HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1437
EPHESIANS 4
page 1067
plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus
our Lord.
12 Because of Christ and our faith in him,* we
can now come boldly and confidently into God’s
presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because
of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you
should feel honored.
Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and
pray to the Father,* 15 the Creator of everything
in heaven and on earth.* 16 I pray that from his
glorious, unlimited resources he will empower
you with inner strength through his Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts
as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down
into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may
you have the power to understand, as all God’s
people should, how wide, how long, how high,
and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to
understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that
comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through
his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus
through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
Unity in the Body
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord,
beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always
be humble and gentle. Be patient with each
other, making allowance for each other’s faults
because of your love. 3 Make every effort to
keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding
yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is
one body and one Spirit, just as you have been
called to one glorious hope for the future.
4
5
6
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all,
who is over all, in all, and living through all.
7 However,
he has given each one of us a special gift* through the generosity of Christ. 8 That
is why the Scriptures say,
“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”*
9 Notice
that it says “he ascended.” This clearly
means that Christ also descended to our lowly
world.* 10 And the same one who descended is
the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with
himself.
3:12 Or Because of Christ’s faithfulness. 3:14 Some
manuscripts read the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3:15 Or
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
4:7 Greek a grace. 4:8 Ps 68:18. 4:9 Some manuscripts read
to the lower parts of the earth.
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the
church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their
responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his
work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
13 This will continue until we all come to such
unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son
that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring
up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like
• Salvation
E PHE S I A N S 2:11-21
Some of us remember the dramatic
moment when the Berlin Wall, so long
a symbol of division and enmity, was
torn down with great joy. The people of
East and West Germany, long divided by
political hostility, were reunited at last.
Paul uses similar imagery to express the
power of reconciliation. Not only has
Christ removed the barrier of sin separating us from God, but he also shatters the
walls that separate believers from each
other. Paul is referring here to the religious prejudice and distrust that existed
between Jewish converts and Gentile
believers. As both are brought near to
God through the sacrificial love of Christ,
they are brought near to each other as
well. Whether our divisions are racial,
political, economic, or educational, it is
possible for us to be reconciled through
the power and love of Jesus Christ.
• Love
E PHE S I A N S 3:14-21
This passage is like a great, reassuring
love note from God. We are reminded
that as believers we have received the
resources and inner strength of Christ
himself, who lives in our hearts through
the Holy Spirit. We are also given a marvelous illustration of how inexhaustible
God’s love for us is. God’s love is wide
enough to cover all of us, long enough to
last into eternity, high enough to include
our moments of greatest joy and triumph,
and deep enough to sustain us through
our most overwhelming discouragement.
When we feel insecure, it seems that some
crucial part of us is missing. When you feel
that inner longing, remember that God’s
overwhelming love takes us beyond our
deepest need or greatest hope.