Setting the example Jesus left for us to follow
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Redemption in Christ, Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
December, 2020
Our Weekly Bible Study begins with us reading the assigned scripture ahead of time and preparing our hearts for study and discussion. When we meet (virtually or in person) we first read the scripture as a group, and then take turns sharing and discussing what impacted us the most, and our general interpretation of what we read.
Making Notes as we go through Bible Study is always encouraged, as it helps to increase our understanding of what we have read, and also allows us to become more comfortable and familiar with the Bible.
To make participation easier and more memorable for our younger children, we will include a link to Storybook Bible images of the readings whenever these are available.
This week’s virtual Bible Study focused on Ephesians 1, the first chapter in our new study on the Book of Ephesians. After praying and reading through the chapters, we discussed the verses at length, and shared our personal views on what we had read.
This chapter is filled with examples of our great wealth in Christ Jesus.
Verse 1: Paul establishes clearly that he is an apostle by the will of God. When we know that we are in the will of God, no matter what happens, that knowledge will be our anchor.
A question to ponder: How many things in our lives can we really point to as being placed there by the will of God?
Verse 2: Grace and peace go together; where there is grace, there is peace.
Verse 3: “Spiritual blessings”. We often focus only on our natural (physical) blessings, and forget our spiritual blessings that exist in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. These blessings are Eternal, no one can take them away from us. During the times that we pray, worship and study the Word we enter into our heavenly places, places where we can be alone with God.
Verse 4: Paul reminds us that “…He chose us in Him from before the foundation of the world”-this is true wealth.
Verse 5: “Predestined us to adoption”. God knew exactly who would accept Him and who would not, even before we were born, before the world was formed.
Verse 6-7: We are “accepted in the beloved”- Once we know this, we should no longer feel the need to worry about being accepted by others. We must know who we are and embrace this acceptance. We therefore should walk with our heads held high, we are the redeemed; that is our identity.
Verse 8: His grace “…abound(s) toward us, in all wisdom and prudence”. We have the confidence that we can hasten to His throne and gain forgiveness, and He will willingly give it to us with wisdom and prudence.
Verse 9: “…He purposed in Himself”- In this verse we see God’s sovereignty yet again-
Verse 11: We are heirs with Him- we are predestined in accordance with His will- God’s sovereignty is clear yet again. There is no higher authority- all things will have to fall in line with His will.
Verse 14: The guarantee of our inheritance- We have a down payment on our future inheritance until the day when our entire bodies will be finally redeemed, we will have new, changed bodies that are pain free, free of all earthly woes and ills.
Verse 15: When you see the love and faithfulness of God in another person’s life, you naturally and automatically pray for that person– Others will also pray for you when they see the same love for God and faithfulness to HIm in you.
Verse 17: We need God’s wisdom and revelation with us very day- God regularly reveals things to us that we may or may not understand- He has a reason for showing us these things-They will work for our good, either now or in the future.
Verse 18: This refers to us having good spiritual vision. Our vision is sharpened, focused, corrected-When the enemy approaches, we can recognize his schemes immediately as lies because our eyes are opened and we have wisdom and know truth. The “riches of the glory”- This is our value- we are valuable because we have been chosen- we should therefore behave like we’re valuable, walk like we’re valuable, talk like we’re valuable- Satan will try to tell us that we are not valuable, we must recognize this as a lie; we must remember our position in Christ Jesus.
Verse 19: All power is given unto to Him in heaven and in earth…
Verse 21: Our High Priest is above all the wrestling with principalities and powers that we experience on earth; His power far exceeds these things, they are all under His feet, and He is interceding and wrestling on our behalf.
Verse 22: We are the body of Jesus Christ, we have so much wealth in Him, we must embrace this wealth; we must cease worrying about the temporal things that we spend time worrying about and focus instead on the richness of our spiritual blessings.
As you read through this week’s Bible passage, ask yourself:
What are MY thoughts on what I am reading?
How can I apply this to MY life?
Blessings!
The Greeting to the Ephesians
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