Ephesians 3:12-21(NLT)
12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored. 14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
this morning i’m just thinking of all the things that i have to be thankful for. not that i don’t to this every day, but i don’t think i give enough time to it…and for some reason i started thinking about this passage. so i just kept reading over it and reading over it and wondering why this passage was coming to my mind???
then verse 19 really started to stick out to me…
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
i was made complete when i received Christ as my Savior and i was able to experience His love for me. i am now experiencing the fullness of life each and every day. so instead of thinking about all those things i would change about myself or the present circumstances of my life or about those things i really “need”…i need to focus on the fact that i have been made complete and i already have the fullness of life. i need to focus on what that means in my life and the ways i am able to experience that fullness each day…
so this morning i’ll share a few things with you that the Lord has reminded me of…
breath, sight, smell, touch, hearing, speaking, the ability to walk, strength to physically function on my own, for a house that keeps me warm at night, for electricity and running water, for a job that God uses to help supply for my family, for a vehicle that gets me to and from work, for the great number of family and friends, for a mom and grandparents that taught me about God and His love for me, for an amazing and extremely beautiful wife that puts up with ME! for God’s little gift named molly, for the gift of music and being able to hear and read and understand music, for the ability to sing (on pitch most of the time), for instruments and the ability to play them, for the many people who have taught me through the years both in classrooms and in life, for a Creator that knows me by name, for the grace and mercy that God offers a fresh and a new each and every day, for the sacrifice of His Son so that i could know His love and be made complete, for His Word that i can read and grow in my knowledge, for the Holy Spirit revealing the Word to me and empowering me to live each day, for snow!, for a church that loves God and wants others to know the love that He has for them…
you get the picture…i pray that today and in the days ahead we can all focus on the countless ways that we get to experience fullness of life each and every day.
PS…so after i get this all typed up and update my prayer request for shea and mary…i go to my facebook page were i have a “daily bible verse”…the verse for today is ephesians 3:16-19…so i think i’ll be reading over that a few more times today and seeing what all the Lord has to show me.
