Sunday, February 1, 2015

Today's Ramblings

I made the decision to start blogging again for a variety of reasons and now that I have, I find myself suffering from 'writer's block' (funny how that happens). Many entries have been started and deleted this week, so this morning I grabbed my coffee, my book and my computer determined to come up with a post. There were however only few pages of my book left so I picked it up first and as I read the last page I was intrigued when I came across this passage (it is not the first time I have come across this over the past few weeks):
Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings.                    Ephesians 3:16-19 (Voice)
Paul's prayer to the people of Ephesus, a doxology, a liturgical expression of praise and a cry for spiritual strength....a passage that keeps appearing therefore I am compelled to look at it further. Paul's point is deeper than 'God is able to do more than we expect', he is also saying that God's power is already at work in us...it does not fit within the limitations of our expectations.

In order to gain some additional context I go back to the beginning of the Ephesians...and as I reflect on this I cannot help but wonder why our acceptance of this can be so difficult.... Are we good enough to accept this gift? If God gave us access to himself through Jesus then is he not accepting us? Are we willing to accept the spiritual blessings? Do we understand He adopted us into His family? Can we accept His gift of grace? Will we accept the 'riches of His glorious inheritance'? Do we possess the spiritual strength to embrace God's gifts? I certainly hope so....
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:3-8 (NLT)
Yes, unfortunately this is the way my brain works. I start in one place and end up in quite another....sigh... that is how it goes when you take a moment to join some of my ramblings....