Category: Devotionals

11. The only way to be right with God. 

Ephesians 2:1-10 again, plus 2:11-22: “It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved…. God saved you by his grace when you believed. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it…. Christ himself has brought peace to us… He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations.” (NLT excerpts)

Paul describes in this chapter how God is unifying the Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ. He stressed that no matter what their religious background was, they became right with God by believing in Christ’s sacrificial death for them. Sometimes I identify more with the Jews than the Gentiles (even though I am not Jewish). I have lived as if I believed that obeying the laws of God was the way to please God and be right with Him. I’m still in the process of learning how to love God freely and not be hung up by the rules. I know that obedience to rules does not make me right with God. And I also know that rules can be helpful: the moral laws that God gave are consistent with His character and given to us to make our lives better. I know God wants us to trust Him and obey Him. But there have been times in the past when I felt God would be angry with me if I did something that was outside of the rules, if I disobeyed Him. I felt that since He is perfect and just, He could not and would not put up with my many imperfections.

This was an issue of cognitively knowing that God had forgiven my past, present, and future sins through Christ, but feeling that He was condemning me when I failed Him. It took many years for the truth of His forgiveness and grace to sink into my emotional side, my feelings. The big change happened as a result of reading a couple of books that spoke to my soul* and some dramatic answers to prayer that convinced me that God loves me unconditionally. This total cognitive and emotional belief in His unconditional love for me personally is the basis for any sense of spiritual freedom I have, and any confidence that I can “boldly” come into His presence.

Now how should I relate to the laws and regulations of the Old Testament? They were inadequate to make me right with God, partially because I am unable to obey them completely in my own efforts. But the moral law still describes God’s best practices — ways to live that are consistent with loving God and others. So (1) I will be grateful for the “new” way of being in relationship with God though Christ; I am no longer required to follow the law to be right with God. (2) I am praying for the ability to love God more and to love other people more effectively, since this sums up the basic truth of the Old Testament laws; and (3) I am aiming to live by the moral law expressed in the 10 commandments and the guidelines God has given us, motivated by wanting to live a more healthy and loving life and to bring joy to the heart of God. 

Father, I am so thankful that You did not give up on me many years ago when I seemed unable to trust You and did not fully accept Your unconditional love. You are such a patient Father! Thank You for never giving up on me. And thank You for your moral law which reveals Your character and values. Please help me to love other people the way You do. Amen. 

*Helpful books on experiencing God’s love: Because He Loves Me: How Christ transforms our daily life, by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick; and He Loves Me! Learning to live in the Father’s affection, by Wayne Jacobsen.

13. Paul’s encouraging prayer – overview

Ephesians 3:14-21. “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” (NLT)

These verses are some of the most familiar and cherished words in the New Testament. After surveying all the spiritual blessings we have been given, Paul responds with his heartfelt prayers for all the followers of Christ who will read his letter. His deepest desires are that we will be filled with power and love from God. 

My take-aways—Paul’s prayers are for:

• Inner strength from the Spirit – supernatural power (Lord, I am so aware of my need for You and Your power every hour of every day!)
• Christ in my heart as I trust Him (Please, Giver of faith, help me trust You more each day. I keep finding areas of my life in which I do not fully trust You. If I did, I would not worry about what may come. I would not become frustrated when circumstances interfere with what I want to do. I would be able to relax in the confidence of Your provisions and guidance.)
• Full experience of God’s love (Thank You for continuing to reveal how much You love me.)
• Ultimately, completeness and supernatural power in life. (How I need this encouragement today! May I take one step closer to this fulfillment today. Please show me at least one area that Your power can impact my life today.)

Amen

14.       Spiritual growth -my role, part I. 

Ephesians 3:14-21, focusing on verses 17-19: “then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, … how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.” (NLT, emphasis mine)

My copy of the New Living Translation places a heading over verses 14 to 21: “Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth.” This powerful prayer paints a picture of the abundant life that Jesus offered, an intimate relationship with God, full of deep and satisfying love, supernatural power, and fulfilling purpose in life.  Although God does the transformation in my life to make me more mature spiritually and experience more of His abundant life, I have a responsibility to cooperate with Him in that process and put myself in a position to be changed.  

What do I, as a Christian, need to do and be in order to take part in this abundant life?

• V. 17 – trust Christ to be consistently present in my life. I need to pray for sensitivity to His presence in my life. And I need to really believe that His presence in my life will change me to be more like Him.
• V. 18 – understand the extent of His love.  In order to understand any concept, I need to expose myself to information about that subject. In this case, I need to be in God’s Word; I need to ask Him to show me His love; I need to open my eyes to the way He is loving me – sometimes directly and sometimes through other people, books, messages, etc. Verse 19 states that God’s love is too great to understand fully, but that does not mean that I should not try to understand as much as He reveals to me.  Yes, I need to put some mental effort into knowing the love of God, and Paul’s prayer was that God would give us the power to do so. Reminds me of the passages that say we need to exercise faith, but that God is the one who gives us faith. Mark 9:24 – “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.” Luke 17:5 -The disciples said, “Increase our faith” and Jesus answered that even a tiny bit of faith is sufficient if you act on it. 
• V. 19 – to be continued tomorrow

Father, please help me use the faith I have today to believe what You have said. Show me specifically how I can exercise my faith today to make it stronger.  Amen

15. Spiritual growth -my role, part II.

Ephesians 3:14-21, focusing on verses 17-19: “then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, … how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.” (NLT, emphasis mine)

• My part in growing spiritually, continued. v. 19 – experience His love. According to Peter T. O’Brien (The Letter to the Ephesians commentary*), apparently Paul was concerned that his readers did not fully appreciate Christ’s love, otherwise he would not have painted such a dramatic picture of the dimensions of God’s love and stressed the importance of knowing and experiencing that love. I find it somewhat reassuring that I am not the only Christian who has had trouble believing in the vastness of God’s love. I have often wondered why it took me so long to believe that God loved me unconditionally. Perhaps Ephesians 3:19 sheds some light on this. God’s love is too great for anyone to understand it fully; it might be harder for some of us to understand certain aspects of His love, especially if they have not been modeled for us by our human fathers; and perhaps some of us are just slower learners. My hope-filled view is that my experience of His love will continue to expand throughout the rest of my life. I expect to keep growing in my awareness and appreciation of His love. What an encouragement for the future!

It’s one thing to know that God loves me. It’s another to feel His love emotionally. And it’s an even deeper experience to believe God’s love so deeply that it changes the way I think and act. Do I act as if I believe that God loves me? How do I increase my experience of God’s love?

Sometimes it helps me understand a spiritual concept if I use a human analogy. In this case, I think of how I realized that my husband Allan loved me. First, I recognized signs that he was interested in me and seemed to enjoy being with me. He acted lovingly toward me, long before he said he loved me. He demonstrated his love by sharing his thoughts, discussing our mutual interests for hours at a time, listening to me attentively, as if he really cared about my ideas; by writing letters and giving notes, cards, and little gifts to me. And then finally telling me that he loved me. By that time, I had already developed a deep love for him. Is it possible to be loved, and not recognize it or experience it or believe it? Yes, on the human level and also on the spiritual level. I want to live in the truth of His love, experiencing it deeply.

God has demonstrated His love to me in each of the ways Allan did. Looking back, I see it now. To grow in experiencing His love, I need to be aware of ways God shows He loves me; I need to believe Him when He writes notes to me saying that He loves me (in the Bible). My emotions will follow if I truly believe Him. Trusting God and opening myself to experience His love are some of the ways that I can cooperate with God as He matures me spiritually.

Lord, open my eyes to Your love in everything I see, feel, and think. Help me to see daily indications of Your love. Father, I want to respond to You in ways that invite You to transform me into the person You created me to be. Amen.

*O’Brien, Peter T (1999). The Letter to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

16. Spiritual Growth – God’s role

Ephesians 3:14-21. “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” (NLT)

God’s role in making me more mature is so much greater than my role. In a way, He is doing all the work, and I am just making myself available and cooperating with what He wants to do in my life. Then He does the following:

• Gives inner strength and power to me by His Spirit from His “glorious, unlimited resources.” His power available to me will never run out. My greatest challenge is that I do not expect or ask for more than a tiny amount of His resources that are in my bank account as His adopted daughter. 
• He (Christ) lives in me; He will “make his home in your hearts” which implies that His presence is continuous; He does not just occasionally visit me.
• He gives His love. If I immerse myself in His love it will keep me strong. 
• He makes me complete, satisfied, and fulfilled.  This comes as a result of experiencing God’s love. Verse 19 says “May you experience the love of Christ… then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (NLT)
• He gives me all of the above and is able to give more than I could ask or think. (verse 20)

This powerful passage takes me back to Ephesians 1:3. For me, the greatest part of “every spiritual blessing” is the unconditional love of God, because His love leads to every other blessing and because it fills the deepest needs of my soul. 

Lord, I am barely touching Your resources that are available to me.  Please help me to believe You for much greater fruit in my life and through my life, for Your glory, Father.

17. What is my calling?

Ephesians 4:1-2. “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (NLT) 

A speaker from my youth encouraged us, whenever we read the word “therefore” in the Bible, to ask ourselves, what is the “therefore” there for? That term is pointing us back to what has been written previously. In this case, Paul is basing his next significant statement on all that he has written so far in this letter to the Ephesians –– Because we have been given such blessings from God, because of the overwhelming love of God for us, because Jesus now lives in us through His Spirit, because we now have access to all the power that was displayed in the Resurrection… THEREFORE, Paul begs us to live a life worthy of the calling we have been given. 

But what does “calling” mean? Being called (verb) to a specific calling (noun) means being selected and summoned for a particular position or purpose for which God created me. 

Because of all that I have been given as a believer, I am urged to live in a way that is consistent with who I am in Christ and consistent with what God has called me to be and do. That is my calling. I am called to act like a daughter of the holy King and be about my Father’s business of loving and serving others and helping to build His kingdom. This includes helping others to know Him and grow in their relationships with Him. All believers are called to be and do these things. That is our general calling. 

Also, along with all believers, God has created me anew in Christ Jesus and has prepared specific good things for me to do (2:10). In addition to our general calling, God has also given us each a personal calling. I believe God has given me gifts and passions to teach, to support my husband and our ministry in many administrative ways, and to shepherd (encourage, comfort, mentor, and coach) others. In order to live in a way that enables and allows me to fulfill my calling (“to lead a life worthy of [my] calling”), I need to stay in a close relationship with God (the positive aspect) and avoid those thoughts and actions that will keep me from fulfilling my calling (the negative aspect).

I’m in the process of fleshing out all that means for me. So far, the positive things I can do to live worthy of my calling include (1) being immersed in God’s Word daily, which for me means reading, digging deeper into the meaning behind the words, and considering how the passage applies to my life. I want to know not only what the passage says, but what it really means. What are the implications of this truth for what I believe about God, about myself and other people, about what pleases God, etc.? And then, how can I apply this to my life starting today? (2) Growing in my prayer life. I’m convicted about how little time I spend communicating with God. I want both my formal prayer times and my more casual, spontaneous conversations with God throughout the day to be a larger part of my life. And (3) becoming more involved in the community of believers. The pandemic has deepened my close relationships with a few people, but limited my relationships with a larger group, which I feel is needed in order to be and do the things God wants. 

The negative aspect of “walking worthy” requires that I avoid the things that keep me from living out my true identity in Christ. Primarily I need to become more sensitive to the Spirit’s convictions and leadings, and then respond quickly with confession and/or action. More about that later in the rest of Ephesians.

Father, I want to do those good things You planned for me to do long ago. Please give me spiritual sight to see what You want me to do, and quick obedience to do them. Make me aware of the things in my life that keep me from reflecting You.  Amen

18. How to live toward unity.

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NLT) “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” 

Ephesians 4:1-3 (ESV) “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” 

Yesterday I was thinking about my personal response to the command to act worthy of my calling, and how it applied to my life. Now I see that Paul is urging this personal response in the context of the larger community. To fulfill my calling, I must be humble and gentle and patient with other people. This sounds very appealing to me; it’s how I want to be.  That is, until I rub up against someone who is not easy to love, who does not agree with exactly what I believe, who does not appreciate what I am doing for him or her. I am so glad God has Paul include loving all people. As ESV translates verse 2, I must bear with one another in love. The only people I need to “bear with” are those whom I consider unpleasant in some way. Suddenly, Paul’s injunction does not sound so appealing and easy to me. I need to “make every effort” (NLT) and be “eager to maintain…unity” (ESV) because it is the Spirit who unites us all, for accomplishing God’s purposes on earth and for eternity as the Bride of Christ. God loves and values all of His followers.

Thought and application questions: who is it in my life that I must “put up with”? What has my reaction been to this person (or group of people) so far? How would God like me to be relating to that person? How am I going to change in order to love him or her and build unity?

Father, please help me truly love others, especially my brothers and sisters in the faith, by being humble, gentle, and patient. Give me love for those who are less loveable at first glance. Help me to see them as Your dearly loved children, created and gifted by You. And please give grace to those who need to put up with me. Amen.

19. Why I should love others.

Ephesians 4:4 “For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.” (NLT)

Paul gives several reasons why I should make every effort to love others – in case I need incentive. (1) In spite of all the denominations of Christian churches that exist today, for those who follow Christ as Savior and Lord, there is only one body of Christ on earth: the (“capital-C”) Church. Encouraging the unity of all who are part of the Church is important for our own spiritual health and also for our accurate reflection of God’s love and grace to those outside the Church.  

(2) I also need to remind myself that the Holy Spirit whom I see at work in the local church I attend, is the same Spirit at work in all other gatherings of Christ-followers. I need a more global view of what God is doing in the world today in order to appreciate the beauty and effectiveness of the Church. It’s so easy for me to focus on the local ministry I’m familiar with and the few overseas ministries we support (e.g., our Compassion kids, the missionaries we support with prayer and gifts, etc.) and forget about the huge numbers of believers who are being led by the Spirit around the world. Even in our own country there is such variety in the way believers worship and follow the Spirit. I need to remind myself that the Church is a lot larger and more diverse than the community of believers who gather in our building.

(3) We all have the same “glorious hope for the future.” In his commentary on Ephesians, O’Brien explains that Paul is referring to the hope we have in God’s purpose in bringing everything in heaven and earth together under Christ. “As a foretaste of this grand hope the very existence of the church, a society of pardoned rebels, a multiracial community in which Jews and Gentiles have been brought together in unity in the one body, is the means God uses to manifest his richly diverse wisdom to the principalities and powers in the heavenly realm. Thus, Paul reinforces his admonition [to work towards unity] by reminding his readers of the hope held out in their calling. A sense of expectancy, therefore, should motivate and unify their actions.”* Helping to bring together and unify this global Church, this godly Bride of Christ, is certainly worth our wholehearted effort. 

Questions I want to ponder: How does this break down into thoughts and actions that I can do now to help build unity in the church? How can I develop a love for others – for those I know and those I have not yet met?

It is only by Your Holy Spirit that I will develop a deep love for others. I recognize my need for my heart to become like Yours. Make me more like You, Father. Show me at least a small way I can love a spiritual sister or brother today. For their sake and for Your sake and for my sake. Amen

*O’Brien, Peter T (1999). The Letter to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, p. 282.

20. What does it mean to fill the whole universe?

Ephesians 4:7 -10 “However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. That is why the scriptures say, when he ascended to the heights he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people. Notice that it says, ‘he ascended.’ This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.” (NLT)

What does it mean that Christ went back to heaven after the resurrection “that He might fill the whole universe with Himself”? O’Brien writes that it means that God asserts “control by exercise of sovereignty.” God controls “by his mighty rule over all things.” * In the Amplified Bible this concept is described as Christ’s presence filling the whole universe. So the idea is that Christ is present in the whole universe and is in control (sovereign over) the whole universe. 

What does that mean to me? 

• No matter where I am, God is with me. (Reminded of Jeremiah 23:24 “’Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?’ says the Lord.”)
• No matter what my circumstances are, God is in control of them. Not only do I not need to fear or worry, but I actually dishonor Him when I distrust Him. He loves me and He is in control.
• God’s presence (and His love and power and comfort, etc.) are always accessible to me.
• The three bullet points above apply to all people who will seek Him and follow Him. Who can I pray for this morning who needs this reassurance as much as I do? Who can I remind about this today?

Father, I need this reminder. You are present whether I recognize You or not. I want to grow in my ability to sense Your presence and in my ability to trust You quickly when I am prone to try to solve my own problems. Thank You for always being there for us. Amen

*O’Brien, Peter T (1999). The Letter to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, p 296.