2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Spirit keeps leading me to citations in Ephesians, because this letter from Paul is such a treasure trove of God’s wisdom, love, compassion, and guidance for us. One verse from the prayer I discussed yesterday keeps echoing in my mind, so much so that I must repeat it. EPH 3: 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…” Have you ever been in a situation where you know you need to ask key questions of an authority figure in your life, and you simply don’t know which questions to ask? God understands our human limitations enough to know that and to know what information we absolutely need to mount a charge against the challenges to our faith by Satan.
We are told in the Scriptures to “stand firm in our faith.” That means “to hold a watch post” or “to take over,” and implies an active stance on our part. Holding a watch post is the very thing that God said to Ezekiel in EZK 3: 16-21 and EZK 33: 1-9. This heart of this message is that if a person dies on Ezekiel’s watch and this prophet wasn’t paying attention enough to warn him of the danger, Ezekiel is held responsible for the death by God. If, on the other hand, Ezekiel warns the man and the latter dies because he didn’t heed the warning, then Ezekiel is not help responsible by God. The object lesson of this story is to teach us that we must be on the alert for Satan, who we are told in 1 PET 5: 8 “roams about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
One of the ways that we can understand Christ’s role in our lives and that power that He uses “to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of” is to know our position in Christ. There are some key truths from God’s word that help us to do this. [Do not be confused by my use of the word “God” here, when I’m writing about Christ. We must remember that Christ is the second personality of God]. 1) We were selected by God to be His children. EPH 1: 4, “Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be hold and be without guilt before Him.” Did you ever wonder why God could say to Jeremiah who was complaining he was too young at the time God wanted to commission him, “I chose you before I gave you life, an before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations” [JER 1: 5] ? Or, how about the Psalmist’s statement to God in PS 139: 15-16? “When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother’s womb, when I was growing there in secret, You knew that I was there-You saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in Your book, before any of them ever began.” God doesn’t let us know why He selects one person to be His child and another not to be, but since we know He is an always-righteous Deity, we may trust it is for a righteous reason. We must trust God and accept His greater perspective over ours. IS 55: 8-9, “’My thoughts,’ says the Lord, ‘are not like yours, and My ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways and thoughts above yours.”
2) It was God’s plan all along that He would save us. COL 1: 15-20, “Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. For through Him God created everything in heaven and on earth, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers and authorities. God created the whole universe through Him and for Him. Christ existed before all things, and in union with Him all things have their proper place. He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the source of the Body’s life. He is the first-born Son, Who was raised from death, in order that He alone might have the first place in all things. For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in Himself the full nature of God. Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through His Son’s death on the cross and so brought back to Himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.” God is not limited by the physical laws of earth as we are. EPH 1: 7-8, “For by the death of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, which He gave to us in such large measure!” It is easy to see here how God’s words are so much better about this than anything I could say. We must realize that because we have been redeemed by our Kinsman-Redeemer, Satan no longer has the power of death over us. HE 2 : 14, “Since the children, as He calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus Himself became like them and shared their human natures. He did this so that through His death He might destroy the devil, who has the power over death.”
There is more to say about our position in Christ, so that will be the subject of tomorrow’s message. However, there is one point I must make. Each one of these truths should lend us great comfort and allow us to have a deeper understanding of the power we possess, that God gave us, to combat Satan. We must stand firm, but we don’t have to stand alone!
PRAYER: O Lord, You want us to know the power that the Gospel has. That is why You inspired Paul to make an important statement in RO 1: 16-17. “I have complete confidence in the Gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. For the Gospel reveals how God puts people right with Himself; it is through faith from the beginning to the end. As the Scripture [HB 2: 4] says, ‘The person who is put right with God through faith shall live.’” If we think of what it is like to raise an only child who pleases us and makes us proud and then to see that child suffer and die a horrible death, we might get some idea of the extent of the sacrifice You made for us. To do this for one’s friends is tough enough, but to do this for one’s enemies is seemingly unthinkable for our fleshly, human selves. And yet, that is what You did for us when we were Your enemies [RO 5: 10-11]. 1 PET 1: 20-21 tells us this was Your plan all along since before You created the world. Your disappointment when people reject Christ, wasting the opportunity He affords them for salvation, must acute and intense. Being the loving God that You are lays You open to being vulnerable to that. We acknowledge that You refuse to give up on us, that You deserve for us to obey Your commands and to trust You completely, and that we need to humbly confess our sins before You. You have made all these things clear to us [JN 14: 21; RO 10: 9-10]. We pledge to understand the power to avoid Satan’s traps that You have granted us and to use it against him. PS 141: 8-10 expresses our plea. “But I keep trusting in You, Lord, my God. I see Your protection; do not let me die! Protect me from the traps evildoers [led by Satan] have set for me, from their snares. May the wicked fall into their own traps while I go by unharmed.” We dedicate ourselves to adoring, worshipping, being loyal and diligent, to trusting and obeying You, to giving You the glory and honor for all that is good in our lives, and to praising and thanking You. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
As mentioned above, I’m led to continue discussing our position in Christ tomorrow. What greater love can our Deity have than to give His only Son on the cross for us? How can we miss the love behind the gift of the Holy Spirit given to us? When we see God punishing those who are disobedient to Him, we see the example of righteous action, not evil. Those punishments are lessons for us, so that we understand the consequences of turning our backs in sinfulness on our loving Covenant Partner. The comfort He gives us in His presence, direction, and encouragement in our lives is palpable evidence of a love we should use as a paradigm for our own lives. We are blessed to be God’s children and to look forward to our own resurrections to eternal life of joy and peace with Him. God loves each of us. Peter and I send our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn