Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.

In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him for the administration of the days of fulfillment – to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him.

We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the one who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory.

When you heard the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment for our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.”

(Ephesians 1:3-13)

As I read at one time, most often Paul starts right out summarizing why he is writing. He does this in Ephesians. Paul started the letter of Ephesians explaining what he was writing them about –the Gentiles lacked in no way, God adopted them as sons and lavishly and abundantly blessed them with all they need to walk out their life of faith as a free gift.

They (now we) have been given immeasurable riches in Christ! They (we) have everything we could possibly need to walk out this life of faith in abundance.

Paul goes on to explain in Ephesians 2:4-10, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He Had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You were saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For you have been saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift – not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”

The Gentile believers who were once separated by God and excluded from citizenship, were now freely given equal place under the covenant – co heirs in Christ to the Jewish believers, reconciling all to Himself. Jesus died not just for one special group nor did He hold anything back from the Gentiles because they came later, but He generously and freely gives all that He has to both Jewish and Gentile believers.

Paul tells them in Ephesians 2:18-20, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.”

Paul then goes on to pray this incredible prayer for the Ephesians to experience and fully comprehend the spiritual riches that have been lavished upon them through Christ Jesus. He prays that they , rooted in love, may comprehend the length, width height, depth of His love that surpasses all knowledge so they “may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephes. 3:18-19).

What he is hoping for the Ephesians is not that they would get 'more' spiritually, but that they would fully realize and experience the overflowing abundance of what has been lavished upon them and grow up into it.

He goes on to tell them that God is able to do “above and beyond what we can ask or think according to the power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Not only has God lavished all these spiritual gifts in abundance upon us so that we have the fullness of everything we need to walk out this life of faith, He has chosen and given some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to build up the body in the work of ministry, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in knowledge of God's Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ's fullness.” (Ephesians 4:13)

Paul then goes on to exhort the Ephesians who have been given everything lavishly to walk out this spiritual life of faith. In a nutshell, “be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”

He was not telling them they needed to go to more ministry events and somehow receive more... They had been given what is needed to walk out their faith and so should put into practice putting off the old ways and put on the new -serving with a good attitude to please God and not to men with thankful hearts. (Ephes. 64:22-24) They were to practice giving thanks as they serve wholeheartedly and do good (Ephes. 5:20, 6:7-8). Ending, he told them to put on the full armor we are given and live out our life of faith, praying at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:10-20).

I can sometimes look at my spiritual life with the same consumer mentality that the world has. I feel empty and think I need more.... yet more is never enough. This has to do with this underlying belief that sometimes comes up for me that God needs to fix me. I think this has to do with not wanting to receive God's love in the midst of my weaknesses at times.

When I am not receiving God's love and I am striving for some sort of value by what I accomplish, I feel empty and drained. Then in this place, everything I do is not enough.  It never gets me to this place of rest, only more emptiness and want, more striving and trying to achieve.     

I had a dream that my boss recommended me to see a doctor but there was something not right about it. They called to set up an appointment and I let it go because I had too much on my plate and it was not working out... at the same time I thought to myself that I was maybe missing out on something that could be deeply transformational for me.  But at the same time, it seemed to be a superficial joke and ploy for business.

I think the doctor in this case really represented a ministry event. My schedule is too full and I don't have time to go to extra events outside of church. Sometimes when I see these events I think I am missing out on something that could be transformational. However, the draw to these events in this case is really more superficial for me – to receive more (or be fixed) when what I really need to do is walk out what has been abundantly and lavishly provided. 

Feeling something more was needed was the same lie that Adam and Eve bought into in the Garden.   Satan convinced them that what they had, standing in the glory of God and eating from all the other trees in the Garden, was just not enough... they needed something more spiritually.  They needed to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so they could be like God.  In their wanting more rather than being grateful and content in the abundance they had, they reached out to take rather than receive what they had been provided.   

In this dream, I also got in a line that was going off somewhere. I was in a hurry and moved fast with others. We didn't wait for someone who was slower and when we got to a place, it turned out we couldn't find the finish line and had to give up winning. I called the person who we left behind and they had went home and given up too.

I think this is the worlds way... we are in a line rather than a circle. It is about individuals accomplishing and not slowing down for what is really important – the relationships and people. In the world, we are in a hurry to 'win' when winning really has no meaning after all and the destination is just an illusion.  It leaves us feeling empty and unfulfilled.

In the last part of the dream, I discovered that someone saw me as a woman of Spirit and depth even though I was juggling a lot of stuff. I was totally amazed as I could not see myself this way at all. Perhaps this is the pull for me to live in the world's way and trying to get God to fix me at times... I often fail to see that God is doing a work in me at all.  

 

Yet, when I look back, He has done amazing things in my life that I could have never dreamed or imagined. He has healed me and set me free in amazing ways I never thought I could be. There was a time in my life when I was young where I struggled tremendously with severe depression and suicide ideology. I thought about suicide frequently in a day and had so much underlying fear, anxiety, and anger.

My life today is totally different. In place of the fear, I have peace. In place of anxiety, I receive grace. In place of suicide ideology, I have joy... there have been times that I have so much joy that I could hardly contain it. 
 

Rather than looking at my weaknesses and how I lack spiritually at times, I think God is inviting me  look to Him and walk out in gratitude and thanksgiving what He has so abundantly provided – everything I need for my life of faith and godliness.

Lord, forgive me where I have saw my spirituality in the same consumerism way that world looks at life. When this happens, help me to take my eyes off myself and put them back on you. Thank you that you have given all of us lavishly everything that we need for this life of faith. Help us to live in this and walk it out, growing into the fullness of the maturity you call us to with hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving as we look to You.