THINGS WE CAN PRAY FOR (PART 1)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Ephesians 1:15-16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Prayer is critical to our spiritual health as it is the mechanism we have to communicate with the Lord God Almighty, the Maker and Master of all living things. In fact, it was the first form of wireless communication long before the advent of the cell phone.

Prayer can come in a lot of different forms and we will look a couple of different types in the next few lessons drawn from the latter verses of Ephesians 1. Look at these words again as we examine the first thing we can pray for as we come before God:

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:15-16

Here we find the Apostle Paul lifting up prayers of thanksgiving for the Ephesian believers, his brothers and sisters in Christ.

What were the Christians in Ephesus doing that sparked Paul’s attitude of gratitude?

He mentions two specific things.

First, they had shown faith in Jesus.

Now, you might say to yourself, “Duh. They are Christians. Of course they would have faith in Jesus” but think about it. How many people do you know that refer to themselves as Christians but they live a faithless life? Sadly, there are more people that do this than we are willing to admit, I’m afraid.

This is why we need to celebrate faith when we see it being carried out. We should rejoice in the steadfast trust invested in Jesus when we see people exercise it because that’s what living in and for Him is all about.

Paul testifies that the displayed faith of the Ephesians led to his unceasing prayers of appreciation for them. As we consider people we know and witness them being strong in their faith, we should follow the Apostle’s lead.

The second thing we find Paul expressing gratefulness for is the love extended to other people by the Ephesian believers.

As I read these words, I was reminded about that classic worship song that says people will know we are Christians by our love. In other words, there is perhaps no greater way we can let other know we are living in and for Jesus than letting them see His love extended from us. Led by the Holy Spirit, Christ believers can be assured they will do just that.

It’s obvious the church in Ephesus was lovingly serving their community and note that this wasn’t selective. They weren’t picking and choosing who they loved. Rather, the scriptures tell us they loved all of God’s people and again, this brought Paul to a place of gladness and thanks.

Question: How well do we do when it comes to loving all of God’s people?

If we’re honest about it, I think we too often fall short here and this is what amplifies what the Ephesian Christians had accomplished. It’s no wonder why Paul decided to make a big deal about in his letter.

In closing, who do you know who routinely exercises faith in Jesus and, as a result, shows love to all people?

Bring those people to mind by name and then go to prayer, giving thanks for them as you come before the Lord God Almighty.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at a different type of prayer, a prayer of intercession.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

A MARKED PEOPLE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have a confession to make.

When it comes to making out a dark blue suit from a black one, I really struggle. Maybe you suffer from the same issue.

This has gotten so bad that I have had to mark each suit as to its color to remove any doubt from the selection process. The mark helps me identify one suit from the other.

Now, you’re probably wondering how this has anything to do with a message intended to share a Christian truth but as we see in today’s passage from the first chapter of Ephesians, this matter of marking things to distinguish one thing from another has spiritual as well as physical application. Look again at the words of Paul here:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.  Ephesians 1:13-14

When one looks to the core of the new covenant that God established with mankind, we find a shift to complete inclusiveness. Salvation was open and available to whosoever believed in Jesus as Savior. Such a decision would move a person from eternal damnation and torment to eternal life. It would also lead to God marking the Christ believer with His Holy Spirit.

Paul wanted the believers in Ephesus to know that when they heard the Gospel of their salvation and chose to place their faith and trust in Christ, they joined the family of God, children who were included in Christ. Through their belief in Jesus, God marked them with a spiritual seal, one that distinguished them from those who chose to reject His Son. This seal, the promised Holy Spirit, set the Ephesian believers apart and guaranteed their inheritance in Heaven, God’s Kingdom. They belonged to Him, not just for the present, but forevermore.

A day was ahead when Jesus would return to earth to redeem those who were of God’s possession, those who had committed to His Son and the salvation He brought. On that day, the Christians of Ephesus and every other person who placed their belief in Jesus would find themselves on the right side of a final sorting, one we read about from our Savior Himself in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.”

Then the righteous will answer Him, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?”

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.”

Then He will say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.”

They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?”

He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Matthew 25:31-46

Here we see the final outcome for a marked people. Those who believed in Jesus, the sheep, will be placed on the right with their destiny eternal life. Those who passed on believing in Jesus, the goats, would be grouped on the left, ticketed for eternal punishment and let’s not let that truth get glossed over here. An unsaved person isn’t just going to die, go into the ground, and decompose without any other consequence. Rather, their body might go into the grave but their soul, the spiritual lifeblood of that person, will go onto eternal damnation.

The bottom line is that the choice whether or not to believe in Jesus as Savior carries with it eternal ramifications. My prayer today is that you will opt to accept Christ as your Savior, be sealed and marked by the Holy Spirit, and gain your assured inheritance of everlasting life with the God who loves you and His Son who died to bring you salvation.

Be a sheep, not a goat.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

OUR MASTER'S PLAN

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In Him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:11-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

God is perfect in every way and this means that everything He does is perfect. He doesn’t make mistakes, ever.

And so when we consider God’s plan for creation, a plan that covered the beginning and end, the Alpha and Omega, we know that plan was without flaw and therefore, not open for debate or question. The Master’s plan was the only one ever to be foolproof and impeccable.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, we get glimpses into the plan of God for mankind, glimpses that include revealed mysteries as we have looked at in the last two messages. Yesterday, we were reminded about the nature of God’s new covenant which opened up salvation to all people, whether a Jew or not, which was a radical departure from the old covenant but nonetheless a part of the master plan.

As we turn to today’s verses from chapter 1, verses 11 and 12, we find the matter of predestination addressed and it has been a hot button topic in the church for reasons I don’t quite understand except that people want to make it too hard and in doing so, they question the concept which in turn challenges the truth that God’s master plan for His people is without fault. Look again at these words from Paul but they are really words from God given to Paul to write:

In Him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

It was God’s will to make the way to save all people from the very beginning, when creation was just a blueprint in His mind that He would then construct. Everyone was predestined to be saved based on belief in Him and His ability to save. This was true before and after the cross. From Adam to Abraham, Moses to David, leaders encouraged people to believe in God’s power to rescue and deliver them, to preserve their live well before Jesus was first foretold by the prophets and then came just as God had promised.

When that happened, when Jesus came and started His ministry, Jews like the called disciples and later apostles like Paul were among the first to put their hope in Christ. You’ll remember Jesus spoke of this Himself after His ascension, saying the Gospel would first be presented in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, before heading to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8) where a majority of the Gentiles were.

All this was for the praise of God’s glory, the One who is ever in control, the One who is our Master and has a perfect plan He has executed and will execute until it is accomplished.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

 

A MYSTERY REVEALED (PART 2)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are many things about our God that are a mystery to those us on this side of Heaven. But as we saw yesterday, our Lord has deliberately chosen to reveal certain secrets to His people through the scriptures.

In the first of this two message series from the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, God let us know that there is a day coming, a day when He will send His Son Jesus back to earth in full authority over all things in heaven and on earth which He will bring together in unity. We learned that God revealed this mystery to us by way of His good pleasure which meant it brought Him joy to share His secret.

Today, we skip forward for a brief moment to look at a second mystery God wished to reveal, a mystery that brought some clarity to what He meant that all things would be brought together in unity by His Son. Look again at the opening six verses of Ephesians, chapter 3:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Note that this development was brand new. It had not been shared people in prior generations and this means it wasn’t shared with any of the prophets of old. Rather, by way of the Holy Spirit, God chose to reveal it to the holy apostles and prophets of the first century after He sent Jesus to bring a new covenant with His created people. This new covenant was grounded in the Gospel message found in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Before Jesus, salvation was reserved for the Jews, God’s chosen people, through the old covenant He had established. He would be their God and they (the Jews) would be His people. Those who weren’t Jews (those referred to as the Gentiles) were treated as if they were unclean and unworthy of being in God’s presence. The temple in Jerusalem was off limits with the exception of a court outside the entrance where Gentiles were permitted to gather and pray.

This is what made this revealed mystery so radical. For whoever believed in Jesus would gain eternal life from God, no matter if they were Jew or Gentile. And this meant that the Gentiles were equal heirs to the Israelites, the ones who had treated them as outcasts before God stepped in and changed their future forever.

Today, it is no mystery anymore just as much as it was when Paul penned the words in His letter. Whoever believes in Jesus as Savior will be saved, no matter who they are. There are no other qualification standards to gain everlasting life, a life lived with God and Jesus forever. Let’s forever give praise to the Maker and Master of all creation for blessing us with a hope that can never be taken from us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com