Thursday, May 10, 2018
Ever since
I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s
people everywhere, I
have not stopped thanking God for you. I
pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your
knowledge of God. 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. I also pray that you will
understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised
Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand
in the heavenly realms. Now he is far
above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in
this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of
Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full
and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself. Ephesians 1:15-23(NLT)
Paul constantly prayed
for the believers at Ephesus that their minds would embrace wisdom from God’s
Holy Spirit, and that it would continually expand their strength to mature them
as individual believers and as a church.
My take on an old
saying: Give a man a fish, you have fed
him for a day; teach a man to fish and you have equipped him to eat for a
lifetime.
Of course it all
depends on whether or not a man likes fish!
In Paul’s case, he had heard the Ephesian believers loved Christ with a strong
faith, and that drove Paul to his knees constantly on behalf of this
church, that their wisdom and service would grow stronger.
This is the kind
of grounding
prayer that is needed in the life of any believer. It is one thing to go forward at a crusade
while the choir is singing Just As I Am; it is an entirely
different (and needful) thing to grow up into Christ as a disciple who serves
Him well.
To be
well-grounded means your root goes deep into the vine. Jesus told his disciples this plainly:
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t
produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will
produce even more. You have already been
pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is
severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. John 15:1-4(NLT)
This importance of
understanding this analogy cannot be stressed too far – we NEED to be
grounded in Christ as much as we need our next breath of air.
The older I get,
the more my prayer life turns to grounding for you. I pray constantly that those believers I know,
both mature, serving Christians, as well as those newborn in the faith, will daily
connect-with, and remain-in the vine. I
pray that you will become healthier in your connection to Jesus, stronger and
wiser, following the leading of His Spirit, producing much fruit for the
Kingdom.
This vine
connection embraces that same power that raised Jesus from the
dead. And, being that close to the
throne of God produces true joy!
For You Today
At the start of
this day, and every day, it is vitally-important to check your power
connection. Are you going to abide
in THE
VINE today?
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