Ephesians

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate himwith all our hearts! And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence. Epehesians 1:3-4 Today, we open our series on Ephesians. It will be very high level, with only 3 passages per chapter per week. Today’s snapshot comes from the first few verses of the letter, and they set the tone for the whole thing, if you ask me. We are in Christ and receive every spiritual blessing because of that reality. We were chosen and our wonderful Father sees us as set apart for Him in Christ. We are holy. How does that strike you?

I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones! I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm! Ephesians 1:18-20 May the eyes of your imagination be illuminated today until you really grasp the magnitude of the calling that you have received in Christ... Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, and for us. May the eyes of your heart be opened today to the height, the breadth, the depth of God’s love for you. That the faith of Christ and the faith you have been graced with in Christ would unlock the riches and power of God in your life today. We are in Christ as He is in that highest place in the universe. Live that way, but also learn to live in love and live loved. Amen.

Eph 1:22-3 And he alone is the leader and source of everything needed in the church. God has put everything beneath the authority of Jesus Christ and has given him the highest rank above all others. And now we, his church, are his body on the earth and that which fills him who is being filled by it! If we are His body, and He is in the place of highest honor and authority, then we also share in that power and honor, via delegation and under His authority. Yes, we who are in Christ already have the power we need, we already have the love that we need to change the world. We, through Him, have already overcome the world as well as the prince of the power of the air. He sits on the throne, He does not stand, or pace about, wringing His hands. He is in repose because His work is done, the war has been won, and by complete submission to and love for the Father, He won that place at the Father’s right hand. Not that it wasn’t His from before creation was even a thing, but He earned the right to stay in that place through faithfully executing the Father’s plan to renew all creation and bring us all back unto Him.

Ephesians 1: Who are you? Father, As we look at these prayers and thoughts from Paul that he shared with the believers in the region around Ephesus, I ask that you would enlighten and illuminate the eyes of our hearts to see the truth of who we are in Jesus. Jesus, come and help these things to sink in. Holy Spirit, come and do the work in us that the scales would fall away from the eyes of our hearts so that the light of the truth can come flooding in. Amen. On Monday, we opened this new series on Ephesians with a quick look at the greetings in the first few verses of the letter. I introduced the series and gave an idea of what the format would be. Who are you? You are wrapped up in Christ and because of that, you have every spiritual gift from the Father. We were chosen from before there was a universe to receive these things. Wrap your head around that statement. I bet you can’t. On Wednesday, we looked at a famous chunk of one of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians. Vs 18-20. Allow your eyes to be opened to the reality of what you have and who you are in Christ, today. Sure, circumstances may look grim in the natural, but you’ve probably made it through worse. Open the eyes of your heart, allow the Holy Spirit to brush the scales off of your spiritual eyes that you might truly see who you are in Christ. You are wealthy. You are powerful. You have authority because it flows from the Head, that is, Christ Jesus. Once you begin to grasp this, your whole life will shift, and you will become like a walking billboard for the power of God working in and through your life. On Friday, we looked at how Jesus is the source and the leader of all we need, and we are His body, filling the world, just as He rules over it after He overcame it through His life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. He was constantly connected with the Father, doing just what He saw the Father doing and saying what He saw the Father saying in every possible moment. If He is the head, and we are the body, then His honor, his glory, and His power are ours. Let that sink in. All we need to learn to do is operate in relation to that truth. We mist submit to His will and His way. We must empty ourselves of ourselves and simply get out of the way. He was always in that place of authority, but His faithfulness to the Father’s plan cemented that place for Him for eternity and for us who are in Him, as well. As we empty ourselves, take up our crosses daily and follow Him, submitting to Him in each moment, then the authority and power that He has become ours. Thank you, Jesus!

Eph 2:1-3 And his fullness fills you, even though you were once like corpses, dead in your sins and offenses. It wasn’t that long ago that you lived in the religion, customs, and values of this world, obeying the dark ruler of the earthly realm who fills the atmosphere with his authority, and works diligently in the hearts of those who are disobedient to the truth of God. The corruption that was in us from birth was expressed through the deeds and desires of our self-life. We lived by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds dictated, living as rebellious children subject to God’s wrath like everyone else. Thank you, Jesus. We are no longer under the powers of this age, the Rulers of this world. Jesus brought us out from that, and part of our identity in Him is that we are tied to him, rather than to those things. We can obey. We are called to obey Him, now. We belong to Him, now. Sin has no power that we do not grant it, any longer. Focus on Him.

Eph 2:12-3 So don’t forget that you were not born as Jews and were uncircumcised (circumcision itself is just a work of man’s hands); you had none of the Jewish covenants and laws; you were foreigners to Israel’s incredible heritage; you were without the covenants and prophetic promises of the Messiah, the promised hope, and without God. Yet look at you now! Everything is new! Although you were once distant and far away from God, now you have been brought delightfully close to him through the sacred blood of Jesus—you have actually been united to Christ! You are new. God has created a new thing in you. Circumcision of the foreskin is nothing, the Holy Spirit circumcises our hearts every day. That is why our consciences stir more often, as believers, because the Holy Spirit is breathing and creating holiness and a desire for holiness in us every day. You are united with Christ Jesus. That is who you are.

Eph 2:19-20 So, you are not foreigners or guests, but rather you are the children of the city of the holy ones, with all the rights as family members of the household of God. You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple; and your lives have been built up together upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself! You are a child of the household of God. Not a red-headed step child, mind you, but a beloved child. You are a fitted stone, like the great stones in the foundation of the Temple, but spiritual. You are connected to one another, but built up upon the Apostles and Prophets, and most importantly, connected to Jesus, the Cornerstone of the great building of the Kingdom. So many metaphors here... Let’s focus on the beloved child image. How does it make you feel to know that you are His beloved child?

Who Are You? Ephesians 2 Father, We ask that you would send the Holy Spirit to make these passages come alive for us today as we review the last week’s memesplanations from Ephesians 2. Help us to learn Who we are In Jesus from these brief words. In Jesus’ name, Amen. On Monday we were reminded that we are alive in Jesus, not dead to God any more, we are no longer subject to the powers of this world, but to our loving Lord. Sin no longer has power over us, we are not bound to any pattern of pride which would keep us trapped doing the same old nonsense, but expecting different results. We are now able to choose love over pride, humility over fear. This was a thought loosely based on Ephesians 2:1-3. On Wednesday, we gentiles were shown how we are now heirs of all of the promises given to Abraham in Genesis. In Jesus, we are new. We have been remade, old covenant circumcision is no thing, as when we are living in submission to the Holy Spirit, He removes the callous from our hearts every day. We are united with Christ, and that is why this is all available to us. So we are new because we have been united with Christ Jesus, that is who we are. This was a thought from Ephesians 2:12-13. On Friday, we finished our sprint through Ephesians 2, with a look at Ephesians 2:19-20. Who are you? You are God’s beloved child. You are children of heaven, adopted as though you were natural born offspring. You get all the benefits, inheritance, close relationship, and access to the Father whenever you need it. The whole nine yards. Not only that, but you are the living stones which make up God’s temple, set upon the foundation of those who have come before you in the faith, and directly connected to Jesus, the cornerstone. So, based on these passages from Ephesians 2, who are you? You are alive in Jesus, free from slavery to sin, which is ultimately pride. You are able to make good choices. You are an heir of all the Father has, at the same level of rights as Jesus. You have been remade. You are united with Jesus. You are God’s beloved child. You get to raid the fridge whenever you feel like it. You get to sit on the Father’s lap whenever you want to. You are a living stone, built upon the foundation of those who have gone before you in the faith of Jesus, and you are connected to Him. That is allot. Let that sink in. Let His liquid love pour into and all over you. Pick one of these things that are a part of your reality in Jesus and meditate on that today.

Papa, Thank you that we get to come boldly to you for whatever we need. Thank you that Jesus is obedient so we can have Him to believe in and see that change and get that access. Thank you that we do not have to always be worried about ourselves, but that we can step back because we know that You have it all under control on our behalf. Jesus, thank you that you paved the way for us, you led by example and opened yourself that we could be in you, enabling us to receive all of these blessings. In your name, Amen On Monday, we looked at Ephesianas 3:5-6. If you are in Christ, then you are one with Him. You have been united with Him. He has fulfilled all we never could from the old covenants, He showed us how to live perfectly in constant communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He paved the way so that we can live in blessings that we do not deserve. That is who you are according to this passage. Not only that, but on Wednesday we were reminded about how we have full access to the Father through our union with Jesus. That is the fulfillment of the Father’s plan, that through our union with Jesus,who is God, we would become one with Godself in some way. If that sounds weird, it is, but it is entirely scriptural. The reality is that because we are in Christ, we can approach the Father with boldness, as in His eyes, we are Jesus. That is a weird thing, because the Father still sees and knows each of us individually, yet because of the faith we were given, both in and of/from Christ, that is somehow the reality which is ours, here and now. Think about your ideal dad, your “ultimate dad”, then ratchet that up many times over and you’ll get a taste for how good Father God is. He has the means to literally give you anything in the world. He also knows you better than any dad could, He created you. He is the source of wisdom, so He will never give you something that is so far beyond your capacity that it would destroy you. Remember, there is a profound difference between your earthly and your heavenly father. Finally, on Friday, we learned that because we are in Christ, we get to fully experience the fullness of the Love of God. That is what the power, here, is working out in us, and why, as we become more fully one with Him, and our desires begin to shift toward being in alignment with His, then we will begin to receive super-abundantly more than we could ever ask or even dare to imagine. That is the key: emptying ourselves and asking to be filled and overfilled with Him. So what did we learn about our identities in Christ this week? 1 In Christ, we get the fullness of the blessings promised in the old covenants, because He fulfilled them for us. 2 we can come to the Father boldly as beloved sons and daughters, not fearing punishment for asking to much or too often, but we do need to die to ourselves that we would have the bandwidth to understand and desire what He desires for us. That is where we can begin to expect more than we could possibly imagine, hope, or dream of.

Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen! Because we are in Christ, we get to fully experience the fullness of the Love of God. That is what the power, here is working out in us, and why, as we become more fully one with Him, and our desires begin to shift toward being in alignment with His, then we will begin to receive super-abundantly more than we could ever ask or even dare to imagine. That is the key: emptying ourselves and asking to be filled and overfilled with Him.