God’s love for us is truly beyond our comprehension.
If God so loved the world shouldn’t we? John 3:16
The gift of the Father, in the sacrifice of Jesus, can only be understood through Holy Spirit. He takes the teachings of Jesus and changes us from the inside out. We are able to love others because He first loved us.
In our free will we may not choose Him but He will always choose us.
God wants no one to live without Him in their lives.
Job 11:7–9
“Can you search out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?
They are higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know…
He loves us so very much! Out of God’s love we are given the gift of life. We were created for good works to show others His love for all of His creation. To God alone all glory belongs. Carla
Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Father and family are related words in the original text. All families of men and angels derive from God the Father, their Creator.
Dwell suggests settling in at home. Christ resides in a believer’s heart.
The love of Christ is so great that it is beyond our understanding. The fullness of God is the abundance of gifts that flows from God.
These two verses 3:20 and 21 form a doxology, or praise, to God in which Paul points out that God can do exceedingly abundantly above anything we may ask. Neither God’s love nor His power is limited by human imagination. The NKJV Study Bible
Every family refers to all creation—every family and class, Jews and Gentiles alike.
In the ancient Near East, naming something amounted to bringing it into existence, giving it identity, and exercising authority over it. Since all creation derives its name from the Father, He is both its source and its ruler (Genesis 1:1–5; Psalm 147:4; Isaiah 40:26).
To be strengthened with power is the prayer’s central appeal. The statements that follow branch off from this main request. God empowers believers through His indwelling presence in their lives.
Paul restates the prayer’s central appeal, identifying the presence of Christ with the empowerment of the Spirit (Ephesians 3:16). Just as the Church is becoming a holy temple for God (2:21–22), so the individual believer receives the presence of Christ (Galatians 2:20). The Greek word used here, katoikeō, for may dwell carries the sense of residing permanently.
The heart in ancient Greek and Jewish thought represents the essential aspects of existence and identity: the inner being, will, and intelligence. Firmly rooted and established, Paul uses these two metaphors—one agricultural (“rooted”) and the other architectural (“established”)—as a reminder of the stability that Christ provides. Paul’s ultimate hope is that the indwelling presence of Christ will deepen the believers’ experience of God’s love.
In love refers to God’s love (Ephesians 2:4). The breadth, and length, and height and depth evokes the boundless nature of Christ’s love. The love of Christ is beyond human comprehension. The fullness of God could refer to the blessings of God (1:3–8) or to His perfection and completeness.
Jewish prayers often ended with a blessing to God (1 Chronicles 16:35–36; Romans 16:25–27).
Paul uses several Greek terms related to power and work in Ephesians, including dynamis (“power”) and its related verb dynamai, and ergon (“work”) and its related verb energeō. In this verse, Paul praises God both as “the one who is able” (tō dynamenō) and as the “power” (dynamis) that is “working” (energeō) in believers (Ephesians 3:20). Earlier in the letter, Paul prays that the Ephesians will know the surpassing greatness of God’s dynamis according to the energeia of His might (1:19). He also describes his ministry as a gift given to him by the energeia of God’s dynamis (verse 7).
Glory denotes honor and majesty. Faithlife Study Bible
Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
Romans 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Ephesians 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”
Thank you, Rabbi Abraham Heschel.
And Mary Oliver’s reminder,
“it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world”
So. What if embracing the temporal nature of our life—that butterfly nature within—is about the permission to fall shamelessly and wholeheartedly in love with this life? And this moment—whatever it may bring? And what if this permission to fall wholeheartedly in love with this moment is about hearing the voice of grace?
Know this my friends: God’s grace is our ballast.
In honoring grace, I say yes to sanctuary, resilience, unity, inclusiveness, wholeness and healing. “SabbathMoments” Terry Hershey
God's desire
God's desire is no political agenda, nor an economic vision.
It is simply kindness toward all,
a world that includes everybody, that offers beauty,
that gives life, free and abundant,
tendered in verdant hands,
that weaves us together in one living being,
one body, one life.
It is simply passion that the wanting child be fed:
for she is your own.
The “self-made” who disbelieve are the wounded
whom the Spirit sends us to heal;
the “successful” who cling to their food
are the oppressed who need to be set free.
Only the grateful are wise;
only the compassionate see clearly.
Only those who would suffer to free others
are truly free.
The divine in you is not the power to conquer wrong
but simply brave kindness.
It has its own power to open eyes, to set free.
The martyrs and prophets,
who have known glares and stones,
pogroms, marches and fire hoses,
each trail of tears the same Via Dolorosa, they know:
this is not a goal or agenda, a plan or a program;
it is not born of human will at all.
It is a gift of God, the life of the Spirit breathing in you,
the maker of worlds commanding, “Let there be light.”
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Titus 3:5 (ESV) "he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit ..."
Paul described the kindness and love of God in our salvation.
God's goodness to us is not contingent upon our thoughts or actions but on who He is and what He has done for us.
Titus 3:4-7 outlines three actions God has taken to draw us to Himself:
1. God has saved us (Titus 3:5).
While we do choose to place our trust in Jesus, Scripture reminds us that our salvation is only possible through God's grace, "not because of works done by us." Upon our salvation, God Himself transforms us "by the washing of regeneration," a spiritual cleansing in which He purifies us of our old ways and ushers us into new life in Christ (Titus 3:5). Paul added that as those who have been saved, we are also continually being sanctified, or made holy, by the "renewal of the Holy Spirit," a recurring revival of God's power within us (Titus 3:5). This includes renewing our minds (Romans 12:2) as God does His ongoing work in us to make us more aware of His presence and obedient to His ways.
2. God has richly poured out His Spirit on us (Titus 3:6).
When we place our faith in Christ, we experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us wherever we go and fills us with abundant life. He offers comfort, help, guidance, and power (John 14:26; John 16:7; John 16:13; Acts 1:8). His constant presence fulfills Old Testament prophecies (Joel 2:28-29; Ezekiel 37:27-28) as well as Jesus' promises to all who believe in Him (John 14:16-17). Titus 3:6 says the Holy Spirit is "poured out" on us like water, quenching our souls' thirst.
3. God has justified us by grace (Titus 3:7).
Justification is a legal concept. In the context of the gospel, it means when God looks at us as believers, instead of seeing our record of crimes or wrongs, He sees the righteousness of Jesus. Because Jesus died on our behalf, we are not condemned but forgiven, made innocent instead of guilty in God's courtroom (Romans 8:1; 1 John 1:9). As a result, we also "become heirs" with Jesus, legally inheriting eternal life with our Father in His Kingdom (Titus 3:7).
Our salvation and righteousness are not titles we earn but gifts we receive. To have a personal relationship with us, God did what we in our imperfection could never do. So rather than obsess over our efforts, we can delight in the depths of God's work and in the Truth of His Word. We are chosen and saved, made pure and declared righteous in Him. We don't need to gain God's acceptance because we already have it.
When we surrender our striving, we find rest in God's infinite love for us. First5
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