Ephesians 5:8-17

A reason that our lives(we who have turned to Christ as our Savior) may not have a positive spiritual impact on those around us is that we are not living as children of the Light(Eph5:8-9).If we are living as children of the Light then our lives will look very different from the lives of those that are living in the darkness,and that contrast of our lives on those around us would have a spiritual impact that only The Light of Jesus can have->Eph5:11,”Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of the darkness,but rather expose them.”In other words,if we are “living and talking” lives that are those like “children of the Light”,then what is coming out of our lives and mouths will be “so lit up” by our being children of the Light that the things of the darkness around us will be exposed(Eph5:13,”But everything exposes by the light becomes visible,for it is the light that makes everything visible.”).Instead we tend to be like the Pharisees and live hypocritical lives that have little to no light,and instead we just point fingers at what we see as wrong around us,or even join in with the wrong around us...instead of having our lives changed from the inside out by the Holy Spirit that lives inside us.This is why Paul quotes a hymn that the early Christians would sing-Eph5:14”...Wake up O sleeper,rise from the dead,and Christ will shine in you.”The early followers of Christ knew the significance of their lives being “AWAKENED” by shaking up their lives and their talk by actually SEEKING & FOLLOWING Christ!This so impacted/changed/transformed the way they lived & talked that the world was impacted/changed/transformed by THE LIGHT that lives inside them! The world was changed “toward Christ” ;the Roman Empire was changed “toward Christ”;& our calendar was forever changed because of the Life/Sacrifice/Death/Resurrection of Christ....all because of The Light of Christ living through the lives and the mouths of the early Christians.These early Christians took to heart what Eph5:15-17 says->”Be very careful then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise,making the most of every opportunity,because the days are evil.Therefore do not be foolish,but understand what the Lord’s will is.”This is a continuing overwhelming theme in everything that the Holy Spirit guided Paul to write->Romans12:1-2,”Therefore I urge you,brothers,n view of God’s Mercy,to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,holy & pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to test & prove what God’s will is-His good,pleasing & perfect will.”Unless we are pursuing to know God’s Word(s) & His Spirit,and then allow/have our lives to be changed/transformed by God’s Word(s) and His Spirit...we will be much like the darkness,& have little to no impact for Christ n the lives of those around us.BUT,if our lives are indeed changed/transformed by God’s Word(s) and His Spirit...,then we will be overwhelmed by knowing His Will-and our lives will be lived as “children of the Light”!AND our lives and our mouths will become a reflection of THE LIGHT that has THE POWER to impact those around us for the sake of Eternity.Dear Lord Jesus,I pray for Your Word and Your Spirit to powerfully impact my heart/mind/life...so desperately needed changes and transformations occur in my life...enabling my life and my mouth to be an always brighter reflection of The Light/Your Light to those around me.

Ephesians 5

Paul’s personal experiences with Jesus and HIS Holy Spirit had shaken Paul’s world to the core...the core of not only who he is,but even more in how he lives/the “why’s” about his life->the questions we ask ourselves every day that shape how we think & how we live,sometimes without us being aware of how powerful the questions are that we ask ourselves!Paul has learned this lesson over many years of walking with The Lord...and the many years of preparation before he even made his first “public appearance”! A big part of the change in Paul’s life is indicated n Ephesians5:8-11,”For you were once darkness,but now you are light in The Lord.Live as children of light...AND FIND OUT (I made bold for EMPHASIS) what pleases The Lord.Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,but rather expose them.”Part of what Paul is saying here is that when we become children of God/the light,that our “life questions” should have a paradigm shift from questions about how to please ourselves and/or the worlds templates...to questions relative to what pleases God(Eph5:10,”and find out what pleases the Lord.”->seek the answers to questions relative to “what pleases the Lord”). Whether we acknowledge it or not,the questions we ask of ourselves will impact not only how we think,but more importantly what we become.If the “hinge questions” we ask ourselves are not related to “what pleases the Lord”,then Paul would say that we are not becoming more like children of God,but instead becoming children NOT like children of God.So these verses are encouraging those of us who desire to be children of God...,to have “what pleases the Lord” as the foundation of all we seek to understand, guide, & shape our life.God has proven His Fatherly Awesome/Unselfish/Sacrificial Love for us...HE has proven His Trustworthiness and the Trustworthiness of His Word throughout all history...and He has been Transparent & Forthcoming with HIS Eternal Promises for His children that are all GOOD.He has given us every reason to sincerely desire to know what would please Him!And He has given us His Word and His Spirit to help us and guide us to the “right questions”,even when we sometimes ask the wrong questions(Romans8:28”And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love the Lord, who have been called according to His purpose”).Dear Jesus,I have not appreciated the critical importance of the questions that roll around inside my head & heart.Thank You for making me aware of this! Help me to be increasingly aware of what is prompting these questions,and may Your Word and Your Spirit become more and more what shape the foundation of the Life questions I seek to find answers for...so I may become more like Your child.

Ephesians 2-5

After Ephesians2:10 tells us that we are created for a purpose->“God’s workmanship,created in Christ Jesus to do good works”-,then Ephesians4:1-6 says”...I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.Be completely humble & gentle;be patient,bearing w one another n love.Make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.There is one body and one Spirit-just as u were called to one hope when u were called-one Lord,one faith,one baptism;one God and Father of all,who is over all & through all.”While we may realize that God has created each one of us for a specific purpose,& even “do” that purpose on a regular basis,Eph4;1-6 urges us to also live n a manner WORTHY of the calling we have received from God.This means that even though we may find and do our our calling...,it is entirely possible for us to have lives that do not honor our calling!When we do this,whatever “good” we are doing that is part of our calling falls far short of THE GOOD God intended our lives to have personally,& in the lives of those around us!Eph5:1-2 says,”Be imitators of God,therefore,as dearly loved children and live a life of love,just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”In other words,since we have God as our Father,then as we sorta-kinda can’t help but become “imitators” of our earthly dad’s by spending time them and loving them(one way or another our earthly dads will impact the way we live and love!),Paul urges us to seek such a relationship with God as our Father that HE rubs off on us->His Character:His Ways;The Love of Christ,etc.If we are sincere about such a relationship we will seek to know as much about Our Father in Heaven as possible! Ephesians5:15-17 says,”Be very careful then,how you live-not as unwise but as wise,making the most of every opportunity,because the days are evil(we have a spiritual & moral & character ENEMY).Therefore do not be foolish,but understand what the Lord’s Will is(seek to know and understand God’s Ways-through His Word and His Spirit-Romans12:2-“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.Then you will be able to rest and approve what God’s Will is,His good,pleasing,& perfect will.”).So! Even though I may be convinced that I have “found my purpose/my calling”...,unless my life is changed by a vibrant “2-way” relationship with The Lord...,my life will still be “unfulfilled”& fall far short of being an “imitator of God”!Dear Jesus,so much of the time I am “seeking to do” what You have created me for/to do,instead of “seeking to be” what You paid the ultimate price for me to be! Help me to sense Your Holy Spirit’s Presence in my life that is calling me to a much deeper relationship with you...so I become more and more...an imitator of You my Father in Heaven!

Ephesians 2

We all ask the question,”what am I here for...what is my reason for living?”Unless we fill these questions with the RIGHT answers, we will never be at peace inside...we will always be in “chase mode”->continually seeking to find the “next thing” or the “more” of whatever that will satisfy the part of every human being that yearns for “being satisfied”,and/or “being secure”!Unless we find the right answers to these questions,we will never be “at peace” for long in any situation/circumstance in our life->we will never have the “active rest” in our life that God desires for us as we trust in Him and in His Ways and in His Love expressed through His Plans/His Ways for our life.Ephesians2:10 answers these questions w the only correct answers there are.”For we are God’s workmanship,created in Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do.”Just as a violin made by a master craftsman,if not strung with the RIGHT strings;not tuned just RIGHT,and not played by a RIGHTLY trained violinist, will sound worthless....our lives not strung w the RIGHT strings;tuned to the WRONG tune;and lived not trained to RIGHT ways...,our lives will never “feel” fulfilled nor satisfied,we will not have the “active rest” in our lives of the “doing good works” that this verse in Ephesians implies.This verse offers the “steps” to finding the answer(s)!The 1st is being in awe of the fact that we are God’s WORKMANSHIP,& nothing less!We are not evolved nor anything less than THE HANDIWORK of THE “MASTER CRAFTER” of all

life!The 2nd is being in awe of what Christ ONLY makes possible-to find&have the PURPOSE for life through the Life/Sufferings/Death/Resurrection/Ascension of Christ!And the 3rd is the “doing”/training part->as we seek to know and follow the “training” that Christ leads us through&to as we live honoring all the above(“all that God prepared in advance for us to do”)->the day to day living that may seem to be insignificant stuff,but in the Perspective of Our Creator are the very things we were created to

do!The very things that are the ONLY things that give us the Peace that Jesus talks about in John 16:33, after John14-16 quotes Jesus talking about life challenges,purposes,and HIS Promises.We are not promised easy lives filled w earthly blessings(the very things that are often not the RIGHT things to “string our lives with”),but we ARE PROMISED the RIGHT things to “string our lives with”(things we were created for,&to do)->the ONLY things that will give us Peace/“Active Rest” as we live IN Christ!Dear Lord,more times than not,I do not have the “active rest”/the Peace in my life that You created me to have.I know this is from my stringing my life with the wrong things...and playing the wrong tunes in my life.Dear Jesus,help me to correct these areas in my life,& help me to realize what You Created me for n every moment of every day...and string my life with the RIGHT things/the RIGHT thoughts/the RIGHT plans/the RIGHT “to do lists”,etc.

Ephesians 1

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.