Heavenly Food
Read with me verses 1 – 9. The following is the New King James Version but at the link provided at the word source below, you have many translations at your disposal, if your own favorite is not close at hand.
Ephesians 2 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. source
Now, these 9 verses are so full of heavenly food I cannot dish it all up in this post, not even what I am seeing at this sitting which for sure is only scratching the surface.
First, I love that in verse one we are assured that GOD has made us ALIVE! We were DEAD in trespasses and sins but not anymore! That is all of us in covenant with JESUS. Tragically, all others are still at verse 2. And verse 2 describes people walking according to this world – it’s not a healthy walk. There’s a lot more to be said on that but not at the moment.
Prince. That prince is satan. He’s the one ruling that stuff we snatch out of the air and act on it. Really. He is a prince and I say that in the most unbecoming way. He has some clout, like it or not, enough that we must not take him lightly. But hey, he’s not KING and he’s not LORD! Aren’t you glad? Me too!
He is a spirit being. He operates in the supernatural and he operates in the sons and daughters of disobedience, who we used to be BEFORE the HOLY SPIRIT made us ALIVE.
What do sons and daughters of disobedience do?
They fulfil the desires of the flesh AND of the mind. (Whatsoever a man thinks, that is who he is. Where is that Text found? Proverbs 23:7). This is why when GOD saved us He gave us the Mind of Christ. So, if disobedient sons and daughters fulfil the desires of the flesh AND the mind? What do we do?
Verse 4 assures us that HE is rich in mercy, not piddling. HE does not run out of mercy when we mess up, which we do. He has great love for us. When we forget or disbelieve this one little verse, we get into so much grief, hurt and pain.
Again, He talks about bringing us to LIFE. HE says we are (legally) sitting in heaven with JESUS since HE made us alive. I say legally because, just look around and you know for sure we are not physically there today. But we will be! We have a binding covenant with GOD in JESUS.
And the verses come to this. GRACE. No amount of good deeds, no amount of turning over new leaves, repeatedly. No amount of nothing we can do will make us ALIVE. Only HE raises us from the DEAD. It’s HIS GIFT.
Have you received HIS GIFT?
Do you hear HIM offering this Gift to YOU today?
Are you accepting or rejecting?
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