Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 1:19 – 20

Soul, take a deep breath and slowly take in this most amazing fact.  The power of Jesus Christ among us is the same power that he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.  If that mighty power is in us, in reality, then why should we fear and dread or just stand there in unbelief and nothing happens!  Why are we so slow to believe this?

It raised Christ from the dead and seated him at God’s right hand in heaven.  Think of it – from the lowliest of positions, dead in a dark Jerusalem tomb, to now seated with God in heaven, in the fulness of his glory!  Where did the power to do that come from?  That is what Paul is trying to get us to understand, it is the same power that raises us from sin and death and gives us new hope in Christ with whom we are now united.

Why am I so slow to believe that?  And, why am I lifted into new heights of joy when that life-giving power stirs, shakes and astounds me?

Thank you, Jesus, for who you are and what you have done to make this miracle possible!

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 1:18 – 20

Am I seeing what God wants me to see?  God’s graces are all around me if I am born again, there by the grace of God. But am I missing something if I do not recognize God’s great generosity in showing his mercies to me?

Start with “seeing.”   Paul suggests that we see from our hearts!  Not our eyes?  Right.  These are spiritual realities, there to strengthen, stabilize and bless us.  Spiritual eyes see hope where others see despair.  Spiritual eyes see the riches of God’ glorious inheritance in his holy people, others see doom and estrangement.

By grace, we also see to our amazement that we have the power, by the indwelling Spirit, to see that as God’s children, we already have our inheritance, so to speak, a most marvelous thing.  It is the same power as the mighty strength the he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.  Now, soul, do you believe that?  Have you experienced that great power?  It is there, no doubt about it.  But, do I see, know and embrace it?

When I first came to Jesus it was a simple matter, for me.  I needed peace and by his grace, I received it.  As I grew in him and walked in him I found that as his child, I not only found peace but I realized that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the very power that was mine as gift.  How strong is it?  Listen, it is the same power that took Jesus through the Cross to Resurrection and is now his to disperse from this throne in glory, above all thrones or earthly powers.   Ponder that, soul!

Our water lily keeps getting larger and larger, I do believe.  I am amazed at the colors and lines.  We do enjoy this summer delight.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Ephesians 1:15 – 17

Quite a few years have passed since Paul’s extended stay in Ephesus, building up the saints there and evangelizing in that part of Greece.  From what we know the fellowships there contained both Jewish and Gentile believers, some more Jewish, some more Gentile and certainly some mixed.  They met in homes mostly, of course.  It was a truly Christ honoring fellowship in which Jews and Gentiles, by culture, could live together in peace and spread the Gospel that is to be lived by people in their cultures, yet beyond their cultures.

Paul is writing this letter while in Rome, waiting for a decision on his appeal to Caesar.  It was a great opportunity for him to send a letter of encouragement to the brothers and sisters in Ephesus.  He commends them for their faith in the Lord Jesus and for their love for all God’s people.  They truly believed that God had called them in Christ to be a body of people, Jews and Gentiles, a new thing on the earth.  Finally, they could love one another regardless of culture.  That marked them!

Their faith in Jesus and what he did for them was the basis of their witness.  As they learned to love one another in Jesus, even of different cultures, they had courage to share this miracle of fellowship with others.  If I am not mistaken, the body of Christ in Ephesus included a variety of cultures that made that great trading city so cosmopolitan.  They did not split into ethnic groups.

The vision was being realized in Ephesus!  Paul was elated.  He prayed for them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know him (Christ) better.”  I find it interesting that Paul did not say, “know one another better.”  That follows only because they know Jesus Christ better.  They began well, that is certain.  Now, Paul encourages them to get to know Jesus even better!

I believe this is our calling today as well.  There is no doubt that the Body of Christ is growing in more and more cultures of the world.  As we allow the Spirit of Christ to guide us, we are blessed beyond measure.  We are in an eternal body that has feet on earth and head in heaven!

I loved the contrast between the orange and the rice crispies squares.   Mmm.

In order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:12 – 14

I know at least a little of what Paul is writing about.  I carry in my soul the reality of our unity in Christ without any regard whatsoever to our culture or history.

I am not sure what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ.”  I doubt whether he had in mind, “We Jews….”  Maybe he had that in mind.  But it does not fit here.  I believe he is referring to himself and those who had already given their hearts to Jesus and are now living in the light of that revelation and reality. That should be an example for the recent believers in Ephesus, both Jews and Gentiles, who experienced the new birth when they cast themselves into the embrace of Jesus’ saving grace.

Paul’s ministry led him to open the door for all who believe.  The only difference is between those who were converted in the past and those now experiencing this new life in Christ.  The difference is quite incidental.

What matters is that all who received Christ and who are receiving him there in Ephesus were filled with the “promised Holy Spirit.”  That is the basis of their unity.  Jewish believers received the Holy Spirit.  Gentile believers received the Holy Spirit.  That is what happened.  The Holy Spirit who was poured out is the very same Holy Spirit who is in each and every believer.  That meant that the unity of believers was based on saving merits of Jesus and the gift of the blessed Holy Spirit.   This was the door into an entirely new way to live.

There was finally a way for people, while remaining in their cultures, to have deep and abiding oneness or fellowship with fellow believers, not for any social reason but because the Holy Spirit is in both. It is a unity of the Spirit, as simple and as profound as that.  It was the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth, a new thing entirely.  Not only new but unique.

Paul called it “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.”  Can it get any better than that?

Paul wrote with a bubbling heart, “To the praise of his glory.”  We join him in hymns of praise and joy.

When in China a few years back I bought this lovely cloisonne flower holder or whatever it should be called.   Elizabeth cut the marigolds that are blooming in our garden and arranged them beautifully in this flat vase.

In him we were also chosen.

Ephesians 1:11

In him (Christ) we were also chosen.  If I am not mistaken, Paul is including himself in the “we” here.  This is the great leveler, Jew and Gentile alike are chosen; as are white people, black people, Americans, Africans, rich and poor, etc.  None have earned the right to be chosen.  That is the labor of divine love.  There is no way we could have earned the right to be chosen because the one who chooses is far, far above our own contentions.

This truth came to me with great force in my early days as a Christian missionary in Tanzania and still shapes my spiritual beliefs.  My education and cultural understanding was that I am going to live among people who were somehow inferior to me, at least culturally.  I saw myself superior to them because I was an educated, white, Mennonite Christian with a solid history of faithfulness to God.

As I look back, I found myself, after a few years in Tanzania, under conviction of the Holy Spirit – a mysterious thing, to say the least, but more real than the morning sun.  I realized that I am a sinner, dependent completely on the grace of Jesus Christ.  I found myself among Tanzanian believers who felt exactly like I did – people who are saved by the same blood of Jesus and carriers of the Holy Spirit as I.  Nothing else matters; we are one in Christ, a solid reality that shook me top to bottom.

For the first time in my life I began to understand what Paul went through as a Jew among Gentiles, as in this marvelous letter to the church at Ephesus.  I understood him because I was discovering the same thing about the grace of God.  It brings all to the same spot where we kneel as repentant sinners, and discover, then, that others, quite a mixture, are there as well.  All else fades.  Sinners being saved by the same Blood become a new thing on the face of the earth.  I think this is what Jesus meant by life in the Kingdom of Heaven, right here on earth.

I ponder again the depths of Paul’s life-changing insight, In him we were also chosen.

Here is one of our first monarch larva of the year on our milkweed plant. It is hard to imagine that a few months ago the parent of this fellow was hanging in a rain forest in Mexico.