We are special people in Christ. Because of God's great love for us we were brought to life in Christ even though we were dead in sin. That's quite a trade. We traded being dead in sin for being alive in Christ. God is the only one who can bring us from death to life. Just as the Father raised Jesus from the dead and set him at his right hand in heaven, He also raised us from death and seated us in the heavenly realms with Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6). Is Paul conflating the present with the future? We are alive now and will be seated with Christ in heaven. Or does he say this because, since there is no time with God, we are simultaneously alive in Christ on earth and seated with him in heaven? If we look back to 1:3, Paul says the Father has "blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." We are blessed in the heavenly realms, we are seated in the heavenly realms. For Reflection: If we are currently blessed and seated in the heavenly realms, what does that mean? Let us pray. Our Father, Heavenly Father, we do praise your name. You are mighty on our behalf, raising us from death to life, from earth to heaven. You keep us close to you, sitting with you. We are blessed. We are blessed.
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"Lay away" is a concept that has recently returned in the United States. People give the store a partial payment for a particular item. The store puts the item away until the person has made regular payments and paid in full. Then the person takes the item home. The apostle Paul had somewhat of the same idea when he said, "Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. . . " (Ephesians 1:13) We have the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, inside of us, if we believe. A deposit means we have been marked "sold" or "put on lay away." We belong to God. No one else can have us (see also 1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit is given to us as a down payment, a deposit. That means there is more to come. A deposit or down payment is just the beginning. How much more Holy Spirit is there to come, how many more payments will there be? We don't know, but it will be fun to find out. A deposit can also be like making a deposit in a bank. The bank wants to get as many deposits as possible so that it can use the money to make loans on which it charges interest and so makes money. We may want to get as much Holy Spirit into us as we can so that we can use the Spirits's gifts (make loans). Using those gifts, making those loans, comes back to us for our benefit also, just like interest does for a bank. This down payment of Holy Spirit is also a guarantee. We are guaranteed the full inheritance of children of God, the largest inheritance of all. Let us pray. Holy Spirit, you are so generous. I love that you have been deposited within me. I love your guarantee of the full inheritance. As a people who are away from home (God's Kingdom in Heaven) we often need encouragement to keep on with our lives, to keep on with the work God has given us to do, to keep on when things don't seem to be going according to God's plan. Paul wrote a letter of encouragement to the church in Ephesus, a community of people whom he knew well from having lived there for several years. Ironically, Paul writes to encourage them when he himself is in prison. Paul begins by reminding them of their status as Christians. They are "blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." They were "chosen before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless. . . adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ . . . given grace freely . . . redeemed, sins forgiven . . . lavished with God's grace, wisdom and understanding" (Ephesians 1:4-8). All of this comes simply by believing in Jesus. For reflection: Grace and blessings from God are unearned by what we do other than believing in Christ. If we find ourselves working to deserve or earn God's attention or blessings or reward, why? Let us pray. I thank you, Father, that I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. I thank you that I was chosen to be holy and blameless in your sight. I thank you that you have adopted me as your child through Jesus Christ. And I thank you that you have freely given me your grace. I thank you that I am redeemed and my sins forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Paul picks up on the theme of anger in his letter to the Ephesians. He says, "In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:26-27). Paul doesn't say that we should not get angry but that we should deal with it right away. And Paul had reason to be angry. How many people tried to kill him? I assume he practiced what he preached and forgave his persecutors the same day. No small feat. The reason that Paul gives for letting go of our anger quickly and being forgiving is not the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" (as Jesus cited) but that we are all members of the same body. The longer we wait, the harder it is to be rid of the anger, and the more damage we do to the body. Damage to one part of the body affects the entire body, including us, and the head of the body which is Christ Jesus. Letting our anger linger and not dealing with it quickly is sin against both God and man. For reflection: What anger and resentment is still lingering from my childhood? Let us pray. Jesus, I am guilty of letting my anger linger and fester, sometimes for years. Help me to get rid of all the old anger, resentment and unforgiveness in my life. Please bring to mind all those I need to forgive and set free. (After praying a prayer like this, pay attention to odd thoughts you have, people or incidents you haven't thought of in years, or dreams that you have about the past. God's speaks to us through these thoughts and dreams.) Snowboarding, free skiing and other events have been added to the Olympic games in recent years. These are sports that only developed recently. People invented these sports. They invented the equipment; they invented the moves. Someone did it first and then spread the word. Usually these innovators are young people who are willing to try anything. They don't have a fear of failure (or many times a fear of death). When they get to a certain age, they retire from the sport to get married, raise families and pursue other dreams. They settle down; live normal lives. I'm not sure as Christians that we should settle down and live normal lives. We should be the ones trying new things in the Spirit, finding new ways to achieve healing, working miracles to feed the hungry and house the homeless, even raising the dead. We should be the ones soaring above the earth in the Spirit, being transported supernaturally to other places, getting "big air". These are radical things in the Spirit today which for Christians should be the new normal. For reflection: What is the new normal to which God is calling me? Where have I settled for less than God wants? What new moves does God want me to develop? Let us pray. Jesus, in you all things are possible. I want to know you and the power of your resurrection. I don't want to settle for less than you have planned for me and will enable me to do. I want to keep pressing on toward that to which you have called me. With you I have no fear.(based on Matthew 19:26, Ephesians 3:10, 13-14 and 1 John 4:18). "He'll have to change his mindset for this race," the speed skating commentator said as another group prepared for a qualifying race. The young people in the Olympics are often described as envisioning their entire routine before they take to the ice or the slopes. They've been taught to picture themselves perfectly executing their routine, their race, their downhill run. If they can't picture it, they won't attain it. To return to the sports world, for many years no one ran a mile in under 4 minutes. It was thought to be impossible, until someone did it (Roger Bannister). The bar was raised and runners began to think in terms of less than 4 minutes. We too can raise the bar of what we expect God to accomplish through our lives and in our world by putting on the mind of Christ and remembering that he can do more than we can ask or imagine This time of advent, of waiting, of expectation, of praying for the Kingdom to come is not one of passivity. No, we are actively preparing for the arrival of the Kingdom of God on earth, for the second coming of Christ for all. We do this because he wants all to be saved and none to be lost (1 Timothy 2:4). This theme of Kingdom expectation (which has gone on much longer in this blog than I expected) can be traced throughout the Scriptures as we have seen over the last several weeks. It permeates the Old Testament. It threads its way through Jesus and his teachings and prayers. It turns up consistently in Paul's letters. This expectation, this hope, leads us not to sit back and watch, but to go forth and do. All will not be saved if each of us does not do our part. Some are preachers; some are preparers, some are pray-ers (Ephesians 4:11-12). We each have our assignment. The Kingdom of God depends on us. God is waiting too. For reflection: How well have I been fulfilling my assignment from God? Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit. Fill my heart. Set it on fire for you. Renew me. Empower me every day to do what you expect. Renew the face of the earth. At the end of Paul's letter to the Ephesians we saw that he was asking them to pray for him. In his first letter to Timothy he gives some instructions for prayer. "I urge . . . that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- for kings and all those in authority, that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1 Tim 2:1-2). The leaders of the U.S. don't make it into my prayers every day, but they certainly should. In addition to praying for the wisdom to govern, we should be praying for their salvation because, as Paul goes on to remind Timothy, God "wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:4-5). If we want to live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness, we need leaders who believe we should be allowed to do so and who will work to see that it happens. For reflection: For which governmental leader(s) shall I pray today? Are there leaders of other countries for whom I should be praying? Let us pray. King of kings, Lord of lords, Ruler of the universe, Almighty God and Father of all, we desire to live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. We thank you for our leaders. We know that you love them as your children. If they do not know you, we ask that someone be sent to bring them to the knowledge of your love for them. We ask you to inspire them with paths to peace and not war, and the best decisions that can be made for the welfare of the people entrusted to them. Note: I am taking a few days off from blogging, the phone line and the email prayer requests. Other members of Manna Prayer will be posting and checking the phone and email. I will see you again in October. I'd also like to remind you that under "Prayer Resources" on the website there is a prayer for anyone you think might be dangerous to himself or others. It is my strong belief that with prayer we can avert mass shootings and suicides. -- Alice While Paul was telling others to put on the armor of God, he was in prison (Eph 6:19-20). No doubt he clothed himself with that same armor, recalling the Torah and the teachings of Jesus. He may have had to remind himself every day of the experience of Jesus touching him on the way to Damascus; how he was blinded, and God healed him. He knew that he had been saved from a life of sin since he often referred to himself as the foremost of sinners. Great evangelist that he was, he asked for prayer from the other believers. "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should" (Eph 6:19-20). Paul knew the value of his own prayer, but he also knew the value of having other people pray for him. For reflection: All preachers, evangelists and missionaries are in need of prayer. For which one am I called to pray today? Let us pray. Father, I ask your protection for _______. Help them to put on the full armor today. May they proclaim the Gospel without fear, without worry and without doubt. Give them the proper words to say at the right time and the right place. May they truly be your ambassadors. After putting on the armor of God there is one more element Paul mentions for success in defeating the enemy, and it is prayer. Paul says, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Eph 6:18). I realize that praying in the Spirit, or praying in tongues, is controversial. I don't know if it was controversial in Paul's churches or not, but he speaks of it and recommends it frequently. He thought it was extremely important as a tool for both offense and defense, and for worship. Just as the armor of God is a gift (there is no way to earn it or manufacture it), praying in the spirit is a gift (see 1 Cor 12 - 14). We can ask the Father for it and receive it as long as we will be responsible for using it. We must be diligent in using whatever God gives us. I think praying in the Spirit is the only way we can "pray always" or "on all occasions". With practice we can train our subconscious to pray in the Spirit at all times. What about "with all kinds of prayers and requests"? I often think my prayers are not big enough. I don't have God's vision for the big picture - and I should. We know that God wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:1-5). We can pray for the safety and salvation of entire countries, or certain populations, or even towns. For reflection: What area or what people is God laying on my heart for prayer? Is it a nation, or people who suffer from a certain illness, or refugees, or a religious denomination? Let us pray. Father, I open myself more to your Spirit. I open myself to praying in the Spirit. Lead me to pray as you want for what you want, to join my vision to your vision, to see as you see, to love as you love, to bring about your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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