Coming to the Still Waters

Today's verses are Ephesians 2:4-7, which read,   But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved,) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Paul again gives us another long sentence to dissect.  Yesterday we covered what we were but today Paul gives us what we have become not because of us but because of God.  We were dead to God and then comes those very important words. Our first phrase is, "But God,.."   The transformation in our lives is not of us but of God.  It is because of God's actions before we reacted to His actions.  God took the initiative to our salvation. God's action comes in mercy and love.  We will receive something tha

Today's verses are Ephesians 2:1-3, which read,   v.1, 2 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Paul has completed talking about his prayers for the Christians in the Ephesus church.  He is now going to tell them or remind them of what they used to be.  He will follow it up tomorrow with what they are now.  Let's go through the phrases to understand this transformation better.   "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,..." You were already dead before your trespasses and sin because you and I have a sin nature given to us through the sin nature of Adam and Eve.  We are playing out that sinful nature through our trespasses and sins and we are dead to God at this point.  The word "dead" is a strong word but Paul uses it to demonstrate our very

Today's verses are Ephesians 1:18-23, which read,   v.18-19a - I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Paul is continuing his prayer for the Christians in the church in Ephesus.  He started with the prayer asking for their wisdom, that is knowledge applied, and revelation, that is spoken witness, to increase through the knowledge of God. Now Paul prays that they would know the hope of God's calling, the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power toward those who believe.  He is praying that they will know in their hearts the assurance of God's call on their lives; he is praying that they will know in their hearts the assurance of a heavenly home prepared and sealed by God; and he is praying that they will kno

Today's verses are Ephesians 1:15-17, which read, For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. This is one long sentence coming from Paul to the Christians in the church in Ephesus.  Paul identifies with them as someone who has heard and responded to the faith in the Lord.  The gospel message was given to them and it is evident of its saving faith because they are loving the saints, God's family.  One of the fruits that you have saving faith is that you will have an increasing love for the family of God that you are a part of. Not only is Paul identifying with the Christians in Ephesus in faith in Jesus Christ but also thanking God for them and praying for them.  He i

Today's verses are Ephesians 1:11-14, which read,   v.11, 12 - In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. We will see three "in Him" phrases in this passage.  Yesterday it was that "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses."  We have been forgiven and pardoned by Christ's death and resurrection. Today, "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance..." so we are not only forgiven and pardoned but with that comes something more.  It would seem that if we have done something wrong and were forgiven of it that we would not look for something more.  The pardon would be enough as we breathe a sigh of relief but God gives those who are forgiven much more than they deserve.  The inheritance is part of God&

Today's verses are Ephesians 1:7-10, which read,   v.7, 8a - In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In Christ, through His death and resurrection, we have been redeemed from what we truly deserve.  We have been rescued from hell.  Not only have we been rescued but the thing that condemned us, sin, has been forgiven.  We have been pardoned and we have had the debt cancelled of our doing.  We have went from "guilty as charged" to given the sentence from the Judge that Someone else has taken our place and we are free to go.  As we go in this forgiven state because of Another, our lives reflect the riches of God's grace that He has lavished on us. We learned this weekend that our lives reflecting the forgiven state because of God's grace through the cross of Christ is our sanctification being lived out daily.  God's grace is great and what h

Today's verses are Ephesians 1:3-6, which read,   v.3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,... We many times ask for the blessings of God or we say "God bless America" but do we give blessings to God?  The God who has blessed us so completely through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,  His blessing to us has transformed and is continuing to transform our lives to be more Christ-like.  His blessing even extents into the future and heaven as our home.  His blessings upon us very much dwarf any blessing that we can give back but it is now our life to spent blessing or praising His name.   v.4 - ...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus.  He is writing to believers of Jesus Christ.  These are people who have experienced conversion.  As

Today's verses are Ephesians 1:1, 2, which read,   v.1, 2 - Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we launch our morning devotions through the book of Ephesians.  Ephesus was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia Minor and the church there was served by Paul, Timothy, Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla and later the apostle John.  Positioned on the mouth of the Cayster River on the east side of the Aegean Sea, it was a very important church to the spread of the gospel to the known world.  It is also one of the churches that is mentioned in the book of Revelation.  Paul will spend three years serving the church after his first visit on his second missionary journey.  The church was in a city that hosted one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Diana. Paul clearly identifies himself as

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 13:11-14, which read,   v.11 - Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Paul gives a list of what he is praying that the Christians in the Corinthian church would be.  This letter of exhortation that looked like a defense of himself against the false teachers accusations was really a letter to point the Corinthians back to the Scriptures and the repentance of sin.  The sin lingering has impacted the body of believers greatly and Paul is ready to return to address it directly if need be.  This list is how he would wish the Christians there to be. We are to rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, and live in peace but lingering sin hinders all these things from happening.  It takes away our joy; it stops our growth; it blocks us from receiving and recognizing God's compassion; it puts us not in unity with our brot

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 13:5-10, which says,   v.5, 6 - Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!  Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you fail the test?  But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. In the last passage Paul spoke again of his coming a third time and that he would be addressing sin that had been allowed to linger in the church.  He would love to come and see repentant hearts but his two or three witnesses have let him know that at this time it was not going in that direction.  Paul keeps pleading in this letter. The false teachers had been accusing Paul of not being "in Christ" and now he turns the tables on them.  He is calling for them to test and examine themselves to see if they are "in Christ."   Paul has been making a defense through the pages of Scripture and the actions of himself and his companions that they l

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 13:1-4, which read,   v.1-3 - This is the third time I am coming to you.  Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.  I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again I will not spare anyone, since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. This is the second time that Paul has mentioned that this would be his third visit.  Something is going to be different about this visit because of the two or three witnesses.  Paul has sent Titus and others to them and those two or three witnesses have brought back news that the Christians in the church in Corinth have been following the ways of the false teachers.  They had been sinning and allowing that sin to linger and not addressing sin within the church to the detr

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 12:19-21, which read,   v.19 - All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you.  Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved. Lest we think that Paul looks at this situation as damage control of his reputation before the Corinthians because of the slanders of the false teachers, he sets us straight.  The false teachers are not the judges and the Corinthians are not the judges but only God is the ultimate judge of Paul's motives and words about the speaking of Christ.  All of this "so called defending" was actually used by God to build up the Christians of the church in Corinth.  It was used to show again the love of God through His servant Paul speaking of the grace of God through the cross of Christ.  If we thought the end game was Paul being exonerated from the false claims of the false teachers than our assessment of th

Today's verses are 2 Cointhians 12:14-18, which read,   v.14 - Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. Paul is going back to the church in Corinth a third time.  The first is recorded in Acts 18 and then there was a painful visit recorded in this book in chapter 2.  Paul is coming for a third time and he will follow suit of what he has done before.  He will not need their financial support to be there which has been an attack from the false teachers that Paul must not be a real teacher if he doesn't charge. A great line is "...for I do not seek what is yours, but you;..."   The reason Paul is coming again is not for what anything the Christians in Corinth could give him but for the purpose to be with them.  Parents are to provide for their children in their homes duri

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 12:11-13, which read,   v.11 - I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me.  Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. Paul feels he has been foolish for resorting to boasting of what he has gone through to bring them the gospel; visions and revelations that he has had; and resorting to a tactic used by the false teachers.  Of course, Paul's boasting is very different because it continues to point to Christ and not himself and it also focuses on his weaknesses rather than his strengths.  The false teachers were all about talking about themselves to promote themselves. This is what was getting the Corinthians' attention but Paul wants them to know that it really should be the other way around.  The person who lives a very quiet life in the respect of not drawing attention to him or herself should be the attention grabber. 

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, which read,   v.7 - Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself! Paul was given these visions and revelations and he just shared one with them in a way that could have been seen as boasting as the false teachers were doing.  Paul spoke of the event with a clear focus on God knowing all the details and that credibility of the gospel should not be put on that one revelation shared but on his everyday life and his ordinary words. Paul was given these visions and revelations from God but he was also given "a thorn in the flesh" that kept him humble.  Some believe this thorn was some physical aliment that made his appearance hard to look at when he spoke.  Others believe this thorn was an actual person, a false teacher, who was tearing down his m

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 12:1-6, which read,   v.1 - Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. Paul continues to speak in a way that the false teachers were speaking.  The false teachers spoke of visions and revelations and so he will do the same but again with a twist.  The false teachers were speaking of these things to draw attention to themselves but Paul uses them to point people off of himself and unto God.  Paul is trying to take what sounds like a boast of himself and keep it focused on God and to show the difference between himself and the false teachers, he will boast but in a different way.  Paul's visions are recorded in the book of Acts, six of them, and his revelations are recorded in the books of Galatians and Ephesians.   v.2-4 - I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a man was

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 11:30-33, which read,   v.30, 31 - If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.  The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. Paul has just given an exhaustive list of his sufferings for Christ and the gospel.  He boasted foolishly to make a distinction between himself and the false teachers.  All that he went through to get the gospel of Christ out was nothing compared to his love for the Corinthians and also nothing compared to what Christ had done for him on the cross. Paul is boasting because the Corinthians have been attracted to the boasting of the false teachers.  The boasting of the false teachers pointed to themselves but Paul's boasting pointed to Christ.  This list must have hit them as it hits us that Paul adds "God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying."   This tremendous list of sacrifice wa

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 11:21b-29, which read,   v.21b - But in whatever respect anyone else is bold--I speak in foolishness--I am just as bold myself. Paul is about to give the most comprehensive list of his sufferings for Christ and the gospel.  If the false teachers are boasting to gain credibility before the Corinthians then Paul is going to boast but in a very different way.  This boasting is foolishness to Paul because it is nothing compared to what our Lord went through and who our Lord is.    v.22 - Are they Hebrews?  So am I.  Are they Israelites?  So am I.  Are they descendents of Abraham?  So am I. Paul starts with apples to apples statements.  His genealogy and the genealogy of the false teachers are the same.   v.23 - Are they servants of Christ?--I speak as if insane--I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. The false teachers are saying that they are servants of Chri

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 11:16-21a, which read,   v.16-18 - Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.  What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.  Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. The false teaching from the false teachers was laced with boasting.  It was a boasting that pointed to them and not to God.  Paul is going to play along with this method in a sarcastic way.  He lets the Christians in Corinth know that what he is going to say is not the way the Lord would say it but since they are good at receiving foolish boasting, he will do the same but with a twist.  It may look like he is boasting of himself, which seems to be an attraction for the Corinthians, but Paul will use the boasting to point to Christ.   v.19-21a - For you, being so wise, tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone

Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 11:12-15, which read,   v.12 - But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter which they are boasting. Paul came the Christians in Corinth with the backing of other churches in the region.  They financially and prayerfully supported his effort of sharing the gospel with them and he also added his own financial support by using his trade in the marketplace of mending and creating tents.  Spiritual teachers could command a fee for their teachings and Paul spoke of the church giving support to its spiritual leaders but Paul came to them first with the backing of himself and others very much like a missionary does today. The false teachers have used this practice as a way to attack Paul as not a real teacher so Paul will continue this practice to keep distance between himself and them.  Now comes a full description of these