Monday November 24, 2014
Paul´s prayer in Ephesians 3 has been a blessing to me, but it´s also slightly confusing. How are we supposed to grasp the full measure of God´s love for us when it's beyond our ability to understand? An experience with my son can help answer that question.
My wife and I are in the process of potty training our little guy, which means that in the middle of the night I wake him up and let him know it´s okay. Then I gently lift him from his bed, set him down on the toilet and smooth his sleep-tousled hair. When he´s done I stand him on the bathroom rug so that he won´t be shocked at the touch of the cold tile under his feet. Finally, I lay him back down on his bed once more, making sure that his favourite "blankie" is firmly in hand.
But because this takes place so late at night, and my son is so sleepy, I doubt he´ll remember these things I do for him. He may not even appreciate such things for years, until he has a similar experience.
God loves us in similar ways. He surrounds us with a thousand examples of love and care, both small and large (Ephesians 3:17-18). But because of the busyness of our lives, and our relative immaturity, we often miss these amazing displays of His deep love and care for us. We imagine instead that we endured the night all by ourselves, in our own strength and we wake up none the wiser as to who truly carried us through the darkness.
God´s love for us is too vast for us to comprehend (v. 19). His way are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9), and His knowledge is too lofty for us to attain (Psalm 139:6). Even so, we can recognise by faith that our heavenly Father does much for us - things both seen and unseen. - Peter Chin
Read
Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written : "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Question to Ponder
Take a few minutes and consider what God has been doing for you. Have you ever been able to glimpse God´s unseen work after the fact? How will you praise God for the unseen things He does?
**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) Sept - Nov 2014 issue
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