Bible League: Living His Word [I pray that]… you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe.— Ephesians 1:19 ERV When the Apostle Paul prayed for people, he prayed for a number of different things. In the context of our verse for today, for example, he prayed that they would have the power to know God better (Ephesians 1:17) and the power to know that “the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious” (Ephesians 1:18). In our verse for today, however, he prayed for something more than the power to know or do certain things. Instead of praying that they would come to know this or that particular manifestation of God’s power, he prayed that they would come to know the greatness of God’s power. One might say that he prayed they would come to know the greatness of God’s power whenever they operated in any of its particular manifestations. How great can this power get? Paul gives us a prime example. The power can get as powerful as “the mighty power he used to raise Christ from death and put him at his right side in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 19-20). Paul wanted more for the church than that they would come to know God’s power. He wanted them to come to know God’s power in the fullness of its greatness. He wanted them to know the very resurrection power of God. The Christian faith is a religion of power. From first to last, Christians operate in the power of God. In every area of life Christians go forth empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. In every area of life Christians experience this power changing things for the better. They experience it in their physical bodies, in their spiritual life, in their family life, in their work and finances, in church, and in every other area. The power of God can go to work anywhere and everywhere. Indeed, it was the power of God that led us to faith in the first place. That’s why Paul called faith a “gift from God” (Ephesians 2:8). What Paul prayed for and what we should pray for, then, is that the power of God at work in our lives would rise up all the way to the greatness of resurrection power. We should pray that we would know and experience this resurrection power in every area of our lives. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzra 9, 10 Ezra 9 -- Ezra's Prayer About Intermarriage NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezra 10 -- The People Confess; Listing of Those Guilty of Intermarriage NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 1 Acts 1 -- The Ascension; Matthias Chosen by Lot NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.Insight The possibility of losing their lives was very real for the disciples as well as for Jesus. Real discipleship implies real commitment—pledging our whole existence to his service. Challenge If we try to save our physical life from death, pain, or discomfort, we may risk losing our true eternal life. If we protect ourselves from pain, we begin to die spiritually and emotionally. Our lives turn inward, and we lose our intended purpose. When we give our lives in service to Christ, however, we discover the real purpose of living. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Genesis 21:6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.It was far above the power of nature, and even contrary to its laws, that the aged Sarah should be honored with a son; and even so it is beyond all ordinary rules that I, a poor, helpless, undone sinner, should find grace to bear about in my soul the indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus. I, who once despaired, as well I might, for my nature was as dry, and withered, and barren, and accursed as a howling wilderness, even I have been made to bring forth fruit unto holiness. Well may my mouth be filled with joyous laughter, because of the singular, surprising grace which I have received of the Lord, for I have found Jesus, the promised seed, and he is mine forever. This day will I lift up psalms of triumph unto the Lord who has remembered my low estate, for "my heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation." I would have all those that hear of my great deliverance from hell, and my most blessed visitation from on high, laugh for joy with me. I would surprise my family with my abundant peace; I would delight my friends with my ever-increasing happiness; I would edify the Church with my grateful confessions; and even impress the world with the cheerfulness of my daily conversation. Bunyan tells us that Mercy laughed in her sleep, and no wonder when she dreamed of Jesus; my joy shall not stop short of hers while my Beloved is the theme of my daily thoughts. The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: my soul shall dive therein, shall be swallowed up in the delights of his society. Sarah looked on her Isaac, and laughed with excess of rapture, and all her friends laughed with her; and thou, my soul, look on thy Jesus, and bid heaven and earth unite in thy joy unspeakable. Daily Light on the Daily Path Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.Psalm 131:1,2 A Song of Ascents, of David. O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. • Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. Psalm 25:14 The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant. Daniel 2:28 "However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed. Job 26:14 "Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; And how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?" John 15:15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 14:15-17 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. • "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; • that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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