Ephesians 3
- Michael Smith
- Oct 26, 2008
- Series: Ephesians
Ephesians 3
Are we a product of Chance? Are we at the mercy of circumstance?
Is our hope in our government or politicians?
Are we alone in our circumstances?
Are we left to our own devices and efforts?
Over the past months we have been looking at how God loves us and how He has a plan and destiny for us.
We looked at how God had Israel confront enemies and walk them through trials etc. that He might reveal Himself to them and through them show His greatness to the nations of the world and the principalities and powers.
And how sometimes we as well they allow fear, trials and lies to hinder us from entering God's plan and our destiny.
And also there were those who murmured and complained and some were not willing to cross over the Jordan and enter the promise.
Maybe because they had had enough, maybe they felt the battle was to hard. Maybe they were just tired. We also can murmur, get weary and want to give up as well.
The question is will we trust God's plan for us in the midst of our circumstances or give up and trust our own plan to remove ourselves from the difficulties, hardships and trials?
In Eph. 3 we see that God has had a plan all along.
We need to understand this great plan or "mystery" because it reveals how much God loves and cares for us.
That what is spoken of in chapter one of Eph. is a description of how much God loves us and how He is very much involved in the affairs of man.
What is this mystery?
Col. 1:25-27 2:2
Christ is now in us and is our hope, our strength and our peace.
2
The mystery is that God is reconciling the world unto Himself and we have been chosen and predestined ( by divine will ) to be apart of that plan. And through that plan He will show all the nations, powers and principalities through us that He, and He alone is God.
Jer. 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
We must die to ourselves and desire God's plan for our lives.
Abraham desired God's plan and destiny for himself rather then what the world had to offer him. He had the opportunity to stay where he was. But he went out looking for what God had for him. Even when tested he still acted in obedience for he was even willing to give up the promise God gave him.
Heb. 11: 8-10 15-17
The height, breath and width of His great plan exist for us whether we receive it or not. The choice is ours.
Do we want to participate with God?
God is teaching and revealing to us just like Israel and Abraham that we can trust Him and His plan for us.
God has desired and is accomplishing three things in His plan.
1. To have a people He could love and reveal Himself too.
2. To have a people through whom He could reveal to a lost and dying world His great love for them.
3. To have a people through whom He could declare and proclaim to every principality and power in heavenly places His greatness.
Are these three things happening in our life? If not then why?
3
Are we seeking to be part of His plan?
Through many trials and tribulations does one enter the kingdom of God. If we continually seek release from trials and tribulations will we then miss the kingdom of God?
Are we entrusting ourselves to Christ or shrinking back to a place of safety? Are we too staying on the wrong side of Jordan?
Through our daily activity we are presented with "opportunities" to enter into God's plan if we will look for them in the midst of our day.
As we trust God and by faith embrace and appreciate the great plan God has provided for us, we will become fully assured we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
We need to walk as men and women of the most high God. And allow Him to reveal Himself to and through us to all that we encounter.
Our lives can become a testament of the greatness of God.
Lets allow God through us to proclaim to the world and every power and principality that He is and there is no other God.
What a wonderful "opportunity" we have to be part of God's plan. Let us not be like those who shrink back to destruction, but rather be like those who by faith preserve the soul. Heb. 10:39
We need to choose this day in the midst of our circumstances to believe God's love for us and believe His plan of good to us even though we don't see it as yet.
Because without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is ( believe His plans ) and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Heb. 11:6
Amen
