Category Archives: Ephesians

With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Ephesians 4:17-5:14

Dear God, do I grieve you? It’s a question I hate to ask because I am afraid of the answer. I hope I don’t. I go back to the Isaiah verses from two days ago and I think about the part that talked about the Israelites’s rituals and annual festivals being disgusting to you, and I wonder if my rituals (even doing these prayer journals in such a public way) and the way I celebrate things like Christmas, lent, Easter, etc. are disgusting to you. I hope not, but I think think it’s healthy to ask the question in a truly humble and discerning way. Am I bringing you my best and following you as best as I can, or am I taking my own agenda and adding your name to it?

As I looked at what happened in Washington D.C. yesterday I can’t help but wonder about the individuals who stormed the capitol. If I were to sit and talk with them, what would they say about their faith? Would they claim your approval over their actions? Would they talk about their love for you? If they would (and I suspect most of them would), then which one of us is deluded–them or me? I think you would reject everything they did yesterday, but they think you endorse it.

And I have to say this. I saw a message last night from a San Antonio pastor who did about a two-minute prayer, but I thought the prayer missed the point. It asked a lot of you, but it didn’t start with personal repentance. It didn’t start with the church’s need to repent (and I mean the individual church as well as your church in America). It didn’t start with the individual’s need to repent. It just started asking for your guidance and blessing. In my mind, now is the time to simply beg for your mercy.

Father, I do beg your mercy on me. I beg your mercy for my family. You have every right to destroy me for the things I think say and do. You have every right to walk away from our nation and turn your favor to a nation (probably a southern-hemisphere nation in Africa) that worships and loves you. You are not impressed with our society. You are impressed with our humility. Help us to be humble. Use the pain of the last 24 hours, the last 2 months, and the last several years to move us forward. Make it count. Don’t let it count for nothing. Right now, it feels like the pandemic is counting for nothing. It feels like the social justice unrest of the last year is counting for nothing. And it feels like this political pain is counting for nothing. Please make it count, and help us, as your body, to turn our eyes off of political power and onto you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles. . . assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:1-6

Dear God, thank you. Just thank you. Thank you that your plan includes me. Thank you that you cate for me and love me. Thank you that it also includes my family and friends. In fact, we are all your children and you treat us as such. You love us. Thank you.

As I sit in church and pray this to you–as I sit with these Gentiles and pray this to you–I cannot help but be stunned at the dominoes Jesus’s life knocked over. But since this is the day of epiphany, I guess the first Gentiles to show up in response to Jesus’s birth were the wise men. They came to acknowledge Jesus, worship him, respect and love him, and then they went home. I wonder what the rest of their lives were like. I wonder what they thought Jesus’s life would be like. Or were they wise enough to simply be in the moment and not have to imagine what the future held?

Father, as I sit here on January 3, help me to not worry about what 2021 has in store for me/us. Help me to not even worry about the rest of this day. Instead, help me to be in this moment right now.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 1:17-23

Dear God, I am not sure that I have seen this before, but, at least in this instance, Paul isn’t saying need wisdom and revelation to understand what is going on around us. He wants us you to give us (me) the Spirit (Holy Spirit) of wisdom and revelation so that I can know you better. That’s it. To know you better. That’s what it’s all about. I don’t have to understand what is happening around me any further than to know what you would have me do in any given moment to respond to it. But I don’t have to understand the big picture of what is happening. I will know how to respond if I know you and internalize that knowledge of you. If I have the Holy Spirit speaking into my heart and nudging me.

So what are the different parts of you I should know? Well, Paul gives those to me in this passage:

1. The hope to which you have called me
2. The riches of your inheritance
3. Your incomparably great power unleashed for me

My wife and I have been watching The Good Place. I’m still not sure whether or not it is sacrilegious, but it probably is. We are two seasons into a four-season series and, so far, it is all about performance. It puts the power of my ability to get to “the good place” when I die into my hands through a purely performance-based system. Maybe our need for your mercy will be addressed by the end. In fact, I have a feeling I might end up doing a specific prayer journal on the show when I’ve finished the series, but for now there is this incredible emptiness to it. Even the good feeling I get from doing a good thing is nothing when it’s not tied to the peace of knowing I’m not doing it for a reward.

I love my children. There really isn’t anything that either of them can do to earn or lose my love–and those boundaries have certainly been tested. In fact, I had something yesterday that hurt my feelings. But at the end of the day–or even in that moment–it didn’t affect how much I love that child. It impacts relationship, but it doesn’t impact love. I think the biggest thing you have done for me through parenthood was give me just a glimpse of how you see me. I can’t even put into words what I know of your love for me because of the love I have for them.

Father, I am sorry I hurt you. I am sorry I allow my selfishness to get in the way of me knowing you better. Help me to be at rest in you. When my children are with me, I just want them to know they are loved and in a safe place. Help me to know that in my relationship with you as well.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

²⁵ For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her ²⁶ to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. ²⁷ He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. ²⁹ No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. ³⁰ And we are members of his body.

Ephesians 5:25-30

Dear God, I was talking with a friend the other day who was telling me about some issues he is having with his wife. She is experiencing a lot of anxiety and anger over the current societal issues (politics, pandemic, and social unrest), and it is spilling out into how she responds to him. At the same time, he is incredibly stressed at work. He feels overloaded and burned out. Unfortunately, because I had to push our meeting about 30 minutes later than we originally scheduled it, we didn’t get as long as I would have liked to visit with him more about his situation. But I’ve thought about it a lot over the last two days.

One of the things I’ve considered is how my favorite marriage book, Sacred Marriage would address his issue. Starting with the premise of its subtitle, “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy,” I found myself wondering how you might be working on my friend’s faith through this situation and through his wife. What are you teaching him in this that he apparently wouldn’t learn any other way? While I don’t know the answer for him, it would probably be a good question to ask him.

I picked these scriptures this morning because they are our command as husbands. Love your wives. Cherish them. Cleanse them. Present them as holy. Give yourselves up for them. It’s not about them taking care of us. It is about us taking care of them. If you inspire them to care for us then great, but we need to learn to go into our marriages as your servants. You came as our servant even when we didn’t deserve it and your love guides us into being whole. If his wife isn’t whole right now, your love, through him, can get her there.

Father, help me to know how to help my friends. And help me to be the husband and father you are calling me to be. Do it all for your glory and so that you might use my marriage to make me holy more than to make me happy.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19

Dear God, there are about three or four families for whom I wish to pray this passage for this morning. Each is facing its own crisis–one particularly scary and possibly tragic. So please, out of your glorious riches, strengthen them with power through the Holy Spirit. Minister to them. Comfort them. Make this pain count. I’ll confess that my heart is incredibly heavy this morning. Make this count in me as well. And why do I pray all of this? So that Jesus Christ will live in their inner beings. That he will live in my inner being. I pray that all of us would take this knowledge and grasp how wide, high, tall, and deep your love is for each of us and for everyone we each encounter. Stir our hearts for you, oh God. Find each of us where we are, not so that we can be powerful, successful, popular, or anything like that. Only so that we can know you and be a better reflection of you to others.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Ephesians 1:9-14

Dear God, context is so important. Some would take verse 10 out of context and say that “everything” refers to the second coming and that you never did this. But I read the verse in context and see that everything simply refers to adding the Gentiles (me) to the Jews. The new covenant is more than grace over works. It’s also about uniting us all as your children. We are all part of your kingdom now. Theologically, I’m not sure how you handled all of that (Gentiles) under the old covenant, but I’m grateful to be counted as your child now.

But Satan doesn’t want us united. I’ve said many times before that dividing us from each other is his Plan A, and it’s so effective that he rarely needs a Plan B. There’s something about the sin in our hearts, even among the holiest of us, that has a need to put ourselves above others and be convinced that we are better than them, “righter” than them, etc. I suppose that’s why your two greatest commandments are the antidote to this plan: Love the Lord your God with all your strength, heart, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Your command unites us. Satan’s plan divides us.

Father, be glorified in me. Forgive me of my sin and my desire (need) to be better than others. Replace my insecurity with love for others. Replace the shame I have with acceptance of grace. And help me to joyfully extend that grace to others and unite with them.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
Ephesians 1:18

Dear God, is my heart flooded with light? Is that what people see in me? Is that what I seek from you? Do I have the confident hope you have tried to give to me?

Holy Spirit, I assume this is you. This is your role. You are what makes that difference. You are the one that baptizes me. You counsel me. You comfort me. You anoint me. You do that for others as well. I always pray that you do it for my children. Right now, I’m thinking of a friend who texted me yesterday and is in a lot of pain. She just went through a horrible parting from a longtime employer that didn’t end well. She has an elderly parent who is experiencing physical difficulty. She has a lot of stress in her life. What is the answer for her? In my mind, it is time and you counseling and comforting her. Providing for her. GIving her a straight path to follow. Leading her to a new Temple (I’ll need to tell her about that lesson you taught me).

Father, I submit myself to all of this. I need this. I need your Holy Spirit. Bathe me in it. As my high school youth minister used to say, help me to “bask” in it. Help this friend too. Help my children. My siblings. My parents. My in-laws. My nieces and nephews. My friends an coworkers. I also want to take a moment to pray for all of the people involved in this thing in Washington. On all sides, and from all angles. From the powers that be, to the investigators, to the witnesses, to the investigated, please be with everyone. Let your truth be told, and let your path be followed whether those who are on your servants know they are following the path or not.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

Dear God, I wonder how much time James (brother of Jesus) and Paul spent together. It seems they might have had interesting conversations around the fire on this topic. Where does your grace end and our responsibility to perform works begin? Is there an unholiness line I can cross with you? Are there still places of service to others that I am not willing to go? Is that a problem for you?

I was at an event last night, and I talked with a man who has spent a lot of time trying to help people at the Texas/Mexico border. I literally found myself wanting to get out of the conversation because it was so hard to hear. He told me about people from Venezuela who wanted to go to university but couldn’t because if you go to university in Venezuela you are committing to go into the military, and they didn’t want to fight to support the existing regime. He told me about a woman in this situation who had smuggled herself out of Venezuela and now she is on the Mexico side of the border awaiting her asylum hearing. If it fails, she will be shipped back to Venezuela. And hers isn’t that bad of a story. No rape. No threats of physical harm. I would imagine her asylum request will be denied. I know there are worse stories out there. They are hard for me to hear and I would rather just not think about it.

Will you hold that against me? I think James would say I’m failing you. What would Paul say? Will you still save me, but be disappointed in me? Does your grace even cover up that disappointment? What would I have to say if I were part of that fireside chat between Paul and James? What do I think?

Father, I suppose that my mantra in serving you is that I should be adequately grateful for the grace you give that Paul describes in this passage. Forget how you respond to my actions. Forget if you reward or punish me based on my works or my level of gratitude. My conscience tells me that I need to be grateful to you, worship you, and then do whatever I feel like you are asking me to do. In fact, I’m glad that I’m thinking about last night’s conversation this morning because it has encouraged me to meet with this man and learn more. I want to hear if there is some way, maybe even a small way, in which I might be able to help. Almost 17 years ago I told you that I want to be willing to touch other people’s pain. I confess to you that I have still put limitations on that willingness. Lead me where you want me to go.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen