Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace is the ability of God that operates in us who believe. It is by Grace, apostle Paul confidently chanted the favourite statement, “I can do all things …!” There is a dimension of Grace that works in our spirit men in a way I would want to liken to the operation of an energy drink. I comes to enhance our what we can do. Then, another level of Grace comes to enable to us become what we were not. Hallelujah!
Peace works like an anchor that stabilises the ship of our life. It’s job is to keep us afloat and stable amidst every turbulence that life may present. The LORD said He has given us His Peace (see John 14v17) and the apostle re-echoes it that this peace acts like garrison roundabout our hearts. Like soldiers that guard fortresses, the peace of God resident in our spirit at salvation through Jesus Christ, we must allow this peace to guard our hearts indeed.
May The LORD grant us that enabling ability to see the beauty of life with a garrisoned heart that is full of His Grace and His power.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
The apostle Paul speaks of a very profound thing in this opening statement. He acknowledges two important things every Believer needs to see if we must rightly live in this realm.
First, he speaks of his identity which he has founded in Christ Jesus. As believers, we must take our very identity from the person of the Christ, our lover and deliverer. It is by Him that we have the ability to approach the Throne of Grace that we might live.
Secondly, the apostle speaks of the will of God. There is nothing that we can become unless the will of God vetoes it our lives. We know the will of God towards all men by the Holy Scriptures. It says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (see Jeremiah 29v11). Hence, we can be sure of what God intends for us. However, His intents can find power in our lives if truly we will allow God’s will to find expression in our lives through our will.
The LORD will always give us abilities equivalent to our identities because our lives and what we can do will always flow through our identity. In the end, His will brings us to expected ends.
