5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.This spoke to me because I just read Isaiah 44...and read the following verse:
vs 22 "I have swept away your sins like a cloud.
I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.”
I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.”
I think it's cool that vs 5 here says that he has been wanting to adopt us into his family in advance because Isaiah was written way before Jesus came to pay the price for us.
13 ...Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.
ReplyDeleteNow that we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we have received the Holy Spirit, which marks us as God's own. As long as we do not forsake it, it is also our ticket to heaven. Pretty comforting and astounding at the same time, in my opinion.
The verse that really stood out to me was vs 10
ReplyDelete"And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ - everything in heaven and on earth." Ephesians 1:10 (NLT)
One of the things that I am really having to deal with this semester is time management. I am either in charge or partly in charge of 4 different things in Theta Xi this semester, not to mention the other stuff I do outside The Fraternity. I am always worried about schedules because that is how I plan out when things get done. This verse really gave me a peace about it. Not in a "I'm not going to be smart about planning things out" way, but I know that if I follow God's direction, then everything will happen in His time. There are other things that I REALLY wish the timing were different with between things that happened last semester and carried into this, but some that will carry from this to the summer, and so on. God just really gave me a peace about trusting Him with my management of time and he will show me the proper steps to take to get things planned in order for them to happen when He wants them to. As well as trust him with other things that His timing is best.
Ephesians 1:21
ReplyDeleteNow he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else- not only in this world but also in the world to come.
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Jesus is the great king and great leader. In all of our positions of leadership we should appeal to his authority guidance and wisdom.
I know it is the same verse but it is translated a little different:
ReplyDelete5- He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
I think that this is a very interesting verse for a couple reasons. First, we all know that we are children of God, but this verse clearly specifies that we are "adopted". This is important because it emphasizes that we are not born into the Lord until we die to ourselves and sin and get reborn through Christ. This also separates us from Christ. Though we are all children of God, being "adopted" makes Jesus and his relationship with the Father more special than our own and the fact that he does not have to die to himself and sin, but that he dies for us and our sin.
18- I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.
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Captivating to me was the depiction of the heart having eyes; seeing with your heart proves to be much harder than seeing with your eyes. Your eyes see the world and all it has to offer, often casting a shadow on your heart. Only when you see with your heart can you see Hope among all the other wrongs of the world.