Monday July 18, 2022

Today is Monday, July 18 and we are exploring Ephesians chapter four.

As a new day dawns, I prioritize the most important activity of the entire day – time with my Heavenly Father. I seek to abide in his loving presence and receive his wise counsel.

Pause and Pray

Blessed Lord, I am here to spend time with you. I set aside my cares and concerns, quiet my endless stream of thoughts, breathe deeply and focus on your divine presence and steadfast love. Amen.

I turn to God with a heart full of pure intentions and praise him with the words of Psalm 73.

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. Psalm 73:1-3, 7

Pause and Pray

In chapter four, Paul turns his letter to offer direct commands for Christian conduct and holy living for the Ephesians. Through his teaching, Paul helps believers move toward a new life in Christ. He begins with a bleak reminder of the fall of humanity – without Jesus Christ we are separated from God and alienated from his kingdom. In the first century, Ephesus was a grand, thriving, bustling, populous city in Asia Minor. The economy was booming from international trade as a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a tourist destination where people came to view modern architectural marvels including an outdoor theater and enormous temple dedicated to Artemis a pagan fertility goddess. Ephesus was somewhat of a “sin city” known for its cult prostitution, sexual immorality, occult practices and black magic arts. Paul urges the new Christians at Ephesus to no longer live like the people around them.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. Ephesians 4:17-19

As the people of Ephesus were surrounded by a culture that promotes what is contrary to God’s kingdom, so am I. Like them, in Christ, I also have a new identity. Once I had been excluded from citizenship with God, separated and far off, but now I am brought near by the sacrifice of Jesus on my behalf. I am also subject to futility in my thinking – the aimless and pointless focus of my mind’s attention on worldly things that have little ultimate significance. I too was once darkened in my understanding and ignorant of God’s amazing plan for humanity through Jesus. I am susceptible to a hardness of heart – becoming callous and insensitive to right and wrong and/or unresponsive to God’s persistent attempts to reach me.

Ask: Since the time I believed the gospel and gave myself to Jesus, how have I changed? What was different about my life then and now?

Pause and Pray

Holy Lord God, I no longer want to live as I was before I knew Jesus. I once filled my mind with pointless thoughts, was limited in my understanding, ignorant of good and evil, had a calloused heart, was without sensitivity, indulged in impurity and greed, and was separated from goodness. No more! I want Jesus to inhabit my soul and fill me with wisdom, truth, compassion, kindness, purity and generosity. I read the words from Ephesians again and listen for the message you have for me.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. Ephesians 4:17-19

Ask: What image, word or phrase stands out to me when I slowly read this passage? What is God trying to say to me through these words of scripture?

Pause and Pray

Paul’s words in Ephesians convict me to carefully examine how I am living my life today. I consider what most occupies my mind. Am I living in a way that allows useless concerns to dominate my thoughts or do I fill my mind with the things of God? What are the things that soften my heart and where have I become calloused? Where do I find myself sensitive and compassionate and when am I complacent or indifferent? In what ways have I capitulated to the pleasures of the world around me and when have I sought to put God’s ways first?

Pause and Pray

Come, Holy Spirit, shine a bright light on my current lifestyle and reveal the places in me that resist spiritual progress and concede to spiritual regression. Come, call me to account and inspire me to return to your ways and your truth. Fill my mind with your wisdom and my heart with your compassionate love. Amen.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. Hebrews 3:12-14

I leave this time of prayer with a pure heart to share the truth of Christ and encourage others with his love.

Amen