Monthly Archives: April 2024

A COSMIC PLAN – 7b

Bible Study, ,

GOD’S PURPOSE ACCOMPLISHED

Since the spiritual powers God created to rule the nations under His authority failed to fulfill their mandate, God’s plan included the next phase. He also planned to create another race, humans, who would be like Him. Humans would be both spiritual, of Him, and physical, of the earth. He would put His own breath in them so that they could fellowship with Him as well as live on, and relate to, their physical world.

‭Genesis 1:26-28 NLT‬
[26] “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” [27] So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. [28] Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Their mandate was to rule the natural world, to take care of the earth and its resources, in preparation for a far greater responsibility. They would take over the rule of the nations from the fallen and doomed “princes” who forfeited their right to govern the nations.

‭1 Corinthians 6:2-3 NLT‬
[2] “Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? [3] Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life.”

Life on this earth, then, is an apprenticeship, not only testing our ability to rule over our own unruly spirits but also training us to take responsibility and to be faithful to the role assigned to us in this life.

However, included in this divine blueprint is the interlude of man’s rebellion, led by the wicked spirit rulers, and God’s seemingly risky salvation plan. The human to which God entrusted His rescue plan was none other than His own Son, incarnate in a human body from birth to death.

He, Jesus, lived the life of a perfect son despite His humanity, in a hostile environment, then died the death of a condemned blasphemer in obedience to the Father’s will. His death paid the debt for all sin for all time, setting those humans free who believe in Him to live righteously in preparation for their role as God’s representative rulers over the nations.

God appointed His Son as Lord as a reward for His obedience,

‭Philippians 2:6-11 NLT‬
[6] “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. [7] Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, [8] he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. [9] Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

… And appointed Him to rule over all the nations.

‭Psalms 2:6-8 NLT‬
[6] “For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.” [7] The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. [8] Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.”

So, God’s cosmic plan reaches its climax, seen by Daniel in his vision centuries before it happens. In this long quote from Daniel 7, we have a glimpse of the final chapters of history.

‭Daniel 7:13-27 NLT‬
[13] As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. [14] He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. [15] I, Daniel, was troubled by all I had seen, and my visions terrified me. [16] So I approached one of those standing beside the throne and asked him what it all meant. He explained it to me like this: [17] “These four huge beasts represent four kingdoms that will arise from the earth. [18] But in the end, the holy people of the Most High will be given the kingdom, and they will rule forever and ever.” [19] Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, the one so different from the others and so terrifying. It had devoured and crushed its victims with iron teeth and bronze claws, trampling their remains beneath its feet. [20] I also asked about the ten horns on the fourth beast’s head and the little horn that came up afterward and destroyed three of the other horns. This horn had seemed greater than the others, and it had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. [21] As I watched, this horn was waging war against God’s holy people and was defeating them, [22] until the Ancient One—the Most High—came and judged in favor of his holy people. Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom. [23] Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path. [24] Its ten horns are ten kings who will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them. [25] He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time. [26] “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed. [27] Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”

Daniel’s great vision take us, full circle, to the beginning, when God’s cosmic plan was set in motion from the moment of creation. What was the purpose of this entire saga?

‭Ephesians 3:10-11 NLT‬
[1″God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. [11] This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And to reveal, once and for all, who is in charge.

‭Isaiah 45:6 NLT‬
[6]… So all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

A COSMIC PLAN – 7a

Bible Study, ,

GOD’S PURPOSE REVEALED

‭Ephesians 3:10-11 NLT‬
[10] “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. [11] This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s plans always turn out to be far bigger than we imagine. In this letter to the Ephesians, Paul traces God’s blueprint, step by step, through the stages of His actions, to its greatest purpose. Salvation, from His perspective, turns out to be far more than saving some people from hell and taking them to heaven.

Let’s follow its path from beginning to end.

The first step began before creation. God decided what He would do to remedy man’s impending rebellion before it happened. He chose people from all nations to belong to Him and He decided what they would become…replicas of His Son in one big family.

After the creation event, He set about building a nation through which His salvation would come. He chose a childless couple to produce a son in their old age, Abraham and Sarah, and promised Abraham that He would bless all the nations through him.

Through many centuries of this nation’s history, including enslavement in Egypt, a covenant God made with them at Mt Sinai to guide them, miraculous rescue and settlement in the land God promised them… and a checkered past of rebellion, idolatry, and restoration… God finally sent His promised Messiah to them to execute His salvation plan.

Despite His credentials and the demonstration of God’s authority and power through Jesus, the Jews rejected their Messiah. They had Him executed as a blasphemer, exactly as God planned, but their scheme to get rid of Him failed. Not only did He rise from the dead as He prophesied, but His Spirit also came, as He promised, to empower His followers to continue His restoration mission.

No matter how hard the Jews tried to get rid of His followers, they could not stamp out this explosive new “Way” as it was called. The good news of Jesus spread from Jew to Gentile until the known world was filled with the message.

Persecution, far from halting the progress of the gospel from Israel to Rome, scattered believers everywhere. They took with them the witness to a new life of peace and unity between Jew and Gentile.

In all these events, there were onlookers in the unseen realm who watched the unfolding story with increasing horror. It meant only one thing for them – judgment and eternal doom.

Who were these unseen onlookers?

Many passages in Scripture indicate that God had created a race of spirit beings to rule over the nations for Him, sometimes called “the great assembly” (NIV), “the gods” KJV, or “heaven’s court” (NLT). In the New Testament, these spiritual beings are called “principalities and powers”.

Ephesians 6:11-12 NLT‬
[11] “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. [12] For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

This startling passage reveals God’s original plan for order and authority in the nations…

Deuteronomy 32:8 NLT‬
[8] When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.

It seems, then, that God divided the human race into nations and assigned to each nation a heavenly being (a god) to rule over them as God’s representatives.

But…

‭Psalms 82:1-2, 5-7 NLT‬
[1] God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings: [2] “How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked?
[5] But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core. [6] I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. [7] But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’”

God appointed them to manage the nations for Him, but there is evidence in the Word that these rulers – also called princes – rebelled against God and overthrew His authority in the nations. Led by a “god”, who later became known as Satan, they claimed the nations for themselves. Since, in their rebellion and wickedness, they led the nations astray, God condemned them and all their demonic underlings, to death; they were doomed to the eternal fire,

and they knew it.

‭Matthew 8:28, 29 NLT‬
[28] When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area.
[29] They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?”

Only one nation was ruled by God Himself, Israel. He chose Israel over all the nations, to be His personal possession.

‭Deuteronomy 7:6 NLT‬
[6] “For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.”

He gave them His instructions for life so that they would show all the nations around them what their God was like.

However, they wanted to be like the other nations, to worship gods, their rulers, who were wicked, so that they could give vent to their own wicked natures.

God planned His course of action for everything to happen before it happened. Then He set the plan in motion so that, in the end, everyone, both spirit beings and humans, would know that He alone is the Most High God.

To be continued…

BROUGHT NEAR BY THE BLOOD-6

Bible Study,

Ephesians 2:12-13 NLT‬
[12] “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. [13] But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.”

Although God chose the Jews as His own personal possession, His plan of salvation was far wider than just one nation. He would stop at nothing until He had brought the whole world together into His family, under one head, His Son, Jesus.

Before the nation of Israel ever came to be, God told Abraham that, through his descendants, the whole world would be blessed.

‭Genesis 12:3 NLT‬
[3] “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

God’s plan was particularly distasteful to the Jews. They hated and despised the Gentiles. They called them “dogs”, distanced themselves from them in every possible way, and, of course, refused to believe that Gentiles had a part in God’s salvation.

They even tried to kill Paul for daring to preach to Gentiles about “their” God. The entire hullabaloo in Jerusalem (Acts 21,22), was triggered by Paul’s testimony to his conversion and God’s plan to send him to the Gentiles.

‭Acts of the Apostles 22:21 NLT‬
[21] “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”

That statement set off a frenzy of rage in the Jewish people.

‭Acts of the Apostles 22:22 NLT‬
[22] “The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout, “Away with such a fellow! He isn’t fit to live!”

Despite serious opposition and severe persecution from his own people across Asia Minor and Europe, Paul obeyed God’s instructions. He preached to the Gentiles the good news of Jesus, resulting in many small groups of believers forming churches across the Roman empire.

Paul’s motivation for going to the Gentiles was fueled by the revelation of God’s plan. He knew the Scriptures. He already understood that God’s Messiah would be given as a covenant to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews.

‭Isaiah 42:6, 9 NLT‬
[6] “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations….
[9] Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”…

Isaiah 60:3 NLT‬
[3] “All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance.”

So, when the Jews rejected his message, he turned to the Gentiles, receiving from them a glad response.

Acts of the Apostles 13:46-49 NLT
[46] “Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. [47] For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’”
[48]When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. [49] So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.”

As Paul writes to Gentile believers, then, he reassures them that their inclusion in salvation was God’s plan from the beginning.

Despite what they were before they heard the message of Jesus – dead, outsiders, uncircumcised, excluded from citizenship in Israel, apart from Christ, without God, and without hope – now it was different. They had been brought near by the through the blood of Christ. Through His death, they were reconciled to God and reunited with Israel into one new race.

‭Ephesians 2:14-16 NLT‬
[14] “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. [15] He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. [16] Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.”

What a glorious plan, and even more! Since the Jews rejected Jesus, God extended His mercy to the Gentiles. Their inclusion in all the blessings of salvation, would make the Jews jealous and they, in turn, would turn to the Lord.

And so God’s mercy would be revealed to the whole world!

Paul explains, in the entire chapter of Romans 11, how He would achieve His purpose.

‭Romans 11:2, 11, 28-29 NLT‬
[2] “No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning….
[11] Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves….
[28] Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [29] For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn”…

‭Romans 11:25-27, 30-32 NLT‬
[25] “I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. [26] And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. [27] And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.”…
[30] Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. [31] Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. [32] For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.”

Paul calls this plan God’s “mystery”, something God hid from His people in the past but has now revealed through His apostles and prophets.

‭Ephesians 3:3-6 NLT‬
[3] As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. [4] As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. [5] God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. [6] And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.”

‭Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV‬
[19]” Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, [20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. [21] In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. [22] And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

WOW! What a glorious plan! Enough to make Paul burst out in praise!

‭Romans 11:33-36 NLT‬
[33]” Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! [34] For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? [35] And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? [36] For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”

GOD’S POEMS – 5

Bible Study, ,

Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT‬
[8] “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. [9] Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. [10] For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

God never does anything without a purpose. There are no happenstances in His thinking. He created and chose people to put Himself on display and they were, first, chosen because of His grace.

What is grace?

Grace, like many other of God’s attributes, is difficult to define. Grace is God’s favour shown to us when we don’t deserve it. Grace is God’s goodness showered on us when we didn’t earn it. Grace is God’s mercy that saves us from eternal death. Graces is God’s way to change us from what we are, sinners, into saints, holy and righteous in His sight.

My thinking has led me to believe that grace is the motive that releases God’s power to work in us. Grace, God’s attitude towards us despite who we are and what we have done, underpins all His dealings with us. Grace guarantees the finished product.

God’s love, in turn, underwrites His grace. God’s essential nature, pure love, motivates Him to treat sinners with kindness and compassion rather than with the wrath we deserve. He acts graciously towards us, lavishing on us every blessing He can muster so that we become the children He designed us to be from the beginning.

Grace turned God from acting in wrath and judgment. Grace motivated Him to prepare a rescue plan. Grace sent Jesus into the world to carry out God’s plan. Grace gave Jesus the reason to obey and submit to the Father’s will. Grace moves the Holy Spirit, in tandem with the Father and the Son, to work out God’s plan in us.

As, John Newton sang,

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.”

(Amazing Grace
John Newton, pub.1779
v. 7 by Anonymous/Unknown, pub.1829)

Since God is always gracious to us, He provides the power and strength that enables us to do His will despite our weakness. In fact, the weaker we are, the better because His strength is perfected in our weakness.

Paul cried out to God to take away the issues that he could not overcome in his weakness. God had another solution.

‭2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NLT‬
[8] “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. [9] Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. [10] That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Grace again, grace makes a way possible in impossible situations!

Why does God lavish on us so much blessing and help on our journey through life. Again, He has a purpose.

The Greek word “poema”, (Ephesians 2:10), translated “workmanship” or “masterpiece”, really means God’s poem.

What is a poem?

“A piece of writing in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm, and imagery.”
(Definitions from Oxford Languages)

A poem lifts ideas or descriptions from the ordinary to the sublime by using carefully chosen words and language skillfully arranged, to convey meaning, colour, and beauty.

Consider these words…the first verse of a poem by William Wordsworth – “Daffodils”.

“I wandered, lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

A word picture that arouses the imagination to see a field of daffodils in live movement and colour.

Now, according to Paul, God created us, by His grace, to be vivid expressions of God’s grace by the way we treat other people.

Imagine that! We, who were, by nature selfish, self-centred, greedy, hostile, and in competition with other people to get our own way, are now delivered from that nature and lifestyle by God’s grace. Instead, we are poems of God’s grace to others, treating them like He treats us, with love, mercy, and compassion.

And so, God is composing His poems and writing them into the big story He has already written. His poems add colour and beauty to His story. His peoms inspire the imagination of the people around us to read God into what they see and hear.

Paul called te Corinthians Church, God’s “letter” written to the world…

‭2 Corinthians 3:3 NLT‬
[3] “Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.”

The call to us, then, is to BE that poem, that letter, that the world can read. He wants the people who do not know Him to hear His voice calling them also to become poems for Him by His grace.

PRAYER – THE WAY TO GO – 4

Bible Study,

Ephesians 1:15-16 NLT‬
[15] “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, [16] I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,…”

When I read Paul’s prayers, I am ashamed to think of the way I have prayed on the past. My prayers were mostly about me, my, and mine, and… about needs and wants. After all, I thought prayer was not prayer unless I was asking for something for myself or someone near to me!

How different were Paul’s recorded prayers! Thinking about God’s blessings in Christ led him to burst out in praise to the Father. Praise, in turn, made him realise how much God’s people need to understand what God has done for us.

Our ignorance of what God’s salvation means to us in the New Covenant cripples our prayers. We are confused between Old and New Covenants, thinking that God still wants our obedience to His commands to make us righteous. When we fail, we try harder, but that is not the way that God accepts us as righteous.

He gave us Christ’s righteousness when we believed in Jesus as the Son of God, and received Him as our Lord. In the New Covenant, God has exchanged “believe” for “obey” and “done” for “do”. Our salvation, our wholeness as new people, now depends on what Jesus did, not on what we try to do.

Paul exults in all the marvellous ways in which God reveals His love for people…chosen, adopted, set free from slavery to sin, forgiven.

‭Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT‬
[4] “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] 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….
[7] He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.”

… And all this happened before He breathed out one creative word! This means that God knew what would happen through Adam’s rebellion and what He would do to fix it before He created anything.

Not only did God bless us with these spiritual blessings but He also gave us His Spirit to enable us to understand what God has done. .

‭Ephesians 1:8 NLT‬
[8] “He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”

Paul knew that we struggle with issues in our lives, not because we don’t try harder, but because we don’t know or understand what God has already done for us through Jesus.

So, Paul prayed, not the “Please-gimme, please-do-this-or-that-for-me” prayers we so often pray but prayers of affirmation. God has done everything He needed to do to provide for us in this life and the next. “Open their spiritual eyes, Father, to see what you have done!”

‭Ephesians 1:16bn-20 NLT‬
[16] “I pray for you constantly, [17] 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. [18] 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. [19] I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power [20] that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

What do we, God’s children, need to navigate, safely, this treacherous world? First, we need confident HOPE . We need to see what the finished product will look like while we are still incomplete.

Hope is like the picture we look at of something we want to copy, for example, a garment we want to make. As we work on our garment, we keep looking at the picture to ensure that we are making an accurate replica. The picture helps us to stay on track.

So it is with our hope. God’s promises are the picture we look at, and faith in God keeps us on track.

‭‭Hebrews 11:1 CEV‬
[1] “Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.”

Second, we need God’s mighty POWER to enable us to become what we cannot become under our own steam. What are we to become? Perfect replicas of Jesus! What an impossible hope without God’s power!

God uses everything, good or bad, to help us become like Jesus. Check this out!

‭Romans 8:28-29 NLT‬
[28]” And we know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the GOOD of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become LIKE his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Prayer, then, is no longer please-give-me begging but thank-you affirmation that God will do what He promised.

‭Ephesians 1:19-20 NLT‬
[19]”I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power [20] that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

Psul doesn’t pray that God will GIVE us His power – He already has – but that we will UNDERSTAND that the power available to us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

God has already raised us from death.

‭Ephesians 2:1 NLT‬
[1] Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins….
[4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [6] For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus…

Wow! Did you get that?! God isn’t telling us to BEG for His power. He’s telling us to USE His power by faith, understanding what He has done and by saying “thank you” and believing His promise.

You see, God gave Jesus all authority over everything, including everything that happens in our lives.

‭Ephesians 1:22-23 NLT‬
[22] “God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. [23] And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”

Since the church is made up of all of us, Jesus is in charge of all of us. His will, in sync with the Father, is that we become like Him. Therefore, He will do everything He promised to do, through His power, to transform us from selfish, self-centred sinners to new creations in Christ, increasingly resembling Him on our journey to the Father. He will work in everything in our ordinary, daily lives, to move us towards that goal.

God, the three-in-one, is constantly at work in us, changing us according to the blueprint, Jesus, He designed before He created the universe and every one of us.

‭Ephesians 2:7 NLT‬
[7] “So, God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.”

Andso, He’s done it all already and
… it’s all for His glory!!!