already had put their hope in Christ, in their home area. When we hope in Christ, we bring praise and honour to God. Trust in God is most often understood by experiences we have when, in answer to prayer, we have found God to be faithful to his promises and have learned he is trustworthy. Faith in God is always in the present tense, today you can have faith in God, that He loves you and has your best interest in His mind. Hope looks to the future where we perceive the promises of God, as to when He will return and take us to “my Father’s House” (John 14:1), is so real we can almost taste its joy.

Praise of His [God’s] glory

       When we trust in Christ, in God’s eyes we are bringing him praise. It honours God when He sees our faith in Christ. When all are safe in heaven, we all together are going to shout with much brimming over enthusiasm, as loud as we all can, in the largest in the history of the world, a choir of millions of the redeemed—“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Rev 7:12). God is honored to see and hear us say this.

  Our praise is not an empty praise as some have said, “Long live the King.” Oh no! These redeemed from earth, have been so gifted as sons and daughters of God, so blessed with an eternity of youth and energy to live in love, in peace, in happiness, in joy, in delightedly sharing of the responsibilities of the Creator God—into the undimmed future. And more beyond that.

Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 1:14 who [The Holy Spirit] is a deposit [pledge, downpayment] guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession [until God redeems what He owns] —to the praise of his glory. NIV

1:13 In Him [Christ], you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed [in Him] with the Holy Spirit of promise. 1:14 who [Holy Spirit] is the guarantee [deposit, “earnest” KJV] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [God’s ownership], to the praise of His glory. NKJV

Reworded: After you listened to the message of truth, called the gospel of your salvation, by faith you believed and were brought into Christ.  You put your hope in Christ. As the results you were sealed, when in Christ by faith, with the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to you as God’s pledge, as a downpayment for your inheritance, which is eternal life, when the time comes for you to become God’s personal possession, when you are made part of your Father’s family inheriting treasures in heaven, to the praise of God who is so proud to do this for you.  

Downpayment, Pledge, Deposit, Guarantee 

  The Greek word denotes the first instalment of money or goods, called down payment or deposit. This serves as a guarantee or pledge for the completion of the transaction that God will give to us, promised blessings of life everlasting, soon in the future.

Guaranteeing our inheritance

  The Spirit is our deposit to our inheritance, as a downpayment of our legacy to come. We can taste it now through the ministry of the Spirit, sensing the ever dynamic and moving love, joy and peace in our lives.  While we wait for the fullness, in the future, when we receive our inheritance. What an amazing security. The presence of the Spirit in our lives, this is evidence we belong to God the Father, we are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. These, sealed, shielded ones, are the resurrected ones.

       They are marked with a seal; this is authentication that believers are truly God’s and none of the promises God has made to them will fail. This will lead us to Christ as we increasingly change into the character of God.

1st A seal is used to confirm a believer is true and genuine.

2nd A seal is used to make an object as the property of another.

3rd A seal is used to make something secure.  

To the praise of His glory

  This closing words tie us with the opening words, “praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph 1:3). Everything we have in Christ comes from God the Father and returns to God, the beginning of his will and the ending of his glory—his personal honour. It is God-centred from beginning to end.

After listening to the message of truth

  What is this? What were the Ephesians listening to? They were listening to the teachings of the Apostle Paul and his team, Silas, Timothy, Luke and Titus in connection with accounts of the life and resurrection of Christ from eyewitnesses.   

       In Ephesians 1 and 2, God Himself is displayed as the mastermind, the designer of the gospel of our salvation, through and in Christ. Both Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit in connection with the repeating of the gospel, as presented in Ephesians, are parts of God’s plans to save sinners like us.

God Himself is the designer and mover, all from His “love” (1:4)

  All from His “good pleasure” (1:5) and

  All from His “glorious grace” (1:6) that are behind

  All the events in our lives that give us adoption, sonship with God the Father.

Why, so we can stand, by grace, in His presence to “be holy and blameless” (1:4) as his children that he loves.

In Him, In Christ Jesus

  This message of truth must be Christ centred, “For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (John 6:27). Jesus told his disciples “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63). If the teaching of the Gospel Message is not Christ centred, is not appreciative of the Father God’s planning our salvation and the Ministry of the Holy Spirit—it is most likely not a saving sealing message.

Having also believed, you came to faith

  Because God has “made it known to you.” (Eph 1:9). This is how belief becomes real in our hearts. For an unknown and unseen reason, the words in the NT come alive to you. You slowly or sometimes very quickly become persuaded that the gospel message is true. It is a heart-based influence that affects the mind leading the former unbeliever to seek after God and desire to know more about the gospel.

  For the gospel is the great magnet to human hearts, moving their emotions, feelings out of themselves, not under the persuasion of their mind, but affecting them in ways they have never been moved before. Then what happens? They come to faith, they “have faith in God” (1 Thess 1:8), real faith that starts as a very tiny “mustard seed…Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches” (Matt 13:31,32) Over time you grow into strong faith lending support to many others, “in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13).

Sealed with the Holy Spirit

  After the gospel message has moved you in faith, which is God moving in your heart. God also makes the next move; you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. This Spirit of promise refers to Jesus’s promise the He would send to us the Spirit to “help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16,17). Teaching you, from your inner self, the truth of the gospel message as taught by Jesus and his apostles.

  We must never underestimate the value of being Spirit filled. Those who are “led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (John 8:14) and “If any one does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ” (Rom 8:9). Here the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ, because this is the very purpose of the Spirit. So that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…being rooted and established in love” (Eph 3:17)

Many names given to the Holy Spirit

  There are many names used for the Holy Spirit in the NT. The Apostle Paul talks about the Spirit about 130 times. Jesus makes the Spirit a major theme in John 3, 4 and 14-16.

  Jesus used the Greek word: parak'laytos to describe the function of the Spirit (John 14:26). It is translated into English in a variety of ways:  advocate, intercessor, consoler, comforter, helper, one called alongside like a companion and one who stands by us. No single English word has the same range of meaning as the Greek word, for all the words apply to the work of the Spirit. What a privilege to “live by the Spirit” (Gal 5:25), providing for us a means of assistance, direction, the ability to see right and wrong and directed in your life to a work, a family, a career, a place where God will plant your feet in goodness.

  The three chief names used are: “The Holy Spirit,” or just called “Spirit” and the “Spirit of God”. There are other names not used as frequently: “God’s Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16);  “Spirit who is from God” (1 Cor 2:12); “Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11); “Holy Spirit of God” (Acts 4:30); “Spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10); “Spirit of holiness” (Rom 1:4); “The Spirit of glory and of God” (Act 7:55; 1 Pet 4:14); “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6); "Spirit of Truth (John 15:26) and “Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9).

How can we have more of the Spirit in our lives?

  The Spirit is sent to “testify” about Jesus; “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (John 15:26). Thus, the time we spend on the life and teachings of Jesus and the witness of His apostles, the more we will have of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

  Sealing is what is inside a person, something so very precious to God. It is the “message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (1:13). God wants to protect your faith, as Paul says that “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). The brother of Jesus, Jude advises us to “keep yourselves in God’s love” (Jude 21). By the love of God, streaming out of our affections, unbidden, not forced, but natural—the Spirit is sealing you as a child of God. As Jesus said, “rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38), this living water, is the water of spiritual life that will at times cause you will feel new. This is not human sourced, it is an influence that will spread out of your mouth and heart to God in praise, song and thanksgiving. Followed by a desire to do good, to love others, to be faithful, to be true, to care deeply for the things of God. Your hearts are set “on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1).

Redemption of God’s possession

  The seal is a sign of ownership, it carries the name of God our Father on the seal, it confirms we are owned by our Father. When “when he [Christ] comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mk 8:38) the sealed will received by God our Father, as belonging to Him. Not to this earth, this sinful broken-down global society. “Instead” we are “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16). Paul speaking about our new bodies, our new existence and our new home says, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in [our current bodies] is destroyed [in death], we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor 5:1). Nothing will be “worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18).

       As for now, God is making his “dwelling place” (2:22) in us, abiding with us through the Holy Spirit. This seal is inward, abiding in you and on you it is not an outward visible sign. As Jesus taught us about the Spirit, that he “will live with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).

Evidence of having the Holy Spirit or just claiming to have Spirit

  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matt 7:16). In other words, those who do have the Spirit and who do not have the Spirit living in them, are obvious to discern over time. If a believer who claims to be born again, is frequently rude, jealous, unforgiving and vengeful; if they are often unkind and have in their heart “anger, rage, malice, slander. If they use “filthy language” or “lie” to others (Col 3:8,9). This is not the fruit of the Spirit, illustrated by Jesus as sweet tasting grapes from the vineyard. Instead, it is like eating thistle leaves.  The Spirit does make a believer a “thornbush,” if kindness and love for others is lacking. Verbal claims of being a believer does not matter at all. 

What are the implications for the believers when they are sealed by the Spirit?

  You know that you have been “made us alive in Christ” (2:5), “that old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires” (4:22), has been silenced to  “made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (4:23,24). You know it in the morning, in the evening. It is never far from your consciousness. When this happens, you can know for sure that the ministry of the Spirit is abiding in your heart.

  Human beings are blessed with a natural ability to love, to be loyal, to their family and friends. Yet the Spirit offers a more complete, more unselfish, and profonde love that is unavailable to all but those who are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). Love is the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22) and the very heart of the gospel, for without love the gospel is nothing but a theory or a guide for life.

Examples of the Ministry of the Spirit to the Believer:

Through the Spirit we become a dwelling place for God. (Eph 2:22)

We become God’s temple where God dwells by His Spirit (1 Cor 3:16)

We learn to pray in the Holy Spirit (Eph 6:18)

We are taught to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16)

The Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me” (John 16:26).

We are privileged to be guided by the Spirit (John 16:13)

We are personally taught by the Spirit (John 14:26)

The Spirit is to “abide or live” with us and to be “in” us (John 14:17)

We are to be strengthen in our inner being by the Spirit (Eph 3:17)

We are to keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25)

We must not quench the Spirit’s fire (1 Thess 5:19)

True worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:23)

We are to live by the Spirit (Gal 5:25)

When Spirit filled, we learn to “love in the Spirit” or love from the Spirit (Col 1:8)

We are to serve God in the Spirit (Phil 3:3)

We are sanctified by the work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:2)

Praise be to the God and Father, in his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ into an inheritance that can never perish (1 Pet 1:3)

We are to live according to God in the Spirit (1 Pet 4:6)

We are to be made alive in the Spirit (1 Pet 3:18).

We are to be circumcised of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code (Rom 2:29)

We are to have fellowship in the Spirit (Phil 2:1)

We are to be sealed with the Spirit, a sign of God’s ownership of us (2 Cor 1:21-22)

We are to receive the anointing of the Spirit (1 John 2:20,27)

We are to be born, given a new birth, by the power of the Spirit (Gal 4:29)

We are to be a dwelling where God lives by his Spirit…a holy temple to the Lord (Eph 2:21,22)

We are given access to the Father through the Spirit (Eph 2:18)

We are to praise God in the Spirit  (1 Cor 14:16)

We are to serve God by his Spirit (Phil 3:3)

We are to sing songs from the Spirit singing to God (Col 3:16)

The Spirit God gives us is power, love and self-discipline. (2 Tim 1:7)

We are to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all the wisdom & understanding that the Spirit gives (Col 1:9)

The 9 Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22,23)

  These fruits are nine simple word descriptions of what it means to be marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

When we pray to be filled with the Spirit, the Spirit will direct us into the practice of these fruits. For these fruits were the lifestyle of Christ himself while on earth. The teachings of the Sermon of the Mount are the practical application to the Fruits of the Spirit.

  The Spirit applies these fruits to us personally and individually, which is an action of God’s grace to His belivers. They are not instantly mature in our lives, so that we could say we have perfect love, patience and self-control. They are like a young fruit tree that takes time to grow and produce mature fruit.

  These fruits are not like justification by faith, which offers instant forgiveness and reconciliation with God. When we learn to be more sensitive to development or our neglect of these precious Spirit fruits, it brings glory to God.

To the praise of His glory

  These closing words tie us with the opening words, “praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (1:3). Everything we have in Christ comes from God the Father. The gospel is God-centred from beginning to end, to the praise of our Father God, all from the “counsels of his will” (Eph 1:11), for our good.

In according to his good pleasure of His will (1:5)

According to his good pleasure (1:9)

God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (1:11)

God chose us before creation of earth (1:4)

“But you are a chosen people…God’s special possession.” 1Pet 2:9

God predestined us (1:5,11)

God has adopted as sons through Jesus Christ at His pleasure (1:5)
God made us accepted in the beloved, gave us to Christ (1:6)

God gave us forgiveness of sins (1:7)

God has redeemed us—by the riches of His grace (1:7)

God has Lavished His wisdom & understanding on us (1:8)

God has made known the mystery of His will to us (1:9)

God has given us an inheritance (1:11,14)

God led us to trust in Christ (1:13)

God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit through faith (1:13)

 The Holy Spirit, from God, guarantees our inheritance (1:14)

All of the above is to the praise of God’s glory (1:6,12,14)

Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians 1:15-23
That they might know God better.

Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 1:16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you remembering you in my prayers. NIV

1:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 1:16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers NKJV

A morning prayer

  Thank You Lord for another day of life, above all the gifts you have lavished on me give me more love, for the people I meet today. Give me more trusting faith in my Lord Jesus Christ. Lord make me conscious of others around me, so that I can give to them respectful caring love, because you have been so gracious to me.

For this reason

  Because we have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise” (1:13,14).

Paul had not stopped giving thanks for them

  Every time we see love and faith grow, in ourselves, in others, we should thank God. Worship of God should be focused on much faith, much love, in the Spirit’s gifts, welcomed into our life. Welcomed in our family and our employment.

Genuine faith is always in union with love. These two go together making them brighter than if they were all alone. They should be considered as primary doctrines of the church, the most important teaching themes month to month. Paul’s final greetings to the Ephesians were, “Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love” (6:23,24). This final parting thought should be thought of as the summery and most important part of the gospel. Would to God, if we as Christians, were less occupied on other minor theological issues.

  It is not possible to have strong, growing, maturing faith in God, without increasing love for others. They are not to be separated; they are to grow together stronger and stronger, over time. Faith needs to be united with love for God and others, to be able to grow in character and expression. This is a natural consequence of those that are “marked in Him, with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (1:13).

Love for all God’s people

  The love that the Ephesian possessed was not self-centred. They had a big-hearted love that extended beyond their family and social group, across the Roman Empire. Later in his letter Paul expresses the reason why belivers love God’s people is because they are walking “in the way of love, just as Christ loved us” (5:2).

  Love is one of His greatest gifts to us, it should be the most prominent aspect of our faith.  In the last verse of the 12th Chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul says we are to “eagerly desire the greater gifts” which was the gift to love as described in the 13th chapter. The first verse in the next chapter Paul says we are to “follow the way of love” (1 Cor 14:1). Love is the path of life, to fall aside of this path leads to darkness in the heart which in truth shuts our faith in God.

  For Paul to mention these two spiritual elements, faith and love, at this point in his letter is important. For it tells us when belivers were “marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (1:13), the proof is strong faith in the Lord Jesus and solid love for others. These chief doctrines are the results of believing in “the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13). Everyone who is sealed with the Holy Spirit, will continually pray for more love and more faith. This is the heart of true worship.

I'm comin' back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve?

Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

Songwriters: Matthew James Redman

The Heart of Worship lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing

Knit together in love for each other

  In Paul’s Colossian letter, he said that his “goal” for believers is to be “knit together in love” (Col 2:2). Knitting is a reference to whenever a tear occurs in the garment, it is to be knitted back together again. If there is division in the church, love seeks ways to restore and knit all together through faith in Christ, from a “pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5). Christian belivers will not let politics or matters of opinion, separate their Christ-based love for one another. It they do, no matter what doctrines they hold, will in the end count for nothing for “Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:8). Love and its fruits, from God our Father, faith in Christ and the presence of the Spirit, are the only things from earth that will follow us into heaven. Into eternity blessed with everlasting life, love, joy and peace.

“Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.” (1 Thess 4,9-10).

  The expression “taught by God” in Greek is plural, meaning again and again. In Thessalonian church culture, they developed respectful love for each other. It dominated their sermons and songs. It was the leading edge of their church doctrines. This sweet, pure minded, refined, honourable, culture of love, Paul wished this to increase in time by its practice, more and more.  

  The point is if God does not teach us to love, we are not likely to learn it anywhere else. We can read about it in books and romance accounts, but this love is from heaven not from earth. It can only be said we know it from the inside, a hidden location from within ourselves. We know that we need to pray for love every day. We rejoice when we see love that was not there before swelling up in our hearts anew. When our paths in life encounter difficult to love people, we resort to prayer to protect the gift of love that God, through His Spirit, is teaching us and giving to us expanded capabilities to love when others find it impossible.

Woe to those who mistreat and take advantage the vulnerable

  Jesus had a very dim view of individuals that mistreated or took advantage of others, having not learned to love one another. Jesus said, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire” (Matt 18;7,8).  This symbolic language of Jesus leaves no excuse for abuse whatsoever, of wife, daughter, son, employees or strangers. If anyone is part of causing others to stumble, an expression meaning to be knocked down to the ground—they have in the judgment day a free ticket into eternal fire, to matter no more to anyone that they ever existed.

The culture of love between Jesus and his disciples

  Jesus illustrated love to his disciples to the extent that he could ask Peter “Simon son of John, do you love me?” (Matt 21:16). Jesus could ask Peter this direct question, because love was the focus of the ministry of Jesus in the towns that they visited. To the Rich Young Ruler Mark observed that “Jesus looked at him and loved him” then he said to him, “One thing you lack” (Mk 10:21). That was his love of money, making him feel superior and its influence and authority that it brings over others.

  Another account of Jesus loving others was when his friend Lazarus died. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ (John 11:33-36).

Love is nurtured, cultured, developed, and matured in the teaching of Jesus.

  Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” (John 14:15) and “Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching” (John 14:24). In other words, love has a pattern of behaviour that is defined in the teaching of Jesus such as the Sermon of the Mount and that of the instruction that the Apostles, which bore witness to Him.

Love must have a foundation

  Love must be subject to the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy [jealous], it does not boast [it is humble], it is not proud [arrogant]. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking [selfish], it is not easily angered [irritable, resentful], it keeps no record of wrongs [revenge]. Love does not delight in evil [dwell on evil] but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:4-8). For “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal 5:16).

  With love that “endures” there would be far smaller number of divorces within the Christian community. With love that is not “self-seeking” there would be more friendship between different social and economic classes among believers.  With love there would be fewer negative comments about other congregations that believe a little different. With love for Christians in poverty or are ethnically diverse from the majority, they would be loved also as children of God.

Apostle John theme of love in his public teaching

  To John this theme of loving others was so often taught that he wrote “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have [already] heard” (1 John 2:7,8). John does not even have to repeat the verbal teaching of Jesus that we should love one another, the congregation was so well informed it was considered an old message that they knew very well.

  The Apostle John was a teacher of the necessity of love. “Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. The one who says he is [a believer] in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides [walks] in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:8-11).

A prayer for more love so that we don’t drop into total darkness

  Oh God, save us from any form of hate, shunning, excluding of others from warn Christ-like and Spirit given love. Instead we want the “light of the world” (John 8:12), not the darkness, the despair, the deep regrets as results of walking in darkness with blindness.

  To the Apostle’s John and Paul, to walk in the light, is to love. To be in darkness is to carry around personal animosity toward another person, even should they in our opinion, deserve it.

Hatred will bring total spiritual darkness. Also called absolute darkness, where one still thinks they see very clearly, and feel justified in holding reproachful thoughts and deeds against another person. Their darkness has masked the reality of their condition to such an extent, it is possible for them to even attend church and never come to repentance. They never ask God to remove from their hearts a general dislike of others, replaced with a generous kind-hearted and tolerant sweet love.

Love is a stable platform to stand on and not be moved

  Love places us all a on stable platform from which Christan fellowship thrives. With no love, warm Christian fellowship shrivels. Under the administration of love, there is no reason for others to stumble and lose their faith. Their fellowship has a warmth that embraces the new, the different, the broken, the poor or the influential with equal kindness and inclusion. Love can overlook minor matters such as diet choices in life or the style of worship music and a hundred other things that are minor that flow from our different backgrounds, habits and customs.

  So that we are not the cause of abusing any person, we should “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else” (5:15).

  Paul says, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor 13:5), whether you have unresolved resentment toward a spouse, a betrayal of friend or a co-worker. Ask God to implant love in your heart. Tell God, you can’t do this because the bitterness is too deep to ignore, it is a sadness the shadows you. Ask God to pour the love of God into your heart “through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). The Spirit is yours to claim who is able, more than able to bring the fruit of love mixed with forgiveness, into your soul. Don’t wait one minute more, do it now. Ask in faith and before long you will find new streams of thoughts of forgiveness flowing out of your heart. Embrace it when it comes with praise and thanksgiving to God, asking for more love for God. Why? Because more love for God will provide increased capacity to love others, who can be difficult to love.

Reviving a spiritually dead congregation

  If a congregation who has become spiritually stagnant, wishes to grow in love and faith. Have the seniors or those of experience in the group embrace and welcome every member that is isolated from others. The ones that sit by themselves and seem to have no friends.  Reach out with openness to accept and honour the youth and the disenfranchised. Create a new atmosphere of acceptance of one another, making love superior, placing theology and church dogma secondary. Schedule many church socials, picnics and game nights, always combined with time for God, for Scripture study and prayer. Create sermons that have more Scriptures, less talk about who and what the speaker has done and experienced.  Show care for others, that is not conditioned on their correct behaviour. Is not this how God has loved us? “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children” (Eph 5:1).

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation [understanding], so that [in order that] you may know him better. NIV

1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him NKJV

I keep asking God

Not every now and then, but often Paul was requested of God, this prayer for the Ephesians  

That the glorious Father

  Our Father is worthy of highest honour and praise; for the attention that He gives to us, because of faith in Jesus Christ.

Give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

  This is another benefit of “the promised Holy Spirit” (1:13). This is what Jesus taught us, saying that “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). This is an experience that comes from inside a believer. It is a new real presence that comes into their lives. When the “apostles” were “arrested” and thrown into “public jail,” at night “an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail.” He told them to go to a public place, “stand in the temple courts” where many people are present, “tell the people all about this new life” (Acts 5:18-20). “Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom 6:4).

Wisdom is also associated with understanding (Eph 1:8; Col 1:9)

  In Jesus prayer to his Father, he stated the most essential truth: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). So that we may have a knowledge of God, the Spirit of God gives us spiritual wisdom and understanding for this very purpose. We can never know the value of Spirit given wisdom. Now, right now, you are very privileged to ask God to give you wisdom, which is a special gift from the “Holy Spirit of God” (Eph 4:30).

       In the last hours of the life of Jesus on earth he told the disciples about the Holy Spirit, in John 14-16. Jesus used the Greek word parak'laytos in John 14:16, 26; 15:26 and 16:7; which means advocate, intercessor, consoler, comforter, helper, one called alongside like a companion and stands by us.  Finding a suitable English translation is a difficult task. No single English word has the same range of meaning as the Greek word, for all the words apply to the work of the Spirit.

       Our need for wisdom is obvious. We need to make sound judgments, understanding what to do next, making good decisions daily in our lives. This is the work of the Spirit, which stands by us, dwells or abides inside us, to impart the needed good direction for our lives.

Wisdom and Revelation

  Both are given to us to draw us closer to God. In praise and thanksgiving, as God becomes very dear to us, because of the wisdom and insight that God’s Spirit implants inside us. Giving us guidance on how to live our lives, apart from foolishness and darkness of the present age. All for the praise of God who has made these two gifts that are with us every day of our lives.

  James writes to the world church teaching us to ask God for wisdom saying, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). The concept of “without finding fault,” is very encouraging. There are many faults in us that would make us unworthy of such a valuable gift of Spirit directed wisdom, just what we need when need help and guidance. God regards us as worthy, not accepting the evaluation we may make about ourselves. God gives us wisdom, when we ask, more today, more tomorrow, more every day. He does not see our inexperience, which could be a good reason not to trust us with such a gift. Instead God loves to “give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matt 7:11).

Full of the Spirit and Wisdom

  When the disciples chose deacons to serve in their small community they wanted “seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). We should never underestimate the Spirit’s gift of wisdom made available to the believer. This is God’s wisdom that we may make better choices for our lives, our families, our homes and workplace. God will give you “wisdom that comes from heaven” (James 3:17), on how to train your children. How to labour in the workforce with efficiency.

  The Spirit gives wisdom to the believer which is an intelligent clear-sightedness, and sound good sense. This Spirit given wisdom gives us a clear value for what to do that is best and good in every situation in life. It is opposite of folly, ignorance and carelessness. God gives us spiritual wisdom through the Spirit to know him better; while at the same time this Spirit gives to us practical wisdom which makes us better, wiser, stronger, more assured as we travel down the path of life faced with many confusing choices.

“My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,

preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you,

an ornament to grace your neck.” (Prov 3:21-22)

  Just think of this, the Spirit of wisdom comes “from the Father of heavenly lights.” That lights up your life with his lovingkindness and tender mercies, but more, giving to your heavenly wisdom. Which cannot be purchased on earth, it cannot be learned from higher education. It cannot be received from a preacher or esteemed leader. It is individualized to you, your age and your needs.

Wisdom to discern false claims of religious leaders

  Jesus called the religious leaders of Judea as “blind guide” or “blind fools” (See Matt 23), they had no common sense in the religious rules they taught. They learned these things from “the father of lies” (John 8:44). The spiritually wise will more quickly discern some religious rules that may be demanded of them, that do not come from “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3).

Wisdom given for good works

  Not long ago I read about a Pastor of one of the largest Christian churches in India talk about his ministry. The church has a fever pitch of activities focused on Bible study for young people and weekly medical clinics. Plus, a hundred other events. He said that he could not manage a church of this size unless God had given him the needed wisdom and ability. In all our needs, God has “lavished on us” due to His glorious grace, “all wisdom and understanding” (Eph 1:8) so that we are thoroughly gifted to move in our assigned positions in life with assurance.

       The God-given wisdom, through the Spirit, is for what is needed. A mother of three small children, a man working as a lumberman, a farmer or a Physician. The Spirit gives what is needed, but with it comes the promise of “mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance” (Jude 1:2). Wisdom from above, works best, if at all, when we have strong “faith in the Lord Jesus” and “love for all God’s people” (Eph 1:15). God’s wisdom is given simultaneously with stronger faith, love for God and others and an earnest desire ‘to be obedient to Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1:2).

       The Spirits wisdom, which is from our Father, is to be used for our good, so those who are bless by wisdom have something to share with others. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10).

Spirit given wisdom to know right from wrong, truth from error

  When the Spirit gives us wisdom it enhances our better sense of what is right and wrong. It makes active ideas that arise from within our heart-felt sense of direction we should go. What should be done for order, safety and preservation of life and health. What is the right, the honest, the best of the several directions that open to us. It should not be regarded as the voice of God, but the better part of wisdom, making us wiser in choices and ideas. It will give us assurance that the course we are moving in is the will of God. It will give us wisdom to wisely respond to difficult situations. This Spirit given wisdom is never out of harmony with “the Spirit of truth”. It is built up on a growing love of Scriptures and our constant prayer to know Scriptures better.

  Mothers with several young children. Father’s going to work for the day. The Spirit is there to give needed direction, to make wise decisions. It is important to be “always in prayer” (Rom 1:9), even as the great Apostle Paul. So that at every turn of our lives, we are privileged to ask God for wisdom, for understanding, to know with certainty, what to do, as well as how to do it.

  Wisdom from the Spirit is primarily given to understand spiritual matters. However, this wisdom from the Spirit within us is also for our success in the present duties the God has directed us to do. Never ever for our honor, our name to be up front for praise. Always for the glory of God, which we as unworthy have been used for God’s good.  

Steven told this principle just before he was stoned saying that God “gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So, Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace” (Acts 10:7).

  We could say that Samson did not have the Spirit of wisdom, when he thought he was in love with a Philistine pagan woman telling his parents, who must make the arrangement, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well” (Judges 14:3 NKJV).

Wisdom implanted in us

  When we are “born again” we are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:3,6). To his newborn spiritual child, God makes available from “His Spirit” (Rom 8:11), what we could best describe as a wisdom implant. This is active when used with Scriptures, praise and prayer. James says that we are to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (James 1:21).  This is not the Spirit’s voice, but it is something instilled inside the believer giving them some skill and understanding to accomplish the task God has given to them. To know their life-calling, with all its obligations. To endure the testing of their faith. This gift of wisdom does not come all at once, in full measure. It is like the rest of the fruits of the Spirit, like a seed in the ground, which grows up into maturity as it is nourished by “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18 NKJV).

   This Spirit given wisdom never leads to boasting or in pride to seek the attention of others. It is rooted, grounded in deep humility, as Jesus taught “blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt 5). In their human spirit they do not desire to receive the praise of others.

  Pride cancels out Spirit given wisdom. Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount If you “practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matt 6:1). In other words, those are driven to make themselves important, rich or praised—may have, unless confessed, forfeited eternity for a few minutes of praise. More importantly, they do not have the Spirit’s gift of wisdom, even if they profess to be wise.

Spirit of revelation

  What is the Spirit of revelation in practical terms? It is, through the presence of the Spirit, the ability to unlock difficulties that need solutions. To find a way to solve a problem that defies answers, that affect believers in God.

It also means that the Spirit will give us insight and understanding in the word of God. The books of Ephesians, Romans, Galatians and the Gospels will come alive to you, revealing personally the wonder, the power, the glory, of the love of God. Whereas before this gift of the Spirit, the Bible was a dead letter, having very little influence on you.

The Garden Syndrome: A lesson from the past

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Gen 3:6).

When Eve was in discussion with the talking serpent in the tree, she did not take time to pray to God. To ask Him questions that were presented by the serpent. Neither did Adam, take Eve to God to ask Him for advice in what to do in this situation. They both acted from their own judgment, what seem best to them.  

       Adam and Eve were not created with God-like wisdom or judgment. To understand this is a reason why we need God’s wisdom through His Spirit to guide us in our lives. Without prayer, for divine guidance and direction, blindness will follow. This is a reason why we are so frequently advised in Scriptures to “pray continually” (1 Thess 5:17) and to “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Col 4:2).

       “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Lk 18:1). Paul has repeatedly told us to be often in prayer saying we should, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph 6:18).

However, many, even Christians, today are like a modern Adam and Eve thinking they can guide their lives themselves, “although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Rom 1:22).

The pre-flood world did not care to ask God about the flood and the Ark that Noah was building. They believed they were able to decide for themselves, using their own wisdom. The same can be said about Cain who believed that his judgment was better than God’s who demanded lambs to be sacrificed, instead of fruits.

       Eve, sincerely believed that eating this fruit would make her wise, give her wisdom. She must have sensed a need for more wisdom, since nothing else could be added to her life that she did not already have. Eve did not recognize the hidden danger of seeking for wisdom apart from God. This flaw has been repeated millions of times in human history. Those of education and leadership often seek to draw attention to their own human wisdom, which they have gain by scholarship.

Jesus countered Satan’s fall: He did not regard himself as adequate to even speak all on his own saying, “I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” (John 14:30-31) and “I gave them the word you gave me” (John 17:8), and the goal of Jesus was that we would come to know God (John 17:3).

Now, right now. God by means of the Holy Spirit offers us His wisdom, to keep us from deception so that we know Him in truth, better and better. Now, at this moment, God by means of His Spirit makes available to us “wisdom from above” to act as our guide. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). If only Adam and Eve knew the importance of walking humbly before  God, they would have sought God’s advice before acting on their own judgments.

Now we know. “In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Ps 10:4). Instead seek Him with all our heart, our minds and strength, which is “the first and greatest commandment” (Matt 22:38).

We know that we are dependent on God for both wisdom and revelation, unless pride of our own opinion has puffed us up with high self-esteem that we walk off into darkness, thinking like Eve it must right.

Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order [so that] that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people NIV

1:18 the eyes of your understanding [Greek: your heart] being enlightened; that you may know what the hope of His calling is, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. NKJV

Paul’s Third Prayer for the Ephesians

   Paul’s first prayer was for thanksgiving to God for the visible increase of the “faith” and “love” (1:15), of the Ephesians. Of all our prayers to God, ask for an increase of faith and more love, every day.

  In Paul’s second prayer he asked God to give the Ephesians the gifts of “wisdom and revelation” (1:17) from the Spirit. Wisdom for the tasks of the day, all for the honour of God. Revelation to see the consequences of certain actions, answers to dilemmas and fresh insights into Scriptures that strengthen you. 

  Now, in Paul’s third prayer he is asking God to open the eyes of the Ephesians so that they can see the riches of their inheritance awaiting them in heaven.

       In the parable of the 10 virgins, Jesus tells in Matthew 25, all 10 virgins were awaiting the coming of the bridegroom they were all anticipating their future inheritance. The difference between them was that the wise brought extra oil to add to their lamps, representing a Spirit filled life. When the invitation to come into the wedding was announced, they were ready to enter the wedding. The foolish did not have enough oil of the Spirit in their lives and the doors were shut preventing them for entering into the wedding party.

  The wise never lost their vision, the eyes of their hearts were set on the glorious inheritance awaiting the return of the bridegroom.

  This is the purpose of Paul’s prayer, that the Ephesians would have a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). That they could see by their heart’s desires, they would know, for certain, their “calling and election” (2 Pet 1:10) from God. This “hope” they have been given by God “will never disappoint us” (Rom 5:5 ICB), its vision of the resurrection into a new reality and identity is sure and certain as the next day has always occurred. 

  Now, right now, ask God to give you a certain and living hope for this new life, eternal life, consisting of an inheritance unimaginable.

Eyes of Your Heart Enlightened

  The Greek word is a feminine noun meaning the heart and the inner self, “our inner being” (3:16). This is not just our heads as a teacher, but to experience it. That you may see, the rich inheritance God is planning for you, in your heart. Meaning at an emotional level that is not connected to intellectual, it is matters of the heart.

This is what we experienced when we fell in love for the first time. When we enjoyed a wonderful courtship followed by a wedding. This is matters of the heart, that God has given to all of humanity.

       Here Paul prays for us, that we can see from our hearts, not our heads. We can realize, in terms of hope that is as real as an anticipated vacation to a place of enchantment. What is hope on an emotional level aware of? The promise of Jesus, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

  This gives us confidence that we really are God’s children and God’s hands are on us leading us to a certain and “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). We are called to destiny where “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa 35:10; 51:11 NKJV).

“Before they call, I will answer;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb will feed together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.” (Isa 65:24,25)

The Hope to Which He Has Called Us

  Paul links the words “hope” and “call” together. Hope looks to the future, of becoming family to God in heaven. You see and feel your vast inheritance that God has called you to come and receive it. Your heart longs for it, your eyes envision it as reality. Together, your heart and the eyes are focused there, with anticipation. This vision is God-given to you, an indication that God is planning for you to be there.

  Hope knows that you are “qualified … to share in the inheritance…in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). It is an “inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet 1:4). God has laid up our inheritance in heaven’s open storage.

  It is yours already, but not yet. Perhaps God has your name on the title to your inheritance. Hope see’s it there. However, hope is kept alive as we continue to enjoy “faith in Christ Jesus” and “Love…for all God’s people” (Col 1:3). This is the basis of the hope; it is by this means that we know we have our inheritance waiting for us in heaven.

  Hope sees our inheritance, stored up in a safe location around the presence of God and all the heavenly Angels, with your name affixed giving you all the right and privileges of a son or daughter of God the Father. Soon to be handed over to you. Can you see it?

  It is called: a “Living Hope” (1 Pet 1:3) a “Blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) and “Hope that is sure” (Heb 6:11). Soon, but not soon enough, you will be there in praise to God that loved you, called you, elected you, justified you, forgave you again and again, send His Spirit to live in you, set you apart as his chosen, anointed you with His Spirit—where “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand (Ps 40:2).

They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.” (Rev 4)

  The phrase “you created all things” is an expression of their gratitude that God created them so they could be here, around the “throne… clear as crystal” (Rev 4:6). Born on earth an unworthy and unfruitful sinner—now into a reality, that includes the entire cosmos, unimaginable, yet real as real can be. Which includes abundance of loving relationships and friendships with joy to in a full life that awaits you to explore, to enjoy, to be a part of—never excluded, with a good future unending. What could interrupt our amazing flow of life to its fullest extent, since we are indeed, “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). We are God’s children that He will entrust us with huge responsibilities through-out his limitless creation, privileges granted only to the heirs of God!

Eyes May be Enlightened

  The word means to shine and overcome darkness. Whenever we can see the hope of our inheritance as real as the day, it will have a sanctifying influence in our lives. It will enable us to reject the godless entertainment that the media entices us to imagine as true.

  “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see” (John 9:15). The mud in our eyes is removed, so we become enlightened, in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.

  These realities cannot be known without the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (1:17). We need prayer that God will reveal to us the hope of our calling and to know the riches of our inheritance.

a.     We are chosen and loved by God (1:4)

b.     We are predestined and adopted in love by God (1:5)

c.     We are redeemed and forgiven of our sins by God (1:7)

d.     We are sealed with the Holy Spirit by God (1:13).

e.     Our inheritance is waiting for us since the “creation of the world” (Matt 15:34).

f.       Our inheritance is based on God’s promise (Gal 3:18).

g.     Our inheritance is called “kingdom of light” (Col 1:12).

h.     Our inheritance is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet 1:4).

  Hope sees your future events, such as receiving the riches of His glorious inheritance. This expression points to something so large that it can only be compared to God’s personal glory. To God’s personal riches of ownership, governor, king, creator, sustainer, giver of all life, to his creation of a limitless size of the cosmos, with an equal uncountable number of galaxies. Someday, yet to be revealed, we the redeemed of the Lord have been given, freely given, a share of all that belongs to God.

  How is this possible? Are we not “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). Have we not been “Born of the Spirit” (John 3:8) for this same Spirit also called “the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14), as Jesus has said it is “the Spirit gives life” (John 6:63).

That YOU May Know

  That is that you may personally know with no doubts or questions. That you can see by hope for yourself sitting in “heavenly places” (1:3,20; 2:6) with God the Father.

  How little we know of these blessing, that God has planned. What do we know of heavenly joys and the warmth of enduring love unmixed with disappointment? We know that someday we will be in possession of our inheritance, therefore we live differently here on earth. The citizens of heaven make the greatest difference on earth. Spend some time, right now, in “Joyful Thanksgiving.”

“Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you 

to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12).

Postscript: How can we know? It is because the Spirit of God, makes us alive to a sure knowledge that God loves us and desires us to be with Him. Another way we will know is that we see real changes in what we value.  We will cease to enjoy much of the world’s entertainment, much time spent in sports, movies that are filled with violence, cursing and indifference to adultery and gratuitous sex.

Ephesians 1:19 and [that you might know 1:18] his [God’s] incomparably great power for [to] us who believe [have faith]. That power is the same as the mighty [supernatural, immense] strength. 1:20 He [God] exerted when He [God] raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his [God’s] right hand in the heavenly realms [places], 1:21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the [future] one to come. 1:22 And God placed all things under his [Christ] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 1:20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 1:21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 1:22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. NKJV

Incomparable great power

  Immeasurable, surpassing, exceeding and extraordinary. This is not from a human sourced power from money or influence. It is a power that is from far above, not of this world “for the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk” that is human words “but in power” (1 Cor 4:20). Power that flows naturally from the presence of God the Father, which is called His mighty supernatural and immense strength.

       This was first seen in the resurrection of Jesus. But this is more than just the physical act some 2,000 years ago. It is the influence of the cross, the life of Jesus that flowed into the Apostles and every believer ever since the event.

  If you know you belong to Christ, you love him and you are drawn into the accounts of his life and teachings with an attraction that is ever present with you. Ever new, ever refreshing often with tears of love with copious amounts of praise and thanksgiving. Then you are feeling God’s great power to us who believe.

  There is nothing in the world that attracts us, draws us, motivates us, into such a profound personal experience, as real as our daily breath, to be near to the heart of God so we can say “My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast” (Ps 57:7), on you alone. This experience is only realized by “power through His Spirit in your [my] inner being” (3:16), so you say with David several thousand years ago,

“Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever”

I will sing and make music.”

 (Ps 73:25,26)

Now Think About This

  Is this your experience? Do you want this love and faith in God to grow. Do you desire the Spirit of God to subdue your ungodly selfish internal callings, and be moved under the authority the risen Christ, who is appointed head over everything? That everything is our works of the flesh, that are dominate in all who are not under the Christ authority.

  You want this? Yes, you do. So does millions of others all at the same time, desire the same thing as they read the same Word you are reading. They offer the same prayer that you are praying. This is power, real power that moves into the hearts, life, every day, every hour, around the world. This is mighty, supernatural strength on a scale unknown to any element on earth.

  You want more love, you want more faith, you want more “wisdom and revelation” (Eph 1:17), you want more understanding into God’s will for your life. So do millions of others want the same thing—this very hour, countless others are moved by a power unknown to this earth. This is power out of this world. Nobody, no human leader can accomplish such uniform desire for freedom for “in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Col 2:10). As you “draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings” (Heb 10:22).

  But more, yes more. We all together have been given “a hope to which He has called you” to share in “the riches of His glorious inheritance” (Eph 1:18). You know God “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12). You know, you believe, with no evidence ever seen by anyone—that you will be given eternal life as a child of God. Who taught this to you? God did. His power moved on you. No proof was needed, you just know it is true as the morning and night come.

       What could cause a person to believe, with their heart and soul the gospel message and know it is the truth. When they have no evidence but that of the Bible account written 2,000 years ago. No eyewitness, no confirmation, except their faith? Yet, against all odds they sing the song, written about 150 years ago by Simon Kara Marak:

 I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back; no turning back.

Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age

  Satan is “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (2:2) with him are a host of followers of his ideas, his darkness and rebellion. Yet, every day the Lord Jesus removes thousands from Satan’s allegiance and all his power, can’t stop it. All his wicked arts and spells are seen for what they are—evil with the face of death, skull and bones, with bondage to his followers. In a second, as the Spirit of God moves in to our human territory, our spirits, evil is dispersed by the rule of Christ, on the run from the total victory on the cross. This Christ authority—no power, no dominion, no kingdom, no other name such as a Buddha can be given to defeat the face of evil, causing it to run away in terror. Imagine demons of evil temptations are forced to run away, tripping on themselves, from a young child of faith!

  Now, in prayer ask that the authority of the risen Christ, will become your rule of faith.

The power that raised Christ from the dead

  This same power will raise us from physical dead. Should we sleep as did Lazareth “until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21)? Our resurrection from the grave or ashes tossed into the ocean—is nothing to God at all. To Him it is like a walk in the park or more accurate his trumpet like voice raised the dead.

  By the “trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess 4:16). God’s voice is heard around the world and the dead from all over the earth, will rise up out of the ground or ocean, all at once, all the at the same time. When the redeemed of the Lord rise, they do not come up with the same bodies they died with. For “we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Cor 15:51,52).

  Imagine the graves under tons of pavement and buildings or mountains of human waste over the sands of time. Sleeping there for hundreds of years, scattered all over the world, under the oceans. At that time angels are there to take your hand and send you upward to be “caught up together…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17). Changed from a mortal older body to a youthful “spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44).

       This is cosmic power, unlike power ever seen on earth. Power that can rob the grave of those who have died. In His timing, at the fulness of time, “when the times reach their fulfilment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Eph 1:10). This will happen everywhere, all over the world, promised by Jesus “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3).

All Things Under his Feet

  Wherever Christ has been on earth or wherever he goes in heaven, He is above all things in authority. We need to take advantage of the superior authority of Christ, supported by God the Father. Now by faith in God our Father and his risen Son Christ Jesus our Lord, we have access to all this power. But let’s be plain right here, it is not given to us. We have no power, even if we believe in God. We are always, as long as in our flesh—powerless, helpless and weak as a hungry lion in front of a rabbit.

       It is only as the “Holy Spirit of God” (4:30), which has been given to live and abide with us, as the results of being born again—we have gained access to God’s incomparable great power, in prayer request. We can ask God to disperse darkness for “Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10).

  “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (3:20). The expression “to be able” in the Greek means to be empowered, to make it possible, to be enabled by God, either directly due to His love for you and His Spirit inside you. Believe this, as you present your requests before God with His love in your heart. Through God’s unlimited power He answers your prayer, in this respect you are able to do all we could ask or think. This represents a boundless reach of God’s power in “prayer offered in faith” (James 5:15).

       Is there someone in your life that evil shadows over them? Through the Spirit of God that abides in you by faith the justifies, by faith that has confessed all your sins, by faith that seeks the will of God without compromise with “selfish gain” (Ps 119:36). Then appear to our Lord, who has “all authority given to” (Matt 28:18) to Him, to awaken someone up with the love of God in their hearts. “For God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he has loved us, made us alive with Christ” (2:4,5). God did this for us even when we were “dead in” our “transgressions and sins” (2:1). When we “were by nature deserving of wrath” (2:3). God does all this with is mighty power and strength, for we are privileged to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (6:10).

       This is what Jesus taught in the Lord’s prayer, deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matt 6:13 NKJV). And when Peter closed his letter to the church, he said, “To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pet 5:11).

Appointed Head Over…Church

  Where believers gather to praise, pray and worship God in faith and love. As head of the church, Christ is to be followed through His Apostles. The “wall of the city [New Jerusalem] had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles” (Rev 21:14). This shows the utmost importance, the centrality, of teaching the gospel through the Apostles. Maybe, Paul who was an Apostle, will be one of the names of the foundation of the city, taking the place of Judas.

The Church is His body

  “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). As we are in Christ, through the Spirit that dwells in us enabling us to abide in Christ. His life, his resurrection from the grave, become ours in assurance, for now “our citizenship is in heaven” as “we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:20). What a great privilege to be part of the body of Christ. 

  Every believer wherever in the world, by faith is part of that body, made possible by the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9). Now we are sheep of his pasture. We hear his voice, all the way from heaven, and follow him there. The church represents the universal body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom. Accept God’s will for you to be the sheep of His pasture, thus under His care, guidance, love and friendship with much assurance and everlasting hope, undimmed.

Age to Come

       Unlimited in authority, though which you the redeemed of the Lord, as sheep of his pasture, share in ways unknown by us the universal authority of Christ. Because we are in Christ by faith and in love, “therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Since there is no judgment against us here on earth, we are prepared to be, in the endless ages of wonder to come, with full approval of God the Father. Welcomed, as God’s “dearly loved children” (Eph 5:1), “chosen” and “predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Eph 1:11). There in heaven we will stand as God’s “elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matt 24:31). For God has set His “seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor 1:22). The best of life is yet to come.

 The End of the 1st Chapter of Ephesians

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