Ephesians 1-2

"But for God and His Goodness" {Ephesians 2}

12:00 AM

Scripture Reading ~ Ephesians 2

"You were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— Eph 2:1-5

Those two words, But God, represent a huge contrast!
  • "We were dead in our trespasses and sins,"
  • We were "following the course of this world,"
  • Following "the prince of the power of the air," 
  • Following "the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience"
  • "Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,"
  • "Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,"
  • "And were by nature children of wrath, 
  • Just "like the rest of mankind"
BUT GOD,  
being RICH in MERCY, because of HIS GREAT LOVE with which HE LOVED US, even when we were dead in our trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ! - Ephesians 2:1-5

Did you catch that? 

What roll did you play? And what roll did God play? 

The truth is, it was all God! 100% Him, for we were dead! And He made us alive! Some might argue how could we possibly be dead when we've been living and breathing on this earth for years! I once wondered the same, and I did a bit of research and discovered there are actually three types of deaths mentioned in God's Word. AND that death is better defined as separated.

__The First death is a physical death, and the one we most often think of, when our spirit separates itself from our body. We go on, but our body remains lifeless.
__ The Second death is the one mentioned here in this chapter in Ephesians, where we are walking this earth in the flesh separated from God. 
__ The Third death was the one God mentions to Adam and Eve when He told them  that if they ate of the fruit of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they would surely die. He was speaking of an eternal death; an eternal separation from God. This third death is the one all will face one day if they don't accept God's gift of life now in this lifetime.

So, we were all once dead- separated from God in our sins... BUT GOD, being RICH in MERCY, because of HIS GREAT LOVE with which HE LOVED US, even when we were dead in our trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ!
Just imagine for a moment what this life would be like if God suddenly ceased His redemption process among us, and closed the gates of heaven. 

Praise God He is rich in mercy and loves us beyond anything our finite mind can fathom! Not only did He reach down to claim us as His, but He is building His church; human stone upon stone, with the Cornerstone of our faith being our Lord, Jesus Christ.

We are an eclectic group for sure and no where is it more evident than on Women in the Word's FB page! We've come from all parts of this world; each different ages and from diverse backgrounds but unified in our love for our Lord, Jesus Christ and our desire to grow our faith through His Word and fellowship!

Paul is telling us here in chapter 2 that regardless of our sin origin, we all share a common destination with each of us having become an altogether new creation by His grace. (Eph 2:8-9) It's evident He has brought us together, because His Spirit abides within and among us, but He isn't finished yet! (v.10) His church is not complete! He is building us together because He has a purpose for all of us and we would do well to be about our Father's business until He calls us all home for that great banquet in the sky!

Blessings,

sue

Becky Austin

With Thankful Hearts (Ephesians 1-2)

2:31 AM





Today is Thanksgiving Day, a day of reflection on the many blessings we have and a day to offer our humble thanks for those blessings to God, our loving Father. In Ephesians 1-2, Paul reminds us of some of those wonderful blessings and encourages us to have a heart of gratitude as we offer up praise to God. 
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” (1:3)
How did He bless us?  “ IN Christ”. 
Christ is the reason we have acceptance in God’s eyes. And having Christ grants us the Grand Prize Package so to speak because “in Christ” we get it “ALL”- “every” spiritual blessing is ours! 

Just think about how much God extended to you. 
God loved you before the beginning of time. He knew long before you were born that you would need a Savior and he sent Christ to make you worthy of a status change. 
“even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.  (1:4-5)
How amazing is that! You are adopted into God’s family. But there’s more.  God chose to lavish us with His grace.  Lavish means “to bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon.”
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”(1:7-8)

Paul talks about how the first believers, like himself, were given an inheritance by believing in Christ. But, this extended beyond the chosen Jewish nation to ALL people who would choose to believe. That includes you. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (1:13-14 )
The Holy Spirit teaches you, comforts you, and empowers you.  Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:16) What a blessed gift you have been given to have the Holy Spirit, with you always.

Life is the most important of blessings.  I’ve heard this quote recently “Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people good but to make dead people alive. “.  You should be grateful for your physical life, certainly, but what far exceeds physical life is Eternal Life!  Because of Christ, you have the greatest blessing of all.”
Paul reminds us that we were spiritually dead.  “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (2:2-3)
But, Praise God, we were given New Life....eternal life! 
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—” ( 2:4-5) 
Paul reminds us this is “a gift of love”. You don’t deserve it. You don’t earn it. You don’t perform to keep it.  It is a freely offered gift of love and grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”(2:8-9)

What a great gift to be thankful for. Part of our thankfulness should be to allow God to extend what He has blessed us with in service to others. God wants to use our lives to glorify and honour Him. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (2:10)
Today is a great day to show our thankfulness and appreciation for what God has blessed us with but every day affords the same opportunity. Thanksgiving shouldn’t just be a day but a way of life!