Ephesians 1
Rebecca Lightfoot
Praising God for Who He is;for What He has done;for what He is doing;and for What He says He will do,is something that the devil ferociously does not want to happen in our lives.The devil knows that if we are free to bask in the TRUE WONDERS of God;His Omnipresence;His Omniscience;His Omnipotence;His Word;His Spirit;His True Character;His “Triune-ness”;His Awesome Mercy;His Awesome Grace;His unexplainable Great Love for us;His Sacrificial Pursuit to Save us;His Sovereignty;All He has DONE;All He is DOING;&All He Promises to do...,that we will be overwhelmingly compelled to PRAISE God with every ounce of our being...and this PRAISE would have an impact on the way we think;live;love;talk;plan;engage life and people;etc.,because whatever we PRAISE becomes the ultimate & foundational source of what we become/what&who we are,& what we do!Ephesians 1:4-5 tells us “The Who” of what we can become in Christ-> “...he(The Lord) chose us in him(Christ Jesus)before the creation of the world to be Holy & blameless in His sight.In His love He predestined(planned ahead of all time)us to be adopted as His sons&daughters through Jesus Christ,in accordance with his good pleasure & will-to the PRAISE of his glorious grace,which he has freely given to us in the One he loves.”The foundation of this(our living as sons&daughters of our Father God)truly becoming our reality in our day to day is whether or not we choose to PRAISE God for All He Is and All He Says,or not!The devil knows this all too well,& that is why the devil is so diligent about eroding away any of the TRUE WONDERS of God listed above...,& directing our PRAISE toward anything other than What is True about GOD,& TRUE about life.Paul knew all of this,& it is one of the reasons for what he writes in Ephesians 1:3->”Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,who has blessed us in the heavenly realms(ALL THE BLESSINGS of GOD’S CHARACTER and AWESOME EXPRESSIONS of HIS AMAZING LOVE),with every spiritual blessing(the only blessings that will last forever)in Christ.”In the rest of chapter 1 Paul gives the reasons why we should be overwhelmingly compelled to PRAISE God! What we PRAISE is the foundation of how we think and how we live...the foundation of what we are becoming.This begs the question we must ask ourselves->am I becoming more and more like a son or daughter of the Living God as I grow & mature? Or am I becoming something other as I grow & mature.The answer to this question will reveal whether or not I have a personal “PRAISE problem” or not-and make me wonder what I am truly praising with my heart/mind/life.Dear Father God,this message is personally convicting....thank You for the loving way You have used these verses to sit me in Your lap and whisper this message into my heart as You hold me close.Lord Jesus,help me to have the same “wisdom and revelation”that Paul prays for n Ephesians 1:17,so that I may have a clearer/truer appreciation for You and Your Awesome Mercy&Grace&Love for me...May these things become what I PRAISE with my heart/mind/life...& shape what I am becoming.