Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Ephesians 3
Set – Psalms 18; Ephesians 3
Go! – Ecclesiastes 4-6; Psalms 18; Ephesians 3
Ephesians 3
1 All this is exactly why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Jesus the Anointed, His representative to the outsider nations. 2 You have heard, haven’t you, how God appointed me to bring you His message of grace? 3 And how the mystery was made known to me in a revelation? I briefly wrote about it earlier. 4 When you read what I have written, you will be better able to understand the depth of my insight into the mystery of the Anointed One, 5 a mystery that has never before been shown to past generations. Only now are these secrets being revealed to God’s chosen emissaries and prophets through the Holy Spirit. 6 Specifically, the mystery is this: by trusting in the good news, the Gentile outsiders are becoming fully enfranchised members of the same body, heirs alongside Israel, and beneficiaries of the promise that has been fulfilled through Jesus the Anointed.7 I became a servant and preacher of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace as He exercised His amazing power over me. 8 I cannot think of anyone more unworthy to this cause than I, the least of the least of the saints. But here I am, a grace-made man, privileged to be an echo of His voice and a preacher to all the nations of the riches of the Anointed One, riches that no one ever imagined. 9 I am privileged to enlighten all of Adam’s descendants to the mystery concealed from previous ages by God, the Creator of all, through Jesus the Anointed. 10 Here’s His objective: through the church, He intends now to make known His infinite and boundless wisdom to all rulers and authorities in heavenly realms. 11 This has been His plan from the beginning, one that He has now accomplished through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord. 12 His faithfulness to God has made it possible for us to have the courage we need and the ability to approach the Father confidently. 13 So I ask you not to become discouraged because I am jailed for speaking out on your behalf. In fact, my suffering is something that brings you glory.
14 It is for this reason that I bow my knees before the Father, 15 after whom all families in heaven above and on earth below receive their names, and pray:
16 Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit 17 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 18-19 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.
20 Now to the God who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work in us, 21 to Him be all glory in the church and in Jesus the Anointed from this generation to the next, forever and ever. Amen.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Once again I want you to examine Paul’s prayer. He understood what makes My children different from the rest of the world. He asks that I fill your souls with the power of My Spirit and make love the rich soil where your lives take root. And that you will have the power to understand that My love surpasses anything you have ever experienced in your lives.
You see, the old song that says love makes the world go ‘round got it right. The phrase really is true. Everything I do comes about because of My infinite love for you. The discipline I must give to help you mature, the good gifts I bestow on you, the sacrifices I make for you, everything that I do comes from My spirit of love that drives Me. I am love.
You can experience that love and even demonstrate that love to others when My Spirit lives in you. Some will tell you it’s not possible to live that kind of life, but My word tells you different. My word tells you to be holy, because I am holy. I don’t give you commands you can not keep. But you can only keep them by the power of My spirit in you.
I told you when I was with you I would send My Spirit to live with you and live in you to empower you for right living. So many want to let My Spirit live with them, but not in them. Don’t let that be you. Let Me take control of your life. Listen to Me constantly. Let Me guide your every move. Let Me direct your thoughts. As Paul talks about in his letter to the Romans, let Me transform your mind so that you think like Me.
The transformation comes by letting Me fill you completely. Dying to self and living for Me. It’s that becoming a living sacrifice Paul tells you about in that same letter. Letting go of the selfish desires that come to you and listening to what I have in store for you. Pushing away the desires that the world says you should just automatically satisfy and disciplining yourself to live as I would have you live.
Can you do it? Yes, with the power of My Spirit in you. I will help you succeed. I will strengthen you. Just stop and ask Me. I will show you how.
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