...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,...
To Ponder……
Just like the parable of the wise-man who built his house on the rock, a plant needs a strong established root system to thrive. A well-rooted plant will absorb water and nutrients in the soil up into the plant for nourishment and it will also allow a plant to withstand wind, storm and all the weather elements that may challenge the plant in its environment. Therefore, being firmly rooted is critical for the plant to flourish.
In today’s verse, Paul asks in prayer that Christ dwells in our hearts. Note, Christ is not being asked to hover around us on ‘stand-by’, or to be available ‘on-tap’ as we might have the need to engage with Him. Christ’s desired relationship with any faithful Christian is one of permanence. He wants to be invited into our hearts to take up permanent residence with us. (to dwell: from the Greek meaning to remain in occupancy).
Our Christian faith, which is nurtured by us being firmly rooted in God’s word and love, together with being firmly rooted via the love that we share with our fellow believers through our regular worship in our local congregation, is the foundation of our invitation to the Holy Spirit to permanently reside in our hearts. It should indeed be our desire for Christ to dwell within us as a permanent resident of our hearts.
To be firmly rooted in God’s word and have Him dwelling in our hearts, allows us to continually draw from Him (like the plant absorbing its food sources). To be anchored firmly in His love, gives us stability and confidence to know that we have His support and that He will be with us through life’s storms and uncertain times in our earthly journey.
PRAYER: Loving Father. You desire strongly to dwell within my heart and live with me. I am sorry for the times when I am not hospitable and even withdraw the invitation to you. Nurture my own spiritual growth and faith so that I can stay firmly rooted in your word and love, enabling You to lead me daily into the scenarios where You need me to be to fulfil Your work through me. Amen
Today's devotion written by Shane Burdack, LifeWay Epping.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
TO PONDER
I remember many years ago now that my wife (Danielle) travelled interstate and sat by her uncle’s bedside day and night (he was very much a father-figure to her during her younger years). She changed his bed-clothes and his bed linen when he was soiled, in his very last days, gave him cups with ice cubes to suck-on, and simply held his hand to be with him as he took his last earthly breath. I never imagined that she would be strong enough to do this, and she thought the same, but she wanted to be there for her Aunty, if nothing else. To this day, Danielle still proclaims that God gave her the inner-strength to ably manage the ordeal that she was confronted with.
As humans, we all understand the importance of our body’s physical strength, and the role that being physically strong plays in our daily lives. However, the physical state of our inner-being is even more important. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian’s, Paul earnestly asks God to work through His Holy Spirit in us (our inner-beings), so that we are strengthened with might, through all God’s glorious riches.
God’s riches are infinite and indeed glorious hence Paul’s prayer request of God is one of a most generous measure for us. God’s riches are not human centred earthly possessions, no, His glorious riches include the limitless Christ-like qualities that were on display during His time with us on earth over 2000 years ago, and those that He continues to shower over us today through His unfathomable love for us as our living God.
I too, pray that God through His Holy Spirit may continue to strengthen our inner beings and share treasures from His glorious riches such as His unconditional love, His mercy, His compassion, His care, His serving nature, His graciousness, and His wisdom, just to highlight a handful. These riches and everything else that our Lord provides us, equip us with absolutely all we need to serve Him and share the good news (and indeed these riches) with others to grow His earthly Kingdom.
PRAYER: God of glorious riches. You are the gracious provider of all things. Teach me to have total confidence that as your child, You will indeed provide all that I need to tackle every situation in life that You lead me into. Keep my heart and mind open to let Your Spirit dwell within me so that I am equipped to partner with You in Your earthly mission work here, including those things I would not have considered myself capable of doing. Amen
Today's devotion written by Shane Burdack, LifeWay Epping.
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
TO PONDER
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself the question of who our God really is? Yes, He is our Saviour, our Shepherd, He's almighty, loving, caring and gracious.
As I concluded some theology study through ACOM some years back and then embarked on a Cert IV in School Chaplaincy, this training helped me answer the question of what our God is not! A Chaplain in the State school environment is required to be non-faith based (sadly, in my opinion) to maintain the school's neutrality with regard a direct association with any one faith.
Part of the Cert. IV required students to study and demonstrate an understanding of multiple faiths (my primary focus outside Christianity was Islam). The stark observation I made from other faiths I looked at was that their god's were often threatening in nature, with stated consequences such as punishment including 'hard-times' for believers where rules were not met or religious criteria such as prayer times were not followed. The other stand-out observation for me was that believers of other faiths needed to 'earn their own way' to share in their god's rewards and riches!
Christianity couldn't be further from these observations! Our God loved the entire world and human race so deeply, that He sent His one and only Son Jesus to live with us, die, and rise from the tomb so all believers would be saved from their sin and receive the promise of eternal life with Him. Who else would do this?
As Christian's we receive this gift through grace, and grace alone. We do not earn it or participate in some reward system, no, God accepts us for who we are, with no retribution for our inevitable continued failures. Who else in their right mind would do this? Only a best friend would do such things.
This for me, provides deeper answers to the question of who God really is. He is living, He is our counsellor, our confidant and without doubt our best friend! The beautiful hymn titled "What a friend we have in Jesus" and the lyrics themselves say it all. Who else can we approach with absolute freedom and confidence at any time to discuss any topic? As the lyrics state, "Take it to the Lord in prayer".
PRAYER: God of Grace. I will never fully understand Your unfathomable love for me, which is totally undeserved. Continue to walk with me in life's journey and remind me that I can approach you with absolute freedom and confidence on any matter at any time, as you are my best friend. Amen
Today's devotion written by Shane Burdack, LifeWay Epping
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
TO PONDER
I think I have mentioned this before in one of these devotions, but it is funny how it has been highlighted to me again recently when a passage of scripture like this comes up.
On our recent time away during the Easter School holidays, our family took a road trip to Mt. Gambier in South Australia to visit my mum. We used our normal route which keeps us mostly on major highways and close to larger cities to make sure we could get access to fuel for the car.
My wife Elise and I commented at various points along the way how strange it felt to be so comfortable and 'at home' in so many places over such a long distance. As we approached Yass, we felt nostalgic and 'at home' because of our time living and working as interns at Warrambui which is located between Yass and Canberra on the Barton Highway. We noted as we headed into Albury for our overnight break from the drive how we both knew our way around Albury easily even though neither of us has ever lived their because of the time we spent visiting and staying with friends and colleagues from 'the old youth camp days'. As we approached Ballarat the next day I navigated the city easily as my memories of my first 12 months living as a university student in Ballarat reasserted themselves. Finally as we travelled though Hamilton - where I went to High school, Portland - where I grew up, and finally my Mum's new house - where we always used to go on holidays as kids, that familiar feeling of home also kicked in.
It's not unlike the sentiment being expressed by the psalmist in today's reading. The people of Israel had lived in various places. While their 'home' was the land promised to their forefathers, they had lived as slaves in Egypt, desert wanderers, and probably at the time of this psalm being written were exiles in the Babylonian or Assyrian Empires. But no matter their physical location, or the living conditions they may have been facing; freedom, exile, or slavery, they were always dwelling under the shelter of God's promise that He would be their God and they would be His people and that through them, he would make himself known to the nations.
Wherever your house or 'home' might be, no matter which town or city you know your way around (without google maps), no matter how many times you have moved house or changed address. If you are a child of God you always dwell in God's presence - that is your true home and dwelling place.
PRAYER: Lord God, thank you for the gift of your word which reminds us that there is no place we can go to hide from your presence. That you are our stronghold, our defence, our firm foundation; and that with you is peace, love, forgiveness and belonging. Please help me to foster those things in my own home that those who live with me, work with me, hang out with me, might also experience the peace, love, forgiveness and belonging that comes from being in your presence. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them."
TO PONDER
There's a funny little thing that sometimes happens in our family and it makes me very suspicious. From time to time, one of my children will come up to me and without any prompting or leading will say, "I love you Dad" and give me a great big hug.
What I have learned is that if I just let that hang there for a moment and reassure them with an "I love you too", than not too long later a confession of some wrongdoing or a broken household item is probably on its way.
We've had discussions a bit like the one Jesus seems to be having in today's reading. "I'm glad that you love me, and what has happened doesn't stop me from loving you, but a better way to show dad you love him, might be to take better care of his stuff, or by listening and following my instructions so that these kinds of things don't happen in the first place.
But isn't that often just how we behave with Jesus. We sing songs and hymns at church on Sunday that talk about our love for God and then go out to morning tea and start gossiping about the new couple who moved in down the road or the way that someone has done morning tea differently than usual. We pray, "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" but then don't spend too much time worrying about how that will might be done in our own lives - we just want him to make others behave - it doesn't occur to us that we might be the place where the free reign of the kingdom of God is getting choked up.
I'm going to share a line you are likely to hear a bit over the next few weeks (I pinched it from our sermon preparation chat for Sunday week) but as the LifeWay pastors were discussing God's word together, someone came up with the following statement, "God isn't asking for perfection, just obedience".
God doesn't need you to get your life in order before he takes up residence with you - Jesus took care of that on the cross. If you want to keep being where God is at work though, then it might be a good idea to get busy going where he goes and doing what he asks don't ya think?
PRAYER: Gracious Heavenly Father, I know there are times when I only remember to come to you when something has gone wrong. Today I ask that you help me to love you wholeheartedly and to trust you with everything I have and all I hope to be so that where you are, I may also be. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
TO PONDER
I have only experienced complete darkness on a couple of occasions in my life. Both times involved being in caves and tour guides turning out the electric lights that had been installed so tourists like myself could be shown around safely. It is a profound kind of experience being in that kind of complete darkness. Even though you can be surrounded by a small tour group, in that complete darkness there is a sense of separation and distance that creeps in even though logic tells you that the person who was standing next to before the lights went out would still be there if you would just reach out your hand.
The problem with living in darkness sometimes isn't the darkness itself but what can be done 'unseen' in the darkness - as one of these tour guides took the opportunity to show us while he made falling noises and hid behind the panel of light switches before turning the lights back on. Some people saw through the ruse almost immediately. some panicked almost as immediately.
It's a stunt that never would have worked in the daylight as we would all ave seen what was really going on, but in the darkness our minds leap to all sorts of conclusions.
Living in the light of Christ and his resurrection, living in his kingdom of light and truth, helps us to see what's really going on. It helps us to see our own brokenness, it helps us see our need for a saviour and it helps us see God as someone who loves us.
But there are people still living in the darkness of this world who still don't know a god who loves them and instead have been convinced that god is a killjoy or he is out to 'get you'. others who have been tricked into thinking that this life has no value or purpose but is all just a bunch of random chaos. What the enemy can convince us of in the dark is in fact a little scary. So live in the Light - since you have been rescued from the darkness and brought into the light - let that light shine before others so they too may see what's really going on and glorify your father in heaven. Don't let the darkness have even a tiny bit of your life.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you that you have rescued and called me out of darkness and into your marvellous light. Please help me to live each day in the light, as you are in the light and to shine that light brightly to others. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.
TO PONDER
There is a difference between living as a guest in someone else's house and living in a place that you can call home.
There was a period of time before we moved away from Canberra for me to commence study at Australian Lutheran College and become a pastor, where Elsie and I moved out of our rental accomodation in Canberra and moved in for almost a month with Elise's parents.
They were wonderful, generous hosts and did everything they could to help and support us in the transition from life as a double income family in Canberra to a welfare dependent student family in Adelaide. However, even though Elise was their daughter, and I - through marriage - was also a family member (part of the household to use the Bible language) it didn't feel like home. We knew the arrangement was temporary, we didn't settle in or get comfortable because we knew we would be moving on to whatever God had in store for us next.
Maybe that's what get's us out of whack with one another in this life. perhaps we too easily forget, even as Christians, that this world is not really our home. We belong to the household of God and our actual permanent address is with him in his kingdom for eternity. But while we are here in this life, it's easy to forget that this life is not all there is. So we can fall into bickering with one another over all the kinds of 'silly' things that housemates sharing a temporary living situation can find themselves arguing over. Things like whose turn it is to clean the dishes, or who left the dirty socks on the floor.
What Paul is getting at here is that the point is not laying blame or pointing out differences, but that as members of the same household, we just need to make sure the dishes get done and the laundry gets washed. Bickering about who has to do it or how someone does it differently is beside the point. Because the ultimate truth of this situation is simply this, when we fail at something, we are part of Jesus' household and he has already promised to address the mistakes we make and also the mistakes of those who we share this life with, so there really is nothing to argue about.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, sometimes family can be the hardest people to get along with. As your people, we have not always been good at loving one another and getting along. Please help me to see past the things that make me different from others and help me to see the part of them that is made in your image. Help me to learn to value and treasure the good in those who cross my path and to help them feel welcome and accepted into your household (family) Amen.
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
TO PONDER
Who, is your biggest 'hostile' threat at the moment? Here in Australia we have not felt the effects of global conflict acutely for generations. Even now with fuel prices through the roof and the rising cost of living being driven up by global conflict overseas, we don't really have a lot to complain about. It's not our families and friends caught up in the fighting and bombing raids that have been the lived experience of so many people around the world in recent years. So it is easy to sometimes think of ourselves as not having "enemies" in that kind of sense.
However, most of us have a person, or maybe even a group of people, whom we like to blame for all our problems. Maybe it's the politicians, Perhaps it's the boss at work. Maybe it's a daily battle between yourself and a spouse or some other family member. Maybe it's just the unknown resident of your neighbourhood who keeps parking their work trailer full of yard clippings and landscaping equipment right out the front of your house because it is the only scrap of vacant street space on your block! (yes, that last one comes from personal experience.)
The problem is that in Christ, those things that we use to categories people and separate "us" from "them" are no longer relevant.
For generations, the people of Israel had known they were God's chosen people, the beneficiaries of God's promise to their ancestor Abraham. They considered themselves separate and 'special' but forgot that with the promise came a purpose - that God would bless the whole world through them.
In Christ, that purpose had been fulfilled and now, In Christ, the distinction between Israelite and Gentile was no longer valid. God's grace and mercy was now freely available to all who acknowledged Jesus as Lord; Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male or female. In Christ there is no longer 'us' and 'them' anything that creates a dividing wall of hostility is counter to God's plan and purpose. Now reconciled in Christ, we are one body, the body of Christ and his continuing presence to the world.
Makes you wonder doesn't it, whether all our bickering over the finer points of Christian doctrine is as important as we might like to believe?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, It is still hard at times, to see others the same way you see them, especially when they have hurt or offended me. Please help me to remember that just as I might sometimes think others are undeserving of your grace and mercy, that the same is true of me and those I love. No one deserves your grace and forgiveness, yet you offer it freely to us all because of your great love for us. Help me to have that same love for others that they might come to know you and your love for them. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
TO PONDER
I read an interesting series of articles recently that were pointing out some hard truths about the church in modern society.
This series of essays suggested that a large contributing factor for the decline in church attendance over recent years, and one that is rarely ever talked about, is the reality that for a long period of time, church attendance, or at least some kind of religious observance, is what marked you as a decent member of society. That for generations, the social expectation was that you went to church on Sundays, listened to the sermon, said prayers at meal times, gave generously to the church and perhaps to other charitable foundations, and that these 'visible' performances were what made you respectable in your community.
As society shifted in it's requirements and 'attendance at church' ceased to be such a recognised marker of 'goodness' or became something of an optional extra, rather than a central requirement, many people opted to step away. It's almost as if many people were attending church for the exact reasons that Ephesians chapter 2 critiques.
Being a Christian, was never supposed to be about performing certain religious observances. Jesus, and also Paul here in Ephesians, reminds us that it was and is always about what god has done for us. I think you see the effects of forgetting this in modern day global and domestic politics. Those in power seem to be under the impression that they have to continually boast about the good things their party have achieved while in government in order to stay in government. This is unfortunately how much of this world operates. However, If we live our lives "in Christ" the same way, then we don't really understand what living in grace is all about.
Grace is not about performing, or boasting, or earning. While everyone around us might be busy earning or boasting about what they have done, Jesus invites us to rest in the victory he has already won for us. In Christ - in His Grace - there is rest from striving, and performance base salary and an invitation to rest and just be. So why not give that a try today and see if you can rest from your striving and boasting just for a bit, and let the grace of Jesus Christ be the place that you live your life from today?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you that in your death and resurrection there is life and forgiveness for those who place their trust in you. Please help me to remember that the main goal of my faith is not to boast about my goodness to others, but rather that others may see your goodness as I live out of your gracious love and mercy. Amen
Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle