Category: Devotions

TUESDAY 24^th

Ephesians 3:14-21

NIV (v17) – ‘. . . so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love . . .’

ESV (v17) –  ‘. . . so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love . . .’

1) That they may be strengthened with power (v16)

2) That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (v17)

3) That they may be rooted and grounded in love (17-18)

4) That they may know the love of Christ and the fulness of God (v19)

5) That all the glory goes to the Lord Jesus (v20-21)

That they may be rooted and grounded in love – after being strengthened with power, Paul wants the believers to be rooted and grounded in love.

As we have been attempting to sort out and landscape our garden, we have discovered that it is full of rubbish, rubble and weeds, and so a lot of work has gone into clearing it ready for planting, but then we have discovered that a lot of the soil is not the very best, and I wanted to plant some rose bushes. The roses had been ordered and I wanted to make sure they would have the best start I could give them, they need to be rooted into something that would help them to grow, mature, develop and hopefully bloom well next year, so I went to get a bag of manure, and as I planted each one I made sure that they were well rooted into it.

It is not a good illustration to consider love like manure! But it gives the picture, without the manure the roses would probably not grow and mature, for the manure is full of goodness and nutrients, it is just what the roses need.

Paul wants the believers to be rooted and grounded well, and the best manure for this is love, love has all the right ingredients to help establish us in our faith, remember the famous chapter of Paul where we see the potential of love if we are willing to be rooted and grounded in it. ‘Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.’ (1 Corinthians 13:4–8). Love is the manure that is needed in the local Church setting, to enable the members to be rooted and grounded not only in Christ but also together. ‘Blessed be the tie that binds, our hearts in Christian love’

‘Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.’ (1 Peter 4:8)

‘Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.’ (1 Thessalonians 4:9)

While I have been preparing this devotion, spell checker has incorrectly been trying to correct some of my spelling (I know I do make a few mistakes and don’t always spot them before I send the devotions out) Twice as I have wanted to type the word rooted it has changed it to rotted! I had to smile because that is exactly what happens if something is not rooted well, it rots! I hope when next spring comes, I do not find that my roses have rotted, I hope they will have rooted. May we ensure that we are rooted well so that we do not rot! Blooming well because of the love of Christ, blooming so well that folk around will see the difference that being grounded in the love of Christ makes in a person’s life.

MONDAY 23^rd

Ephesians 3:14-21

NIV (v17) – ‘. . . so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love . . .’

ESV (v17) –  ‘. . . so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love . . .’

Today we continue with the points I made yesterday.

1) That they may be strengthened with power (v16)

2) That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (v17)

3) That they may be rooted and grounded in love (17-18)

4) That they may know the love of Christ and the fulness of God (v19)

5) That all the glory goes to the Lord Jesus (v20-21)

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – We know from Ephesians 2:8 that it is by grace we are saved and through faith, which is a gift from God, and that same faith enables us to know and believe that Christ dwells in our hearts. I touched on the heart in an earlier devotion, and spiritually speaking it is the place in which Christ chooses to reside, thus we say ‘we have given our hearts to Jesus’ this is a declaration that we have given all that we have and are to him. And in return he comes to dwell in us. It is mystery that we can say that we are ‘in Christ’ and at the same time he is in us, which is the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) Also Colossians 2:9 tells us that in him, (that is Jesus) the whole fulness of deity dwells, that means that when Christ comes to dwell in our hearts the fulness of deity dwells within us, what an amazing thought! This is what Paul continues to pray for in Ephesians 3:19 ‘. . . that you may be filled with all the fulness of God’. This means that as the people of God we carry the presence of God within us, in 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 we read, ‘Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.’  As carriers of God’s presence, or people within whose hearts the Lord Jesus dwells we are the temple of God, and as the temple of God we need to do all that we can to keep ourselves clean, holy, unstained from the world. (‘What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you,  and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’ 2 Corinthians 6:16–18) This reminds me of the two occasions when Jesus entering the temple and overturned the tables and thew out the money changers, (John 2:13-17, Luke 19:45-46) it makes me look into my own life, which is to be the temple of the living God and wonder what Jesus may need to overturn and to throw out! May we by God’s grace be clean channels fit for purpose, fit to be temples, fit for the presence of God.

SUNDAY 22^nd

Ephesians 3:1-13

NIV (v12) – ‘In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.’

ESV (v12) – ‘. . . in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.’

Last Wednesday we looked at the verses from Ephesians 1 that showed us that Paul prayed for the believers under his care and we come today to the verse that precedes his second prayer for them.

He is saying that it is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ that we have boldness and access or as the NIV puts it freedom and confidence to approach God.

In verses 14 Paul says ‘For this reason I bow my knees before the Father . . .’ When we put it together with verse 12, (in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him) because of what Christ has done we can come before the Holy God as our Father, this is one of the blessings that flows out of Ephesians 1:3, where we have been blessed in Christ Jesus, for having been saved, and blessed, one of the blessings is we have become the children of God and he has become our heavenly Father. And Paul is coming before his heavenly Father on behalf of his spiritual brothers and sisters again.

What is he asking for them this time?

1) That they may be strengthened with power (v16)

2) That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (v17)

3) That they may be rooted and grounded in love (17-18)

4) That they may know the love of Christ and the fulness of God (v19)

5) That all the glory goes to the Lord Jesus (v20-21)

To be strengthened with power – he mentioned power in his earlier prayer, (1:19) power which he described as being immeasurable, that’s power! We measure power in BHP or PSI or in voltage terms, I worked for about five years for an agricultural engineer, we manufactured corn and silage trailers from scratch, and we had steel press machines, small in comparison to what are found in heavy engineering and manufacturing, but nonetheless powerful, I used to watch with amazement at the force that was exerted by the press to bend steel into the shape required, and we could scour the earth for the most powerful press ever made and stand in awe at its capabilities, but it would pale into insignificance with the immeasurable power of the Holy Spirit, why? for it was that immeasurable power that was at work when Jesus rose from the dead. The same power that was active when God spoke a word at creation and everything came into being, the same power that was at work holding back the Red sea and the river Jordan, the same power that held the sun back for a day, the same power that was manifested in the earthly ministry of Jesus as he healed the sick, raised the dead and performed those amazing miracles such as turning water into wine or causing the five loaves and two fishes to feed a crowd of way over 5000. The same power that was seen being poured out on the day of Pentecost and caused the building where the disciples were meeting a few days later to shake, this is the immeasurable power of the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth who also demonstrated his power at Calvary and in the tomb and raised Jesus to life again so that as we believe by faith we can come with boldness and confidence into his presence and call him ‘our Father.’

This should cause us to know that we can come with boldness and confidence, knowing that his immeasurable power is toward us who believe (Ephesians 1:19) and that there isn’t anything too hard that we can ask for that God cannot do so long as it is not outside the bounds of who God is in his person, character and nature, for we cannot ask him to change, he changes not, we cannot ask him to lie for he is the God of truth, we cannot ask him to go against his will, (I will touch on this again on Thursday)  but we can ask him to step into the affairs of our lives and ask him to intervene.

Be encouraged today with whatever you are facing or whatever you may be going through, God is our Father and he bids us to come into his presence and in coming we can ask him to display his power in our lives and our circumstances. This devotion may be for someone in particular today, when I started preparing today I had no intention of going down the route I have taken, therefore I must believe that God wants to speak into your life, into your circumstance at this time. Be encouraged and know his immeasurable power is toward you. ‘Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’ Hebrews 4:16

I will continue with the other points through this week.

SATURDAY 21^st

Ephesians 2:11-22

NIV (v13) – ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’

ESV (v13) – ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’

Once far away but now near because of the blood of Christ, this is incredibly good news, for as I said yesterday we were all born in sin and shapen in iniquity, we were all bound for hell and an eternity lost and forever cut off from the presence of God but the message of the cross is that through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we are brought near to God.

Notice what it says in verse 12, we were ‘separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant of promise, HAVING NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.’ What a miserable and pathetic picture this paints of lostness, alienation, emptiness, and hopelessness. And yet so many willingly choose to stay in this state, rather instead to be ‘enjoying’ or participating in the pleasure of sin for a moment and to lose out on the eternal joys that have been prepared for those who believe. (Hebrews 11:24-26,39-40)

Because of the blood of the Cross as we have believed by faith, instead of lostness we have been found, (the mission of Jesus was to seek [find] and to save the lost Luke 19:10) instead of alienation we have been reconciled, instead of emptiness we are filled with joy, peace, purpose and fulfilment and instead of hopelessness we have eternal hope.

I have said it before but repeat it again, may we always make much about the blood, for without the shedding of the blood (of the Lord Jesus) there would be no remission of sin and no reconciliation to God. ‘Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.’  (Romans 5:9–11)

See also Ephesians 1:7 ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.’

Hebrews 9:14 ‘. . . how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.’

Hebrews 13:12 ‘So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.’

1 Peter 1:18–19 ‘. . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.’

 And finally, we need to sing about the blood, they sing about the blood in heaven and so should we down here on earth. ‘And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’ (Revelation 5:9–10).

Precious, precious blood of Jesus,

Shed on Calvary;

Shed for rebels, shed for sinners,

Shed for thee.

Precious, precious blood of Jesus

Ever flowing free;

Oh, believe it; oh, receive it,

’Tis for thee.

Precious, precious blood of Jesus,

Let it make thee whole;

Let it flow in mighty cleansing,

O’er thy soul.

Though thy sins are red like crimson,

Deep in scarlet glow,

Jesus’ precious blood shall wash thee,

White as snow.

Precious blood that hath redeemed us!

All the price is paid;

Perfect pardon now is offered,

Peace is made.

Now the holiest with boldness

We may enter in;

For the open fountain cleanseth

From all sin.

Precious blood, by this we conquer

In the fiercest fight,

Sin and Satan overcoming

By its might.

Precious blood whose full redemption

Makes us nigh to God;

Precious blood, our way of glory,

Praise and laud.

FRIDAY 20^th

Ephesians 2:1-10

NIV (vv8-9) – ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.’

ESV (vv8-9) –  ‘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.’

Today our devotion is concerning the grace of God.

I wonder how many hymns, songs, or choruses we know concerning the grace of God? There are the old favourites, ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound’, ‘Grace tis a charming sound’, the newer ones such as ‘Only by grace can we enter’ or ‘Your grace is enough’. His grace is worth singing about, it is worth talking about, it is worth celebrating, for it is by his grace we have been brought out of darkness to light, it is by his grace we have been made spiritually alive and become a new creation, it is by his grace we are what we are. It is by his grace we are being kept and will finally enter his eternal presence.

What is grace? We may be familiar with the statements such as ‘great riches at Christ’s expense ‘ or ‘It is unmerited favour — the love of God going out toward the utterly undeserving.’

Grace is literally God giving to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation, and  forgiveness – everything we receive that we do not deserve because of God’s love displayed for us through his son at Calvary.

Back in John 1:17 we read ‘For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ Verse 14 says that Jesus was ‘full of grace’, and verse 16 ‘from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.’

These thoughts should grip us that God has given us grace, he continues to give us grace upon grace, remember the Old Testament Scripture, that reminds us ‘The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (Lamentations 3:22–23)

That’s grace, receiving his steadfast love and mercy, whoever we are reading this today, whatever we were before we were saved, one things is sure we were all born in sin and shapen in iniquity and we were all deserving of hell and eternal punishment, but God by his grace stooped down to where we were and picked us up. ‘Thank you for the Cross Lord where you displayed to the world your love, your mercy and poured out your grace.’ Maybe you are reading this and you are not saved, then God’s grace is available for you today and you receive it by faith, by putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and in all that he has done for you at Calvary. If you want to know more email me at pastorepcgateshead@gmail.com

THURSDAY 19^th

Ephesians 1:15-23

NIV (vv17-20) ‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms . . .’

ESV (vv17-20) ‘that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places . . .’

We will quickly go through some of the things that Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus.

The first part is for them to have an impartation of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, ‘him’ is referring to God himself, this impartation would enrich their understanding of God and in turn enlighten their hearts to know the hope to which they have been called.

Secondly, to know what the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints is and thirdly, to know the immeasurable greatness of his power.

Impartation of understanding, inexplorable riches and infusion of power. Humanly we cannot ever fully explore all that God is and all that he has made available for us (his riches) and is still making available, but Paul wanted the Ephesians and us as well to grasp a greater and deeper understanding and he asks that God would impart spiritual wisdom and revelation to each believer to enable us to know more, it means that our Christian life is an ongoing journey of exploration, an ongoing deepening of our spiritual lives and ongoing learning of truth and an ongoing discovery of God (the triune God) himself. We can have all the theological degrees in the world, the biggest and best library of Christian books, attend every service a Church has to offer, and yet we will never come to an end of our discovery of God and of spiritual truth.

In v17 the NIV uses the words ‘that you may know him better’  Paul is making the same request for the believers that he also made for himself in another of his letters, ‘. . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.’   (Philippians 3:10–11) He wants to not only know him, but also to know the power of his resurrection, in our verses from Ephesians he says about the immeasurable greatness of the power (ESV) or the mighty strength that was exerted (NIV) in the raising of Jesus from the dead, I believe the more we get to know God the more we will get to know his immeasurable greatness of power or an exertion of his mighty strength in our lives. Paul wanted his desire to become the desire of the Ephesian Church, and likewise our desire today. His power is available to us, ‘ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe’, may we seek to know him more, that we may receive all that he is making available toward us.

WEDNESDAY 18^th

Ephesians 1:15-23

NIV (vv15-16) ‘For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.’

ESV (vv15-16) ‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers . . .’

‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers’. When it comes to Paul, we find he is a wonderful example of what a leader in a Church should be like, although he was an apostle, busy pioneering and planting, he also made and gave time to nurturing the work, the sheep, the flock, he was a true shepherd, he showed his care for the people in so many different ways, yes, he did correct and admonish them when it was needed, (as we saw in Galatians) but he also fed them and nourished them with doctrinal truth and with encouragement and exhortation for living out their new found faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and as if he wasn’t already busy enough he still found time and made time to pray for them and in verses 16-23 we see what his prayer for them was. Later in the same epistle he will break out into prayer for them again in 3:14-21.

It is good to pray, we pray for ourselves and our families, we pray for the work of the gospel in mission in the UK and around the nations of the world, Jesus himself told us to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth reapers, Matthew 9:37-38, ‘Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ We should also be praying for those in authority as we are commanded to in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, ‘First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.’ We pray for the sick, the suffering, and sorrowful, (James 5) we pray for the persecuted Church, but we also follow the example of Paul and pray for one another in the body of Christ, in particular our brothers and sisters in the local Church setting where we find ourselves. One of the blessings of being a part of a Church family is to know that others are praying for us and to be able in turn to pray for them. How we pray and when we pray is down to the individual, what matters is that we pray. To end this devotion, thank you for your prayer, thank you for praying for Elaine and myself, we appreciate it very much.

TUESDAY 17^th

Ephesians 1:3-10

NIV (v7-8) –  ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding . . .’

ESV (v7-8) – ‘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 . . .’

Today I want to start by taking the first two words that commence v7 ‘In him’. This speaks of 1) our position once we have been saved, we are positioned ‘in him’ or to use another frequently used phrase ‘in Christ’ and 2) it speaks of our provision, Christ being the one in whom or from whom we receive our spiritual blessings.

In just verses 3-14 0f Ephesians 1, we have ‘in him’ six times v4, ‘chosen in him’, v7, ‘In him we have redemption’, v10, ‘to unite all things in him’, v11, ‘In him we have received an inheritance’, v13, ‘In him, you also . . . and believed in him’. We have ‘in Christ’ three times, v3, ‘blessed us in Christ’, v9, ‘set forth in Christ’, v12 ‘the first to hope in Christ’, and then in v5 we have ‘through Jesus Christ’.

In Acts 17, Paul while speaking to the ‘Men of Athens’ says to them, ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (v28), this is a statement that Paul uses to declare that the source of all life (and in particular humanity) is God himself, we live physically because God has granted us the life we have and the breath we breathe, this is true for every living person regardless of whether or not they believe in God! (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7, Psalm 139:13-16) But we who are born again by the Spirit of God can also say ‘IN HIM, we live and move and have our being spiritually’ for we who once were dead in trespasses and sin have been made spiritually alive again and it is all in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a position to be found in, ‘in Christ’ Paul says in Colossians 3:3 ‘For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’ It is only in truly dying, that is to sin, to self and to the desires of the flesh that we can truly be made alive, and once made alive we are hidden with Christ in God, what a glorious position. It speaks of salvation, security, safety and of satisfaction, for in Christ there is wonderful provision, and Paul speaks of so much of this in these verses, (1:3-14) spiritual blessings which include, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, adoption, inheritance and so much more.

Here in our text verses, Paul continues ‘In him we have redemption’ and he makes it clear where the source for the redemption is to be found, ‘through his blood’ The shed blood is the only means of redemption, there is no other way, to be saved, to be placed in Christ and to know the provision that is found in him, all must come to the Cross, to be washed, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, through the blood of the eternal covenant. In Acts 20:28 we read ‘Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood’. This speaks of a third point, ‘In him’ we have become his purchased possession, his treasured possession, he has purchased us with his blood, This should have an impact upon who and what we are like living in this fallen world, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ‘Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.’ This leads to my final point of our being ‘In Christ’ or ‘In him’, we need to be careful of how we portray ourselves in the world considering his glorious grace. Being in Christ means that we no longer live for ourselves, but we should be living to bring honour and glory to his name.

MONDAY 16^th

Ephesians 1:3

NIV (v3) –  ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.’

ESV (v3) – ‘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 . . .’

This is an amazing verse of Scripture because it reminds those of us who are believers today that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing as a result of our coming to faith or of our believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. As we consider the many blessings, of which Paul mentions some of them in the following verses (4-14) we should be returning to God with praise and adoration, not to mention with hearts full of gratitude as well. The ESV says ‘Blessed be’, the NIV ‘Praise be’ both are saying one and the same thing – Bless the Lord, praise the Lord God because of the multitude of blessings we have received from him through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Psalm 103 says ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity,  who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’

Remember the chorus, Bless the Lord, O my soul . . . and all that is within me bless his holy Name. Why bless the Lord, well in the words of one of the hymns because ‘I have tried to count his blessings, and I fail to understand, why the Lord should so richly reward; could I count the stars of heaven, add to them earth’s grains of sand, still His blessings are more, praise the Lord! And the end is not yet, praise the Lord!

What a way to start a letter, to be reminded of the manifold blessings of God, which are ours because of our relationship to him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ Paul uses a similar phrase in another of his letters, 2 Corinthians 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.’ and Peter also in 1 Peter 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . .’

We have an incident in the gospels of the time when ten lepers came to Jesus to request healing, and he cleansed them all, it continues to say that only one of them came back to Jesus to give thanks. (You can read it in Luke 17:11-19) They all wanted, they all received, but only one, that was ten percent returned to give thanks, I guess we can all remember when we were growing up as children being told by our parents to say ‘thank you’, and then we ourselves have instilled into our own children as they were growing up. ‘Don’t forget to say thank you’, ‘did you say thank you’, may I give us all a gentle nudge today, to remember to say ‘thank you’ to our Heavenly Father who has blessed us with so much through his Son, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Give thanks from a grateful heart.

SUNDAY 15^th

Ephesians 1:1-2

NIV (vv1-2) – ‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’

ESV (vv1-2) – ‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’

We come today to the Ephesian letter, and boy oh boy, what a problem this is going to give me. ‘Why?’ you may ask, well put simply because this book along with the gospel of John are my two favourite books of the Bible, and somehow I have got to decide how to break it up and do it justice without spending too long in it! Not that I suppose we can ever spend too long in any book of the Bible, and however long I spend in it, I will never be able to give it the justice it deserves, but I need to treat it in the same way as I have with every other book.

This letter is all about blessings, prayer, grace, the Church / body, relationship, and strength. But more importantly is also about our being ‘in Christ’ and it is a letter that is all about Christ, in one of the Bibles I use (ESV the one I use most of the time) sometime in the past I have gone through all the letters from Galatians through to Titus marking out how many nouns there are referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, the  total for each is: Galatians 45, Ephesians 63, Philippians 46, Colossians 35, 1 Thessalonians 33, 2 Thessalonians 23, 1 Timothy 20, 2 Timothy27, Titus 7.

Sixty-three times in Ephesians and that does not include the many times where it says, in him, (six times in just 1:3-14) him, he, or his, referring to Jesus. This tells me that it is all about Jesus, and likewise when it comes to our faith and outworking of that faith it should also all be about Jesus, one of the more modern songs is:

It’s all about You, Jesus

And all this is for You

For Your glory and your fame

It’s not about me

As if You should do things my way

You alone are God

And I surrender to Your ways

Just as we see Jesus as the centre in this letter, so also he needs to be the centre of our lives, and just as all that Paul writes points to Jesus, so all we have and are should point to Jesus. May God help us to always keep Jesus as our focus, and I believe one of the ways that this will be ensured is that we keep close to the Cross, the place where we encountered the life transforming power of the gospel.