FILLED WITH GOD

Today’s Reading: Ephesians 3

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Our 100words.ca photographer, my eldest son, opened his Bible to Ephesians and placed it among the ruins of ancient Ephesus on a door entrance to what was probably a Christian’s home or place of business. The circle with the symbols secretly represented the Christian faith. The other dark circles were so that people would not slip when entering.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Ephesians 3:17-19

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Just imagine the overcoming strength Paul has received from God. He is writing this from a prison in Rome. Paul takes on the principalities and powers which manifest themselves in Caesar, the ruler who claimed to be a god. Who is truly free, and who is the prisoner?

Paul’s prayer is not just for the believers at Ephesus, but for us too! To be filled with all the fullness of God means that we will be fuller than we were before when we were already full. How can this be? Our capacity for God living in us has expanded because of God answering Paul’s prayer! Let us keep topping up every day without fail! Here is a three-step plan for becoming more like Jesus: (1) Be strengthened with power through His Spirit, (2) Understand that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, and (3) Get a grasp on the fact that Christ loves us totally.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, I am making Paul’s prayer mine and praying it word for word. Your answer to this prayer is “Yes!”…a thousand times “Yes!” I’m reading Ephesians 3:14-21 again and again. To You “be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

From my earliest days in public ministry, I established a practise of spending as much time in prayer as I spent in preparation for ministry. Keeping a balance between head and heart is vitally important. When the 100 Huntley Street daily telecast began June 15th, 1977, I knew that I was not to go on air unless I had spent at a minimum the same amount of time in prayer as I would spend on TV. I believe the Lord clearly showed me that failure to do this would result in my own thoughts being expressed and not His thoughts. I suggest we read Isaiah 55:6-13. How does one get wet when it’s raining? Just go out in the rain with the umbrella down. How does one get soaked in God’s thoughts? Through much prayer and the reading of God’s Word. His Word contains His thoughts!

Yours for learning how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

David

The Church of Mary in Ephesus, built around 200 AD, is a church of great historical significance. It is also known as the Double Church, because it is thought one aisle was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the other to St. John. It has also been referred to as the Council Church, because the Council of Ephesus is believed to have been held here. It is the first church to take Mary’s name and the site of two important ecumenical councils in 431 and 449, in which the natures of Christ and Mary were hotly disputed.

In Goreme Cappadocia in Turkey, the people built their homes into cone shaped hills and in Kaymakli they excavated deep below the ground for their city. These troglodyte cave-cities were excavated as early as Hittite times, and were expanded over the centuries as various marauding armies traversed Central Anatolia in search of captives and plunder. There are 36 underground cities in Cappadocia.