Are you enjoying these promises day by day? Are they building up your faith in Christ? Are you learning to trust Him and His promises? As you study these promises, your faith will increase, and so will your trust and and your joy will increase as you claim these promises for a better life and trust Him to do as He says He will do. Remember our walk with Him must increase hour by hour and day by day as we continue to walk in His presence. We don't become perfect overnight, it would be nice if we did, but it is a surrendering of our life day by day and sometimes hour by hour and minute by minute, and asking Him to 'create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me'. When you are tempted to do wrong, just say 'Jesus help me' and He will be there to aid you.
The following verses are pretty long and I will try to point out the high parts by highlighting them.
Ephesians 1:3-14 "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 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. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."
I think the above verses more or less explain them selves if you read them carefully and absorb what God is telling us.
Ephesians 2:1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Ephesians 2:4-10 "But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Christ loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sin and we have been saved by His grace not because of any works that we have done, it is His gift to us who have surrendered to His work-manship created in Him for good works so that we would not have anything to boast about. He does the works in us which He has prepared for us to walk in them. Doesn't that sound quite easy, letting Him do His works in us? I think we have covered some good promises today, and we will continue with Ephesians the next time. Read it over and over if you have to and absorb what God is saying through Paul. One thing I am sure of is that Paul practiced what he preached. His life is a good example of what Christ can do in our life if we let Him. Grandma Joan
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