Ephesians 3
Paul the Preacher to the Gentiles
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. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
The Least
In verse 8 Paul says that he is "the least of God's people." God can use anybody considering Paul, who was Saul before his conversion to Christianity, persecuted and watched many Christians executed under his command. God took a brutal murderer and turned him into one of the most powerful and influential writers of the new testament. Not many people's resume would be worse than Paul's.
Confidence and Freedom
I love verse 12. It is one of the verse that I memorized long ago. "In him and through faith in him we may approach God with confidence and freedom." This tells me that my faith allows me to approach God through talk and prayer with confidence. Believers should not be afraid of God although we should fear his awesome power.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
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2 comments:
again, if we only knew all he can do... 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
We sing a song at my church that is from this verse.. it is great!
18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ..
--here's the words to the song, if u haven't heard it--
Your love is deep
Your love is high
Your love is long
Your love is wide
Deeper than my view of grace
Higher than this worldly place
Longer than this road I travel
Wider than the gap You filled
Who shall separate us
Who shall separate us from Your love
Nothing can separate us
Nothing can separate us from Your love
I know we sing Chris Tomlin's "How Great is Our God."
I like the Lyric you have "nothing can separate us from Your love." So true, we should probably be reprimanded so many times, yet God shows us so much mercy.
Hey, if anything at least you and I are both getting in some scripture each day!
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