Monday – October 24, 2016
Well, another week is upon us, for others this new week started yesterday, in any event we need to get off to an informed start focused on the will of the Father. Welcome to The Three Minute Word a publication of Eastern Gate Ministries International, Inc. Now, I will dive right back into our study from the Book of Ephesians. God is so good to give us His Word, His will, our reality when we choose to be in Him.
Ephesians 2:4-7 (KJV)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Verse four above would in the King James Version seem to indicate that God’s love for us is past tense. The tense of the phrase “wherewith he loved us” is aorist active. The aorist tense is independent of time, so He has loved us, He does love us, and He will love us is encompassed in this phrase. Oh, what a God has chosen us! Have all who are reading this chosen Him?
To be dead in sins, is to be dead spiritually. This means that the person is not connected to God, they are not born again, they are not in the family of God, they are not in the Kingdom of God, they have no part of the Holy Spirit, and for the most part their spirit man is unable to understand the things of God. However unto every person God has given the capacity to believe the gospel and receive salvation.
Romans 12:3 (KJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Romans 10:9 (KJV)
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
To believe in our heart is to exercise our God given faith. This is not natural faith we learn concerning the natural world, this is supernatural spiritual faith that God has given all in His mercy. When we made that decision to declare Jesus as Lord we were made alive unto God instantly. Our understanding and spiritual eyes which were in gross spiritual darkness moments before are now illuminated with spiritual light. O What a Savior! O What a Father! Thank you Father, thank you Jesus, thank you Holy Spirit for salvation! And, thank you for The Blood Covenant!
Colossians 1:12-14 (KJV)
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
As we look back at our text in Ephesians 2:5 which tells us that even when we were a filthy mess, God responded to our plea for help, made us alive by His own Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, the same Holy Spirit that restored Jesus as God, as the Word. We were quickened or made alive spiritually with the certainty of an incorruptible body to follow, with and in Christ. Christ the Messiah, Christ the Anointed One, and Christ (Grace) the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus ratified The Blood Covenant the hope of all mankind was solidified. The Holy Spirit not only dwells with us, an anointing over us, but dwells in us in close association with our spirit man. Take a look at the Ephesians text in the Message Translation.
Ephesians 2:3-6 (MSG)
3 We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.
4 Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love,
5 he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!
6 Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Praise the Lord that I chose to be alive in Christ.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
