Prisoner

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
PRISONER

Eph 3:1-3
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. NIV
I never thought of myself as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, but I suppose that is exactly what I am along with Paul and many others. I know it is easy to think about salvation as a personal thing and all the benefits of being saved, especially eternal life. I know it seems sort of a self centered thinking method, always thinking about being saved, escaping the inevitable doom of perishing. But being a member of the body of Christ, being a citizen in the Kingdom of God requires thinking outside my “self”. I see the calling upon Paul for the benefits of others. The reason he was saved was for the sake of those gentiles, which I suppose would include me in a sense. But I cannot stay with just looking at the call of Paul, I must inspect the call upon me. I have been saved, not only for my own salvation, my owe forgiveness of sin, my own relationship with God, but I have been saved for the benefit of others. True, not just I but every believer, but I have to internalize this fact and see and act based on this knowledge. I am here for the sake of others. I am here to serve Christ and in doing so serve others. True, again all believers have this calling, but each has an individual function. I know my function, I know my calling, I know what it is Christ desires of me. I know for what I have been saved for. At times it is not the easiest to be who God desires ne to be. At times I want what I want and not what he does. Yet I have to come to terms with the undisputed fact, God has called me to a task for his glory. I am his prisoner.

Being Built

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
BEING BUILT

Eph 2:21-22
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. NIV
I am being fit together with other believers into a holy temple in the Lord. This is an amazing construction project. A project designed and orchestrated by God. A project in which not only is he the architect, the city planner, the general contractor, the foreman, but also the entire labor crew. I am simply just on living stone as Peter would state it. I cannot take any credit for the place within the temple. I cannot have any pride as to how God uses me within his construction project. I can only function as he has designed me. I can only be the stone he made. I realize how small and insignificant I am in the grand scheme of things went I walk into a place like the National Cathedral and see how many stones there are and how small each one is in compared to the whole building. The building could survive without one or more of certain stones. Yet the temple God is building into a holy temple needs to have all the stones in place doing that which there were designed to do. I must always be about that which God has designed me for. If I leave a hole, the whole is not as he designed it. I must admit to myself, at times I do not feel much like the stone I am supposed to be. I still need more shaping by God. I still need more edges smoothed out. And this is the other part I simple have to step back in awe. God’s Spirit is dwelling within this place. Does he step back from time to time to admire his workmanship? Am I worthy of him thinking what a great job he is doing? I know I am in the place within the temple he wants me to be, but am I functioning well? I don’t really care how I look, but I do care how I function. Some stones are hidden in corners or under places in what seem to be in unimportant places, but each stone is as important as the other in his temple. As for me I do what to be where he has placed me and work as he has designed me to, whatever that is.

Citizenship

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
CITIZENSHIP
Eph 2:17-20
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

I certainly was far away, far away from God, I was not one of those people who were near to God but still did not know the peace. No, I was so far away I can’t believe he came and got me. Yet here I am having access to my Father through the Spirit. I am no longer a foreigner and alien as far as the Kingdom of God is concerned. I am a citizen of his household. But that also means I am now a foreigner and alien of this world. I cannot have dual citizenship. I cannot be a member of both families. I had to give up my citizenship to this world. I had to become an alien to this world. Yet I have to ask do I still live as a member of this world’s family. I have to ask myself if I am trying to be citizens in both realms. Can I enjoy some of the benefits of this world as an alien? Are there any benefits of this world? I do enjoy a certain amount of the creature comforts as well as I know that my Father in Heaven desires for me to have a certain sum of them as he has told me so. He has insisted on my knowing if I seek him first he will give me these too. But those things should not be my focus or things I place value on, as a treasure. No I must place my value on being a citizen of his kingdom and an alien to this world. My home is in his kingdom, this is where I belong. And as such the time I spend here needs to be spent wisely. Can I enjoy times of relaxation? Of course! But my main focus should be sharing his word with others. Helping others to see his truth, his peace, his joy, his loving kindness as well as getting their passport updated and their citizenship changed. This is my function, my calling, my part of being a productive involved citizen in the Kingdom of God.

Peace

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
PEACE

Eph 2:14-17
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. NIV
It is such an amazing thing to have peace. Christ is my peace. What a turmoil life could be if it were not for his peace which resides within me. To be content and at peace with myself is a wonderful thing. Although Paul is talking about Jews and Gentiles I also see the two sides which reside within me, that which desires to so the things of God and that which desires to do the things of me. The war which has waged on within me over the years and may well wage on until I reach the end of my time here on earth could really divide me and cause hostility within my own self. But that is not the case. Christ as abolished the law and the regulations which condemns those desires and actions of my own self. He has created in himself one man, one of me out of the two of me and thus has created a peace within me. He has reconciled that part of me which desires to satisfy self with the part of me which desires to do what pleases him. Although they still both exist I do think because of Christ I do not need to be at war within myself. I can be at peace even in those times when I fail, or the older self has a little power over the newer self. Am I saddened by those times, sure, but still at peace because I know Christ and he put to death that hostility within me. Guilt, shame and hostility are from the enemy of my soul. Forgiveness and peace are from my Lord. So even though there may be war there and peace. That is an amazing thing.

Seated

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
SEATED
Eph 2:6-10
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
I simply am not quite sure I have ever actually contemplated the fact that I am seated at the right hand of the Father already. Now I know James and John were asking about this position, but that was a different time and place. Yet here I am, here and now seeing that God has raised me up with Christ and seated me with him in heavenly realms. This is somewhat difficult to comprehend. Surely it is in the spiritual rather than in any other way. But what am I to do with this concept. How am I supposed to respond to this position I occupy? I know it is not actually all about me, but rather about God and in raising me up he is showing his incomparable riches if his grace as he expresses it in his kindness to me in Christ Jesus. I know this for sure, because there simply is no way I could ever qualify for this position in my condition of disobedience. How can I ever? I can’t! I am forever falling short. I am always making some dumb choice, some stupid mistake, some incorrect response to someone, some foolish action which certainly makes me way beyond ever being able to stand or seat anywhere in his presence. But there I am anyway, because of Jesus Christ, because of God’s great love for me. Yet, the hardest idea here for me is the undisputed fact I am seated in heavenly realms with Christ. When I think of being before God all I can imagine is falling prostrate on the ground at his feet, not to be seated there with him. This being seated implies a position of royalty, of family, of honored guest. This is so hard to imagine, but I dare not doubt what he tells me. Because of God, because of his grace, because of his kindness to me in Christ Jesus, I am seated.

Relieved

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
RELIEVED

Eph 2:1-5
2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.
NIV
How can I separate any of this? I simply cannot. It is all one long thought which transcends a time of my past to the present. I was the head sinner if there is such a thing, and although at the time, having been so angry with God, at least I must have been, I actually refused to acknowledge his existence. I refused to believe there was a God and all the organized religious hypocrites wanted was the money in my pocket. I even remember the phrase I used to say, “they just want me to pay to pray”. I certainly lived in the ways of this world and although I refused to admit it then I must have been serving the ruler of the kingdom of air, because without question I had a spirit of disobedience. I absolutely spent much if not all of my time gratifying the cravings of my sinful nature. But that was the past and now is the present and I am a changed person. Not because of me, of course, no not because of me at all. But it is because of his great love for me. Wow! His great love, just to consider that phrase is an extreme thought. Even though I was such a bad apple, God still loved and loves me. It boggles my mind. Even now, when I fail him so, he still loves me. I cannot say that of some people I have known. We I failed them, they hatred me, but not God. He loves me even now as I still fail his standards. But how can I ever be perfect? I cannot and that is why I need Jesus Christ. By faith in him I am no longer an object of wrath and dead. I am alive, I am saved! Christ is my perfection; he is the ultimate sacrifice to justify the standard of God the Father. In Christ I am. Through God’s grace and grace alone. I am so relieved

Humbled

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
HUMBLED

Eph 1:19-23
That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
NIV
I am still stuck on this power that is for me from the preceding verse and devotion. I am still overwhelmed about this power and here I get to see just how powerful it is. God has the power to raise me from the dead just as he showed me when he raised Jesus from the dead, of that I am sure. Yet within this section I see something most beautiful. This Jesus who walked among the men of old, this Jesus who is the very Son of God, this Jesus who became my sin and redeemed me from an everlasting dead is now at the right hand of his and my Father. God the Father has given Jesus complete rule and authority. Now when I look back at how he treated people when he was walking among them. When I consider how much love and compassion he showed. When I ponder on how intensely concerned he was for the spirits of men. How he healed, how he taught, how patient he was with those who followed him. Simply put, who he was in every way. This gives me the assurance of how he is still treating me. How much he loves me, and has healed me both physically and spiritually. When I consider how he sent the Holy Spirit to guide me through this life so I may hear someday, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness” I am humbled.