Daily Encouragement

May 31, 2009 - Our Riches In Christ

The book of Ephesians is such a rich book. It is full of blessings and teachings for Christians. Right after the salutation, we are informed that believers already have possessed every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The list of blessings are so tremendous that we should read them again and again carefully so we can be filled with confidence and praises to our God who loves us so very much.

Especially we should pray to understand several things in our inner eyes as Paul prayed so for the Ephesians:

1. The hope of God's calling,

2. The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and

3. What is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

That power is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heaven places! (v. 18-21)

As a result of our constant prayer for such, our spiritual eyes are opened to see the reality of these blessings we have in Christ. We will have great power and joy in living for Him and serving Him in the church which is His body.

Lord, make us to understand.

June 1, 2009 - Your Heavenly Position

Meditation on Ephesians 2

The Word of God says that after we have been made alive spiritually with Christ by His grace, "and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (v. 6-7 ESV) Please notice the grammar of verse six. Every Christian has been raised up with Christ and granted a seat in heaven already. This is not a future event. It has been done when you were born again.

Verse seven says that God did it for us so that he might continue to show multiples blessings toward us through Jesus. Have you recognized your current position in heaven?

You have a seat there already because of what Jesus has done for you in grace. Your status is like a heavenly prince. You are a child of the heavenly Father and King.

Therefore you have the authority to do God's business and be His ambassador. You have the power to overcome Satanic attack. You can do great things for God. You will also have the presence of His angel to watch over you. You and fellow Christians have the authority to bind and loose in Jesus' name through prayers in harmony.

Let us praise God for our heavenly position in Christ.

June 2, 2009 - Does Jesus Feel At Home In Your Heart?

Meditation on Ephesians 3

In Ephesians 3:14-17a, one of Paul's prayer request for the Christians there was "that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." (NKJV)

We know that the moment we receive Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, He does come in as He has promised in Revelation 3:20 and we have eternal life right away. (1 John 5:11-13) Therefore a brand new Christian would have Jesus in his heart. (Colossians 1:27) Now then, why did Paul still have to pray for that?

John MacArthur's commentary gives a very good exposition. He says that it is not a prayer for salvation but for sanctification. We do need to pray that Jesus will be more and more "at home" in our hearts. There are things in our lives which make Christ uncomfortable. Through the power of the Spirit, those unwholesome things have to be cleaned up. Let the Holy Spirit convict us of our sins so we may confess them. Let the Spirit strengthen our heart's desire to live for Christ and bear His yoke. The result is that Christ will indeed settle down like a dear family member in our lives and not like a stranger. We will have close communion with Him all the time. We will have sweet fellowship with Christ like Abraham and David did.

Wouldn't we all like that? Let us pray for that.

June 3, 2009 - The Process Of Christian Maturity

Meditation on Ephesians 4

If you want to grow as a Christian, you must go through the process of Christian maturity described in Ephesians 4:11-16. In verse eleven, God has given five categories of gifted workers to build up the believers. You must take the time to submit to their equipping.

The first kind is the apostles. Besides the twelve, the New Testament indicates that there are other servants of God who were called apostles. The apostles are the sent ones who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to plant churches in other areas where the Gospel has not reached yet. I would say that they are the missionaries.

The second kind is the prophets who are the spokesmen for God. Paul wished everyone to have the gift of prophecies so we could preach the word of God with understanding and power. They do not necessarily have to predict the immediate future. So we can call them preachers today.

The third kind is the evangelists who lead people to Christ through sharing the Good News effectively.

The fourth kind is the pastors who care and feed the flock.

The fifth kind is the gifted teachers who instruct the word of God.

Verses twelve to thirteen show us the result of their equipping ministry that the body of Christ is edified. The goal is that all will "come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." (NKJV) Then we will all be mature to be like Christ.

That means that we will be united in doctrine through the Word of Christ. And we will not be easily deceived by winds of false teachings and cunning scheme of the world. (v. 14)

But rather speak honestly with one another with the truth of Jesus in a loving manner so we may grow together in Christ who is the focus and reason of all that we do. (v. 15) Through such process, we will all link and knit together with each other through Christ. We will support each other and contributing our share for the growth of the Body of Christ in love.

We will then be truly mature.

June 4, 2009 - The Relationship Between Husband And Wife

Meditation on Ephesians 5

Let us just pay attention to the relationship between husband and wife as commanded in the word of God. First of all, every wife is to submit to her own husband as to the Lord. (v. 22) The verb, "submit" here in Greek grammar is in a middle voice which means that it is a voluntary submission for the sake of the Lord and she is not being forced to do it.

She loves her husband. Therefore she is willing to submit to him. Interestingly, it seems that lots of Christian women have failed to obey this truth. I met an elderly widow some years ago who loved the Lord very much. She had represented China in some great events among the nations. Her husband was a rich banker in China in the old days. In our Bible study group one time, she made a personal discovery after we read Ephesians 5:24. She said, "All these years, I never realized that I had to submit to my husband in every thing!" But that was exactly what the word of God said.

Secondly, there are lot more passages that require the husband to love his wife from Ephesians 5:25-33. We know that the Agape love in the Bible refers to laying down oneself for others. (1 John 3:16) That means that the husband must lay down some of his own ambition, interest, wishes for the good of his wife. That kind of action requires sacrifices and that's a lot more than submitting demands. Usually, when a husband demonstrates his love to his wife like that, she would not hesitate to submit to him.

Do we need to wait till our spouse to fulfill his or her role before we fulfill ours? No. Regardless what your partner do, you still take the initiative to obey Christ and His word.

June 5, 2009 - Wrestling With Spiritual Enemies

Meditation on Ephesians 6

Beginning from verse ten, this chapter deals with the struggle of Christians against the great host of wicked and cunning enemies in the heavenly places who are against God. We must realize that it is not easy to live a Christian life since Satan would use all kinds of weapons and tricks to discourage, attack, and deceive us. He will try to put doubt in our mind, divide us, cause confusion, and devise any method to slow us down in service.

God's word teaches us to "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." (v. 10 NASB) The armor God has provided for us is the following: the girding on of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and constant prayers in the Spirit. (v. 14-20)

All of the pieces in the armor must be put on in order to stand firm against the evil one. May I encourage you to study each piece carefully with your spiritual partner or Sunday school teacher so you will be strong in the Lord and capable to win your battle for Christ.

June 6, 2009 - Christ, My Life

Meditation on Philippians 1

The central focus for Philippians chapter one is verse twenty one, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (ESV) Paul stated that always he wanted to honor Christ in his body. So to him, Christ was his life. That meant people could see Christ through his life.

Not only Paul could say that. All Christians should be able to say that. For Christian is a Christ Jr. or little Christ according to the composition of the word, “Christ” + “ian”. (ian means junior or little.) A person can be called a Christ Junior only because he has the life of Christ in him. So it should be natural for a Christian to say that, to him, to live is Christ.

When you live for Christ, you pray for others and share with them about Christ in all circumstances. Look at Paul, he prayed for the Philippians all the time. Though he was chained with the body guards of the Roman king, he still preached Christ. As a result, all the imperial guards had a chance to hear the gospel. Though he wanted to leave this world to be with Christ, he rather stayed to live for Christ for the sake of encouraging the Philippians and partnering with them for the gospel. That was a life full of Christ.