… that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
For Christ in us is the hope of glory. It is for glorification that we have redemption. As wonderful as the promises of redemption are to us, it has never been in the nature of God to simply deliver and then abandon us to ourselves. He delivers us from the kingdom of darkness and plants us in the kingdom of light (see Colossians 1v27). He gives us the privilege to be called His Children, adopted through the purchase of the Blood, into the family of God.
When we come to Jesus, we must wrestle with every mindset in us until our mindsets come under subjection to the knowledge of God through Christ Jesus. Naturally, we were vagabonds, possessing understandings that conflicted with the very nature of God. Hence, for us to truly and evidentially receive of the nature of God, we must take sides with the Holy Ghost as He dethrones every mentality in us, supplanting them with the mentality of God.
In Jesus’ Name, may the power of God continue to rest upon us, enabling our feeble members with great strength until every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ is dethroned.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,…
The Believer’s hope is entirely rested in Christ Jesus – The LORD and summation of all things created. For our hope to truly deliver results unto us, it must be rested in the sufficiency of Christ. This is why we are always encouraged to remain steadfast and connected the LORD throughout our existence.
Predestination means having been completed in time past before the time of manifestation. Before the foundations of the earth, the lamb of God has been slain. It is with same understanding we must perceive our position in Christ; we are called to be instruments in the hand of our God fashioned for His purposes.
Hallelujah
For I know the thoughts I have for you (Jer. 29v11), the Holy Books assure us that we have been called unto God even before we were born. Being predestined therefore means we must always go back to the Holder of our original template or to the Creator who fashioned us. This really does not make sense in the light of the exhortation for all men to pray and not faint.
…that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
In the near future, which could today or tomorrow, this dispensation will be over and the appearing of The LORD Jesus shall be made manifest to all men. And everyone that names the Name of God will indeed be called home to a new world to a new country – the heavenly Jerusalem.
In that time, there will be an ingathering of all the world and there shall be judgement upon this present world as we know it. Christ is the summation of all things in existence. But in those days, whatever has not been in alignment will be vanquished and those that have been in alignment will be enthroned as Christ has been enthroned upon His resurrection. That is why, in fear and trembling, we must be focused on making our election sure as His saints. And those that as at yet do not number with Jesus Christ will see destruction.
Christ, indeed , is the summation of all creation and in Him all things will hold together. Outside of Him, nothing holds.
In Jesus’ Name, a great comfort has come to those who mourn in Zion, and you who is found within her borders, you should be clothed with praises.
…having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,..
It has been God’s desire from the beginning of creations that men would be His closest allies. His longing has been to have pleasurable communion with an entity other than Himself. We clearly see an expression of this desire in the constant communion He kept with the first men of this age – Adam and Eve.
The sin of Adam thwarted a fulfillment this divine desire, but our Father still maintains this desire in the New Creation. In Christ, we are qualified to partake of the mysteries of godliness – the mystery of God’s will for creation. God is not helpless without men, in fact, He has the ability to command stones to perform the actions of men. However, for His pleasure, which is truly unexplainable and too wonderful for any man to perceive, He finds friendship in men and constrains Himself to these creatures which He loves so dearly.
Let’s count ourselves and our lives in Christ honourable enough to live worthy of this call. It’s my prayer for us that The LORD will continually energize us in our spirit man to walk worthy of this call, in Jesus’ Name.
…which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,…
Redemption means deliverance. Deliverance from the consequences which we truly deserve. In Christ, our salvation has been assured by the wisdom of God.
The wisdom of God mandates us to live appropriately as The LORD desires. It is sad that some doctrines have gone out suggesting that Believers are at liberty to do whatsoever and live however pleases them. But Scripture over suggests differently. Salvation which is also the forgiveness of sins is a work of the wisdom of God, and this means that, it will take the wisdom of God to sustain this precious opportunity. By our own power, we will always err, but the wisdom of God keeps us.
The LORD will strengthen us if we will humbly ask of Him the strategies to live in this present bedeviled world where sin clamors in our every turn.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
It is out of the abundance of God’s Grace and power toward us that we can boast of redemption. Redemption comes through Jesus and Him alone. For there is no man that knows God and could save us except the man that was sent down to us from God, the man Jesus Christ.
In Jesus, we have the forgiveness of sins for we understand through the holy apostles that Christ has become our sanctification, wisdom and righteousness (see 2Corinthians 5v21). It is not of our works so that we could boast, no! It is by the sheer mercies of God furnished unto by Grace.
It’s my prayer that The LORD continually increase our illumination into the mystery of His riches that abounds toward us in Jesus. Amen.
…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
We are called to a life of glory. Our lives, when truly surrendered to God through The LORD Jesus, are fashioned to be avenues for the glory of God to be demonstrated among men.
First, God accepts us because of our LORD Jesus – His sacrifices and obedience. Then, us through our emulation of His life are to become extensions and vessels through which glory comes to God.
May you be furnished with all abilities to truly exhibit the glories of God, in Jesus’ Name!
… having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Our engrafting into the family of God is by adoption. The LORD Jesus is the firstborn of those who belong to the family of God.
God thinks highly of each and every person that have come to accept Jesus as their LORD. It is a pleasurable thing for us to be called unto God. His will for us is to have an expected end to which His glory is demonstrated in our lives.
May The LORD strengthen us to walk worthy of this high elevation upon our lives.
Ephesians 1v3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
The preachers of today have done a great deal of work establishing the truths about the blessedness of any Believer that comes to Jesus. This is commendable as this knowledge has become an anchor of confidence to the average Believer.
Indeed! We are blessed. Infact, elsewhere in the epistles of the apostle Peter, he gets more specific and calls us a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, separated and sanctified by our God through Christ Jesus. Hallelujah! These are amazing truths and promises worth investigating for the rest of our lives.
However, the simplicity of this truth of our blessedness is best understood when we accept our union and identity in Christ. We have become one with Him by reason of our rebirth. This is the simple faith that unleashes blessings stored in heavenly places for us. By faith and in prayers of faith, we route them like traffic directors into our very lives.
Ephesians 1v4 …just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,…
As Believers, our identities are Christ and the nature of Christ should be the very source of the flow of our character. If it is not so with you as at yet, then we need to recognize this great want and by the power of the Holy Ghost resident in us beseech Grace that we rise to walk worthy of our identity. Is it possible to live a holy life? Yes! Absolutely! Not by our might not by our power, but by the Spirit.
This verse speaks of matters that have been genuinely debated in our Body and I do not aim to add to the debate but merely state that, our God and Father of The LORD Jesus Christ has called us unto salvation by the Spirit through Jesus. If He did not call us, we could never come. Therefore, it is by Grace we are called unto salvation. And as called out ones therefore, in the filth of our deeds, we must always want to walk worthy of the calling that remains for us – unto holiness.
Our lives are sustained by the power of God through His mercies. We ought not to ever think of ourselves as deserved except by the Grace of election. Then, the mandate remains that we ever strive to make our elections sure and certain in The LORD Jesus.
