Signed, Sealed & Delivered || Ephesians 1 || [P.2]

Good Morning Ladies

What does the day ahead look like? Not tomorrow or the next. But today?
Take a deep breath. Open your eyes to the color around. Listen. Really listen.
May the Father in Heaven be the focus of our love this day...Not missing a beat.

 ^7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Ready to dig in?

Here is an opportunity for us to take a deep breath in and then that very breath out. Read this with me:

"Jesus, the Messiah, poured his blood out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people... Not just barley free, either. Abundantly free!" (emphasis mine)

Okay, put the breaks on. Hold up!

Paul writes that because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice we are free. There is NOTHING left to do. So let us stop doing and live. Truly live. 

John 10v10 says that "...Christ came to give abundant life."  In the English language we don't have a word that would translate this... It is saying that Jesus came to give us life to the fullest, to the fullest, to the fullest...
As Paul was writing here in Ephesians " we're free people...not just free, either. Abundantly free!"

 Why would we not want to experience this life that is full of freedom... full of the extravagant life that God has planned out for us before the foundations of the earth?!
To live in freedom we must surrender. Now is not the time to get overwhelmed here! 
Remember, it's a day to day, moment to moment surrender. With much grace we are invited into this abundant freedom that is only through Jesus and Jesus alone.

I want to challenge you and I alike to take a moment in thankfulness, thanking God that we are able to live in freedom because of Jesus' blood shed on the Cross. And let us pray that God will reveal to us the places in our hearts that we hold so tightly and refuse to surrender. Asking God to move in and bring freedom through His son. When we surrender ... Abundant freedom moves in.

There's more!

^11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

Our culture, inside the church and out, shouts out to us, especially as women, "that we need to have this, or look like that, or live like them.." to find out who we are. 

Yet Christ is saying the complete opposite  .... So often I hear Him saying " wait up! Chele,  you are mine and I am yours. It is in me who you are and are living for! Nothing else will satisfy...Nothing!" 

I find, when Jesus is not the center of my affections I am tired and weary... yet I am taking from here and there to make up my identity at the moment...yes, I am tired! Trying to get from nothing that satisfies.

Paul writes intentionally first about abundant freedom because of Jesus and then reminding the people in Ephesus that Jesus Christ is their identity, where to "find out who they are and what they are living for."

Who are you living for?

What are you living for?

Jesus be the center of our lives..where we lift our eyes... That we may know you and make you known.

Amen 

____________________________________________________________________________

Here is what a friend, a fellow traveler has been learning on this journey through Ephesians thus far:

As I sat down and read through Ephesians 1:1-15, I was so encouraged by Paul. I 
love that Paul has this gift of encouragement and how he writes to us with grace

and peace. These past couple of days I have been raw. Discouraged. Worn out. Desperate.

Life has hit me hard this week. I have thrown my hands in the air and said. 
"I can't do this." Nor do I want to do this. Thankfully in these scriptures, God uses what
Paul writes to help bring me back to the purpose of it all.
The purpose. Jesus Christ. I am Redeemed. Chosen. Blessed. A loved child. In all 
my weaknesses, Jesus is my Strength. 
In all my feelings of lost, I am his chosen child.  I am shown love, when I definitely.
don't deserve it. I am shown grace, when I don't have it all together. I love how Paul

 states in verse 11, in Christ we find out who we are and what we are living for. So as I through these days of pain, rawness... I remember that in Christ, I am His.

xoxo Stacey

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Again, I will ask

 What does the day ahead look like? Not tomorrow or the next. But today?
Take a deep breath. Open your eyes to the color around. Listen. Really listen.
May the Father in Heaven be the focus of our love this day...Not missing a beat.

^11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

 

Signed, Sealed & Delivered || Ephesians 1 || [P.1]

|| Ephesians 1 ||
[ P.1]  

 HEY Ladies!

So we will travel a 3 part journey through the first book of Ephesians. So much goodness up in there!

Tomorrow we will have a writer sharing a bit of where her journey is taking her as she has been traveling through Ephesians.. 

Let us know where God is taking you on this journey through Ephesians by posting on the blogs comment space.

 Again, life is more beautiful when we do it together!

Lets Dig in!

There are seasons in life where no matter what season in, the season is FULL. Whether a student who's life seems full with studies, guys, friendships, going out.. it is full.

A working woman, who's job seems to fill much of life's space..it is full. Or a stay at home mama with young kids...it is full. These seasons, may be filled with joy, sleepless nights ,  barley making it or just feeling lifeless...it is full. 

Paul writes in Ephesians 1 that "God had us in mind as He was planning the beauty of the universe..." (emphesis mine)
 Stop and think about this for a moment. We are constantly on His mind "before the foundations of the earth were laid...We are the focus of His love." 

Soak this in. Praise Him. Thank Him. We are the thought on His mind...to bring Him glory forever. 

To be made whole and holy by the One he loves, Jesus Christ.

So, in the season of FULL... be reminded that "We are the focus of His love... being made whole during each season.. becoming more like His son..."

Today, be intentionally watchful as the days goes...my he be the focus of our love.

Father God, I pray that as it is said that we are the focus of your love, because of Jesus, we are being made whole. May you stir our affections for you. Stealing our focus from the fullness of the season to focusing on your deep love and affection. 

So we may know you and make you known.
Amen.

Lets begin the journey || Ephesians

Hey Ladies!

I am really excited to travel through Ephesians together. This is a time where we read, dig deep, praying that the spirit will awaken us a bit more. And, life is more beautiful when we do it together! 

So let's start! 

When beginning reading through scripture, it is always important to get context. 
Who is writing? Where are they writing from?  Who are they writing to? 
 For me, it makes scripture come alive!
 
|| EPHESIANS ||

  1 ^1-2 I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

Dig in with me.. Take yourself there...

Paul, chained to a Roman guard, not convenient at all, writing to the "faithful Christ followers" in Ephesus. Ephesus is now, near the present day Turkey. It is said that John took Mary, Jesus' mother, there to live out her last years. It is also said to have been the city of joy! Just as in the U.S. each year, there is a list of the "most happy city" or " the most depressed city" and so on...

 Ephesus was known as the city of Joy! I would want to live right there! Would you not?!

So knowing this, I am assuming that there are a lot of Christ Followers that are in the city. Yet, Paul writes to the "faithful Christ followers." There was a distinct difference made there. He wasn't just writing to the Christ Followers but to the faithful ones... Let this marinate a minute.

 I took the second verse from a different perspective, as Paul greets the faithful ones...

God, our Father and 

our master Jesus Christ pours

grace and peace 

into our lives.       

I have been trudging through these few scriptures this last week with questions marinating in my heart..wrecking it yet bringing me back to the beauty and power of the gospel.

Am I a faithful follower of you Lord Jesus? 

Where am I experiencing your grace in my life currently? 

Where am I experiencing your peace in my life currently?

So, I will then pass these questions to you.. let them seep down deep into your heart as we respond in repentance and then freedom knowing full and well that He is not safe.. yet is so good.  

Share. Encourage. As we are seeking him together!

 Father God, 

I pray that we rest in your hope in your peace and your much grace. May we be women clothed in strength and dignity. Because of your son Jesus we may know you. Amen