Category: Ephesians

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“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”

Paul is writing a letter to the Christian believers in Ephesus, which is made clear in these introductory verses of Ephesians. We may tend to skim through the opening lines of Paul’s letters, but they provide key historical information as well as a sense of what is most important to Paul.

Paul does not waste any time getting right into spiritual language that is pretty significant. These words are easy to gloss over but they are packed with meaning. I notice the words “all” and “every” — these are not small words. Paul wants to remind his readers that every single thing we have is because God has given it to us (and he’s not talking about material possessions — he’s talking about a whole new spiritual reality that Jesus has made possible).

Here’s your freedom for today: you can always count your spiritual blessings. No matter what condition you find yourself in here on earth, you have one thing Satan cannot rob from you: unity with Jesus. He can steal your possessions, physical health, or even friends and family members. But if you are a follower of Jesus, Satan can’t pry you from his grasp. Jesus is constantly providing us with spiritual blessings that matter far more than anything Satan can take. Count your spiritual blessings today — how is Jesus helping you grow spiritually and deepening your faith?

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”

How could God love us before he made the world? We didn’t even exist yet, but he loved us. Have you ever daydreamed of something you hoped would happen someday? Perhaps prayed for your children or grandchildren before they were born? God’s been doing that since before time existed. He decided he wanted to adopt us into his family before we ever knew we needed one.

Why did God love us? Why bother? For reasons likely far beyond our understanding, it brings him pleasure to love us. It makes him happy. And it is for his pleasure, happiness, and glory that we are designed to exist. He showers us with kindness because he loves doing it. We don’t earn those gifts, he just wants to give them.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is generous by nature. People have a lot of ideas about who God is, and those ideas come from a lot of different places. But if we explore what the Bible says about God, we find a whole lot about how kind, generous, and loving he is. What about his anger? He’s like a protective dad whose kids got bullied on the playground. Injustice and oppression burns fury within him. But his children — those who say “yes” to his offer of adoption — he loves and defends fiercely. Open yourself to God’s generosity today. He wants to shower you with kindness — will you say “yes” to his offer of adoption?

“God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

Paul invites us into a team huddle with today’s verses — I imagine a coach whispering to his players, “Ok everyone, here’s the plan…” What is not so secret (because God has made it known to the world) is that Jesus Christ holds all the authority and power. It’s all about him! God is bringing everything together, restoring heaven and earth, under the kingship of Jesus.

When we are connected to Jesus, we get a whole lot of royal privileges. God grants us an inheritance because we are his family (as we read about yesterday when he loved us and adopted us just because he wanted to). The big reveal in these verses? God makes everything work out.

Here’s your freedom for today: we can trust God because his plans work out. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a plan or two fail in my lifetime. Even the best of ideas and intentions can go wrong because we live in a fallen world and we are sinful people. But God is working his plan out and everything is right on schedule. He chose us in advance — he is making sure our salvation is secure. This does not mean that he makes all of our life circumstances happen the way we want them to. God is not working stuff out for you. He is working stuff out for himself. It pleases him to love us and save us, so he will do it. We can trust that no matter what happens to us on this earth, God will accomplish your eternal salvation if you grab hold of Jesus.

“God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”

In some Christian circles, the Holy Spirit is a touchy subject. There is a lot of uncertainty about how he works today versus how he worked in the early church. Regardless of your theology, it is unarguable that the Holy Spirit marks us as belonging to God. The Jewish people previously had a symbol of circumcision that marked them as God’s chosen ones, but the Holy Spirit is given to both Jews and Gentiles when we believe in Jesus.

What does it mean that the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of our inheritance? It means that we fundamentally change when we receive the forgiveness that Jesus offers us and invite him to lead our lives. The Holy Spirit is the first way that God responds to that prayer — we open our hearts and the Holy Spirit moves right in. He is our direct line to God, causing us to praise and glorify him.

Here’s your freedom for today: the Holy Spirit sets you free. You have probably figured out by now that “freedom” is kind of my thing. I want to experience emotional and spiritual freedom throughout my life and keep growing in deeper ways. I want to help other people experience freedom too. The Holy Spirit makes freedom possible in an entirely supernatural way. There is nothing quite like a relationship like that. Once the Holy Spirit moves in, you are eternally untouchable. Satan can mess with your earthly life, but he can’t rob your eternal inheritance. That reality is what true freedom is all about.

“Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.”

Have you ever met someone who just knew exactly how to encourage you? That person who knows how to pray for you before you even ask? As Paul writes to the Ephesians, we see his heart for them as he reveals his deepest prayers. He knows how to pray, and there are a lot of big statements — “constantly,” “flooded,” and “glorious.” Is Paul just dramatic? Or does he have a reason for using such significant language?

Let’s look at what Paul’s prayers are for the Ephesians. He begins with thankfulness. He asks God to give them supernatural wisdom and knowledge. He prays that God would give them divine understanding in order to increase their hope and faith. Do those prayers sound like ones you’ve prayed lately?

Here’s your freedom for today: God is waiting for your supernatural prayers. Sure, we can all start the morning with, “Dear Jesus, help me to have a good day today…” But that kind of prayer just isn’t in the Bible. We see Jesus and his disciples praying for healing and miracles. Paul is praying for divine encounters to help expand and grow the church. There is a constant thankfulness about the eternal reality that is so much bigger than anything we will face in our earthly day. Today, take a look at your prayer life. What is one thing you could ask God to do supernaturally that would have eternal value?