Prayer is Essential Spiritual Strength and Endurance; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

Let us spend one more day on the subject of prayer.  What more can the Apostle Paul teach us about prayer in his letter to the Ephesians?  Read from Ephesians chapter six (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):

In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.  Pray hard and long.  Pray for your brothers and sisters.  Keep your eyes open.  Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

And don’t forget to pray for me.  Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out. (Verses18-20)

Prayer is not optional.  It is essential to win the day against Satan and his forces.  Praying takes spiritual strength and endurance.

And, while prayer is self-transforming, prayer is also to be for our Christian brothers and sisters.  With prayer, we can lift up each other’s spirits.  With prayer, we can keep our eyes open to the movement of the Spirit.

Prayer is about learning what to say and when to say it… especially in connection to the Good News of Christ Jesus.  Even as Paul was responsible for getting that Message out, we too are responsible.  Paul is one of our ancestors in the faith… one among the great cloud of witnesses that is spoken about in Hebrews twelve.

Repetition is important so let’s review what we’ve learned about prayer from the letter to the Ephesians:

1)    Prayer is a way of life.

2)    Prayer is a time to listen and to learn.

3)    Prayer places a floodlight into the attitudes of our hearts.

4)    Prayer helps us to understand the glorious promises that God has in store for us.

5)    Prayer is the powerful First Responder.

6)    Prayer is meditation on the role of Christ in our lives.

7)    Prayer is an attitude of humility.

8)    Prayer is extravagant – holds nothing back.

9)    Prayer is a gentle nudge to praise God.

And the new learning of today includes:

10)  Prayer is essential.

11)  Prayer takes spiritual strength and endurance.

12)  Prayer is for the benefit of others.

13)  Prayer can help us to learn the right things to say and the right time to say them.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Prayer is... Humble, Extravagant Praise of God; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

What more can we learn about prayer from Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians?  Let us look at the end of chapter three (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):

My 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 Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.  Reach out and experience the breadth!  Test its length!  Plumb its depths!  Rise to its heights!  Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God 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! (Verses 14-21)

Prayer is an attitude of humility – down on our knees before God the Father.  This kind of humility in our lives and our prayers leads to an inner strength that can come from nowhere else.  It is by the Spirit of the living God.  It is Christ living in us and through us.

Prayer is extravagant.  Hold nothing back!  Love God and his family with all you’ve got.

Prayer is a gentle nudge to praise. Glory to God now and forever.

Let’s review our list of what we have learned about prayer in Ephesians so far:

1)    Prayer is a way of life.

2)    Prayer is a time to listen and to learn.

3)    Prayer places a floodlight into the attitudes of our hearts.

4)    Prayer helps us to understand the glorious promises that God has in store for us.

5)    Prayer is the powerful First Responder.

6)    Prayer is meditation on the role of Christ in our lives.

7)    Prayer is an attitude of humility.

8)    Prayer is extravagant – holds nothing back.

9)    Prayer is a gentle nudge to praise God.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Pray Now & Always; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

What can Paul teach us about prayer from his letter to the Ephesians?  That is the question we will delve next.  Read from Ephesians chapter one (NLT):

I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.  I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called.  I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given his people.

I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him.  This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.  Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this or in the world to come.  And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church.  And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence. (Verses 16b-23)

Prayer is a way of life.  It is constant. 

Prayer is not a laundry list of things we want.  Prayer grants spiritual wisdom and understanding to those who are willing to listen and learn.  Prayer can foster a growth in our knowledge of God.

Prayer is a floodlight in our hearts.  It is kind of like fog lights that cut through the most powerful fog that can gather in our hearts from the deceptions and delusions of this old world.

Prayer can help us to understand the wonderful future that God has promised us who believe.

Prayer equals power.  Prayer is never a last resort.  Prayer is the ultimate first responder in all situations.  Prayer can help us to understand this truth.

And prayer can help us meditate both alone and together about the role of Christ Jesus in our lives.  Christ plays a leading role in our individual lives and in our collective lives as the church – his Body.

We can never overestimate the power of prayer.  We can never pray too much.  If we allow prayer to saturate our lives, there is no end to the transforming power it can work in us and through us.

Pray now.  Pray always.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

The Holy Spirit Unifies and Gives Peace; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

The Holy Spirit is our signet ring, our personal trainer, our gift distributor, our protector, our revealer of mysteries, and our direct access to God.  I will add one more descriptor:  the Holy Spirit is our unifier and peacemaker.  Read from Ephesians chapter four (NIV):

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Verses 3-6) 

It takes effort on our part to come together in peace to the Holy Spirit.  It means laying aside our agendas completely.  It means not arguing amongst ourselves when our agendas do not mesh.  It means embracing our unity through the Spirit of the living God despite our manifold differences.

When you and I were called, it was not separate calls.  Our calls erupted through the same hope.  Our calls united us in the same body and Spirit.  There is only one true Lord, one faith and one baptism.  God is our shared adoptive Father.  We have no other.  We need no other.

O Holy Spirit, unify us and grant us peace!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out 

Holy Spirit, Direct Access; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

As I read from Ephesians this morning, I noticed a couple more things that we can learn about the Holy Spirit.  First, let’s review:  The Holy Spirit is our signet ring, our personal trainer, our gift distributor, our protector, and our revealer of mysteries.  That’s what we’ve learned so far.  Now, let’s look to chapter two of Ephesians:

                        For through [Jesus] we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Verses 18-22)

The Holy Spirit gives us direct access to God.  And that access goes both ways.  We have access to God, and God has access to us through the working of the Holy Spirit.  God dwells in us – the church, not the brick and mortar church building but the people of the church.

Through the Holy Spirit, we have direct access to God.  Let us allow God’s Spirit to saturate our entire beings.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Look in the Mirror for the Enemy; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

If the Holy Spirit is our protector, then who are our enemies?  It is a good question.  Paul seeks to answer this question in the last chapter of his letter to the Ephesians.  Read a passage from chapter six below (NIV):

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Verses 10-12)

Our enemy is not made of flesh and blood.  We cannot put a face to our enemy.  If we could, it would be our own face!

Our enemy is the rules – hidden and out in the open – that the world around tries to place on us.  These rules are in direct conflict with our calling as a set apart people.  The rules have to do with authority and power – who holds the authority and power.

We know them.  We know about things like “might equals right”, “look out for number one”, and “survival of the fittest”.  You know many like them.  With these rules, we find ourselves in constant conflict with one another to see who gets to be on top of this mountain of misinformation – the mountain of refuse.

These things war inside us with the workings of the Holy Spirit.  Let us seek the life that the Holy Spirit of God inspires in us.  Let us feed that part of our soul, because the part that we feed is the part that will grow and survive.

We have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Holy Spirit, Reveals Mysteries; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

The Holy Spirit is our signet ring, our personal trainer, our gift distributor, and our protector.  We have learned these things about the Spirit of the living God by reading carefully Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  There is at least one thing left to learn about the Holy Spirit from Ephesians.

The Holy Spirit is the revealer of mysteries.  Do you think that you have it all figured out?  If not, good – because you don’t.  Neither do I have it all figured out.  If you think you have it all figured out, then you have much in common with those who rejected Jesus and continue to reject him.

There are mysteries in this life…  Let us hand them over to the great Revealer of mysteries – the Holy Spirit of the living God.  Read from Ephesians chapter three (NRSV):

This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles – for surely you have already heard of the commission of God's grace that was given me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.  In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Verses 1-6)

The mystery of Gentiles and Jews being admitted into the family of God was revealed to the apostles and prophets of Paul’s day through the Holy Spirit.  This news would come as a surprise to the Jews, who thought that separation was the best policy.  God has made them one.

I think there will be surprises for me when I enter the kingdom of God in all its fullness – surprise at who is there and who is not.  Our God is not a God of separation (that is the work of the devil).  Our God is a God of reconciliation.  Praise God!

I do not understand this mystery, but I hand it over to the capable hands of God through the working of the Holy Spirit.  I only pray that I can obediently follow the Spirit’s lead.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

The Holy Spirit, the Protector; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

The Holy Spirit is a signet ring for the promise of God to us – a down payment, if you will.  The Holy Spirit is our personal trainer who helps us have inner strength that allows Christ in the deepest and darkest areas of our lives.  The Holy Spirit is also a distributor of God-given gifts.

Today we will learn about the protection that the Holy Spirit provides us in the life and death struggle that we are in against Satan and his armies.  Read from Ephesians chapter six (NLT):

A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power.  Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil.  For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. 

Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm.  Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness.  For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.  In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.  Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. (Verses 10-18)   

Let’s do an inventory.  Do we have the belt of truth?  Truth is essential.  If our pants fall down in the midst of battle, we will find it difficult to stand and fight.

Do we have our body armor of God’s righteousness?  Trust in the righteousness of God – not in your own righteousness.  God’s righteousness protects us from the attacks of the enemy.

Do we have our shoes of peace – peace that comes from the Good News?  The Good News of Christ Jesus means that we have no more need to worry.  We can be at peace and seek the peace of others.  We can be fleet of feet and dodge the enemies’ attacks.

Do we have our shield of faith?  It will stop the arrows of the devil.  Satan wants us to question our relationship with God.  Remember that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (See Romans 8:31ff).

Do we have our helmet of salvation?  Salvation protects our heads – our brains, our thought processes.  Remember that your salvation is secure in the hands of God.

Do we have the sword of the Spirit – the word of God?  It is necessary to defend ourselves and go on the offensive is need be.  Immerse yourself in the Scriptures.

Do we remember to pray early and often?  The power of the Holy Spirit amplifies our prayers.  Pray at all times!  Be persistent.  Pray for your Christian brothers and sisters.

Know these concepts.  They will help to protect you in the valley of shadow and death that all of us will have to travel.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

The Holty Spirit, the Gift Giver; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

The Holy Spirit is our personal trainer, and our personal trainer gives us gifts – each according to the grace of God through Jesus Christ.  Read the list from Ephesians chapter four:

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. (Verses 11b-13)

All heaven and earth are filled with the gifts of the Spirit!  Are you an apostle of the Good News?  Then do your part in making the body of Christ efficient in its growth.  Are you a prophet?  Then do your part to interpret the events of the day through the lens of Jesus.  Are you and evangelist?  Then go pronounce God’s work through Christ to those who have never known it.  Are you a pastor or a teacher?  Then use your skills to train others in their God-given work through Christ Jesus.

Each of these gifts is to build up the church so that it moves effectively to the flow of Christ and the Holy Spirit in a community.  In using these gifts, we become fully alive like Christ.  And we are most effective when we function together.  It is a maturing process that the Holy Spirit helps along.

So, let us open our gifts from God.  Let’s use them to glorify God and build up others.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

The Holy Spirit, Our Personal Trainer; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

The Holy Spirit of God is our personal trainer – helping us to strengthen spiritual muscles that we didn’t even know we had.  Read from Ephesians chapter three (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):

My 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 Christians 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.

God 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! (Verses 14-21)

Prepare yourself for a trainer of your inner spirit.  The Holy Spirit will strengthen you.  That does not mean that you will be “ripped” with brute strength.  Your strength will be an inner strength – a strength that will allow you to open wide the doors of your lives, including all those hidden closets and basements – an inner strength that is Christ in you.

And the Holy Spirit does not train us alone.  The Holy Spirit has a spiritual gym that is packed full of people just like you… searching out the awesome dimensions of Christ’s love.  It is not a competitive sport, so help one another to realize this goal together.

Then our lives will be filled with all the fullness of God.  It will be much better than a physically fit body alone – better than “ripped” abs or chests or shoulder or legs…  All things find their ultimate glory in the Lord.

But, don’t expect to be pushed around by the Holy Spirit.  The work of the Holy Spirit is like a deep and soothing massage that works gently into the deepest places in our souls.  Then, in a rush of ecstasy, we will join the chorus of all Christians singing…

Glory to God in the church…

Glory to God in our Messiah, Jesus…

Glory that lasts to all generations…

Glory that last through all millennia…

Yes!  So be it.  Amen.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - We Belong to God's Holy Spirit; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

We’ve spent a week looking at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians from the vantage point of growing up.  The past couple of days we have seen some of the role of the Holy Spirit in this process.  I think it would be a good idea to move into examining what we can learn from the letter to the Ephesians about the Holy Spirit.

Today, I want to focus on two related passages from Ephesians that deal directly with the Holy Spirit.  Read the first from chapter one (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people – free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!

He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free – signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming

, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. (Verses 7-14)

Signed, sealed, delivered – I’m yours.  We belong to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is like a signet ring – a ring of promise – that is the first installment on what’s coming through the promise of God.  Now that is a cause to celebrate, to praise!

And what is promised to us?  It is not mere forgiveness.  We are promised freedom – not simple freedom but abundant freedom.  We are home free!

But we are not set abundantly free to wander the world aimlessly.  The Spirit of God helps us to discover what we are living for – finally the meaning of life.  And this life is not just any hum-drum life.  It is glorious living – a praising and glorious life.

So. let’s be careful not to allow our wonder at such a gift to cause is to wander in our newfound abundant freedom.  Read from Ephesians chapter four (Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase):

Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.

(Verse 30)

To wander is to grieve God – to break His heart.  The Holy Spirit is within us to guide our every movement, our every breath.  The Holy Spirit reaches down to the most intimate parts of our lives.  The Holy Spirit makes us fit for God.  Let’s not take such a gift for granted!

What have we learned about the Holy Spirit?  The Holy Spirit is a signet ring – the first installment of God’s promise to us and the guarantee of the promises of God to come.  The Holy Spirit is truth, and that truth sets us abundantly free.  The Holy Spirit frees us to live a life of praise and glory before God.  The Spirit frees us because He makes us acceptable to God.  The Holy Spirit teaches us what we are living for.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Reconciliation - Unity Among Diversity IS Christian Maturity; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

Christian maturity is also about unity in the midst of diversity.  There are many things in our lives that divide us into groups.  None of these arbitrary human divisions means anything before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Unity in the midst of diversity is a key to Christian maturity.  Read from Ephesians chapter two (NRSV):

So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called "the uncircumcision" by those who are called "the circumcision" – a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands – remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,  and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 

So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. (Verses 11-22)

Whenever I think about arbitrary divisions, I think about the Dr. Seuss book The Butter Battle Book.  In the story, there are people divided by a wall.  People on one side of the wall eat their bread with the butter side up, while the people on the other side eat their bread with the butter side down.  Seems ludicrous, doesn’t it?  But it leads to hatred and an escalating war.

We need to reexamine ourselves and the differences that we think to be so big.  We need to reexamine what binds us together – Christ Jesus.  The blood of Christ Jesus binds us together – liberal and conservative… city slickers and country bumpkins… legal and “illegal” citizens… wealthy and poor… upper crust, middle class, and poverty.

Through the work of the cross, Christ breaks down the barriers and introduces us to a new reconciliation.  The many and diverse groups are all made one in Christ Jesus.  Each group – no matter how “good” or “bad” – have sinned and fallen short of the glory that God has planned for us.  The blood of the cross reconciles us to God… and to one another.

Welcome to the adoptive family of God – where there is unity among diversity and reconciliation is king.  There is another sign of Christian maturity – reconciliation in the midst of conflict.  It is a tough task to live up to.

For this reason, we must stick together in Christ.  Then, we will grow together to become a holy temple for the Lord.  We will become home to the Holy Spirit of God!  Together!

Let us grow in unity among diversity.  Let us grow together in our ability to create reconciliation in the midst of conflict.  Let us constantly meditate on the one thing that unites us – Christ Jesus.  Then we will be on our way to knowing peace.  Christ Jesus is our peace.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out

Drink Deeply; Ephesians

May the mumbling commence!

Drink deeply from the Spirit – the Holy Spirit that is.  Our days are precious and limited.  We are to make the most of them. 

So do not dilly dally.  Walk with purpose.  Work with purpose.  Redeem those precious days for the sake of the Lord.  These are direct results of drinking deeply of God’s Holy Spirit.  By doing these things, we may begin to learn the will of the Lord – together with one another.  Read from Ephesians chapter five (NKJV):

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Verses 15-20)

And there is a lovely description of what it is like being filled with God’s Holy Spirit.  The melody begins in our hearts.  It is a melody of thanks to God the Father and Jesus His Son.  This melody of the heart bubbles up into psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.  These songs bring us together and lead us to God.

Being filled with the Spirit does not lead to the drunken stupor of alcohol.  Being filled with the Spirit does not lead to the stumbling walk of the drunk.  Being filled with the Spirit adds purpose and joy and thankfulness to our lives.  Being filled with the Spirit of God is a sign of growing in Christian maturity.

Drink deeply from the Spirit of God.  Be filled.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out