"16 I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves,17 and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, 18 so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. 19 Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God." Ephesians 3:14-19 GNT
There is so much in these verses, but I feel that the Lord just wants to us to keep it simple.
Read these verses, one at a time and really pray over what God wants to reveal to you and for you to receive. I say this because when I read it all at once, I get so many promises and information that I can't really receive it all--because it is so big and soul exploding!
As you read, what are you receiving? For me, the common thread is love. That my heavenly Father loves me so much that I can't really wrap my emotions, faith or brain around it. I keep saying to myself, "But I'm a sinner. I fall short all the time. I don't deserve this type of love." And then, if I was to be truly honest, I can find myself thinking, "Yes, I can receive this love, but what if I get all used to it and then He whips it away from me? What then? Can I truly trust in this love? People on this earth love me and then all of a sudden it seems, they take it away--what if God's this way too?"
But these verses are also about faith and faith is believing even if you don't see. Faith is doing something even in fear, if your God is telling you that should. So, if I was to simplify these verses for God's gift to me, it would be this: I can be loved and receive His love on the faith that He is true to His word. And it is not anything that I can earn or un-earn. It just is. And with that love, faith and the holy spirit inside me, I can be as bold and courageous as God created me to be. And I have to do some housecleaning--in this case, I need to take that hot, soapy water and Brillo pad and scrub my old thought pattern--old hurt--away. I can't receive my new thought pattern if my old one still has it's grip on me--do you see?
How about you? What was spoken was for me, but God may be speaking something different to you. And again, truly search your spirit when you read these verses one by one so that you can receive the whole gift that God has waiting for you to receive and to own. Be prepared for the possibility that you may have to do some "housecleaning"--clean out that old hurt, habit or hang-up--in order to fully receive your gift. That may be a little messy but so well worth it in the end.
And then watch out!! You may find that your heart, mind and soul will soon be exploding all over the place!
"20 To him who by means of his power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of:21 to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21 GNT
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Perspective
"Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way." Colossians 3:15-17 The Message
When you read these verses, what speaks to you? What pops out of the page?
What pops out at me is these three things: peace, thankfulness and "sing, sing your hearts out to God."
If you are like me, I can--at times--focus on the negative. Oh, I see the good, and I appreciate it so much. But then when a negative comes--bang!--good is all gone and all I see is negative. And then I am stuck there--usually too long. Because even if a good thing comes along, it can get colored by the bad thing that just left or that I am still stuck in. So, I can't really appreciate the good. Can you relate?
So, when I read these verses, I love the whole message that Paul is promoting. But for me personally, the "cultivate thankfulness" and "sing, sing your hearts out to God" means so much at this time of my walk. It reminds me that I need to be thankful for ALL that is happening in my life. That I need to sing, sing my heart praises out to God. If I truly believe that my God has my best interest at heart and that He is in control of ALL things--then good or bad--I need to sing praises and be thankful! And I have been trying that concept for the past couple of weeks and do you know what? It has helped. When something happens, I praise Him for either the blessing, if it is a pleasant thing, which of course is easy. But I have also try to genuinely thank Him for the pruning or lesson learned--when it is not so pleasant--which is hard. Yet, when I do it, I can honestly say that I truly do feel the sting go out of the unpleasant thing--and that is such a peaceful feeling.
What about you? What can these verses teach you? Or what is it that God wants you to glean from these words? There's many life/faith issues here. Do you need to spend more time with the Lord? "Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives." Do you need to allow others to speak into your life or is God prompting you to speak into someone else's life? "Instruct and direct one another using good common sense." Do you need to make amends with someone but you have been procrastinating? "Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other." Do you need to make sure that you're living out your faith? "Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way."
I challenge you this week to read these verses every day and then pray over them. Ask your Heavenly Father to reveal to you what He wants for you. Pray also that He reveal to you what you need to change, let go, etc, in your life, heart, mind--in order to be able to receive this new truth. Because you can't keep getting good stuff and stick it in with the old stuff that is not good. There's not enough room and of course, it's not healthy.
What an exciting time this will be for you!
OK! Enough talking--get going!
When you read these verses, what speaks to you? What pops out of the page?
What pops out at me is these three things: peace, thankfulness and "sing, sing your hearts out to God."
If you are like me, I can--at times--focus on the negative. Oh, I see the good, and I appreciate it so much. But then when a negative comes--bang!--good is all gone and all I see is negative. And then I am stuck there--usually too long. Because even if a good thing comes along, it can get colored by the bad thing that just left or that I am still stuck in. So, I can't really appreciate the good. Can you relate?
So, when I read these verses, I love the whole message that Paul is promoting. But for me personally, the "cultivate thankfulness" and "sing, sing your hearts out to God" means so much at this time of my walk. It reminds me that I need to be thankful for ALL that is happening in my life. That I need to sing, sing my heart praises out to God. If I truly believe that my God has my best interest at heart and that He is in control of ALL things--then good or bad--I need to sing praises and be thankful! And I have been trying that concept for the past couple of weeks and do you know what? It has helped. When something happens, I praise Him for either the blessing, if it is a pleasant thing, which of course is easy. But I have also try to genuinely thank Him for the pruning or lesson learned--when it is not so pleasant--which is hard. Yet, when I do it, I can honestly say that I truly do feel the sting go out of the unpleasant thing--and that is such a peaceful feeling.
What about you? What can these verses teach you? Or what is it that God wants you to glean from these words? There's many life/faith issues here. Do you need to spend more time with the Lord? "Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives." Do you need to allow others to speak into your life or is God prompting you to speak into someone else's life? "Instruct and direct one another using good common sense." Do you need to make amends with someone but you have been procrastinating? "Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other." Do you need to make sure that you're living out your faith? "Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way."
I challenge you this week to read these verses every day and then pray over them. Ask your Heavenly Father to reveal to you what He wants for you. Pray also that He reveal to you what you need to change, let go, etc, in your life, heart, mind--in order to be able to receive this new truth. Because you can't keep getting good stuff and stick it in with the old stuff that is not good. There's not enough room and of course, it's not healthy.
What an exciting time this will be for you!
OK! Enough talking--get going!
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