Joshua 3 -- Stepping Into The Water

My commentary began, "This book deals with much more than ancient history ... It's about your life and the life of the church today -- what God wants to do here and now for those who trust Him ... about the victory of faith and the glory that comes to God when His people trust and obey ... Unbelief says, 'Let's go back to where it is safe, but faith says, 'Let's go forward to where God is working.'... Faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence ... The people mentioned in Hebrews 11 all did something because they believed God.  Their faith wasn't a passive feeling; it was an active force."

"The Lord's message to Joshua:  Both Moses and Joshua had received their authority from the Lord before these miracles occurred; but the miracles gave them stature before the people.  It takes both authority and stature to exercise effective leadership ... True spiritual leadership focuses the eyes of God's people on the Lord and His greatness."

"Unless we step out by faith and get our feet wet, we're not likely to make much progress in living for Christ and serving Him."

Father, I remember when I used to worry what others would think if I chose to step out for You.  I'm glad that You've taught me that I have nothing to worry about when I make it my purpose to glorify You in all that I do!

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Joshua 2 -- The Faith Of A Condemned Gentile

The Israelites were still waiting outside the Promised Land while the two spies entered Jericho to reconnoiter their first target.  "Joshua wanted to know how the citizens were reacting to the arrival of the people of Israel."  He wasn't exhibiting unbelief because he knew that God had already given them the land.

"How did the spies make their way through the city without being immediately recognized as strangers?  How did they meet Rahab?  We certainly have to believe in the providence of God as we watch this drama take place.  Rahab was the only person in Jericho who trusted the God of Israel, and God brought the spies to her," my commentary said.  "It's remarkable how God in His grace uses people we might think could never become His servants ... Jesus wasn't ashamed to have a former prostitute in His family tree."

Rehab's faith wasn't like that we see in a Disney animated film where "some people have faith in faith, and think that just by believing they can make great things happen," my commentary said.  "True saving faith involves the whole personality:  the mind is instructed, the emotions are stirred, and the will then acts in obedience to God ... Unless the whole personality is involved, it is not saving faith as the Bible describes it ... our assurance of salvation is based on how we live, for if there hasn't been a change in our behavior, then it's doubtful that we've truly been born again."

Father, thank You for giving us such a great example of Your mercy and grace in saving this Gentile woman who'd already been condemned just by being a resident of the land You were giving to Your people, and for not being ashamed to have a former prostitute in Jesus' family tree.  That helps me to know that my sins don't disqualify me from Your salvation.  Thank You for loving me while I was still Your enemy and for sending Your Son to die for my sins.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 6:10-24 The Battle And The Equipment

My commentary began:  "As Christians, we face three enemies:  the world, the flesh, and the devil.  The world refers to the system around us that is opposed to God, that caters to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life ... The flesh is the old nature that we inherited from Adam, a nature that is opposed to God and can do nothing spiritual to please God."

"The important point is that our battle is not against human beings.  It is against spiritual powers.  We are wasting our time fighting people when we ought to be fighting the devil who seeks to control people and make them oppose the work of God."

"We are involved in a hand-to-hand battle and are not mere spectators at a game.  Satan wants to us our external enemy, the world, and our internal enemy, the flesh, to defeat us."

"Since we are fighting against enemies in the spirit world, we need special equipment both for offense and defense.  God has provided the whole armor for us, and we dare not omit any part.  Satan looks for that unguarded area where he can get a beachhead."

This special equipment includes truth, righteousness, the good new of the gospel, peace, faith, salvation ("a mind controlled by God"), and the Word of God.

Paul lets us know that prayer (maintaining a connection with God) is vitally important in our battles.  "We are to keep on praying until the Spirit stops us or the Father answers us.  Just about the time we feel like quitting, God will give the answer."

Father, it sure is a battle.  Show me any parts of Your provided equipment that I'm not using properly.  Lead me to fight the battle against the enemies of the spirit world and not against people.  And help me to maintain that vital link of prayer with You.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 6:1-9 The Solution to Antagonism, Division, and Rebellion

My commentary gave Paul's solution to the antagonism, division, and rebellion in homes and society today -- "regeneration -- a new heart from God and a new submission to Christ and to one another ... This spiritual harmony begins in the lives of Christians who are submitted to the lordship of Christ."

To Christian children, Paul said, "becoming a Christian does not release you from normal obligations of life.  If anything, your faith in Christ ought to make you a better child in the home."  He also said that obedience is right and it is commanded by God, and it brings blessing."

"When children obey their parents in the Lord, they will escape a good deal of sin and danger and thus avoid the things that could threaten or shorten their lives ... Sin always robs us; obedience always enriches us ... Disobedience to parents is rebellion against God."

Paul speaks to Christian fathers next.  He gives us our responsibilities toward our children:  "We must not provoke them.  The opposite of provoke is encourage ... We must nurture them intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially... We must discipline them ... discipline is a basic principle of life and an evidence of love ... consistent, loving discipline gives assurance to the child.  He may not agree with us, but at least he knows that we care enough to build some protective walls around him until he can take care of himself ... We must instruct and encourage them ... Our children do not always appreciate our counsel, but that does not eliminate the obligation we have to instruct and encourage them."

To Christian servants (employees now), he says, "If both servant and master are serving the Lord and seeking to please Him, they will be able to work together to the glory of God ... An employer has several responsibilities to his workers.  He must seek their welfare ... he must not threaten ... he must be submitted to the Lord, and he must not play favorites ... Paul warned Timothy in 1 Tim. 5:21 to 'observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.'  One of the fastest ways for a leader to divide his followers and lose their confidence is for a leader to play favorites and show partiality."

Father, even with the best intentions as a parent, we can watch things go awry.  I hold fast to Your promise that if we have trained up our children in the way they should go, when they are older, they will come back to You and they will not depart from You.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 5:18-33 Joyful, Thankful, and Submissive

WOW!  Super timing, God!

"'Be filled with the Spirit' is God's command, and He expects us to obey ... The verb is in the present tense -- 'keep on being filled' -- so it is an experience we should enjoy constantly ... In the Bible, filled means controlled by ... To be filled with the Spirit means to be constantly controlled by the Spirit in our mind, emotion, and will," my commentary began.

"Paul stated that there are three evidences of the fullness of the Spirit in the life of the believer:  he is joyful, thankful, and submissive ... Christian joy is a deep experience of adequacy and confidence in spite of the circumstances around us ... This kind of joy is not a thermometer but a thermostat.  Instead of rising and falling with the circumstances, it determines the spiritual temperature of the circumstances."

"The sincerely grateful person realized that he is enriched because of others, which is a mark of humility.  Paul commanded his readers to be thankful for all things at all times.  This in itself proves our need of the Spirit of God, because in our own strength, we could never obey this commandment ... When a Christian finds himself in a difficult situation, he should immediately give thanks to the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Spirit, to keep his heart from complaining and fretting.  The devil moves in when a Christian starts to complain, but thanksgiving in the Spirit defeats the devil and glorifies the Lord."

"To be filled with the Word of God produces joy, thanksgiving, and submission.  In other words, when you are controlled by the Word of God, you are filled with the Spirit of God ... All Christians need to spend time daily letting the Word of God dwell [feel at home] in them richly, for then the Spirit of God can work in our lives to make us joyful, thankful, and submissive.  And this means heaven wherever God may put us."

Thank You, Father!  I needed this so much right now!

--

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 5:1-17 How We Can Imitate God

Paul tells us to imitate God since we are His beloved children, in much the way our young children often imitate us.  He tells us to do that by walking in love, walking as children of light, and walking in wisdom.

Some of the points that really stuck out this morning:

"We are born into a loving relationship with the Father that ought to result in our showing love to him by the way we live ... Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' But He laid down His life for His enemies.  Our love for Him is our response to His love for us."

Walking as children of light means as saints -- set apart ones -- we cannot let an uncontrolled appetite for anything control us, whether it be sex or covetousness -- the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes.

Paul dealt with "the habitual practice of sin here, not the occasional act of sin ... A Christian is not sinless, but he does sin less -- and less -- and less!"  

"It is impossible to be in darkness and light at the same time ... To walk as children of light means to live before the eyes of God, not hiding anything... It also means revealing God's light in our daily lives."

"God does not want us simply to know His will; He wants us to understand His will."

Father, keep me from the darkness and keep me in Your light.  Expose anything in me that isn't in Your will.  Help me to understand why things are Your will so that I won't be tempted to live outside of Your will. 

--

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 4: 25-32 Five Sins To Particularly Watch Out For

In the previous verses, Paul had said that we no longer belong to the old corruption of sin.  We belong to the new creation in Christ, and we need to take off the graveclothes of our old life.  Now, Paul lists five specific sins we particularly need to avoid and tells us why:

Lying:  "A lie is a statement that is contrary to fact, spoken with the intent to deceive ... Satan is a liar, and he wants us to believe that God is a liar.  Whenever we speak truth, the Spirit of God works, but whenever we tell a lie, Satan goes to work ... those whose lives are controlled by lies -- they love lies and they make lies -- are lost forever.  The Christian's life is controlled by truth."

Anger:  "Anger is an emotional arousal caused by something that displeases us.  In itself, anger is not a sin, because even God can be angry ... It is difficult for us to practice a truly holy anger or righteous indignation because our emotions are tainted by sin, and we do not have the same knowledge God has in all matters ... the believer should be angry at sin but loving toward people ... It is possible to be angry and not sin, but if we do sin, we must settle the matter quickly and not let the sun go down on our wrath ... The fire of anger, if not quenched by loving forgiveness, will spread and defile and destroy the work of God..."

Stealing:  "Just as Satan is a liar and a murderer, he is also a thief ... We should tell the truth because we are members of one another.  We should control our anger lest we give place to the devil.  We should work and not steal so that we might be able to help those in need ... We work that we might be able to help others ... A lazy Christian robs himself, others, and God ... Every Jewish rabbi was taught a trade, for said the rabbis, 'If you do not teach your son a trade, you teach him to be a thief.'"

Corrupt speech:  "The mouth and the heart are connected ... We expect a change in speech when a person becomes a Christian... Change the heart and you change the speech ...  Our words do not have to be dirty to be worthless.  Sometimes we go along with the crowd and try to impress people with the fact that we are not as puritanical as they think.  The appetites of the old life sometimes how up when we permit filthy communications out of the mouth...  The remedy is to make sure the heart is full of blessing."

Bitterness:  These verses warn us against several sins of the attitude ... Bitterness refers to a settled hostility that poisons the whole inner man.  Somebody does something we do not like, so we harbor ill will against him ... Bitterness leads to wrath ... Paul gave three reasons why we must avoid bitterness.  First, it grieves the Holy Spirit.  Second, it grieves God the Son.  Third, it grieves God the Father... the basic cause of a bitter attitude:  We cannot forgive people.  An unforgiving spirit is the devil's playground, and before long it becomes the Christian's playground.  If somebody hurts us, either deliberately or unintentionally, and we do not forgive him, then we begin to develop bitterness within, which hardens the heart ... we are only hurting ourselves.  Bitterness in the heart makes us treat others the way Satan treats them, when we should treat others the way God has treated us."

Father, keep me ever vigilant about these five sins particularly, so that I will not allow them to grow in my heart, hardening it and possibly leading to problems in the body of Christ.

--

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 4:17-24 The Difference Easily Noticed Between Saved And Unsaved

My commentary says, "The Bible was written to be obeyed, and not simply studied ... Paul was saying, 'Here is what Christ has done for you.  Now in the light of this, here is what we ought to do for Christ.' ... The Christian is not to imitate the life of the unsaved people around him... The unsaved man's thinking is futile because it is darkened.  He thinks he is enlightened because he rejects the Bible and believes the latest philosophies, when in reality he is in the dark ... Satan has blinded the minds of the unsaved because he does not want them to see the truth in Jesus Christ.  It is not simply that their eyes are blinded so they cannot see, but that their minds are darkened so that they cannot think straight about spiritual matters ... The hardness of his heart enslaves him.   He is past feeling because he has so given himself over to sin that sin controls him."

"The Christian cannot pattern himself after the unsaved person, because the Christian has experienced a miracle of being raised from the dead.  His life is not futile, but purposeful.  His mind is filled with the light of God's Word, and his heart with the fullness of God's life.  He gives his body to God as an instrument of righteousness, and not to sin for the satisfaction of his own selfish lusts.  In every way, the believer is different from the unbeliever..."

Father, these truths bring up memories from my old life, when I thought I knew better than You how to live my own life.  I didn't trust You with it, and I sure wish I had.  Thank You for pursuing me even while I was running from You.  Thank You for bringing me back.  Thank You for loving me enough to chase me and save me.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 4:1-16 Recipes For Unity In The Body Of Christ

My commentary says these next three chapters deal with duty -- our responsibilities in Christ.  Chapter 1 said we are called by grace to belong to His body.  Now chapter 4 tells us to walk worthy of that calling and talks about unity of the Body.  "God says, 'I have already blessed you -- now, in response to My love and grace, obey Me..."  The oneness of believers in Christ is already a spiritual reality.  Our responsibility is to guard, protect, and preserve that unity.  To do this, we must understand four important facts."  Paul lists many things here, and the best way to show them are as lists:

The GRACE of unity (we must possess these graces):

   lowliness or humility

   meekness

   longsuffering

   forbearance

   endeavor

   peace

The GROUNDS of unity (the foundations for unity):

   one Body

   one Spirit

   one hope of our calling

   one Lord

   one faith

   one baptism

   one God and Father

The GIFTS FOR unity (our variety and individuality -- each believer has been given at least one spiritual gift.  Here Paul named gifted men God had placed in the church:

   apostles

   prophets

   evangelists

   pastors and teachers

The GROWTH of unity (in the local body of believers, it is evidenced by these:)

   Christlikeness

   stability

   truth joined with love

   cooperation

Our own church is striving to recover its unity right now.  My commentary had some wise thoughts for us:

   "Love is the circulatory system of the Body

    An isolated Christian cannot minister to others; nor can others minister to him.

   Spiritual unity is not something we manufacture.  It is something we already have in Christ, and we must        protect and maintain it.  Truth unites, but lies divide.  Love unites,    but selfishness divides.  Therefore,          speaking the truth in love, let us equip one another, that all of us may grow up to be more like Christ."

Father, please help us not just to hear these words written for us years ago, but also to take them to heart, that we may love and honor each other in order that we may love and honor You!

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 3:14-21 Lord, Please Feel Very Much At Home In Me

This section  is entitled "Get Your Hands On Your Wealth" in my commentary.  Paul is praying that we will be enabled -- "Laying our hands on what God has for us and by faith making it a vital part of our lives."  His prayer deals with "the spiritual condition of the inner man and not the material needs of the body."

His prayer had four parts that it said are like the parts of a telescope working together:  "that the inner man might have spiritual strength, which will, in turn, lead to a deeper experience with Christ.  This deeper experience will enable them to get hold of God's great love, which will result in their being filled with the fullness of God."

He prayed for strength, depth, apprehension (getting hold of God's love), and fullness; but it was the part on depth that God really spoke to me about this morning.  "He used three pictures here to convey the idea of spiritual depth, and the three pictures are hidden in the three verbs:  dwell, rooted, and grounded.  The verb dwell literally means to settle down and feel at home... He yearned for Christ to settle down and feel at home in the hearts of His people -- not a surface relationship, but an ever-deepening fellowship."

My commentary then illustrated this with Abraham's life:  "The Lord Himself came down and visited Abraham's tent and brought two angels with Him.  They talked with Abraham and even ate a meal with him.  They felt very much AT HOME, because Abraham was a man of faith and obedience... Lot, a believer, was living in Sodom .... but the Lord Himself did not go to Sodom.  He sent two angels.  The Lord did not FEEL AT HOME in Lot's house the way He FELT AT HOME in Abraham's tent."

Father, I want Christ to feel very much at home in my inner man.  I want the close fellowship He had with Abraham.  I want to grab hold of the vastness of Your love for me and never let it go.  Control my spiritual faculties.  Exercise them and grow them.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 3:1-13 Revealing The Mystery

Paul was sharing the new thing God was doing.  He called it a mystery because God had chosen not to reveal it in the Old Testament, and had now let believers know about it.  Believing Jews and Gentiles would be united in Christ.  "God has different ways of managing His program from age to age, and these different stewardships Bible students sometimes call dispensations.  God's principles do not change, but His methods of dealing with mankind do change over the course of history," my commentary said.

This new secret was important to the Gentiles, it said.  "They are fellow heirs with the Jews and share in the spiritual riches God gave them because of His covenant with Abraham ... The Gentiles are also fellow-members of the body of Christ, the church ... Finally, in their new relationship, the Gentiles are partakers of God's promises ... The church today shares in the spiritual riches of Israel, but one day God will restore His people and fulfill His promises concerning their land and their kingdom."

And new power is available to Gentiles, too.  God gave us a stewardship and the power to accomplish this ministry ... The mighty resurrection power of Christ is available to us for daily life and service!

My commentary also discussed how, one by one, many of the basic truths of the Word of God were lost during the intervening centuries ... "Many of the great truths of the Word were buried under man-made theology, tradition, and ritual ... Then, God's Spirit began to open the eyes of seeking souls, and these great truths were unveiled again."

"The reason many churches are weak and ineffective is because they do not understand what they have in Christ.  And the cause of this is often spiritual leaders who are not good stewards of the mystery.  Because they do not rightly divide the word of truth, they confuse the people concerning their spiritual condition in Christ, and they rob their people of the spiritual wealth in Christ ... When you know what God is doing in the world, and you work with Him, you can be sure that He will work in you and for you.  All of His divine resources are available to those who sincerely want to do His will and help him accomplish His purposes on earth."

"Our blessings are spiritual, not material; they have all been given to us completely in Christ.  We appropriate then by faith, but if we disobey God He does not revoke them.  We simply lose the enjoyment and the enrichment of them."

Father, help me to make Your plan my plan.  Don't let me try to hijack what You are doing.  Show me what You would have me to do and help me to obey You in doing just that!

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 2:11-22 Christ's Peace Mission

"In this section, Paul explained Christ's peace mission -- the great work of moving from separation to reconciliation to unification," my commentary said.

Paul tells us the Gentiles (non-Jews) were separated:  without Christ, without citizenship in God's nation, without covenants with God, without hope, and indeed without God ... The spiritual plight of the Gentiles was caused not by God, but by their own willful sin ... the Gentiles knew the true God but deliberately refused to honor Him.

Reconciliation came by the gracious intervention of God on behalf of lost sinners.  "The greatest peace mission in history was Jesus Christ not only reconciling Jews and Gentiles, but reconciling both to Himself in the one body, the church."

The Jewish law caused a wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles.  In order for Jews and Gentiles to be reconciled, this wall had to be destroyed and this Jesus did on the cross.  The cost of destroying the enmity was the blood of Christ ... By fulfilling the demands of the law in His righteous life and by bearing the curse of the law in His sacrificial death, Jesus removed the legal barrier that separated Jew from Gentile ... It was not a question of the Gentile becoming a Jew to become a Christian, but the Jew admitting he was a sinner like the Gentile."

Unification:  What Jews and Gentiles ARE in Christ:  One nation, one family, and one temple.  The new nation is the church.  The new family is formed by God becoming our Father.  "Today, through His Spirit, God dwells in the church, the temple of God ... He dwells in the hearts of those who have trusted Christ and in the church collectively ... The temple Christ is building will last forever."

My commentary asks:  "If you are a true believer in Christ, are you helping others to trust Him?  Do you walk in newness of life?  Do you share this good news of eternal life with others?  Jesus Christ died to make reconciliation possible.  You and I must live to make the message of reconciliation personal.  God has give us the ministry of reconciliation."

Father, thank You for this reminder of the task You've given us as Your children through Christ.  And thank You for the movie we saw last night in youth -- The Insanity of God -- which did so much to teach us the importance of obedience to Your words.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 2:1-10 Our Spiritual Position In Christ

As I read these verses, the movie Avatar came to mind as I thought about how the person himself was living in a laboratory on the alien world where he was connected to his avatar, which was living in the jungle on that alien world.  My commentary said chapter one spoke of our spiritual possession in Christ and now we hear of our spiritual position in Christ.  It urges us to see four specific works:

Sin's work AGAINST us:  Spiritually, the condition of the unsaved person is he is dead.  "Just as a person physically dead does not respond to physical stimuli, so a person spiritually dead is unable to respond to spiritual things."  Our spiritual faculties cannot function until God gives them life.  He is disobedient -- "The beginning of man's spiritual death is disobedience to the will of God ... The world, the devil, and the flesh are three forces that encourage man in his disobedience ... By the flesh Paul does not mean the body, because of itself the body is not sinful.  The flesh refers to that fallen nature that we were born with, that wants to control the body and the mind and make us disobey God."  He is depraved -- "The lost sinner lives to please the desires of the flesh and the wishes of the mind.  His actions are sinful because his appetite is sinful ... He is incapable of doing anything to merit salvation or meet the high standards of God's holiness."  He is doomed -- "The unsaved person is condemned already.  The sentence has been passed, but God in His mercy is staying the execution of the sinner."  

God's work FOR us:  He loved us, quickened us (made us alive even when we were dead in sin), He exalted us and He keeps us.

God's work IN us:  "through His Holy Spirit.  Christ finished His work of redemption on the cross but He arose from the dead and returned to heaven.  There He carries on His unfinished work of perfecting His church ... equipping us for our walk and our work here on earth."

God's work THROUGH us:  "We are not saved by good works, but saved unto good works ... We are not save by faith plus good works, but by a faith that works ... we demonstrate our faith by our works ... The works Paul wrote about here have two special characteristics.  First, they are good works ... They are also prepared works -- Good works which God hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them."  We have God's plan to fulfill in our lives.

My commentary suggested taking a personal inventory to determine which of these four works we are now experiencing.  "As a Christian, you have been raised and seated on the throne.  Practice your position in Christ!  He has worked for you; now let Him work in you and through you, that He might give you an exciting, creative life to the glory of God."

What wonderful word pictures today, Father!  Thank You for helping me to more clearly see my spiritual position in Christ, and what effect that should have on my life in this body.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 1:15-23 What God Wants Us To Know

My commentary entitled this section, "Read The Bankbook," because Paul wanted each Christian to discover how rich we are in Christ and to understand those riches so that we can use them to the glory of God.  It was much more than knowing about faith toward God and love toward men.

He prayed for our spiritual perception and real Christian character.  "He prayed that God would reveal to them what they already HAD."  There were four requests Paul asked of God in this prayer for enlightenment and Paul had to get them to understand that the inability to see and understand spiritual things is not the fault of the intelligence but of the heart.  The eyes of the heart must be opened by the Spirit of God before these four requests can be granted:

First, that we might KNOW GOD:  Left on our own, we'd move "from willful ignorance of God to idolatry to immorality and indecency.  It begins with an unwillingness to know God as Creator, Sustainer, Governor, Savior, and Judge... Since we are made in the image of God, the better we know God, the better we know ourselves and each other.  It is not enough to know God only as Savior.  We must get to know Him as Father, Friend, Guide, and the better we know Him, the more satisfying our spiritual lives will be."

Second, that we might know GOD's CALLING:  "Paul wanted us to understand the hope that is ours because of this calling ... it's assurance for the future... the fact that we shall one day see Christ and be like Him should motivate us to live like Christ today."

Third, that we might know GOD's RICHES:  "This does not refer to our inheritance in Christ, but His inheritance in us.  This is an amazing truth -- that God should look on us as a part of His great wealth! ... God deals with us on the basis of our FUTURE, not our PAST ...we Christians live in the future tense, our lives controlled by what we shall be when Christ returns."

Fourth, that we might know GOD's POWER:  "What good is it to have wealth if you are too weak to use it? ... By nature we Christians are too weak to appreciate and appropriate this wealth, and to use it as it should be used ... Also, there are enemies who want to rob us of our wealth... Paul wanted us to know the greatness of God's power so that we would not fail to use our wealth, and so that the enemy would not deprive us of our wealth."

"The power of the Holy Spirit, through the resurrected, ascended Christ, is available to all Christians -- by faith... It is grace that supplies the wealth, but it is faith that lays hold of the wealth ... today, begin to know by experience God, His calling, His riches, and His power."

Father, so often after reading this, I feel like a child ignorant of my Father's wealth.  Thanks for opening the bankbook today and not only showing me the balance, but for helping me see how to access Your wealth and the reason You want me to access it -- to glorify You!

--

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 1:5-14 Adopted and Accepted

In the last set of verses, I'd read how God had chosen us.  Verse 5 ells how He also adopted us.  My commentary said, "Predestination refers primarily to what God does to saved people ... This word refers only to God's people... Election seems to refer to people while predestination refers to purposes ... God has predestined our adoption and our conformity to Christ, as well as our future inheritance.  Adoption has a dual meaning, both present and future.  You do not get into God's family by adoption.  You get into His family be regeneration ... Adoption is the act of God by which He gives His born ones an adult standing in the family ... so that we might immediately begin to claim our inheritance and enjoy our spiritual wealth ... the future aspect of adoption involves our glorified body we will have when Jesus returns."

He has accepted us.  "We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God, but He by His grace makes us accepted in Christ.  This is an eternal position that will never change."

Paul also lists blessings we receive from God the Son:  He has redeemed us, forgiven us, revealed God's will to us, and made us an inheritance.  "We are valuable to Him.  Think of the price God paid to purchase us and make us part of His inheritance!"

Paul then listed blessings from God the Holy Spirit:  He has sealed us, indicating a finished, authentic transaction, and He has given us an earnest, just like earnest money in a real estate transaction.  "The Holy Spirit is God's first installment to guarantee to His children that He will finish His work and eventually bring them to glory."  My commentary says that in these verses we are taught that true riches come from God, all of these riches come by God's grace and for God's glory, and that these riches are only the beginning.  There is always more spiritual wealth to claim from the Lord as we walk with Him ... these riches were planned by the Father, purchased by the Son, and presented by the Spirit.  There is really no need for us to live in poverty when all of God's wealth is at our disposal!"

Father, thank You for these reminders of what is already available to me as Your blood-bought adopted child.  Thank you for planning to adopt me before the world was created!

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Ephesians 1 -- This Is Going To Take A While

I first read the entire chapter, but had to stop at verse 4 due to everything my commentary was explaining.  What a wealth of stuff Paul showed us here!

Too often, we live like spiritual paupers, it said.  "We have limitless [spiritual] wealth at our disposal, and yet we live like paupers."

We are called saints here, but that shouldn't be a title we shy away from.  It means "one who has been set apart ... the believer is in the world physically, but not of the world spiritually.  Like a scuba diver, he exists in an alien environment because he possesses special equipment -- in this case, the indwelling Spirit of God... it is through the Spirit's power that the Christian is able to function in the world... The phrase in Christ Jesus describes the spiritual position of the believer.  He is identified with Christ, he is in Christ, and therefore is able to draw on the wealth of Christ for his own daily living."

"The Father has given us every blessing of the Spirit, everything we need for a successful, satisfying Christian life ... the spiritual is far more important than the material ...The Holy Spirit is the One who channels our riches to us from the Father through the Son.  Not to know and depend on the Holy Spirit's provision is to live a life of spiritual poverty."

"The heavenlies describes that place where Jesus Christ is right now and where the believer is seated with Him...  The battles we fight are not with flesh and blood on earth, but with Satanic powers in the heavenlies.  The Christian really operates in two spheres:  the human and the divine, the visible and the invisible.  Physically, he is on the earth in a human body, but spiritually he is seated with Christ in the heavenly sphere -- and it is this heavenly sphere that provides the power and direction for the earthly walk ... With the Christian, no matter where he is on this earth, he is seated in the heavenlies with Jesus Christ, and this is the basis for his life and power."

Father, this reminds me somewhat of the movie Avatar.  Our real existence is with You in the heavenlies, yet it plays out on earth.  We are already saved and with You, but we are perfected as we incorporate our heavenly existence into this earthly one.  Thank You for this sure knowledge that I am with You now.  Use that knowledge to help me overcome sin in this fleshly realm  I want to continue to become more like Your Son.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Jeremiah 52 -- Not A Pretty Sight

It couldn't have been a pretty sight.  The thirty-year-old king, Zedekiah, ordered the city gates blockaded as the Babylonians arrived with their siege engines, preparing to breach the city walls no matter how long it took.  

After six months, the food had run out.  People became cannibals.  Then one night the king and his army unbolted an inconsequential gate and escaped into the countryside rather than surrendering.  Zedekiah would pay dearly for that mistake in judgment.  As he watched, his sons were killed before him, followed by his closest advisers.  That scene would haunt him for the rest of his life, because Nebuchadnezzar then ordered him to be blinded.  His last vision was seeing his sons murdered.

Back in the city, they broke into the Temple, removed everything of value, and then burned it to the ground.  They did the same with the palace, then set fire to every other building, leaving nothing standing but the walls around the city.  They attacked them next, opening the city to marauders and preventing it from serving as a place of safety.

The chief priest, his subordinate, and other leaders were taken to the king of Babylon in the countryside and murdered.  Over the next 16 years, 4,600 Jews were taken to Babylon as prisoners.  Only the poorest of the poor were left in the land.  The people of Israel had decided to abandon God, and verse three describes the price they paid:  "Finally, He threw them out of His presence."

But God had given Jeremiah a glimmer of hope -- 70 years down the line.  God would return a faithful remnant once they'd been purged of the desire to ever commit idolatry again.

Father, when we sin, we have no idea how much we hurt You by rejecting the love You've shown us.  Yet because of that strong love, You work to bring us back to You!  The one thing we will never know is how long You will keep on trying.  Father, please help me to help those I love to see that presuming on Your grace is a deadly dangerous activity.  Draw them to You with Your love.  Remove Satan's deception so that they can clearly see what they are doing and hopefully repent.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Jeremiah 51 -- Words Babylonians Surely Hated Hearing

God had used Babylon to take the people of Judah out of the land for seventy years, because His people did not keep the Sabbath years as God had commanded and they'd taken Him for granted.  But the Babylonians had not just done as God directed -- they'd enjoyed the destruction too much, and they'd burned God's Holy Temple to the ground.  He would not let such arrogance go unpunished.

Foreigners would soon arrive to destroy Babylon's army.  God not only had it planned, but He'd directed Cyrus, of the Medes and Persians, to accomplish His will.

God's faithfulness despite our sinfulness is again shown in verse 5:  "The Lord God All-Powerful did not leave Israel and Judah, even though they were completely guilty in the presence of the Holy One of Israel ... He will give Babylon the punishment she deserves."

I would have hated to have been a Babylonian and heard the things God had directed Jeremiah to have written on a scroll and announced in the city before the scroll was thrown into the river there:  "The Lord will certainly do what He has planned and what He said He would do against the people of Babylon ... I will surely fill you with so many enemy soldiers they will be like a swarm of locusts."

Today, we think that worshiping idols was really ridiculous back then, but we worship evil lifestyles instead.  God could see what we would one day do.  He said, "People are stupid and know so little ... But God, who is Jacob's Portion, is not like the idols.  He made everything, and He chose Israel to be His special people ... I will pay back Babylon and all the Babylonians for all the evil things they did to Jerusalem in your sight," says the Lord.  "I will make you a burned-out mountain [literally, an extinct volcano].  People will not find any rocks in Babylon big enough for cornerstones... Your city will be just a pile of ruins forever."

He had a message for the remaining Jewish exiles:  "You who have escaped being killed with swords, leave Babylon!  Don't wait!  Remember the Lord in the faraway land and think about Jerusalem."

There's a warning for all who fail to respect and obey and worship God today as well:  "The Lord is a God who punishes people for the evil they do.  He gives them the full punishment they deserve."  How thankful we should be that He provided a way to remove our sins onto the back of His own Son -- that He took the full brunt of God's wrath for us.  That we don't have to fear what the Babylonians were fearing if we have trusted Him.  Thank You, Father, for Your incredible mercy and grace.  Where would we be without it?

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Jeremiah 50 -- God Sets His Sights On Babylon Next

Jeremiah announced the message that God declared war on Babylon, and his prophecy has both a near and a far fulfillment, according to my commentary.  God didn't just declare war on the country, but also on the gods of Babylon.  "The word translated images means dung pellets," my commentary said.  "The Lord didn't think much of their gods."

"Yes, Babylon was God's tool to chasten His sinful people, but the Babylonians went too far and enjoyed it too much ... Any nation that cursed the Jews will ultimately be cursed by God (Gen 12:1-3).  As they treated Judah, so God will treat them ... This was no ordinary war; this was the vengeance of the Lord."

Speaking about the Jews, God directed the prophet to look down to the latter days when God will wipe away Israel's sins and establish His new covenant with them.  We see the two horizons of prophecy again, according to my commentary.  The ultimate sin of the Babylonians was the burning of the temple, and for that sin the ultimate total destruction of their city was their punishment.  "Cyrus (and then Alexander) will attack Babylon, and nobody will be able to resist."

As I read this, I also thought of the Iraqi wars fought first in the 1990's and then again in the 2000's as I was traveling to find Josh.  The nation keeps rising in its sin and yet another final battle detailed in Revelation will be coming.

Father, I see Babylon here as a sign of sin and apostasy.  I pray for those I love who now struggle with sins and addictions that almost seems as besetting as those of Babylon.  Please break the cycle and lead them back to You.  Help me to not want to back to my old sins either.  Help me to continue to choose to trust You rather than trusting myself with my future.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford