Ephesians 1:15-23
Bible Study Notes
1:15 - "love for all God's people"
-This is good to take note of. Because of their faith in
God, they had tremendous love for one another and that is evidence of God's
work in your life. Good works & loving people does not save you or give you
salvation but it is definitely evidence that you have received the salvation of
your soul!
- 1 John 4:20, John 13:14, John 13:34, 35
1:16 - "remembering you in my prayers"
-Paul reminds us that we must not only preach to people
but pray for people! He was always praying for people & their churches, not
just preaching to them.
1:17 - "I keep asking that God... will give
you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better."
-Not spiritual gifts... not prophecy, not dreams, not interpretation, but wisdom. Paul asked that they would simply know God better.
Do you know God? Do you know that He is the Good Shepherd, the Faithful Father,
the One who loves you enough to die for you, knows what you need and died to
set you free and gives you all your needs? Is that the God you know? How did
you come to know God? Through His Word or through other people & society?
Who do you think God is?
-Our "Christian" life must be centered around
the knowledge of Him. Of knowing Him... in His truth, as revealed by His Word,
and to correct our false ideas of who we think He is.
1:18 - "that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called
you,"
-The heart is the very core of life. The source and
sustaining thing in our body. We as Christians must have both our eyes and our
heart open and enlightened to see the hope that is found in Christ Jesus, the
hope we are called to.
-Paul wanted them to know the hope and security in life
that God has called us and has a specific calling for us to fulfill.
-This is a beautiful promise! That each life has purpose
and each part of the body is needed, no matter how small or big. Everyone can
be used by God, if they are willing. And it isn't easy. In order to live out
our calling we must have the drive to persevere in order to see our calling
fulfilled.
-This hope also talks about the longing we have and the
hope we have to be fully in God's presence in His eternal Kingdom. We have a glorious
future ahead of us as well, ruling and reigning with Jesus for all eternity,
perfectly whole in Him.
-
"What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints"
-We are God's inheritance! Pretty crazy to believe...
what do we have to offer Him? We usually think our inheritance is in Him (which
is true) but His is also in us!
-That is what Paul was trying to remind the church in
Ephesus and all of us, that we are so precious in His sight, so valuable to Him
that He considers us to be His inheritance!
-Most of you are probably thinking how can He make me His
inheritance? I am nothing but a lowly sinner whose good deeds are filthy rags.
-Yet God can make riches out of a poor man, because He
invests so much in them. He has invested riches of love, riches of wisdom,
riches of suffering, riches of glory. These things make us rich in Him and rich
to Him.
-
"and His incomparably great power for us who believe."
-We must remember that we serve a God of love but also
one of power who shows His strength on behalf of people.
-Many Christians don't know this power or have only seen
it from a distance. God wants resurrection life and power to be real in the
life of a believer.
-"The very same power which raised Christ is waiting
to raise the drunkard from his drunkenness, to raise the thief from his
dishonesty, to raise the Pharisee from his self-righteousness, to raise the
Sadducee from his unbelief." (Spurgeon)
--- Remember: this is a Spirit anointed prayer by Paul.
Paul was constantly being lead along by the Holy Spirit and constantly speaking
and praying the things of God.
1:19b-21
"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, far above all rule and authority,
power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age
but also in the one to come."
-"as the might strength He
exerted when He raised Christ from the dead."
-With
His mighty power available to us, there never needs to be a power outage or
shortage in the Christian life.
-"If the death of
Christ is the supreme demonstration of the love of God … the resurrection of
Christ is the supreme demonstration of his power." (Bruce)
"far above all rule and
authority, power and dominion, and every name..."
-We
don't really fully grasp the ranks of the heavenly and angelic realm but we do
know that Christ is above all and we are in Him, which means we are reigning
and ruling with Him above all else. We have ultimate authority because of Jesus
Christ.
1:22
"And God placed all things
under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the
Church."
-If
all things are under His feet, than all things are under our feet. We reign and
rule and have authority with Christ because we are apart of His body. When you
see someone you don't say "Hi Mica, Hi body" - Mica's head is
attached to her body making her entirely Mica, not two separate parts.
-This
is why it is so important to know our standing in Christ. Anytime Christ is
mentioned or talked about you need to identify yourself with Him. Because you
are in Him. Once you have experimentally received what Christ did for you, you
are then recognized with Him in front of God the Father.
-This
should give us extreme confidence and security as a believer, to know that we
rule and reign with Christ. He died so you could be secure and confident! He
died so you could have authority over everything in this world and this life,
He died so that you could be victorious in Him. Until you accept and understand
your standing and identification in Christ, you won't live a victorious and
confident life.
-I
challenge you ladies to read Romans 5, 6, 7, & 8 for 30 days. Everyday.
Visiting who you are as a sinner, and who you are now in Him, walking in the
newness of life. Your life should be radically different. If it isn't, press
in. Return to the Lord, revisit who you are in Jesus Christ and the victory and
authority that comes with it.
Here are the links to the "Identification" Audio Messages I was talking about and HIGHLY recommended at Bible Study:
Had such a sweet time with you ladies last night. So so blessed by your genuineness and honesty before the Lord and the rest of us at Bible Study! I appreciate and look forward to every Tuesday night being able to teach and learn with you all! Many blessings to you gals today and this week!
REMINDER:
31 Bits Party N E X T Tuesday!
My House - 6pm
No comments:
Post a Comment