Our Scripture passage for Sunday, July 26th
Ephesians 3:14-21 (The Message)
14-19My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
20-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
COMMENT:
When you read this scripture, how do you relate to it? Paul was attempting to find a common denominator for all. What does it mean for us to plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! And live full lives in our everyday existence today?
How would your envision your life if you were living at this full level? How is it different from where you feel you are now?
We are at the beach with 20 family members. Every night we gather in a circle and one of the family’s members whose turn it is to make and serve dinner that evening opens with prayer. We have heard prayers from the one that preceded the Mexican meal, “Muchos Gracias, Dios” to thanking the Lord for good weather and camaraderie we are experiencing. But the prayers that have caused us to breath in His majesty, reflect, and be moved to contemplate the Lord’s glory and protection have been the two prayers offered by my brother-in-law’s sister. Why? She is a follower of Jesus and daily Bible reader who doesn’t just give lip service to her devotion. When she prays, any self-consciousness disappears and the Holy Spirit moves her soul to speak. It’s as if she is speaking privately with her Maker, her words ascending to a plateau above our heads. Raindrops of blessing and an “other worldly” understanding of the magnificence and awe of the Lord seem to fall upon us. She speaks slowly, quietly, and with a calm assurance from a strong personal bond with her Friend above. She makes verses 20 & 21 in Ephesians 3 come alive and shows us how these life changing words can be true!
ReplyDeleteJeannie:
ReplyDeleteProbably the most interesting thing for me is the statement in the passage, "not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength." It appears this is the quality of relationship that your brother-in-law's sister has. In the lesson I led last week in the men's Adams class on the Holy Spirit we spoke about the flow of the spirit as if it were living water, a current traveling through our lives, not only carrying our very self but carrying us together with others as well.
I spoke of the analogy used by the black poet Langston Hughes in his "I've Known Rivers," where he states "I've known rivers, ancient dusky rivers, my soul has grown deep like the rivers." I've always found this poem most mystical in its intent to describe our life as the ebb and flow of events into and out of our lives. Perhaps this is the role of the Spirit in giving us moments that bring sustenance to our living. It sounds as if you have expereinced this with your family. What a wonderful blessing.
Walter for JATL
You’ve reminded me of a book by Lief Enger called Peace Like a River. In it, “heaven” is gently slipping off a wet rock into a meandering river to join others, some of whom are running towards the water across beautiful meadows so that everyone will be peacefully floating with the current towards the Source!
ReplyDelete