For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, so that his tremendous grace that cascades over us would bring him glory — for the same love he has for his Beloved One, Jesus, he has for us!
– Ephesians 1:5-6 (Passion Translation)
Ephesians is an incredible letter written by a man who had a keen insight into the supernatural. It’s thought that initially this letter was to be circulated and read out in all the churches, not just Ephesus. It was years later that this book gained its title. When you read it verse by verse, it's full of encouragement and direction. But when you look at it as a whole, its narrative does this incredible thing. The first three books are mostly about our identity. Who we are and how God sees us individually and collectively.
Ephesians 1:3-4 says,
“Everything heaven contains has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts! And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us as one with Christ from the beginning so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.”
We are adopted into the family of God, Jew and Gentile alike. And together we are the Church, those who are awake to God's love and Kingdom. We do what we have been given to do to help others wake up and see for themselves that the divine is good and real and present.
You can’t read the first three books of Ephesians and remain in a bad mood. Well, it would be difficult anyway. If you help someone discover who they are and to be humbly confident in it, they’ll know quite intuitively what to do with their lives. A lot of the identity issues I face, and that many face, come with the idea that it is what we DO that makes us significant. But, the opposite of that is true: WHO you are gives power to WHAT you do. And when you can discover who you are, you're free from the pressure to perform for your significance, you will find yourself walking down the road of vulnerability and authenticity. And that road will lead to your life’s purposes.
We shouldn’t be asking each other “what do you want to do?” Rather, we should ask “Who do you want to be?” God’s will for our lives is more about our being than our doing.
Ephesians tells us that God has ALREADY, before we lifted a finger to do ANYTHING, lavished us with his love and ordained us to be ONE with Christ. He has extended his grace and faith towards us because of WHO we are, our state of origin: birthed in the mind of God, purposed from the beginning of time, knit together in our mother's wombs by infinite hands.
And when we begin to understand this, it changes everything.
Go to Part 2 – War We Fight
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]