MONDAY, April 14th, 2008

Ephesians 1:1-

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Lee, The Youth Pastor of Suncoast Youth Group at Suncoast Baptist Church in Port Charlotte writes this blog to you for the Glory of God...

That is exactly how Paul started the book of ephesians. Back in His day, you started out a letter by letting the person who is reading it know who wrote it. Have you ever read a whole letter not knowing who wrote it, until you got to the very end? Well, Paul was keeping that from happening. I think it is wonderful to see how much glory that Paul gave to God. The first few verses just go on and on talking about how great God is. Can you relate? Do you ever talk about How great God is? Then the remainder of the passage talks about several things, but as you can see from the highlighted portion, The theme is that God chose you! (that is also what predesitined means) God looked at you from before time and hand picked you! Wow! You are so blessed! Would you have chosen yourself? Well, if you knew how unfaithful you would be, you probably wouldnt have chosen yourself if you were in charge, But I am so Glad that God is in charge and He chose us! He Chose Me!!!! Thank you God!

The idea that He knew me, he knew every thought I would think, every word I would say, and yet God still chose me to bless and pour his love and grace all over! Wow! I want to live for Him to the best of my ability!!!

What do you think?