Imagine uncovering secrets from the Bible that redefines your entire being. Join us we as venture through the deep spiritual truths nestled within Ephesians chapter one. We're not just reading between the lines; we're discovering the heart of what it means to be chosen, adopted, and lavishly blessed with every spiritual blessing. As we unpack the apostle Paul's rich greeting, you'll feel a sense of awe at the identity and holiness we're granted in Christ—no strings attached.
This episode isn't just an intellectual journey; it's a celebration of the victory and hope we have in Christ, not dependent on our own works but securely resting in God's unchanging plan. We revel in the eternal inheritance promised to us, uncovering how this profound truth brings security and purpose to our daily walk.
With the landscape of our souls richly illuminated, we turn our gaze outward, contemplating the power of prayer and the call to seek wisdom and revelation. Paul's prayers for the Ephesian church inspire us to pray the same way for those around us. We close our exploration inspired by the immense power that resurrected Jesus, residing within us, empowering us to not just face adversity but to thrive amidst it. This conversation isn't just an exploration; it's an invitation to step into the fullness of life with Christ, finding peace, joy, and satisfaction that completes us.
Ashley T Lee Podcast Ashley T. Lee Podcast will cover many life issues such as overcoming stress, anxiety...
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
Speaker 1:
Hi and welcome to our podcast Revelation Within on the Go. I'm Heidi Bilesma-Epperson, one of your hosts and the owner and lead coach of the Revelation Withinorg ministry.
Speaker 2:
And I'm Christina Mondley, your other host, also a Revelation Within coach and Heidi's partner in all things Revelation Within, and we're so happy to invite you to join us for this episode of Revelation Within on the Go.
Speaker 1:
Well, today we are going to plunge into my favorite chapter in the entire Bible Right on. I'm sure there are others that I would love, maybe almost as much, but it's Ephesians chapter one, and you're welcome to open a Bible while we share together. We did an episode on Psalm 139 some weeks ago and there was actually a request that we do this every so often, so we thought we would do Ephesians one Next time. Christina gets to pick where we're going to go.
Speaker 2:
Right on. Well, psalm 139 is pretty much my favorite. I do, but you get to pick your second favorite. Okay, I'll pick again next time. Awesome.
Speaker 1:
All right. So if you have a Bible, or even if you don't, whatever you can look at Ephesians one on your phone if you want to. So Ephesians one, verse one Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. I'm going to laugh because I already want to stop and say something about this, because I am. We're going to be forever here if we if I do that, but by the will of God.
Speaker 1:
God has a plan and a purpose and starts off this letter with that to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. I love this one too, because it says saint. Being a saint is not about the way you lived your life past tense, it is who you are because of Christ.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Love it. I love it too. How about you take us to?
Speaker 2:
verse two Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a beautiful way to begin a letter. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1:
Verse three says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Oh, my gosh, we are right off the bat. We are told. I mean, how many times can you use the word blessed in one sentence? Three times blessed, blessed and blessing. I love it and that tells me this is a rich bounty that God is pouring all over me and into my life. Jesus blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
Speaker 2:
I know, I love that. I love that it's not some, some spiritual blessings, a few spiritual blessings, several spiritual blessings, but no, it's every spiritual blessing. We have what we need. We've been given what we need.
Speaker 1:
Right, I like to. When I see things like this, I like to respond to God. This is what he's saying to me and I like to say God, thank you, thank you for being so generous, thank you for every spiritual blessing in Christ that you pour out on us. Thank you for that.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, god. Okay, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. So I'm chosen, you're chosen. We were handpicked you were chosen. Thank you, Lord. God chose us. Thank you, God. I love responding with gratitude as well. Thank you, God, that you have chosen us before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:
And he calls us holy and blameless.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, what, what, what is that about? Yeah, I mean, I don't what holy.
Speaker 1:
Amazing In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Oh I love that he has determined ahead of time that he would adopt me as his daughter through Jesus, and that too is according to his will. It was his will to say Heidi, she's mine, I want her, I'm adopting her. Yes, christina, she's mine.
Speaker 2:
I want her, I'm adopting her. I love thinking of that. So not only are we adopted, but we're chosen and we have every spiritual blessing I mean, it's just getting better and better and better to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Well, again you're being blessed and again this is all about God's grace for us, and again his grace is glorious. I mean, I love that so much.
Speaker 1:
And he chose us, and he chose to make us wholly unblameless in his sight, and somehow it praises him to do that. It's to the praise of his glorious grace. It's like wait what you picked me, and yet you receive praise for it.
Speaker 2:
I don't get it, but that is awesome. I love to think of God being blessed by some. I mean, what does that look like? You know, I like to imagine that God is grinning, that he's happy, that he's excited, that he's full of joy, that he's being blessed. That's amazing to me to think about.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. That's the gospel right there, the gospel message in him, and only in him, do I have redemption. I mean it's like, wow, forgiveness. All the sin that I have ever committed or ever could commit has been forgiven. I've been redeemed. And how has this happened? According to his riches, it's not just a little trickle, it's a fire hose worth of grace and love and forgiveness Wow it is it's? Amazing.
Speaker 2:
I'm just thinking about a truth list that I could write. You know I am chosen, I am forgiven, I am redeemed. You know I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed. It says it over and over I am adopted. I mean, how amazing this truth is, how does it change us to believe this, to live like we believe it?
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, it really does too. If this is how I I mean both in terms of you could do a truth list about who I am in Christ and you could also do a God list from this. I know and believe what God shows us here about who I am and who he is. It changes everything. Who I am affects how I, how I act, what do I believe about who God is? It changes where I go for comfort and wisdom and all of that, oh, my goodness, it does.
Speaker 2:
It does, it's completely life changing. So verse eight it talks about how he lavished all of this that we were just talking about upon us in all his wisdom and all his insight. So he lavished I mean, that's a word I don't really use. Do you use that word, heidi?
Speaker 1:
No, not you do.
Speaker 2:
But it's just, it's a very extravagant idea of being, you know, having something be lavished upon us. I love it. It's extravagant, it's extreme, it's like big and amazing, it's, it's like something where we would go. Yeah, you know, I love that. That.
Speaker 1:
That word is used and if we were to back up and look at all the things he's lavished on us. There's redemption, there's forgiveness, there's grace, there's blessing. The list is already quite lengthy, which is amazing.
Speaker 2:
It is, it is.
Speaker 1:
And it says in verse nine, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ. There are a lot of things about God that are mysterious and that remained mysterious for millennia really. As prophets would speak certain things, they didn't know what it was going to look like when God fulfilled it. But now much of this mystery has been revealed through Christ, that Christ would be the bridge between God and man. It's astonishing, really, when you think about it and that he's revealed that to us. Thank you, god, for revealing the answer to this great mystery, and that it's Christ, it's not human effort. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
I think that's something that I really did not understand for a very long time and something that I mean. Certainly, I'm a work in progress, but the idea that God has wisdom and insight for me in the moment you know through his Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:
I mean not just here's the wisdom in the Bible, here read it but that in the moment when I'm struggling with something, I can go to him and say Lord, what are your thoughts, what do you think? And that's what we talk about all the time with mind renewal. God has wisdom for us right now and insight For me. That's life changing. Verse 10, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Okay, that is just mind blowing. What is he talking about? He's talking about everything, the fullness of time. So past, present, future. He has it all in his hands, uniting it all together, working things out for good, things in heaven, things on earth. It's all from him. He is the master.
Speaker 1:
And verse 11 says in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. You know, it'd be interesting to go through these verses and circle a couple of words and see how often they show up. Will is one of them, because God's will. So often people say I don't know how to know God's will and there are so many scriptures about it. Even Romans 12-2 speaks that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds and that way we can test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. But here we see in this chapter we've seen God's will show up a number of times. I love that we have obtained an inheritance, in verse 11. We have. I don't see it. Where is it? It's in the heavenlies waiting for me to arrive. Is that awesome or what?
Speaker 2:
Yes, it is, it is, it is Verse 12 is tricky for me so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Speaker 1:
Well, that takes me back to verse six, where we are to the praise of his glorious grace. Somehow God receives praise from us, being his Right exactly. I mean not just our praise. But what does that look like?
Speaker 2:
Well, and that phrase hope in Christ just jumps out at me. Hope in Christ.
Speaker 1:
I mean he is our hope.
Speaker 2:
He is absolutely our hope. He is the answer. He is where I need to be looking to, for absolutely everything. He is my hope and I love that.
Speaker 1:
Me too. Another phrase that would be super helpful to underline or circle in this entire chapter is anytime in him or in Christ, as mentioned, because I did that in my Bible here and wow, it shows up a lot. Oh, interesting, because when something's repeated, god usually is intentional about that.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, that's important. He's intentional, all right.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he's trying to convey to me that it is all in him. It's not in Heidi's strength, it's not in my ability to pull things together and figure everything out and do it perfectly. That's a human construct. That's not him at all. And flipping back really quickly to see verse four, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him there it is again that he chose us not because of anything we had done, but because he just chose us.
Speaker 1:
That was his will. He wanted us, and so the victory of this life doesn't rest on our shoulders, it's on his.
Speaker 2:
Right, I just love that.
Speaker 1:
I love it too. And verse 13, he says in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised holy spirit. Woo wee this is awesome. You know I mean, there's so much rich treasure in this verse alone we can probably spend another 20 minutes on it.
Speaker 1:
There's that phrase in him, and then the word of truth. We are all about the truth, and the primary source of truth for us is, of course, the word of God, and it is where we hear the gospel, and salvation comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God, and we believed. There. It is again in him, but I love this too. Oh, my goodness, we were sealed with the promised holy spirit.
Speaker 2:
We were sealed with the spirit of God.
Speaker 1:
So everybody who is in Christ, who identifies with this in him, in him, in him throughout this chapter, and received the word of truth, like it says in verse 13, and believed in him, we are sealed with the holy spirit. And my understanding of this word sealed is it actually refers to the signet ring that is often used to keep a special legal document that was going from one place to another. A wax, you know, like an indentation in hot wax within cool, and you know if it's been broken. And if it's broken it could be null and void. And so we have been sealed, not with wax, but with the holy spirit.
Speaker 2:
Well, and I love that idea of being sealed, because it sounds like this is a done deal.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you can't lose it.
Speaker 2:
No matter what I do or don't do, no matter what I can do, no matter what my life circumstances are, this is done, Yay. And it was promised to be done. The holy spirit was promised to us. We are sealed. It's a done deal. Wow, that's just. That's so comforting to me. That feels really secure and solid, and I love that.
Speaker 1:
Thank you so much that we are sealed with your spirit. We're not sealed with something that's temporary, we're sealed with some permanent. Thank you so much for the salvation you've given us through your word of truth. And that it comes with the promised holy spirit.
Speaker 2:
Yes, you know, we get so stuck on our mess ups. We get so stuck on all the ways that we, you know, blunder, that's a chess word my son is a chess player and blunder is the word for that and it's like if we get stuck on that, we are missing all of this that has already been done, all what God has already planned and designed, and we're sitting in the corner stuck on messing up. God is so much bigger than that. He's so much bigger. His grace is huge. Okay, so then we go on to 14.
Speaker 1:
So the promised Holy Spirit, verse 14.
Speaker 2:
Yep, the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. We're guaranteed. Again, it's a done deal, it's sealed, it's guaranteed until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. There it is again. I know, it's amazing, it's beautiful. So again, god is grinning ear to ear over this. He's loving it, it's praising Him. I mean, oh my gosh, it's just, I don't know, it's amazing, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:
What's so cool about it is it saves us. We're the ones who get this gift and the inheritance and the Holy Spirit and every spiritual blessing, yet God is delighted over it. He grins ear to ear, he receives praise to His glory and it's so amazing he actually feels like he's being given a gift. It looks like to me it's like to this.
Speaker 2:
You know, sometimes it just helps me to think of this because God is so big and so huge and we can't touch Him. And sometimes it helps me to think of an example here on earth. And so I think of my grandma, you know, and how blessed she was and how much she laughed and enjoyed blessing my brother and I when we were little kids and we would come to her house and she just did everything that we loved. It was like she just thought, before we came, how can I bless them? What can we do today? What can I give them? What can I guarantee for them? You know, what can I bless them with that will make them just so safe, secure, happy, everything good. And then how joyful it was for her. That's what I think of, with that image in mind of God being so blessed.
Speaker 1:
That's a great example.
Speaker 2:
I feel like when we renew our minds and we are praising God and practicing gratitude and all the different ways that we renew our minds, I love to imagine God just kind of sitting back in his chair, you know, and like closing his eyes, like, oh my gosh, do you hear that Heidi and Christina are renewing their minds, they're praising me. It's awesome. I'm so blessed by that. I love to imagine that.
Speaker 1:
Oh, I love that too. Verse 15 says for this reason, I'm like, okay, that makes me look back and wow, there's a lot of reasons.
Speaker 2:
A lot of reasons.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. And what is so cool is this demonstrates to me that God put the apostle Paul in the lives of the believers in Ephesus to have relationship with them, to love on them, to nurture them, to be as a spiritual father to them, and he now has so much love in response to their faith in Jesus and their love toward others. And so let's look at somebody says, christina, because of all this, because he's heard of their faith in the Lord and his love for all the saints, what does he do?
Speaker 2:
Yes, because of all that. Verse 16, he says I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Paul does not cease to give thanks, remembering you in my prayers. Okay, so he's talking about this relationship that you were just talking about. This is what we need to be doing. This is what God says. This will bring you life. This will bring you joy. This will bring you depth and relationships. Don't cease to give thanks and remember in your prayers. Remember your loved ones in your prayers, remember everyone in your prayers. So so many of our mind renewal tools have to do with this Thanksgiving and praying, talking to God, looking to him, asking him for his thoughts.
Speaker 1:
And I just have to insert here too when we do this with scripture, when we pick it apart, when we use it to thank God, we use it to remember how good he has been to us, like we can see here in Ephesians 1.
Speaker 1:
What it does is it fills that emptiness inside of us that God says in Ecclesiastes, through Solomon, that he has placed eternity in the heart of man, and I like to think that that is a God shaped hole that only God can fill. What we do so very often is try everything else to fill that hole, but it's God shaped, only God can fill it. And as I go to the word and as I am reminded of all God has done for me, as I give thanks to him for it, as I allow my reading of scripture to be a dialogue and allow him to target my heart with his beautiful truth, that emptiness inside of me, that is a God shaped void, is filled up and I am so much more likely to not need the sense of I've got to eat, I've got to eat, I've got to eat, and that's a beautiful place to be. That's a beautiful place to be Instead we've had a God feast.
Speaker 1:
Yes, absolutely. Now we get to the part where we get to see what Paul is praying for them that the God of our Lord, jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of him. Oh, my goodness, that sounds so deep and so beautiful and so wonderful. Again, it feels like we're drinking from a fire hose, or more. I feel like we're drinking from a huge, powerful waterfall, like Niagara Falls or something. We're standing there with our mouths open and God is just pouring it out. Paul is praying and this is a great example for us of how we can be praying for each other as well. We can pray that, lord. I pray that you would give the spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge of Jesus to Christina, or to my pastor, or to anybody.
Speaker 2:
I know that's exactly what I was thinking of is what do my prayers often look like? Lord, can you just fix this? Can you just change that? Can you just make this work out for her? But what if I was praying this way? What if I was using I mean, this has so much depth and it covers everything. So in verse 18, having the eyes of your heart enlightened I mean, wow, should I be praying that for everybody? Yes, Lord, you know, please help Heidi to have the eyes of her heart enlightened. Yeah, you pray that. That's so cool that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? He has called us to hope. He's called us to a glorious inheritance. He's calling us. He's calling us. I love that. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1:
And I love that Paul is praying that you may know that. And why? Because it'll change the way you live in this world. It'll change the way you make decisions. It'll change the way you handle trials. I mean it does If we are aware of the fact that we have the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation and that the eyes of our hearts are enlightened and that we know the hope to which he has called us, and we are firmly aware of the fact that there is a glorious inheritance waiting for us. Wow, that's way better than what I usually am thinking about.
Speaker 2:
I know it makes my prayers look like well. I mean, the depth of this is amazing.
Speaker 1:
And verse 19 says and so he's still praying here. And what is the immeasurable greatness of the power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might? Oh, my goodness, if we think we don't have the strength to do whatever we're called to, you know, like I just can't do this today. Have you ever said that? Many, many times? Yes, and here it is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us to believe according to the working of His great might. That's power, power at work in me and for me, from God. I love that. I love it too. And get this. Verse 20 tells us what kind of power that actually is. I mean, we know it's great, but what has God used that power for?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that he worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. That's how powerful he is. That's the same power he gives us. That's amazing. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:
Beautiful. I love that. And you know another thing I love about Ephesians 1 is all three personages of the Trinity are represented there.
Speaker 1:
We have the Holy Spirit, we have Christ, we have the Father and we have it clear that there's a oneness. Yet there's a distinction. I don't get it. It is beyond my ability to fathom, and that's what it should be. That's because I don't understand it doesn't mean it's not true. God clearly teaches it in His Word and I'm good with that. If I understood God, he would be as puny as my intellect, and that's scary, oh my goodness, that's scary.
Speaker 2:
I was talking to someone yesterday who said something so interesting and I've been thinking about it ever since, and it's right here in what you just said. You said, boy, I'm going to need all three in the Trinity to help me with this and I just thought, oh my gosh, I love it. I love thinking about that. Beautiful, all right.
Speaker 1:
So Paul continues to pray, and so he wants us to know this power and what this power has been used to do, like raising Christ from the dead and seeding Him in the heavenly places. And then he goes on to describe that, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come, this is our Jesus. He is Lord Jesus. You are far above all rule, all authority, all power and dominion, and you, jesus, are above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. That's a perfect thing to use for a praise fest.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it really really is. And verse 22, and he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, all things. So what about my kids? What about their challenges? All things, Yep. What about my health? What about that church? All good, all good. What about relationships? How about my marriage? All things. How about aging parents and the difficulty there?
Speaker 1:
Yes, that's what all means, and that's all all means is all.
Speaker 2:
All yeah, yeah, it's. Wow, I'm blown away.
Speaker 1:
Yes, we're told that he's head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness there's a word that we often like to use. Still, all in all, wow. So he is the head of the church and that's like worldwide. This isn't like the little church in the corner. This is any who professed Christ as Savior and Lord. He is the head over all things to the church and that's his body, the fullness of him, who fills all in all. How would you describe this fullness, christina, for you in verse 23?
Speaker 2:
I think that for me, that fullness feels like peace, it feels like safety, it feels like there is, you know, a God who is so far beyond me and who is in control and in charge and I can rest in that. So maybe, maybe, fullness feels like peace and rest. Also joy, and the word fullness is used with joy in another verse in the Bible. Fulness, oh, satisfaction, feeling satisfied, not looking to something else for my needs, for my safety, for my comfort. I feel full in Christ. That is an amazing thing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, just a quick look at the word fullness. Colossians 2, 10 tells us in Christ, you have been brought to fullness. I love that, I love that, and then John 1, 16, out of his fullness. We have all received grace in place of grace already given Ephesians. Chapter three says to be filled with the fullness of God. I love that. I love that, so, and then here it is too. I think it's enough, it's enough. It's that God-shaped voice spoken of an Ecclesiast, ecclesiastes. It's filled, full, probably to overflowing, yes.
Speaker 2:
Well, and I love what you said about it's enough. God is enough for us, and I mean we use these words when we talk about food and eating for those of us who struggle with that. You know, it's like we talk about being full and being satisfied, and here he's saying I'm the one that fills you, I'm the one that satisfies you, I'm the one that gives you all that you need. Turned to me Everything else is a counterfeit, Everything else is a fake.
Speaker 1:
I have loved going through Ephesians one with you.
Speaker 2:
Yes, wonderful.
Speaker 1:
I had forgotten how rich every part of it is. Ephesians, chapter one. I love Ephesians one for so much and the first few verses. But the whole thing is amazing. I have been given fullness in Christ. Me too, yes, me too.
Speaker 2:
I have been guaranteed an inheritance. Yes, I have been chosen, I have been redeemed. Yeah, he lavishes it all on us. Yeah, lavishes Every spiritual blessing, every single one, and God is blessed as he blesses us, as he provides for us as we turn to him. He's blessed. What?
Speaker 1:
That's amazing. That's amazing. Wow, I'm glad we did this today Too, too.
Speaker 2:
Wonderful, so we hope that you'll come back and join us again for another episode of Revelation with an on the go.
Speaker 1:
We'll see you next time. Bye for now. Bye for now. Bye for now. Thanks for watching.