Have you been journeying with us on the quest to know our true identity in Christ? If not, I encourage you to read last week’s blog on Scribbles and Confessions. We started off looking at who our Father God is. That is the foundation—if we don’t know who our Father is then we will never know who we are in Him.
If you are parent, you would know that it hurts when your child is in pain—be it physical or emotional. Imagine the pain our Heavenly Father must have had when He sent His son into this broken world to die a painful death for you and me. And why did He do it? —His deep love for us. He redeemed us from the clutches of sin and what could have been an eternal death.
The biggest truth I would like to tell you today is—YOU ARE SO LOVED BY GOD.
We have a distorted image of ourselves as we have been conditioned over the years to believe lies spoken to us by people around us. Unfortunately, most of us have believed these lies and may have unconsciously spoken them over us ‘n’ number of times. Even some of our self-deprecatory words have roots of something spoken to us in the past and it has detrimental effects on our lives. We may not know it now but the debris of negative words collected over the years turns into a mountain eventually. So, this week we are going to recondition our lives by declaring the truth over us from the Word of God.
We will focus on Ephesians 1 which unveils God’s Ultimate Plan for us. It is Paul’s letter to the Ephesians which contains the doctrines of the gospel. According to Charles Spurgeon, “Whosoever would see Christianity in one treatise, let him ‘read, mark, learn and inwardly digest’ the Epistle to the Ephesians.”
I thoroughly enjoy journaling and I have written my name, along with my husband’s and kids’ names all across this chapter. In the initial verses, Paul extends his greetings; our declaration begins from verse three. So, get your highlighter or pen and get ready to personalise this chapter.
There are 11 verses in this declaration that we are about to speak over us. Put your name (your family members as well) in the blank space.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed __________ in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as He chose _________in Him before the foundation of the world, that ___________should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined ____________ for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed ____________ in the Beloved. 7 In Him _____________have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of ___________ trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon __________, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to ________ the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In Him _________ have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 so that _______ who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In Him ________ also, when _________heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of _________ inheritance until ________ acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
This is essentially the truth and this is what Christ died for. I hope this this truth will sink into your heart and mind. Let us declare this over our lives for the next seven days before we get into the next step of deeply soaking the identity of who we are in Christ. If you feel like you have to read it 10 times a day, DO IT!
I don’t know what is more powerful than reading the Scriptures with your name on it; to say that He has purchased us for “the praise of His glory” or “His great pleasure” as some versions put it. God’s purpose in all things is so that those have trusted Christ will exist to the praise of His glory. We are called and privileged to glorify God, not just in singing and praying, not just in doing things we identify as “spiritual” but also in every part of life, every action, every thought, every feeling. Imagine how different your life might be if you began to think of glorifying God as the core purpose of everything.
If you are parent, you would know that it hurts when your child is in pain—be it physical or emotional. Imagine the pain our Heavenly Father must have had when He sent His son into this broken world to die a painful death for you and me. And why did He do it? —His deep love for us. He redeemed us from the clutches of sin and what could have been an eternal death.
The biggest truth I would like to tell you today is—YOU ARE SO LOVED BY GOD.
We have a distorted image of ourselves as we have been conditioned over the years to believe lies spoken to us by people around us. Unfortunately, most of us have believed these lies and may have unconsciously spoken them over us ‘n’ number of times. Even some of our self-deprecatory words have roots of something spoken to us in the past and it has detrimental effects on our lives. We may not know it now but the debris of negative words collected over the years turns into a mountain eventually. So, this week we are going to recondition our lives by declaring the truth over us from the Word of God.
We will focus on Ephesians 1 which unveils God’s Ultimate Plan for us. It is Paul’s letter to the Ephesians which contains the doctrines of the gospel. According to Charles Spurgeon, “Whosoever would see Christianity in one treatise, let him ‘read, mark, learn and inwardly digest’ the Epistle to the Ephesians.”
I thoroughly enjoy journaling and I have written my name, along with my husband’s and kids’ names all across this chapter. In the initial verses, Paul extends his greetings; our declaration begins from verse three. So, get your highlighter or pen and get ready to personalise this chapter.
There are 11 verses in this declaration that we are about to speak over us. Put your name (your family members as well) in the blank space.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed __________ in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as He chose _________in Him before the foundation of the world, that ___________should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined ____________ for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed ____________ in the Beloved. 7 In Him _____________have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of ___________ trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon __________, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to ________ the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In Him _________ have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 so that _______ who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In Him ________ also, when _________heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of _________ inheritance until ________ acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
This is essentially the truth and this is what Christ died for. I hope this this truth will sink into your heart and mind. Let us declare this over our lives for the next seven days before we get into the next step of deeply soaking the identity of who we are in Christ. If you feel like you have to read it 10 times a day, DO IT!
I don’t know what is more powerful than reading the Scriptures with your name on it; to say that He has purchased us for “the praise of His glory” or “His great pleasure” as some versions put it. God’s purpose in all things is so that those have trusted Christ will exist to the praise of His glory. We are called and privileged to glorify God, not just in singing and praying, not just in doing things we identify as “spiritual” but also in every part of life, every action, every thought, every feeling. Imagine how different your life might be if you began to think of glorifying God as the core purpose of everything.