Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Thought:  To me, very few of us realize all that Christ has done for us and given us!

Question:  What was accomplished through Christ's resurrection?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:8 (NIV):  "This is why it says:  'When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.'"

(Paul refers to the prophetic statement of Psalm 68:18, written by King David.)  Christ accomplished many things when He arose from the grave.  Among His achievements was the leading of "captive souls" out of their "holding place" and up with Him toward the presence of His Father in heaven.  This "holding place" of captivity, I understand, was the one half of hades called paradise; the same place where Lazarus the beggar looked across the uncrossable abyss and saw the rich man in torment in flame.  Lazarus was safe in "Abraham's bosom" with all the other captive saints who awaited Christ's resurrection and ascension.  Now at the time of rising, Christ "led" these souls into freedom--into God's presence.  He also "gave gifts to men."  This phrase is used by Paul as a basis to explain the giving of measures of grace to "each one of us," (Ephesians 4:7).  I think Paul sees this clearly because he was so greatly gifted on the road to Damascus.  Had other sinners seen Jesus as he did?  No.  His "measure of grace" was larger in that sense, though we all receive as much of Christ as any other believer since we are all capable of being filled with the Spirit to whatever degree we allow.  But Christ "gave gifts to men."  This gift to this one, and that gift to that one, etc.  Different gifts--different amounts of "grace."

Prayer:  Lord God, reveal to me the gift(s) You may have graced me with.  Oh, God--I thank You for Your plan to benefit mankind through Your Son's resurrection!  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, we all need to realize that any grace we have has been given specifically to us by Christ.

Question:  Do I appreciate the grace Christ has given me?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:7 (NIV):  "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it."

Now Paul inserts a "but".  Though there is sweeping unity and God The Father heading up everything, there is also a portioning out to each believer, from the hand of God's Son, Jesus, a measure of grace.  Some have more than others.  Is this fair?  Well, it must be if Christ passed it out to you.

Remembering that "grace" is actually "bits" of God being given into our being, we should be overcome with gratefulness that Christ has taken the time and effort to disperse the nature of His Father to each one of us.  Salvation is a blessing with more facets than perhaps we first realize.  Yes, we are kept from hell, but more importantly, we have been given traces of the Divine nature of God!  We are truly graced!  

Prayer:  Father, I ask that I may be much more aware of how Christ has graced me.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, the knowledge that God is my "Father" brings me deep peace, unlimited joy and an indescribable sense of security.

Question:  Have I accepted God's right to be in authority over me?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:6 (NIV):  "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Paul has been emphasizing unity.  He began that emphasis in chapter 2 when he addressed Gentiles, and in verse 14 described the tearing down of a dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles.  Now in chapter 4 he lists reasons why he prays for them to know God and God's love in depth; it is because we are all brought together into this one great purpose.  Thus in being brought together under and amidst God's great love, we are pulled in under one "canopy"; one body, spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism--and all under Our One God and Father.  God is orderly, in charge and control, and over all--everything.  He is at work through all events--nothing takes place without His involvement in it, and His effort working throughout its course.

"Father", to me, means originator, patriarchal seed, ruler, authority, progenitor among other things.  God is all of these things to us, and more.  Do we relate to Him as Father?  

Prayer:  Jehovah God, I cannot think of a better "Father" than You!  Thank You for adopting me into Your great family!  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, God's dealings with mankind are powerfully beautiful:  He uses His strength to bring us all together into one faith "system"--His!

Question:  Am I a part of this "one faith"?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:5 (NIV):  "one Lord, one faith, one baptism;"

God's kingdom is immense.  It is in the hearts of many, many individuals.  There in their hearts reign "one Lord", the Lord Jesus Christ.  Living the Christian life becomes a process of continually yielding to His Lordship, piece by piece, bit by bit, until the whole of us is overcome.  Christ, the Son of the Living God, is our Lord because God The Father ordained Him to be. 

We have "one faith"; that is, our believing is confined to learning of and trusting in Jehovah only--no other god.  Christ is Jehovah's Son, they are One Godhead together with the Holy Spirit, and all our beliefs are connected to what we know of them from The Word of God.  Faith comes by hearing and knowing God's Word--it is God revealed to us.  God will insure that only one faith exists because God has overseen the writing of the Scriptures, protects His Word on earth, and fills His Word with Spirit to those in whom the Spirit resides.

"One baptism" means, I believe, that each believer is immersed in only one spirit, The Holy Spirit.  There are not many godly spirits, but only one--the Spirit of (the one, true) God.  (There are many spirits in the world and in spiritual realms, but only The Holy Spirit in Christians.)  Baptism means a plunging down into something, an immersion.  We compare it to bathing because we understand how we plunge under water, how it closes over our heads keeping us underneath.  Thus water becomes the perfect symbol, and medium, for the outward ordinance of baptism.  But this verse, to me, speaks of being immersed only in the Holy Spirit.  (Water baptism is not necessary for salvation:  soul salvation is a spiritual thing entirely.)  There is only one Holy Spirit, therefore only "one baptism."  All people who are saved enter into and are "overcome" by this Holy Spirit, like water over the head of one submerged.  

Prayer:  I bow, dear Father, in simple, humble thanks for Your skill at pulling all believers into awesome oneness.  Amen.  

Thought:  To me, the same unifying force that Paul saw bringing Jew and Gentile together is desperately needed today to bring many peoples together.

Question:  Have I found, and am I grateful for, the calling to God's one body, one spirit and one hope?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:4 (NIV):  "There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--"

All things come together in oneness under the authority, the headship, of Jesus Christ.  All believers enter into Christ and then come under His headship.  We are called a body for several reasons, but the reason important here is that we need our head!  We need Jesus Christ over us.  We are unified in Him into one code, one way of functioning, just as a human body is run by one brain.  The Spirit, or invisible presence of God that constantly influences for good, will always influence in one direction, for one purpose only, that being to support all of God's ways.  There are not many "bodies" in place under Christ, nor many "spirits" bringing themselves to bear upon us:  it is always only one--only God's.

In the same way, we are all given the same hope when we received Christ.  What hope did we receive?  We received the hope that our sin nature would be destroyed one day, we received the hope of future life in heaven, of renewed bodies in resurrection, of seeing Our Savior face to face, and of participating in everlasting employment with Christ.  There are no other hopes opposing these--all is anticipated joyfully and in full union of desire.  We were called to these hopes.  We could sense God's voice asking us if we wanted these things and "hear" His invitation to receive them all.  To be "called" to be a Christian means that we agree with God and want for ourselves what He wants.  This is union with God.  This is cooperation with God.  This is submitting to His way, His authority.  He is The Divine Dictator.  (Dictatorship is fine when The Dictator is God Almighty!)  The whole point of Christianity is becoming willing to submit to this kind Dictator.  If we do not want to submit to a good God, we ourselves are evil.  There can only be one body and one hope.  They are all good and that's what we want, right?  So we willingly merge.  If we won't merge, then we are left out in the cold, "out" in the broad way to destruction, running away from His "call."

Prayer:  Great God, I thank You for the profound and powerful way You have brought all people together into "oneness."  Praise Your Name!  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, the deepest, most necessary and satisfying qualities in life are found in God and come to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Question:  Do I cherish and preserve unity wherever I am placed by God?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:3 (NIV):  "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Love draws together; it does not wedge people apart.  Humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance all do the same as well.  There is a work being accomplished here through the exercise of these traits.  Paul urges us to live worthy lives; why?  For our own sakes?  No.  We live worthily that others may be influenced for good.  Here is another admonition that emphasizes doing for others.  "Make every effort to keep the unity..."  God is a God of togetherness, not separation.  The earmark of death is separation.  God brings union and life.  Have we ever paused to realize that life springs from unity?  A man and woman are united in marriage and that union produces children.  God and sinners are united in Christ and that union should produce fruit in character as well as spreading to new converts.  The union of honeybee with flower produces fruitfulness.  And so Paul encourages unity to be kept.  We are urged to "make every effort" to keep unity.  To me, this directly commands that we keep trying many processes and every angle possible to side-step dissension and confrontation.  As a Christian, we especially are urged to this task--it is an important duty!  Through humility and love the Spirit of God is maintained in each of us, and its life draws us together in identity, purpose and power, to flourish, be productive and reproduce love in others.  Love is ever-growing and stretching and spreading out.  You can't put a lid on love.

Here Paul seems to be asking too that just as he prays for the Ephesians to know God so fully he also is asking them to live that fullness of love out into their surroundings.  We are to know God's love and then display it by supporting unity.  So Paul prays for God to make known love and asks the people to, upon knowing it, live it by supporting union.  This is to be accomplished "through the bond of peace."  The only way a diverse group of people can exist in union is for them to be bound together by some outside power.  This power is God's peace.  It comes from God, it is part of His very nature, and it can be ours "in Christ."  Peace can act like a binding rope.  It can tie together the most distant differences and set at ease their existance side by side.  God's peace is the attitude of acceptance of diverseness:  that different approaches, attitudes, angles all have worth and value.  God's peace respects variety in life, and lets many qualities co-exist simultaneously side by side.  In other words, God's peace always looks out to others as having something valuable.  It is inclusive, not exclusive.  Thus it can rest at ease when a different idea comes along.  Where did that different idea come from?  Well, all things have their source in God.  This is why the Spirit has unity:  it is the Head from which all creation flows.  And we can enter under the authority of this Head, into the flow of the diversity of God's creation, and be instantly at peace as we allow ourselves to be bound together with others in the unity found through the Holy Spirit.  

Prayer:  God Almighty, bring Your Spirit to me today that I may be enabled to make every effort to keep peace with others around me.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, simple, Christ-like qualities are so needed today!

Question:  Is my love for other people shown in my actions?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:2 (NIV):  "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

This is the mindset of any "prisoner for God."  These four qualities:  humble, gentle, patient and forbearing, immediately imply that there is something pushing AGAINST these behaviors.  There would be no need for gentleness unless one was being irritated and provoked into roughness and force.  There would be no need for humility unless one was given opportunity to be proud and arrogant.  There would be no need for patience unless something was testing and testing and testing your ability to wait and give a situation more time.  There would be no need for forbearance unless one was tempted to quit loving that difficult person, unless opportunity existed to give up and live selfishly.  All of these wrong opportunities do truly exist!  They must be resisted--they must be fought off.  The prisoner for God, who is owned by God and greatly restricted by Him, must display his desire to please God by adopting these anti-selfish, anti-proud, anti-impatient, anti-rough reactions.  "Be completely" humble, etc. Don't occasionally rise to integrity and do a noticeably noble thing; rather be this way through and through, so that every last, tiny behavior is indicative of Christ's whether it's noticed or not.

I am impressed by the fact that Paul calls believers to be this way after praying for them to discover the fullness of God's love, the fullness of God.  We don't enter into the depth of God any other way than to become "completely humble, gentle, patient and forbearing."  Love is found at the end of these behaviors.  God's power is hidden in these behaviors.  These behaviors are an encapsulated Christ at our disposal.  These are the earmarks and hallmarks of true Christianity.  (Notice I say "true."  There are many, many counterfeits out there.)  This is where it's at.  These comprise the basics of the fruit of the Spirit.

Prayer:  How I long, Father, to be more like Your Son Who was humble, gentle, patient and forbearing, even in the end as He hung on the cross!  Bring me closer to this goal, I pray.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, God's call upon my life may not be what I expected.

Question:  Am I a "prisoner for the Lord"?

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:1 (NIV):  "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

Paul, as usual, uses all his previous postulations as a basis upon which to stand, making a case for us to be motivated to live a pure, holy life.  He uses himself as a prime example.  He is "a prisoner."  What worse restraints could one find himself in?  What worse tribulation could exist?  Paul knows.  Nothing we could throw out would outshine Paul's sufferings, and he has still chosen to regard his calling as high and overflowing with gifts and blessings.  Because he has this good attitude, he call us, "urges" us, to join him in attitude, and live "worthily."  Contrary to seeking relief from suffering in any number of human ways, we should somewhat set aside the suffering, not dwell on it, not focus on it, but let it happen because God ordained it.  Then we are to focus on God, decide on how to live a life before others that promotes spirituality further, and live up to "the calling you have received."

Did I receive a "calling"?  Yes.  All Christians have.  What is this calling?  It is, to me, to live as though God owned me--which, in fact, He does.  If God owns me, (and I know it because I"ve yielded to His ownership), then every single one of my behaviors ought to reflect His ownership; every word, every thought, every deed, every choice, every desire, etc.  Thus when fleshly desires, thoughts, words, deeds and choices surface, they should be dealt with as though run by God's inspection process, purified, expunged, forgiven, slain, until every facet of my life is under His control.  A true Christian wants to be controlled by God:  confined by Him, hedged around by Him, limited by Him, corrected by Him, under God's thumb!  Those who do not want God this way are not truly Christian, and therefore, are not "worthy" to be called such.  Paul is very "Christian."  He allows himself to be "a prisoner for the Lord."  This "imprisonment" actually allows us then to be set free spiritually, expanded by Him in ministry and moved forward to work for His Kingdom by His hand.  We may regard our circumstances as binding but to God they could well be an opportunity for great growth.  Let us get a hold of this mindset.

Prayer:  My Lord, help me to grasp fully the good purposes You have in the experiences of limitation and "imprisonment", whether in my life or others' lives, and help me to be moved by this to live worthily.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, God has chosen to project His glory in and through the church and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Question:  Is my heart continually in tune with this "kind" of glory?

Scripture:  Ephesians 3:21 (NIV):  "to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus thoughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."

It is to this God that we ought to want to give all credit, all praise, all accolades, all worship and adoration, every day, all day long, forever and ever and ever.  The church becomes a praise organ.  Every generation that moves by, which names Christ, is a body alive in its own age that should point all credit to God.  With joy, we here in Eugene in 2008, the local body of Christ, can join with the church body international, to lift up praise now.  It will join with the praises of past ages and swirl into the eternal, combining with the predicted praise of the book of Revelation in future days, and create a whole glory that merely begins to give enough credit to God for all that He has done!  Will He ever be praised enough?

This is the God to praise:  the One Who has masterfully engineered a way to achieve true peace in men's hearts, from the inside out.  He is the One Who has united disparaging Gentiles with self-righteous Jews, melting all hostilities.  He is the One Who has saved all men from their personal, condemning sins and sinfulness by bringing us His Son, Our Savior.  He is the One Who has neutralized His own wrath, dissolving it on the cross and under the blood of His Only Begotten Son.  This is the God Who brings all these blessings to us through His chosen avenue:  His precious Son, Jesus Christ.  All glory belongs to Him, Our great God and Father!  He has formed His  church with great success.  May His glory be displayed therein through all generations and forever!

Prayer:  Father, You deserve to have Your glory expressed wherever You choose.  I simply thank You it is Your choice to express it in Your church and in Your Son.  Amen. 

Thought:  To me, God's immeasurable power is at work in me.  Imagine that!

Question:  Do I believe He is working powerfully in me now?

Scripture:  Ephesians 3:20 (NIV):  "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,"

Paul uses the word "measure" in verse 19 to refer to the fact that God's infilling is quantitative in us.  We saw that we can be filled to differing degrees as much as we each allow.  Now Paul says God can do in us "immeasurably more."  The power of God is unlimited.  We are the only limitation in the matter.  God "is able", we are not.  God has the power, we don't.  When we link up with God through receiving and knowing Christ, we have tapped into an exceedingly limitless power source!  And this power can actually flow into us!  We can have it!

God can always do much more than we know, much more than we expect.  Realizing this should enlarge our faith dramatically!

Getting a hold of the concept that God is ALWAYS better, stronger, more able, etc., than we could imagine, is truly an inspiration within us, and trusting by faith that God is indeed at work inside us, using His awesome power, should excite us beyond expression!

God is at work within each of us--Paul establishes that here.  Praise the Lord!

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing Your power into my inner being.  Thank You that Your power exceeds anything I can imagine!  Amen. 

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