As part of a Prayer Focus this past week for World Horizons, we have meditated on the fabulous Epistle to the Ephesians. It is an epistle of profound prayers that reveal God’s heart and plan for His church, a people group redeemed by His blood, called by His Name and empowered by His Spirit to reach the world with His redemptive message of love.
This epistle reminds us that we cannot fulfill God’s mandate on our own. It reveals that all our efforts are futile, and our fruit will not remain if we endeavor to do this in our wisdom and ability. Our cry is for God to grant us “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that we may understand the hope of His calling, the glory of His inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” This revelation of truly knowing Him comes only out of deep relationship with Him. It is this relationship that guides us, sustains us, and empowers us to effectively reach out and love others.
It was Paul’s prayer “that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.” The Apostle John said, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (I John 4:6) Love is the root of our relationship with God from which our life springs forth.
This love relationship with God is what enables us to do what we do no matter what the cost. I Corinthians 13: 4-8 says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This kind of love is not possible on our own. It is a fruit of the Spirit that flows from our relationship in the heart to the Father who is love. It bears all things and never fails no matter what the circumstances because it flows from the limitlessness of God. I had a missionary friend who read this Scripture every morning to remind himself why he did what he did.
It is the power of this love that enables us to do “exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.” It is this love that enables us “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” It is this love that causes us “to redeem the time, because the days are evil.” It is this love that enables us to “sing and make melody in our heart to the Lord and to give thanks always for all things.” It is love that empowers us to “open our mouth boldly to make known the mystery of Christ.”
As I meditate on these portions from Ephesians, I am awed by the greatness of our God and His love and favor toward us. May you experience the power of His love like you never have before. May you fall in love with Him all over again, and may it rekindle a new love in your heart for the people you encounter every day.
Andy Clark
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