PT-4 "The Spirits Power" (Eph. 3:14-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/4/2019 9:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  PT-4 “The Spirits Power”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 3:14-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,”

 

            In our last SD we began looking at verse sixteen and now we want to continue commenting on this verse. 

           

            Let us focus in on something that once you think about for a bit will become something that will be difficult to actually understand.  In verse sixteen we read from the NLT “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.”  Notice the highlighted part, especially “unlimited resources.”  If a person with a great deal of money would give to a charity $25.00 they would be given it out of their wealth, but if a millionaire gave say, $25,000 then they would be giving it according to His wealth.  Now For God to give according to His unlimited resources is absolutely staggering, because His unlimited wealth is limitless, they are completely without bounds!  But that is exactly what this verse says that is it is exactly the measure by which Paul implores God to empower to the Ephesians.  Like I said this is mind boggling.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Almost every prayer of Paul’s that is recorded in Scripture was for the spiritual welfare of others.  Even when he was persecuted, imprisoned, and in need of many things for his own welfare, he prayed primarily for fellow believers that they might be spiritually protected and strengthened.  Even when he prayed for himself it was most often for the purpose of being better able to serve his Lord and the Lord’s people.  Later in this letter the apostle asked the Ephesians to ‘pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel’ (6:19).”

 

            Philippians 1:9-10 is another example of Paul’s prayer along these lines “9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.”  Next we look at Colossians 1:9-11 “9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously.”  [Being powered with all power is what this literally means.]  There are others to look at like Phil. 1:4 and also 1 Thessalonians 1:2.

 

            John MacArthur adds “Prayer is to be a constant effort of our daily living.  Jesus said, ‘Keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength’ (Luke 21:36).  Paul often mentioned that he prayed continually for others (Eph. 1:16; Phil 1:4; Col. 1:3, 9) and repeatedly encouraged others to do the same (Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; Col 4:2; cf. Phil. 4:6).  At least two of Jesus’ parables focus on persistent prayer—the parable of the man who knocks on his neighbor’s door at midnight asking for food to give an unexpected guest (Luke 11:5-10) and the parable of the importunate widow who eventually obtained help from a wicked judge because she refused to stop petitioning him (Luke 18:1-8).”

 

            In our next SD I want to quote a story from MacArthur’s commentary about a friend of Luther, as we continue looking at this wonderful prayer that Paul prays for the Ephesians, and in turn prayed for us too, that is all true believers in Jesus Christ.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  Praying is a big part of my walk with the Lord as I have a prayer list that in some places stays the same, and in other places on it continues to change.  My son has really not been happy in any of the jobs that he has had since he graduated from college.  There have been three jobs for him, and I could tell that he was not really happy in the one he had and it saddened me greatly.  I prayed as specific prayer for him for the last couple of months as I knew that only God could put David in a job that he would be satisfied in.  I talked to him on Friday and he told me that he had gotten another job and once he told me about the job it was exactly what I had been praying about.  God is so good, as He knew that my heart was breaking over the fact that my son was not happy in his job and led me to pray for him so that He would find the exact job that He had for him to take.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to pray and to realize that God through His Spirit has given me great power in my spiritual walk with the Lord.

 

Scripture that goes with yesterdays quote:  Proverbs 11:14 “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

 

2/4/2019 10:38 AM

PT-3 "The Spirits Power" (Eph. 3:14-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/3/2019 4:53 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 “The Spirits Power”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 3:14-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,”

 

            We finished looking at verse fourteen in our last SD and want to begin to look at verse fifteen today.  When I look at verse fifteen in the NLT it reads “the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.”  I think this makes it easier by looking at the NLT to see that Paul is not teaching that God is the spiritual “Father” of every being in the universe.  God created Adam and Eve and from them comes all people who have ever been born, but that by no means that all people are spiritual children of God, this teaches universal fatherhood of God when it is stated that God is the spiritual father of all people, and that is not true.  If that were true then why would Christ need to come to pay for sins?  The Bible teaches that one must be born from above, and that is done by admitting that you were born a sinner, and that you sin because you were born a sinner, and that you can do nothing on your own to have your sins forgiven.  Paul writes in Romans chapter one that “no one seeks after God.”  God has to seek after us in order for us to be saved by grace through faith.  In the eight chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus told the unbelieving Pharisees “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.  You are doing the deeds of your father…If God were your Father, you would love Me;…You are of your father the devil” (VV. 39-42, 44).  1 John 3:10 states “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:  anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother’ (3:10).  By these verses it reinforces that truth that God is not the spiritual Father of everyone.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Every family in heaven and on earth’ refers to the saints of every age—those now ‘in heaven and those still remaining on earth.’  They are the only ones who legitimately derive their names from God the Father.  Christians are no more or less the children of God than were believing Israelites, as well as believing Gentiles, before the coming of Christ.  ‘Every family’ of believers is a part of the one spiritual family of God, in which there are many members but only one ‘Father’ and on brotherhood.”

 

            As we look at verse sixteen we see the first request that Paul prays for these believers, and not only those in Ephesus but those who are believers throughout the church history.  “16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,”

 

Today’s Quote:  “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of Giants (Isaac Newton).”

 

2/3/2019 5:17 PM

PT-2 "The Spirit's Power" (Eph. 3:14-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/2/2019 9:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “The Spirit’s Power”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 3:14-16

 

            Message of the verses: “14  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,”

 

            We ended our last SD by talking about it not being totally necessary to get on your knees in order to pray to the Lord, and stated that there were also reasons why we should do this, and so we will look at this as we begin our SD for today.

 

            Why would we want to “bow your knees” to the Father in order to pray?  “In the Scripture bowing the knees signifies several things that may have prompted Paul to mention that position here.  First, it represents an attitude of submission, or recognition that one is in the presences of someone who is of much higher rank, dignity, and authority.  After proclaiming the Lord as ‘the rock of our salvation,…a great God, and a great King above all gods,’ and as the Creator of all the earth, the psalmist says, ‘Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker’ (Ps. 95:1-6).” 

 

2/2/2019 10:04 AM

 

2/2/2019 11:31 AM

 

            I tried to look up the word “bow” as to how many times it is used in the Bible and I found 95 times it was used, but the problem is that many times it was talking about the rainbow.  God was appalled and heartbroken over hearing of the intermarriage of the Israelites to their foreign neighbors as seen in the book of Ezra and we read in 9:5-6 the following “5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; 6  and I said, "O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.”   I wonder how many people have become this upset over their sins or the sins of the nation that they live in.  I believe that all believers should be like Ezra in our country as we look at the continued mass murders of unborn children, and it is getting worse every day.  Let us look at another verse “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously (Daniel 6:10).”  This verse is speaking of what Daniel did even though he knew that he could be signing his death warrant if he bowed his knees to pray to God.  One more from Acts 20:36 “When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.”  This was when Paul was to leave Ephesus for the last time as he was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be arrested and put in jail.

 

            John MacArthur writes “As he prayed for the Ephesians while writing this letter to them, the apostle felt led to ‘bow’ [his] ‘knees before the Father’ on their behalf, not because that position or any other is especially sacred, but because it spontaneously reflected his reverence for God’s glory in the midst of his passionate prayer.”

 

Verse that goes along with yesterday’s quote:  “You will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You (Isaiah 26:3).”

 

2/2/2019 11:49 AM

PT-1 "The Spirits Power" (Eph. 3:14-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/1/2019 10:37 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “The Spirit’s Power”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 3:14-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,”

 

            I want to say that this section “The Spirit’s Power” will take many days to go through. 

 

            We mentioned earlier that when we began the third chapter of Ephesians that Paul was starting to pray for the Ephesian believers, but then may have had second thoughts and so as we begin verse fourteen with the words “For this reason” we can see that Paul picks up where he started in 3:1 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-.”  Notice that there is a dash after the word Gentiles indicating that what came after verse one was a parenthesis as Paul then went back to what he was talking about in chapter two.  It is because of all the things that Paul discussed in chapter two, showing that our new identity makes us the dwelling place of God that Paul prays for the Ephesians to use the power that their great status in Christ provide for them.  MacArthur writes “Because God’s power is in those believers; Paul prays that God would enable them to employ the fullness of that power.  Because believers are the habitation of the triune, all-powerful God of the universe, Paul prays that their unlimited energy from Him would be manifested.”  

 

            Remember that we mentioned that in Paul’s letters he begins with doctrine and then after he takes time to explain doctrine that he goes on to talk about how believers should use that doctrine in their lives, and beginning in 3:14 Paul is showing us how to use the doctrine that he taught us in the first three and a half chapters, and he begins explain this to us by praying for us.

 

            MacArthur writes “The truth that omnipotence dwells within impotence is so majestic, grandiose, and elevated that we would expect Paul to address God as the eternal King of glory or by some other such exalted title.  But he says rather, ‘I bow my knees before the Father.’  ‘Father’ is the same designation Jesus always used in prayer, and the one He used in teaching His disciples to pray (Matt. 6:9).”  Paul addressed God in “Rom. 8:15  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"  The following comes from my English/Greek dictionary from the word “Abba” “1) father, customary title used of God in prayer. Whenever it occurs in the New Testament it has the Greek interpretation joined to it, that is apparently to be explained by the fact that the Chaldee ABBA through frequent use in prayer, gradually acquired the nature of a most sacred proper name, to which the Greek speaking Jews added the name from their own tongue. {Mr 14:36 Ro 8:15 Ga. 4:6}.”  It is because of Christ’s death on the cross that those who have accepted His forgiveness that we can pray to God the Father using this word “Abba” which, form what I understand is like using the word “Papa,” a term used for a loving father.

 

            We see that Paul writes “I bow my knees” in verse fourteen, and Paul is not saying that this is the proper way to pray to God, as Paul did not always pray in this position of kneeling.  Let us look at some verses that show us we do not always need to be kneeling to pray.  “While Abraham was still standing before the LORD (Genesis 18:22b).”  When David was praying about the building of the temple he “went in and sat before the Lord’ (1 Chron. 17:16).  Jesus fell on His face praying in the Garden of Gethsemane as seen in Matthew 26:39.”

 

            In our next SD we will begin to look at a couple of reasons why Paul used this term “bow my knees.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to be reminded that I can come to my heavenly Father in prayer, knowing that as long as my heart is clean that He will always answer me, and if my heart is holding some kind of sin in it and I desire to ask forgiveness, then He will surely hear me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to study my verse for this year (Romans 12:3), and to continue to rely on God’s truth and now so much my emotions.

 

Quote for today:  “Surrender…is the key that unlocks the vault of God’s best and deepest treasures” (Chuck Swindoll).

 

We will look at the verse that goes along with this quote in our next SD.

 

2/1/2019 11:17 AM

 

Intor to Eph. 3:14-21

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/31/2019 9:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Eph. 3:14-21

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 3:14-21

 

            Message of the verses:  “14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

 

            I have mentioned that this letter to the Ephesians has some very deep teaching in it, and as we look at these remaining verses from this third chapter you can see why I said that.  In many of Paul’s letters he will spend the first part of the letter talking about doctrine, and then in the last part of the letter will write about how to live out that doctrine.  I suppose that, at least to me, this is seen in the letter to the Romans.  Paul spends the first eleven chapters talking about doctrine, the doctrine of what God, through Jesus Christ has done for us as believers and he ends that first section with these words:  “33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Rom. 11:33-35).”  I think that the last couple of verses in Ephesians three can be compared with these verses in Romans 11 as Paul ends his teachings on doctrine and then will move onto the practical things that can be learned from these doctrines.  In Romans Paul begins chapter 12 with the word “therefore” which goes all the way back to the beginning of his teachings in chapter one as he states in the first two verses of Romans 12 to give yourself as a living sacrifice to the Lord in light of all that He has done for you to save you.  It is the logical thing to do.  In Ephesians 4:1 he also begins with the word “therefore” “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”  We still have these remaining verses of doctrine to look at before we get to the practical side of living out those doctrines beginning in chapter four.

 

            John MacArthur begins his introductory comments on this ninth chapter of his commentary on Ephesians, which he entitles “The Fullness of God” with these words: 

 

“It is possible to know a great deal about an automobile—to know exactly how the engine, the ignition, the transmission, and so on operate—and yet never use it to go anywhere.  It is also possible to know very little about an automobile and yet use it every day to travel hundreds of miles.  In the same way it is possible to know a great deal about the Bible—its doctrines, interpretations, moral standards, promises, warnings, and so on—and yet not live by those truths.”

 

            As I read on in his commentary MacArthur actually states that the practical part of the book of Ephesians, that is living out the doctrines that Paul first talks about actually begin in 3:14, so I guess I stand corrected in where it begins.  MacArthur writes “In 3:14-21 Paul gives his prayer requests on behalf of the Ephesian believers.  In sharing his requests with them, he urges them to live in the full power and effectiveness of ‘every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ’ (1:3).  This second prayer in the book of Ephesians (see also 1:15-23) is a prayer for enablement.  The first prayer is for believers to know their power; the second is for them to use it.”

 

            There are two things that a Pastor is to do that are extremely important, and they follow how Paul writes many of his letters.  Pastors are to teach who we are in Christ and then to live out what we are in Christ.  I remember a sermon; in fact there were two similar sermons that I listened to way back around 1974.  One was entitled “Becoming what You Are.”  This message goes along exactly to what Paul is teaching in this and many of his letters.  As we read and understand about who we are in Christ we then need to go out and live that kind of life, “becoming what we are.”

 

            In this prayer Paul pleads with the believers to respond to God’s sovereign provision, and then he pleads with God to motivate them to do it, and the reason is because God not only is the provider but He is also the initiator and motivator.  MacArthur concludes his introductory comments by writing:  “Paul calls on God to activate believers’ power so that they can become faithful children and thereby glorify their heavenly Father.

 

            “In this great prayer of entreaty to God and exhortation to His children, Paul prays specifically for the inner strength of the Spirit, for the indwelling of Christ in the believer’s heart, for incomprehensible love to permeate their lives, for them to have God’s own fullness, and for God’s glory thereby to be manifested and proclaimed.  Each element builds on the previous ones, making a grand progression of enablement.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I study this section of Scripture it is my desire to become what I am in Christ in order to bring glory to Him who loves me, and who saved me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Give myself to the Lord so that I can then learn more about being humble before the Lord as Romans 12:3 talks about.

 

Verse that goes along with yesterday’s Quotation:  “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-13).”  I might add a quote that is found in many of Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentaries:  “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

 

1/31/2019 9:48 AM

The Privilege of the Mystery (Eph. 3:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/30/2019 9:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “The Privilege of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 3:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.         

 

            Now we have been talking about this “mystery” for a long time, learning that this mystery that Paul is writing about is that the Jews and the Gentiles who become believers in Jesus Christ are now one in Christ.  Now in verse 12 Paul speaks of “boldness” that we have as believers in Jesus Christ, boldness and confidence because of our new position that we have in Christ.  When we look back at the Jewish “religion” we see that only one person, the high priest, could come into the presence of the Lord as he went into the Holy of Holies once a year for a very short time in order to put blood onto the Ark of the Covenant, and then he left.  No other Jew had the privilege of going into the presence of God unless they died.  As a part of this mystery we as born-again believers can go into the presence of God at any time to find grace to help in our time of need, and that is the privilege of the mystery.  “15  For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:15-16).”

 

            John MacArthur writes “We are not to be flippant or irreverent but are to come to the Lord with an honest, open heart—in freedom of speech and freedom of spirit.  ‘Confident access’ is trust that knows no fear of rejection, because we belong to Him (cf. 1 Tim. 3:13).”  “For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

 

            Now it is because of such a great privilege that Paul then writes verse 13 “Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.”  MacArthur adds “In and through every circumstance of His children, God works His goodness, blessing, and glory.”  As we look at the last part of verse 13 we probably can understand that many believers were grieving over Paul’s extended years of imprisonment and over the almost continual suffering that he was enduring due to the ministry that God had given to him.  In Romans 8:18 we read the following that Paul had written “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  We will close this portion of our SD by looking at Philippians 1:12-14 “12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.”

 

            We have just finished looking at the first thirteen verses in the third chapter of Ephesians and learned that Paul was actually beginning his prayer for the believers in Ephesus, but then once again went back to talk about the mystery once again.  Now we will move, Lord willing, to talk about a part of the prayer that Paul began in 3:1 as we look next at verses 14-21 of Ephesians.  John MacArthur entitles this ninth chapter in his commentary on Ephesians “The Fullness of God.”  I look forward to studying these verses.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to say that I am so very thankful that I can enter into the presence of God by praying to Him, as I desire to bless the Lord each day, to confess any known sins to Him, and to make requests to Him for others and also for myself.  It is a privilege that I never want to take lightly.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to dwell on Romans 12:3, and to continue to learn truth from my study of God’s Word so that I can stand in the truth and not necessarily rely on my emotions which can vary, unlike God’s Truth.

 

Quotation for today:  President Calvin Coolidge said “Press On:  Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not…Genius will not…education will not…persistence and determination alone are overwhelmingly powerful.”           

 

We will look at a verse that goes along with this quote in our next SD.

 

1/30/2019 10:38 AM

           

PT-2 "The Purpose of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:10-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/29/2019 11:09 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “The Purpose of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Eph. 3:10-11

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,”

 

            What I am about to write is difficult to understand, as I am not sure that I understand all of it myself.  We have been talking about how the “good” angels bring glory to God in our last SD.  Now as we move on I have to say that even the fallen angels bring glory to the Lord, however it is not their intentions to do so.  John MacArthur writes “It was their very rejection of His glory and the seeking of their own glory that caused them to be cast out of heaven in the first place.  Yet Jesus said, ‘I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it’ (Matt. 16:18).  God is glorified through the fallen angels by continually frustrating their rebellious plans and showing the futility of their even intentions to destroy His church.  His holy wrath also displays His glory, sine it is a revelation of who He is (Rom. 9:19-22).”  Now with this said I have to tell a brief story about when my wife’s mother died.  She never wanted to have anything to do with any kind of religion and was upset with me when I became a believer.  She said that if I still believed what I did once I became a believer that she would listen to me.  She never did.  After her death in 2009 it was very difficult on my wife and me because we saw no evidence that she was a believer and feared as to where she was.  While listen to a sermon on Romans which I had my wife listen to I learned that even if she was not a believer that her death would bring glory to the Lord.  I have to admit that it did not bring a lot of comfort to us, but knowing that all things bring glory to God, even though I don’t understand all of it did bring some comfort to me and to my wife.  How does the death of an unbeliever bring glory to God?  I think the answer has to do with His attributes.  Justice and wrath are a part of His attributes and all of His attributes are holy, even justice and wrath.

 

            The angels can see all that God has done and is still doing.  They saw His power at creation; they saw His wrath at Sinai, and His love at Calvary.  Above all of this they see His “manifold” [multi-colored, multi-faceted] “wisdom” that is now and has been seen in the church.  When they see is taking Gentiles, and Jews, along with slave and free, and making them into one body, as all of those who are saved are worthy of the fires of hell.  We also read in Luke 15:10b “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’”

 

            John MacArthur writes “When Paul admonished the Corinthian women to show submission to their husbands through the custom of wearing long hair, he reinforced the command by saying it was given ‘because of the angels’ (1 Cor. 11:10), so as not to offend their sense of submissiveness and to give them greater cause to glorify God by the obedience of the church in the matter of proper male and female responses.”  This is something else about the angels and the church that I did not really understand, but understand it better now.

 

            MacArthur goes on to write “They are led to praise the Lord when they see the right relationship in the church overruling the perversion of man’s relationship engineered by Satan and sin.  After Paul had stated certain principles regarding elders in the church, he wrote, ‘I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias’ (1 Tim. 5:21).  Angels are exceedingly concerned about the leadership (vv. 17-25).  After all, says the writer of Hebrews, ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?’ (Heb. 1:14).  They minister to and watch over the church.

 

            “In the classroom of God’s universe, He is the Teacher, the angels are the students, the church is the illustration, and the subject is ‘the manifold wisdom of God.’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to be a good illustration to the students in order to bring glory to the Lord. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn and grow as I think about Romans 12:3, and to remember that truth is more important than emotions, even though at times emotions over the truth is good too.

 

Verse that goes along with yesterday’s quote:  “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed…But with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles (2 Chronicles 32:7a-8b).”

 

1/29/2019 11:39 AM