God plans everything!
God
selected us individually because of his plans.
How
blessed are we?
God
had a great mystery plan for the arrival of Jesus Christ.
God’s
plan was for Jesus Christ to dwell in our hearts.
Isaiah
25;1
O
Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For
You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago,
with perfect faithfulness.
Ephesians
3
God’s
Marvelous Plan for the Gentiles
1
For this
reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have heard about
the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that
is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written
briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to
understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made
known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit
to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is
that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members
together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7 I became a servant of this
gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although
I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to
preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to
make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past
was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was
that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known
to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according
to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In
him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I
ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you,
which are your glory.
A Prayer for the
Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel
before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth
derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may
strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with
all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the
love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that
you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at
work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Jeremiah
29;11
For
I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans
for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
2
Samuel 14;14
For
we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be
gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans
ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him.
Psalm
33;11
The
counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart from
generation to generation.
Proverbs
15;26
Evil
plans are an abomination to the Lord, But pleasant words are
pure.
Proverbs
16;3
Commit
your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.
Proverbs
19;21
Many
plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will
stand.
Isaiah
32;8
But
the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans
he stands.
Romans
8
Life
Through the Spirit
1
Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from
the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do
because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the
flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might
be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit.
5 Those who live according to
the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The
mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is
life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;
it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are
in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the
realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not
belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your
body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of
righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from
the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and
sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to
it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the
Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received
does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit
you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,
Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we
are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are
heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Present Suffering
and Future Glory
18 I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For
the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own
choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that
the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought
into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole
creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the
present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption
to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we
were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they
already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we
wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit
helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he
who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called
according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he
justified, he also glorified.
More Than
Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in
response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He
who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also,
along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring
any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who
then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who
was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is
written:
“For
your sake we face death all day long;
we
are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Timothy Skon, Chaplain, Prayer Minister
Serving others, guided by Jesus
6/5/18