EPHESIANS 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

OLLA....how are u all doing, hope everything is going out good for you guys, anyways this is what i learned for todays devotion.

v2. Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Christ Jesus.

So in this verse, God has given us grace and peace in this world. How, by sending his son, Jesus christ down to earth to sacrifice himself on the cross for our sin. And when he did that, he brought grace and peace to you, and in this world. I like it how every sunday before Sam starts his sermon, he would say grace to you and peace. That God grace in are minds and the peace he has given us. Its a really good start to say thanks.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blamless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to praise of his glorious gracem which he has freely given us in the on he loves.

Every single on of us in this world is created for a reason. As Pastor Sam would always say, we are not here by mistake, God has call every single one of us to be here. As it says in this passage, that God has chosen us even before we were born, even before the world was created. He had it in his mind all along. And will never forget it. If people say negative things to you, ignore it, God has created us for good things. We must always think positive and never the negative, why because God doesnt want to see you upset, he wants you to be happy, thats why has created us. So be happy always, and God will be happy too.

AMEN.............................

Have a good day guys, and may God be with you.........................

JJ, I really liked what you wrote, especially about always being positive knowing that we're made in God!


Ephesians 1

11. 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.

Firstly, hearing the word "inheritance" and correlating it as our gift from God took a moment for me to comprehend. People look forward to inheritances from man, but an inheritance from the almighty God, and the fact that He's given it to sinful us, is beyond all comprehension to me. God is good.

Secondly, I love when it says that He makes everything work out according to His plan. Passages like this always just give me that comforting nudge I need, every once in a while. It reminds me that I haven't anything to worry about, because so long as I make the investment of putting my trust in Him, there is nothing to fear.

13. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit.

Ever since we first began these devotions, one theme that I've always come back to is calling upon the Holy Spirit to always partake in your life, because it's something that I really want to work on. Here it distinguishes it even more by reminding us that it's not just something that's always "there", whether we want to acknowledge it or not - because I know that I have a hard time remembering it. Paul says that the Holy Spirit was GIVEN to us, it's a GIFT from God. It was never something that He owed to us, but something that He reckoned we might need and find very useful to navigate through this world, and with awareness that the Holy Spirit is omnipotent and can move mountains, why WOULDN'T you call upon it every minute of the day? It's hard too, though. I struggle with it constantly. But every next reminder is just as valuable, so I appreciated reading and remembering this again today. I want to really try to allow the Holy Spirit to lead my life. (And in that, it'll help me to Always Worship).

See you guys!

- H

merci hannah,

Hannah, you bring out a good point that if we have trust in God, there is nothing to fear.

aha just got home, i can't htink properly..tired!
I'll read it again tonight and i'll post it tomorrow.

hey guys!
I didn't get much out of this but it got me thinking of predestination that it mentions at the begining.
I like to think our praise team was "destined" to be together. Because after thinking of all the variables its really God at work...
first, rohan coming to lead (well for that matter) is such a big factor. He didn't have to, but he wanted to serve. Second, I remember cathy telling me when she first played at the summer retreat that she was surprised when she was asked to play. Third, steven and allan stayed even tho they didn't play or play the instrument they wanted to. And I only played the bass by accident at school which lead me to wantong to join which also lead to me inviting mike to come with.
There is probably more things that I missed but that's what I know.
we were meant to play together. That's my idea.

-Enjoy!

I think when the Jews first heard of God and believed in Him, they glorified Him and praised Him so that His name could be heard by other people. Then, these people would eventually start believing in God and hopefully this belief will continue to spread around the world.
That is to say, we can't keep God to ourselves and be happy that we're the only ones being saved...