Image from udemy.com
My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit - not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength - that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! (Ephesians 3:14-21 The Message)
May the blessings of the Lord hunt you down, embrace you, and bless you dear Friend! That's my prayer for you this morning as I write this. I pray the devotional would be the start of something wonderful in your spiritual life.
A person who prays is a blessing to the Lord and to those for whom he or she is praying. I'll never forget I went to visit one of my churches on a Sunday morning, and the pastor of this rather significant church was kneeling in prayer in full sight of his congregation as they gathered. That in and of itself blessed me, as I'm sure it blessed those who saw it. I know he was praying for all of us. And in this passage we read that Paul was a man of prayer and in these words shares his prayer for the believers in Ephesus. His prayer was to ask God to strengthen all believers. This version has awesome words, "not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength - that Christ will live in you as your open the door and invite Him in." I shared with my Wednesday noon class that I listen, on occasion to Wretched Radio, a podcast and vlog that shares the concerns of the host. In one of them he shared a pastor condemning the thought that we must invite Jesus into our hearts. He said he could find no biblical basis for that; I thought, hmm, what Bible is he reading. It's not explicitly said in any particular verse, but starting with Revelation 3:20, the desire of the Lord is to enter into our lives and hearts and bless us. And this version supports that.
The prayer continues. Paul desires all believers to begin to understand how awesome Christ' love is. After forty years of marriage I find myself marveling at the newness of love that I find in Nellie; little things and major things she does, bless me more now than ever before. And, our love is nowhere near the love that Jesus has for you and me! Many could criticize and say, "Ah, that's baloney! I haven't experienced any of that!" And that reminds me of an old story of a professor who shared that sort of belief concerning religion. The janitor sitting in the audience had brought his lunch to enjoy and asked the professor what he held in his hand. The prof said,"An apple." The janitor then asked, "Is it sweet?" and proceeded to take a big bite. The professor said, "I don't know." The janitor said, "Well, you have to experience it, don't you?" Point made. The Christian life is best lived when we experience all that it has to offer us. One can read book after book about prayer, but until we make time to pray, we won't know what it is about. One can also listen to sermon after sermon, but until one really hears and ponders what is being shared, we have nothing. The same with Bible study, and fasting. Until we get our feet wet and our hands dirty, we are missing a lot!
A full life comes to those who seek it, find it, receive it, and enjoy it. And those who have full lives love nothing more than to share it with others.
PRAYER: Loving God, speak to my heart again and again, and let me hear what You have to say. Let me experience You behind all that I do; my prayer life, my Bible study, my times of fasting and reflection; give me a full life. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Live a life that becomes the cookie that draws people to fullness.
Eradio Valverde
