We had a great Reformation celebration at our house on Sunday night, too, which was so fun. A fire in the grill allowed us to roast marshmallows and hotdogs while gabbing with our church family and neighbors under the stars. It's still quite warm here, so no one even needed jackets. That made the hot apple cider and hot cocoa a little less popular, but it was fun all the same.
Anyway, busy. But I just came across this excerpt on my Logos 4 and it was so good I thought I'd post it here as a way of keeping my promise to myself to post at least once a week--so I am cheating in a way. Perhaps in a few days I will have pictures of the celebration to post along with some commentary as well. For now, allow this to sink into your heart:
In the prison prayers of Paul (Eph. 1:15–23; 3:14–21; Phil. 1:9–11; Col. 1:9–12), we discover the blessings he wanted his converts to enjoy. In none of these prayers does Paul request material things. His emphasis is on spiritual perception and real Christian character. He does not ask God to give them what they do not have, but rather prays that God will reveal to them what they already have.Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Eph 1:13). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.A goodly thing for us to learn about praying for ourselves, and for others.
HOLD FAST
Hi Esther, These are great encouragement scriptures from Paul that I need to remember often. Having MS and having been 'placed under house arrest'by the Lord so to speak, I'm more and more aware of His kindness and care especially when there are voices that demand that I have more faith to claim my healing, or that I need to confess all my sins or that I need to claim the blood or that I should be delivered of the demon of disease, etc., etc. As the line from that old hymn says, "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."
ReplyDeleteNice post.
John, thanks for your comment. I can hardly take credit for it, since I copied it directly out of a commentary, but I'm very glad it encouraged you.
ReplyDeleteSomeone once said to me that Reformed beliefs seemed very hopeless to them. But to me, it is the opposite belief that is hopeless: that one to which you have been subjected that believes that somehow YOU are not doing enough, because if you were, you would not be ill. Now THAT is hopeless! John, you are probably a much more godly Christian than I, but for me, if my belief was in what I could do for God to make Him take away my suffering, I would truly be hopeless, because I know how powerless I am.
The truth is that we cannot avoid suffering in this life, nor do we somehow deserve to avoid it, as some people like to teach. We all deserve MUCH WORSE than what we get, yet God is merciful and spares us much of what we deserve.
AND THEN...and then HE REDEEMS that which we do suffer, making it effective to His glory and our blessing.
Now THAT'S an amazing God!
Stand there on that Solid Rock, John. Hold Fast!