Tag: Jesus Christ

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time, Secure In Christ

The Mystery of Christ

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based on the LGG study, Secure in Christ, w3d1

Read: Ephesians 3:1-6: SOAP: verse 6

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles 2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly  4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ 5 (which was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit), 6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:1-6 NET or (KJV)

The third week of our journey picks up right where Paul left off. So the statement, “for this reason,..,”at the beginning of Ephesians chapter three, is a transition statement moving his readers from the teaching of salvation, grace, and Christ’s power to information on how to live as a follower of Christ. In other words, if we are to be a part of the whole building that Paul referenced in Ephesians 2:19-22, then we must know how to live like Christ and in unity with the rest of “the building,” the body of Christ.

Paul’s obvious desire, after being so radically changed by the gospel was to share the good news, build up the church, and challenge the believers to rightly seek after Christ. He even did this from a prison cell.1 As today’s journal entry points out, “Paul could have easily given into despair for his prison sentence, yet he chose to view himself as a prisoner for Christ. He looked at his circumstances as another opportunity to witness to those around him, pray for the churches he had founded, visited, or heard of, and to train up new believers.”

  • Paul identifies himself as “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.”
  • He clarifies that he had been given the responsibility to share the Gospel (the message of God’s Grace) with them.
  • Paul shares the insight he was given into the mystery of Christ, which was that Jews and Gentiles now shared in the same promises of God in Christ Jesus. Specifically, the gift of salvation through the blood of Christ.
    • We share in the inheritance of Jesus Christ. (fellow heirs)
    • We belong to the same body (fellow members) (see also Rom 12:3-4).
    • We all share in the promises of God through/in Christ Jesus our Lord (fellow partakers).
      • It should be noted that in each of these points, the pronoun “we” refers to those who belong to God, through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 1:16).

Friends, the Gospel – namely, the mystery of Christ, “changes everything. I know it did for me and we can see from Paul’s letters that it radically changed him. The journal leaves us with this question: “Have you been so changed by the gospel of Jesus that you can’t help but share it with others?” -and these words of encouragement: “Let’s not waste our days but diligently seek to share Christ wherever we may be.”

Consider this beautiful and helpful reminder from last week’s journey through Ephesians chapter 2:

The Church is being built and joined together on the foundation of Jesus, the apostles, and prophets. This foundation will last no matter what circumstances are faced. This foundation is unshakable and cannot be moved.

Knowing that Christ is the head of the Church, what, then, is the Church? The Church is made up of believers of all nations, tribes, people, and languages. It will remain solid and sturdy even in eternity (Revelation 7:9).

Our belief in Jesus is aligning and joining each of us together so that we form the temple of God. Each believer, whether you know it or not, has a purpose to serve through his or her spiritual gift. These spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of serving God and bringing glory to His name (1 Peter 4:10-11).

Believers are joined together as part of God’s family by grace through faith, regardless of our past or present circumstances.

LoveGodGreatly.com/blog post/August 15, 2025

“So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men
but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you yourselves, as living stones,
are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood…”

(1 Peter 2:4)
The More We Know

Insightful Explanation of Ephesians 3:6

For more insight into today’s journey, read today’s LGG Blog Post –> HERE

Want to know how to share in the mystery of Christ? Click Here

https://mefromthensideout.wordpress.com/2023/03/14/know-these-truths/
  1. Secure in Christ journal entry/p93 ↩︎
Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Living In Community, Not Made to Be Alone, Quiet Time

Standing on the Promises

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 41:1-20; SOAP / Isaiah 41:13

As believers we are God’s children, this means we can rest in these words that He spoke to Israel through Moses. Read and re-read verses 10 and 13. I memorized verse 10 years ago and I cannot tell you the number of times I have lay awake at night or walked through a storm of life claiming this verse – praying it – thanking Him for it – writing it … and finding it to put my mind and heart at rest. It is the essence of standing on God’s promises.

As you see noted in the above SOAP, living in community with God has great benefits – namely hope, joy, and strength- and to reiterate yesterday’s focus the assurance of His promises – ones like He will never abandon us, or fail us … and He will help us, and when we are in danger or afraid – He will hold our hand like a father and hold us up with His victorious right hand – and we will know with certainty the truth of the observations you see below – we have nothing to fear when we live in community with our God – because He is with us, He takes hold of our right hand, He speaks ‘peace’ to us, and He reminds us He is helping us. This is a true picture of a stronghold – this is our GOD!

For years I would get caught up in the fearful circumstances of life and fixate on the fear rather than God – It was this verse and the promise it proclaims – that taught me and helped me to remember it every time fear encroached. When we make it a habit to remember the things God has promised or the things He has done we will be strengthened in our Spirit, we will sense His victorious right hand holding us up and helping us. We will begin to trust Him as our Protector and stand on/rest in His promises.

Prayer: Response to God’s Word –

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout

Hope In Christ

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From “The Greatest Gift Given” wk3d3 ( An LGG Study)

Read: Romans 15:7-13; SOAP: Romans 15:13

7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.Christ the Hope of Jews and Gentiles 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:7-13

Reflection:

  • What does it mean to abound in hope?

Gifts always require some kind of sacrifice, and in Paul’s letter to the Roman believers he reminded them that Jesus has given us the perfect example to follow. 

Read more about the Great Giver and His amazing gifts

A blog from the LGG Team is also available at LoveGodGreatly.com

Posted in God is good, Prayer Starters

Vision Check

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By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him[a] for three months, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. 26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ[b] to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on[c] the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger, for he persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible.  Hebrews 11:23-27

Father, you are Good, Amid the distractions of the morning, the frustrations and hurts and concerns of this morning and the past week – in the middle of it all I am reminded that You are God and You are good. You are TRUSTWORTHY for You are FAITHFUL and TRUE! Help me, like Moses, to keep my eyes focused on You, looking forward to Your promise of life everlasting through the Messiah, Jesus Christ! Help my vision not be blurred by the pleasures and privileges of this life or blinded by the sufferings. Instead, help me to look to You above and before everything and everyone – and in this, may You find pleasure and be glorified!

Some trust in chariots some in horses but I will trust in the name of the name of the Lord, my God. Psalm 20:7

Posted in God is good

The Meditation of My Heart

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Father, You are good and in Your goodness You have given me much needed rest and I praise You. The enemy has been quick to target my mind with fiery darts of the past but Your Spirit has been faithful and quick to remind me to – take captive every thought to make it obedient to Jesus Christ! (2 Cor. 10:5) Help me to do this throughout today and everyday and to encourage others to do the same – so that,

The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart may be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Posted in From the Insideout

Grace is Greater than Sin

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S.O.A.P.ing the Scriptures has become my preferred way, and now habit, of studying God’s Word. I find that it not only enhances my time with Him but leads me to a greater understanding of the specific passage and of who He is. However, I have found that, as with any habit, it can sometimes become a rote routine rather than a time of truly looking intently into the Word of God.

Have you ever played the game where you are shown an array of items and asked to remember what is there? You are given just a certain amount of time to study what you see and then asked to list as many items as you can after they have been taken away from your sight. Perhaps if there are very few items a quick glance might be all that you need, but most often the game includes a vast array of items all piled together and you need to study rather than glance. As I S.O.A.P.ed today’s Scripture, Romans 5:15, I was reminded me of two things – one, that game – and two, I needed to slow down and really look at the passage before me.

A quick glance achieved restating the verse as best as I could under the ‘Observation’ section of the journal. There’s nothing really wrong with that, I’ve done it before and it’s worked. However, this time I noticed when it came to the ‘Application’ section of the journal page I struggled with what to write. The long and short of what I realized is this morning I hadn’t really been looking carefully and attentively into God’s Word, I had merely glanced. Perhaps out of familiarity with the passage or maybe out of rote habit, the reason isn’t important but the realization is. In this situation, it meant the difference in being able to apply God’s Word to my life or not, and that just wasn’t acceptable. So, I went back for another look. As with the game mentioned earlier, when the tray of items – or in this case – God’s Word was was looked at again, I was able to see what I had missed the first time.

This time my attentive observation yielded the treasure that the gift of grace, life through faith in Jesus Christ, is greater than the death that Adam’s sin brought upon all mankind. With this knowledge came the much clearer application that LIFE in Christ is better (greater, more desirable) than a life of sin. In other words, while the pleasure of sin may seem or feel more desirable the gift of life received through faith in Jesus is the more lasting (ETERNAL) pleasure. This prompted the visual: Grace>sin and with that visual came the real nugget of gold … Christ’s blood covers my sin with all of its guilt and shame! Yes, I already knew this TRUTH, but now I’m armed with it – fresh ammunition – so to speak. Should some temptation come my way or Satan’s fiery darts include guilt and shame I will be ready to stand firm!

As the application became clear the words from an old hymn started running through my mind. I’ve included them below. They are simple but profound and shared with the hope that they will be a blessing to all who read them.

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on Calvary’s mount out-poured there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt. * Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, whiter than snow you may be today. * Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace – freely bestowed on all who believe – you that are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive? (*refrain) Grace, grace, God’s grace – grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God’s grace – grace that is greater than all our sin.

Posted in Quiet Time
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Today’s Scripture: Romans 5:1-11 (S.O.A.P. Romans 5:3-5)

Question of the Day: What does “endurance” look like in a believer? What “character” does it build? And, what “hope” does the character produce?

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have[b] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also obtained access[c] into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice[d] in the hope of God’s glory. 3 Not[e] only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God[f] has been poured out[g] in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)[h] 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous[i] by His blood,[j] we will be saved through Him from God’s wrath.[k] 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by His life? 11 Not[l] only this, but we also rejoice[m] in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

After Thoughts