Gleanings for August 23

ONLY BY GRACE

 

             Ephesians 2: 1: NKJV:  “And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.”  .  Verses 2 & 3 tell how “the prince of the power of the air works in those who as yet have not given their lives to Jesus.  That includes everyone born into this world.

 

            Here are thoughts that came to me while meditating on those verses:  “Even though Your Grace kept me from getting into drugs, alcohol and all that accompanies the use of them—I could not save myself---not by wishing, or by my working  Every person is on the same level:  all need God’s GRACE  to be saved.”

            Ephesians 2: 4 & 5  “BUT GOD Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (the Anointed One and His Anointing).  By GRACE you have been saved.” 

             Once again we are in “shouting territory”--- The heart of the Gospel is the Truth that our Father God has extended His Grace to EVERYONE.  The choice is up to each person as to what we are going to do—will we receive the Gift that has been purchased by Jesus, with such an unmatchable price?

 

             When we choose to accept His Gift, verses 6 & 7 tell us what happens: We are, “raised up together (with Him) and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

 

              Remember in our devotion yesterday we suggested that many of us (most likely all) are falling short of “receiving for every day living” the blessings that our Father God has chosen to give us.

             When we are seated with Christ “in heavenly places”—we should be experiencing the blessings of heaven.  In the Lord’s Prayer we read:  “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Could that be what those two verses in Ephesians are suggesting?

            We are told in the 10th verse:  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  I believe that verse tells us that we have been given the ability to walk, (that is) to live everyday in the light of the benefits we have been studying about today.

            The word workmanship means “to make.”  Strongs commentary says:  “Compare poem or poetry.  (The Greek) emphasizes God as the Master Designer of everything.  Before conversion our lives had no rhyme or reason.  Conversion brought us balance, summetry, and order.  We are God’s poem, His work of art.”  Praise the Lord!!!

             The 8th and 9th verses of chapter 2 sum up this lesson:  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  Knowing this can help us to receive---

 

The Joy of the Lord—WHO IS OUR STRENGTH!!