Eph 1:18-19
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.
Pastor was teaching on this portion of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus this weekend. My mind was having a hard time focusing on the depth of this short section of my favorite book in the New Testament. I had some thoughts that I scratched out…
We are, in this life, constantly on a battlefield. The principles are, on one side, what the world sees as right, and on the other side, The Gospel. We are warriors on that field, fighting with (Eph 6:11) the full armor of God against (Eph 2:2) the “course of this world.” Often the battles begin and end in our minds as we study God’s Word, and those battles are regularly played out in the battlefields of our heart as we beat back the darkness of the world (and of our old self) that tries to bring up the (Eph 4:22) “old man” we once were. It’s here that Hell looks to attack us by distracting us from conforming to God’s will through our study of The Word.
Sometimes we are called to share our faith, to wield The Word or to draw a line in the sand, standing firm on a promise and on our hope (Eph 2:1-9) which is confirmed by His word. This is where the principalities of this world shudder in fear as we obediently follow our Lord into battle… KNOWING that HE HAS ALREADY WON THE DAY, but (Eph 3:14-19) loving Him, not with the faith of child, but with the faith of a transformed and mature believer who has an understanding of HIS surpassing greatness and His good, pleasing and perfect will because of the time spent IN HIS WORD guided by The Spirit who strengthens us.
This is me talking to myself… reminding myself that His word is true. We are called to remain in the word, to study it like workmen, to lean upon its wisdom, to encourage other believers, and to reach out to them when we need help… we need to be (I need to be more) diligent about our faith, about our apologetic, and about remembering the “strength of His might.”
