Sun Rise © by Hamedog
Hi all,
So, just for those who have not noticed, I’ve made a few changes to my blog. I’ve made a few design changes, and also added a new ‘about me’ page (you can check it out here.) I just want to share with you how I see this website moving forward.
Continue Reading…
“God is far more loving then even the best of us give him credit for. He loves us far more than our faith enables us to believe. He is in control far more than we can see, and his love will lead us to the fulfillment of all his promises. God IS – therefore we ARE in his loving embrace. Now. Always. Forever.”
Below is a excerpt from my paraphrase of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Love © by Torley
How wonderful it is to know that are now free in God’s love, alive in his life, and perfectly cleansed through his forgiveness. However, my dear friends, as glorious as our forgiveness is, it is only a tiny fraction of what we have received. Indeed, we should rejoice that we have been given so much more. For we have been raised with Christ and seated with him in the glorious kingdom of God. I’m not suggesting this will happen one day – I’m testifying that it has already happened!
When we accepted Jesus, his Spirit came to live in us, and our Spirit went to sit with him. We are now one with Jesus; both he with us as here on earth, and we with him in the heavens. What, one might ask, is God doing as we sit with him in the heavens? My siblings in Christ, he is looking at us with love and affection. He is enjoying our company and reminding us of how he sees us: holy, blameless and forever loved. He does this to reveal to our hearts, indeed, to all of creation, the incomparable riches of his grace. For the rest of eternity we will be the living proof of God’s unending kindness; we are his beloved forever.
Our salvation is an act of pure grace. Our adoption, new life, and redemption have nothing to do with our own efforts and everything to do with the King of kings, the One and only, Jesus our Lord. Just as Jesus was a gift to the world, so too is the salvation that we have received through him. In light of this glorious truth it’s easy to understand why our boast is not in our limited ability, but in his unlimited love for us.
The above excerpt is from my paraphrase of Paul’s 4 prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians & Philemon) called: The Gospel Cannot Be Chained: Searching for grace in Paul’s prison letters. I shared the intros to each letter on my previous blog post, you can read it here, or you can take a look at it on amazon.com here.
Below is a excerpt from my paraphrase of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Tell me, how does it feel to know the truth? To know that you are a brand new person, cleansed and made pure in every way in the eyes of your heavenly Father? It feels glorious, I know, for I experience this same wonderful reality. How different a life we now have. For in the past we walked in the ways of darkness, lost in the foolish things this world offers, and spending all we had to buy what only broke our hearts or burdened us with guilt and shame.
All of us lived in this way at one time, and, to our thinking, it was all we could hope for; gratifying the cravings of our self-absorbed ego while following its desires and thoughts. We were no different from anyone, and, based on our own merits and deeds, deserved nothing good from God. But praise God that he does not give to us based on what we deserve, but rather, he gives to us based on the reality of his graceful and loving nature, expressed through what his Son has done on our behalf.
It is because of his great love for us, despite our past misdeeds, that he has given us a new life; for the riches of his mercy are truly endless. Yes, it is by his grace, and only by his grace, that we could ever receive such a blessing.
I praise God that our ‘bad works’ didn’t disqualify us, and our ‘good works’ didn’t qualify us. His love towards us is not at all based on our past performance, whether good or bad, but rather, his divine acceptance of us is based on the finished work of his Son upon the cross. And now, having put our faith in Jesus, we have received a covenant relationship of grace: an intimate relationship with him based on his perfect love and faithfulness to us. We can rest and rejoice in the knowledge that it is not by our works we are saved, but rather, it is because God has a nature of grace.
The above excerpt is from my paraphrase of Paul’s 4 prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians & Philemon) called: The Gospel Cannot Be Chained: Searching for grace in Paul’s prison letters. I shared the intros to each letter on my previous blog post, you can read it here, or you can take a look at it on amazon.com here.
During their last conversation John told Eric the say he serves God is by loving people. Eric actually thought this was just a joke! (see comic here) but after another week past Eric realised John needed another ‘nudge’ to get him active in doing God’s work, and that, to Eric, naturally only really takes place in a 90 minute time slot each Sunday Morning.
Below is a excerpt from my paraphrase of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
I am writing to you in the hope that you too would find as much joy in the good news as I have. Even now I rejoice, whether a free man or in jail for proclaiming the glorious truth. I preach it, regardless of the consequences, for the sake of all who have not yet heard it, that they too may know Christ.
Surely you have heard my testimony by now, and the powerful working of God’s graceful Spirit in me? God, by his grace, not only saved me, but also revealed to me his eternal plan. It had been a mystery throughout the ages, but has now been revealed through the coming of his Son. This mystery was not revealed to me by a mentor, a rabbi or a theologian, but rather by divine revelation. And so, as you read my letter, you can begin to understand why I so passionately lift Jesus up and seek to make plain the good news of his grace.
How wonderful his eternal plan truly is. The Son of God came down to earth, born of a woman, born under the old covenant of law to fulfil that covenant of law (for it was impossible for anyone else to fulfil it). He brought that first ‘exclusive’ covenant to a close, in order to establish a new ‘inclusive’ covenant for all. It is through this divine act of grace that all of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, are now heirs to a relationship with God and equally share in the promise of new life. God is not looking at the nationality of a person, but rather, he is looking at the Christ in one’s heart. God has made a way that all mankind may have access to know him through faith in Jesus.
It is this message that I have become a servant to, according to the gift of God’s grace, which continues to work so powerfully in me. And so my boast is solely in Christ, for I have not earned this gift, but have received it through God’s love. Indeed, in myself I am truly nothing, less than the least of God’s people. If it were based on works I would be given nothing from God. For before my salvation I hated the name of Jesus, tried to destroy the Church, punished Christians and was brutal in my passion against the gospel message. And yet, God has used my life as a testimony to his promise: that in Christ we are made new, clean and without fault in his eyes. My past has truly passed away and I am a new creation in Christ; and so now, in Christ, this grace has been given to me: to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Jesus and to make known the glory of his grace to all mankind; the good news that has been hidden in God’s heart since the foundations of the world – now revealed!
The above excerpt is from my paraphrase of Paul’s 4 prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians & Philemon) called: The Gospel Cannot Be Chained: Searching for grace in Paul’s prison letters. I shared the intros to each letter on my previous blog post, you can read it here, or you can take a look at it on amazon.com here.
