EXPAND TO READ: EPHESIANS 3 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 17): For most of my faith journey, I did not embrace or really even truly understand what this meant exactly. You tell us that the Messiah should be established in our hearts, but also that we are rooted and firmly established in love. For most of my faith, I have lacked in this greatly as I have not been rooted and firmly established in love due to my own resistance and rebellious nature. Please forgive me for not allowing Your love to truly flow into me, Father. Forgive me for not living in and embracing the perfect love that only You can give. Continue to work in me to soften my heart, Father, so that I can begin to truly embrace the love You give fully to the point that it always overflows out of me to others.
PROMISE (verse 12): I do struggle quite a bit with boldness and confident access through faith in Him. I struggle with boldness likely due to my lack of confidence in the knowledge I have about You and Your word, Father. I struggle with having confidence in my access to You through my faith in Jesus likely because I do not feel worthy of the grace and love You have shown to me. Through this verse, however, You promise me and give me reassurance that I can live out my faith in boldness because of my faith; that I can be confident in my access to You through my faith in Jesus. The only requirement You put on the boldness and confident access is that I have faith in Him, which I do, so why do I struggle so much with truly accepting this promise in my heart? Help me to truly understand the power of my faith and the blessings that come as a result of my faith, Father.
ATTITUDE (verse 7): Most of my faith I have lived out in a way that I do my job knowledge, school knowledge, etc. It has been ingested into my brain, but rarely actually moved into my heart. I have known Your truth and Your word, but have lacked the conviction in myself to actually act on it all. Paul says that he was made a servant of the gospel by the gift of God’s grace, which to me says that he is “all in” for following Your word and Your truth. Help me to live in and embrace this attitude of servitude towards Your gospel, Father. Help me to be better at embracing all of this head knowledge You’ve blessed me with into my heart, so that I can truly live this life the way You expect of me.
COMMAND (verse 6): I know this isn’t truly a command, but I do see it as a great point You are wanting to make in such a short verse. You tell us that even the Gentiles are coheirs and members of the same body through Jesus. The reason I feel this belongs in the command area of my journal this morning is because I do sometimes give into the trap that I should not share Your gospel with everyone because some people are undeserving, without remembering in those moments that I am undeserving. You tell us that Your gospel is for ALL people in this earth, both Jews and Gentiles, yet for some reason I live in a selfish manner that I want to hold things from You close to myself. Help me to be better at living an evangelical life, Father, regardless of who is around me, so that all whom I come in contact with at least have the opportunity to hear about Your amazing kingdom and glory.
EXAMPLE (verses 7, 13): Paul always gives us so many examples to live out our faith by. These two verses are no different. In the first, he tells us in a proud way that he is a servant to the gospel as a gift of God’s grace. He outlines that being a servant to God is not a curse or something negative, rather that it is truly a gift from God to be able to live out his faith that way. The second verse, he tells the Ephesians not to be discouraged about the afflictions he is going through on their behalf as it is all for their glory. How often have I looked at situations others are going through and only seen the negative out of it instead of the positive that can be gained? How often have I seen others going through some type of affliction for God, but felt in my heart sorrow for them and maybe even some anger towards You, Father, for allowing it to happen? All things happen for Your glory and I need to remember that sometimes afflictions will occur that I don’t necessarily agree with. You see far more and know far more than I do and I need to remember that Your will and Your way are far greater than anything I may want to happen in this life. I am still learning, Father. Thank You for this example.
*DAILY NOTE: I don’t normally add specific verses to this section of my journal, but today is different. Today, as I was reading verses 14-21 I truly felt in my heart, soul, and spirit that this prayer was being prayed directly over me. How amazing and powerful is that? Thank You so much for using Paul’s writings from 2,000 years ago to prayer directly over me, Father. Thank You for the strength and power You are blessing me with through my faith. Thank You for revealing more and more to me each day about my “inner man” that I have failed to access for almost my entire life. How blessed I am to truly be in relationship with You now. Thank You, Father!
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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