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Chapter
2
Ephesians
2:1-10 Made
Alive in Christ
Forgive me Lord................. I can't bear to think of the sin that condemned you to death................. How can we listen to the words of Satan when you offer us redemption?................. Why is it so hard to be obedient?................. Why do we respond to our sinful desires................. Why am I still so important in my eyes since I am only a micro dot in your creation?................. But your LOVE for me is so great that you Love me into recognition of my nothingness................. Then you raise me up, I exist because you are within me?................. You invite me to be part of Christ?................. Seated in the realms of Heaven, this is more than kindness.................saved by your incomprehensible grace................. The Faith that will save me is your gift to me, a free gift of salvation and freedom.................
We are your workmanship, you are the Potter and you took these lumps of clay to mould us, remaking the old man Adam. New life has been breathed in.................JESUS................. It is He who will do good works using our hands, our feet, our voices.
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Grace
- God's riches at Christ's expense!
I
thought that trivial when I first heard it, a trite way of explaining that gift
-
but
Christ did pay the ultimate price to give me salvation and
everlasting life.
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Ephesians 2:11-22 One in Christ
Praise the Lord................. He has made us one with Him. He first did away with the barriers between Jew and Gentile................. We no longer need the law - that is now to be written in our hearts................. He established a New Covenant................. We are reconciled to God through the Cross.................but His purpose was also to reconcile the Gentile to the Jew.................but forgive us we have further divided your people................. And yet we can be one, that was the prayer of Jesus Himself.................. O let us come together and ask for forgiveness, let us draw into your presence and allow you to touch our wounds, those deep places where we have not allowed reconciliation................. Reconciliation usually means compromise - but this is just our foolish pride................. We each know that we can come into your presence - then nothing matters but you, so we plead with you Lord give us the grace to let others into that same space................. Your grace is sufficient for us all, let us see our differences in terms of our wants and preferences. Help us to be more tolerant of the needs of our fellow Christians................. What hope is there to be able to share your Love in the world whilst we are divided? You O Jesus are our PEACE, we are one Church, one Holy Temple with Christ as the Cornerstone.
Thank you for that beautiful picture of the building................. I am just one stone held up by the Christians who have gone before me, and supported on each side by my peers.................and O such joy to be kept in place by younger Christian stones who sit above me in the wall................. May I not fail them in my support and encouragement for them.
But sadly as I meditated on that beautiful old building, it was in places crumbling................ I pray for the rebuilding, the restoration, the renewing of those walls. But the design is yours O Lord, you are the architect, but please help us to build.
Unite us Lord with your bonding cement of LOVE, that you may be glorified by and in your Church.a]ca]c
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Peace
(Eph 2:14-17)
For
he himself is our peace, he has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of
hostility,
he
has abolished in his body the law with all its regulations.
His
has created in himself one body, one church, thus making peace,
and this
one body is reconciled to all it's parts and
to God
through
the cross.
He
came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were
near.
Let
us go forth in peace to preach the Good News of the Gospel of Peace.
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