Posts that reference the book of Ephesians

Above and Beyond the Battle

: Image by Olga Díez (Caliope) via Flickr

In Isaiah 37-38, there is a historical account of Assyria’s attempt to frighten Judah into submission. Having just crushed the Northern kingdom, the threat against Judah and the fear it stirred were very real. The story also appears in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Any story God tells is significant, but one that He records three times bears looking at closely. Here are some things I saw.

1. The opposition was wrong. The Assyrians misinterpreted Hezekiah’s efforts to remove idolatry from Judah as an attempt to remove all religion. Never believe what the opposition says about you, whether you’re dealing with people or when the conflict is more spiritual. Satan lies on purpose. People can purposefully try to deceive or just not have all the facts.

2. The opposition doesn’t know the future. One of the Assyrians scare tactics was a description of what life would be like when Judah was besieged. The siege never came. God intervened miraculously on behalf of His people. Only God knows the future, because only God holds it in His hands.

3. God is more offended than we are. Several times, Scripture mentions Assyria’s reproach of the living God. Judah understood how close their relationship with God and their identification with Him was. In the same way, any attack of any kind against us is an attack against God.

4. Let God fight the battle. Hezekiah went up to the temple and laid his situation out before the Lord and then went home in peace and confidence. I admit, I’m much better at part A, than part B. God took care of the situation in a way that went above and beyond what Hezekiah imagined.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Infinitely more… than we dare ask or imagine…

Study Tip: Making Lists

By Paula Wiseman

j0434929 Most of us concede that if we really have to remember something, we write it down. Important information seems to come at us in lists. If you watch, Scripture is no different. Some of the lists you’re already familiar with- Ten Commandments, Fruit of the Spirit and so forth. Sometimes though, the lists are a little more subtle.

They can take the form of instructions, like in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go… teach… baptize… teach.”

They can be attributes, as in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

It might be an action plan. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10) Yesterday we discussed being prepared for worship, and today, we’re prepared to work. Here’s our mission. We find out what God says, we do it, and we tell others. Why would we want to make it more complicated than that?

One of my favorite lists is in Ephesians 1:3-6. Check out the blessings in those few verses! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

1. Every spiritual blessing (We could actually stop there. The rest of it explains some of what that entails.)

2. Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world

3. Holy & blameless before Him in love

4. Adopted as His children

5. Accepted by His grace, according to His will.

Now we could dicker about exactly how many things should or could be on the list… ‘Holy” and ‘blameless’ could be two separate items, but no matter how you cut it, that’s a pretty fantastic list. There’s another in Romans 5:1-11. Check out all that ‘we’ have, what ‘we’ were and what ‘we’ are now.

Noticing and even writing down the lists that are in Scripture cause us to slow down and consider the truth for an extra moment or two. I number them in the text or write them in the margin. Watch for lists in Scripture, and spend some time with them, at least as much time as the grocery list or that to-do list. After all, these will last much longer.

God on Alert

By Paula Wiseman

Easter to July 051 Can I take just a minute and be a mommy? Thanks. Alan had his last baseball game last night, and it was a good one! He just about put one over the fence, definitely the longest hit of the year for him AND he caught a fly ball playing defense at the pitcher’s mound. (Not just any fly ball, but a fly hit by the best player on the other team- we know, he was on Alan’s team last year.) So woo hoo! Did I mention football camp is next week?

As God brings me along, driving the reality of His love and care for me deep into my heart, He highlighted a verse while I read Tuesday morning. 2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” God is on the alert, looking for ways, for opportunities to intervene on behalf of those who trust Him. Now I have to remember that MY definition of showing Himself strong and God’s definition may not always line up. That’s why it appears- to me- He’s abandoned me at times. I’m looking for Him in the wrong places.

I also have to be careful not to fall into the trap of believing I wasn’t loyal ‘enough’, and that’s why God didn’t intervene. God doesn’t operate that way. All the faith we have is a gift from Him who gives us ‘every spiritual blessing’ (Eph 1:3) God is not going to hold out on me. Faith is faith. I know Jesus talked about having faith like a mustard seed and so forth, but the point of that comparison is the God who moves mountains, not the measure of my faith. Focusing on the ‘size’ of my faith can lead to an unresolvable mess- can I get two mountains moved for grape-sized faith?

This verse in 2 Chronicles is not about my loyal heart, but about the God who seeks to show Himself strong, to glorify Himself by doing something only He can do. When that happens, the situations in my life become an avenue of worship, a chance for God to be seen for who He is, in His glory and power. Really, that’s the whole point.

Anger Management

By Paula Wiseman

Camp for the elementary age kids finishes today. My two younger ones cannot wait for Lauren to get back home.

Continuing with a peek at the camp lessons… Dan and I talked with the kids about being superheroes, that God had given us powers to accomplish a mandate, but we also reminded them that we have weaknesses the Enemy will exploit. One of the big ones is anger.
Ephesians 4:26-27 reads: In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (NIV)

Satan will take advantage of our anger and get us distracted from our mission. Whether it explodes or it’s stuffed, anger can destroy our relationships, our focus and our credibility as followers of Jesus Christ. So what is anger exactly? Anger is an emotional response to being or feeling wronged that leads to a desire for vengeance. What’s wrong with that? God says, “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay.” (Deuteronomy 32:25). If I act on my anger, I am taking on God’s responsibility. That’s called “usurping”. It shows I don’t trust God to handle the situation.

I struggle with stuffing anger. Stuffed anger can morph into bitterness or depression, either of which can destroy a person. In writing fiction, I can explore these issues through my characters. In Contingency, Bobbi stuffs her anger at Chuck’s affair and slides into depression. I shared a few things I’ve learned in my own battle as she fights her way out.

It is possible to be angry without sinning, but it’s hard. Our best strategy is to avoid it altogether. Knowing what causes it can help us avoid it. James 1:19 gives a three step strategy for avoiding anger.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (NIV)

Quick to listen – Make sure you get all the facts and that you understand them. Don’t jump to conclusions!!
Slow to speak – DON’T say the first thing that pops in your head, which is usually something like “You big dummy, how could you do something so stupid?!” This only escalates things. It is NOT helpful.
Slow to become angry – Don’t fly off the handle.

Study Tip: Complete Sentences

By Paula Wiseman

I posted Tuesday and nine o’clock or so last night, I realized Tuesday… should’ve been a Study Tip Tuesday! So… Here it is on Thursday (still starts with a ‘T’- that counts for something, right?)

The previous tip dealt with how chapter breaks sometimes interrupt the flow. Today we’ll consider the fact that occasionally the verse ends before the sentence does. In 2 Corinthians 1:3, we read “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”. The verse ends with a comma telling us the thought isn’t complete even though it may sound that way.

If we consider verse 4 alone, it’s even more obvious that something is missing. “who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Not only does the verse start with a lowercase letter, but reading it, we know we’re in the middle of something.

Taken all together, we get the complete thought-
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Another example is in Ephesians 1:3-6.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Paul writes a sentence/paragraph that is divided into 4 verses in our Bible. Granted the sentence is packed, and the verse divisions may help us digest it, but they also may cause us to lose the interconnectedness of the ideas.

Watch for this especially in the New Testament epistles. (And especially in Ephesians!)