The Light of God

Posted on by korgrocker

“I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of His calling —that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that He finds in us, His holy ones!”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭TPT‬‬

What is the “light of God”? In 1 John 1:5 we read, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” Jesus described Himself as the “Light of the World” (John 8). God created light (Genesis 1). James said God is the “Father of lights” (James 1). God is associated with light. With light, everything is visible. With our eyes we see and appreciate light. In darkness, our eyes have no use. 

So the next question must be, “How can God’s light impact our imaginations”? We have to refer to a verse later in this Epistle, where Paul said, “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,” (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:20‬ – emphasis mine). Our imaginations can have a significant role to play when it comes to leveraging our inheritance. Paul said that we have the power within us through God’s Spirit, making it possible for Him to do extraordinary things through us in His service. The only limitation seems to be our willingness to ask and dream.

I used to be guilty of “day-dreaming” at primary school. And still am to a certain extent. There is something within me that wants to think “outside the box”, exploring possibilities. Imagining scenarios where life is different, where God can make a difference. Paul was not referring to a worldly imagination embedded in fantasies – he was promoting a God-inspired imagination underpinned by God-dreams, flooded with the light of His presence; allowing a revelation of what it means to be a child of God to inspire and motivate us. Through all of this we will realise “the hope of His calling”. Not for me a life of pew-warming, a life of ordinariness. How can I, or anyone else for that matter, be satisfied with that? I want to enter into all that God has for me. And I’m sure that we, as Christians, want to do the same. 

There is a pivotal word in this verse – “until”. This light flooding our imaginations doesn’t bring about an instant result. There is a development process happening. Over time. We take small steps of faith, seeing the light of God grow brighter and brighter in revealing what He is capable of. Bolstering “the hope of His calling”. As we say “Yes Lord”, who knows what might happen as the light of God permeates through us into our communities and families.

Spiritual Wisdom

Posted on by korgrocker

“I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.”
‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul, languishing in his prison cell, was on a different plane. In a different zone. His thoughts were focused on his friends in the Ephesian church. I can just imagine him smiling to himself as he brought into his mind one person after another. And he never stopped thanking God for them. Just as an aside, when was the last time we thanked God for our family and our church friends? Truly, a zone worth spending time in, because God has gifted us with people around us. It might not feel that way sometimes but He did!

Paul continues in these verses by assuring his readers that he constantly prays for them. And not just random prayers, “Please bless …”, but a specifically focused prayer for wisdom. He could have prayed for protection, for finances, for all sorts of things, but he instead narrowed his focus to the topic of spiritual wisdom. This morning the story of Solomon came into my mind from 1 Kings 3. In a dream, God asked Solomon what He could give him. And Solomon’s humble response unfolds in the story, with his request for wisdom. God’s response to Solomon was, “I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!”. So Solomon received a double blessing – God was pleased with Solomon’s request. And the memory of this encounter between God and Solomon has coined the phrase, “You’ll need the wisdom of Solomon to sort that issue out” or something similar.

Wisdom appears high up on God’s list of gifts. Without it we cannot function well in this life. And Paul, in praying for the Ephesians, obviously knew that. In that more unstable society he could have prayed for gifts such as protection and security. But it had to be wisdom.

So what is Spiritual Wisdom? It starts with having an effective and intimate relationship with God. From that can come guidance and insights that provide the optimum response and reaction to life’s problems and challenges. But there’s more. As we spend time in God’s presence, getting His take on life events, following His wise paths, we start to understand how He is thinking. We find out that His approach to our fellow inhabitants and situations on this planet is often very different to ours. We find out that our initial responses to the hassles and injustices of life are totally at odds with His, at least for most of the time.

So Paul, in his wisdom-prayers for his dear friends back in Ephesus, knew what they needed. Then, as now, being a Christian was not an easy path to follow. Wisdom is an essential ingredient for the pilgrim. Wisdom will ease the trail before us, helping us to avoid the man-traps and the boulders the enemy will place in our way. Please God, give us wisdom, Your wisdom. Amen.

Our Inheritance

Posted on by korgrocker

“Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan. 
The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”
‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:11, 14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul continues by informing us that because we are part of His family, united with Christ, we have an inheritance. Note that verse 11 says we have already received this inheritance – it is not something that awaits us “at the right time”, as he said earlier in this chapter. Now normally we would only expect an inheritance to come our way after someone dies, leaving a Last Will and Testament that contains a clause in our favour. But God said that we have our inheritance now. Right now. This very minute. And we are reminded that we have our inheritance because we were chosen, and before we ask about how all this is happening, Paul says that God will make it all work out. All sorted because it’s in His plan.

So what is this inheritance we have? And how do we know we have it? If we list the benefits of being in God’s family, we find that amongst them is the assurance that one day we will be in His presence. Justified. Sanctified. Free of sickness and death. There will be no evil there. We will have a new body. And so on. And as we develop these thoughts, it is obvious that we will not assume all the benefits of our inheritance until we join God in Heaven. In fact, we might think that there are no obvious signs of our spiritual inheritance in this life at all. Except! Verse 14 tells us that God’s gift of His Spirit has been given to us as His guarantee. Through the Holy Spirit we can get a glimpse of our inheritance. Through the Holy Spirit we can start to enjoy our inheritance in this life. Later on in this Epistle we will find that through the Holy Spirit we will enjoy full access to God’s resources; His power can work through us into our daily lives now. 

We Christian’s are blessed people. Let us be a grateful people as well, grateful for this wonderful and amazing gift of the Holy Spirit. Through Him we can tap into God’s very presence, experiencing our wonderful inheritance now. And with Paul we will praise and glorify Him, our loving Heavenly Father. 

God Has a Plan

Posted on by korgrocker

“God has now revealed to us His mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfil His own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.“
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:9-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Hardly a day goes by without us making a plan of some sort. We plan the things we have to do in the day ahead. We plan how to get to work. What shopping we need. And then there is the process of planning a holiday, or a building project in the garden. Life is full of plans and the associated costs in implementing them. Jesus referred to the importance of planning – in Luke 14, He pointed out to His disciples that there was a cost involved if they wished to follow Him. And He used the examples of building a tower, or going to war, as events needing a plan. Of course, there are many days when we don’t make a plan. Perhaps a leisure day. But even then the decision not to make a plan is a plan in itself. I was once involved in planning major engineering projects and the saying “Fail to plan and you plan to fail” was often demonstrated by cost overruns and time delays. Life is full of plans.

So it must be no surprise to us to find that God has a plan. In fact the Bible is full of circumstances and events where God had a plan. For example, He orchestrated the events around the birth of Jesus, events meticulously planned out and recorded in the Gospels. In our verses today, Paul records that God’s plan started out as a mystery. Why did Jesus come? Why did He have to die? These, and many other events that took place during His short life here on Planet Earth totally flummoxed the peoples living in Palestine at that time. The plan they thought God would one day implement to set His people free was nothing like the one God had in His mind. 

Paul reminded the Ephesians of what God’s plan was. It started with a young peasant girl saying “Yes” to an angel visitor; the subsequent birth, life and death of God’s own Son, Jesus. And His plan continued through the work of the early church as God’s plan for salvation was preached, and continues to be preached, throughout the world, to this day. In the spiritual realms, Jesus is building a house for us, because one day we who are Christians will join Him there. And then there is a day coming when Jesus will assume command over “everything”, not just a religion. “Everything” includes, well, everything. Governments, peoples, societies and so on down to the smallest particle ever created. Of course, it doesn’t stop there – it will involve all of Heaven as well. Jesus’ authority will be total. That is God’s plan, a mystery no more.

There is an amazing and mind-boggling implication in all of this. As God’s people, we are not observers, mere pilgrims standing on the touch lines of life, looking on as God’s plan is worked out through our traditional outlets such as missionary organisations and churches. We all have the opportunity to play a part in God’s plan. Of course we all cannot just up and leave our families and jobs to preach the Gospel in far-off lands, though perhaps some will be called to do so. But our part is very important, no matter how small we think it might be. God has resourced His plan with ordinary human beings, whom He has placed in just the right time and place to further His plan. We are no less important in our roles as Mary was two thousand years ago. Our role might not be so dramatic and high profile as being the Mother of Jesus, but in its own way our interaction with our friends, family and communities is still part of God’s plan. Because in doing what God has asked us to do we are bringing forward that day Paul called, “At the right time”.

So in our Pilgrimage through life, we have a job to do. We are not just plodding along towards Heaven, hoping that it won’t be too long before we get there. On the way we will meet other pilgrims, who God has plans for too. Our interaction with them in the way God requires is all part of God’s plan. Perhaps all He wants us to do is to give a cheery and encouraging word, “at the right time”. There may be some practical help involved in the case of others. We may be asked to build relational bridges with those who are outcasts and unloved – after all, Jesus was often accused of being a friend of sinners. We may be required to sow Gospel seeds not just through our words but also by the way we live.

One last thought. A very humbling thought. God doesn’t use the great saints of history to fulfil His plan. He uses sinners like you and me. Ordinary punters with our struggles with the sins we commit. With the issues of life. In the end, we are after all, “Beggars showing other beggars where to find bread”, to quote Bishop D T Niles. And one day, “at the right time”, we will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). We praise You Lord!

Cascading Grace

Posted on by korgrocker

“Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by His blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of His grace. This superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding.”
‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:7-8‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Here is another spiritual blessing – the treasures of redemption. But let’s unpick these two verses because they in themselves contain a treasure of Spirit-inspired truth. First of all we are “joined to Christ”. Paul takes this as read because Jesus is family. He’s our older brother. So we are related and joined to Him through our adoption into God’s family. Redemption happened through the sacrificial death of Jesus at Calvary – He shed His blood so that we could, and would, be forgiven for all our sins. As these verses say, they have been cancelled. For ever. And this reality opens a door exposing an eternity full of treasures that we can now access. Without redemption for sin, a lost eternity would hold no treasures. Just an empty God-less place full of torment and regret. But we have access to the treasures through God’s grace. But what are these treasures? We know that being in God’s presence is in there; wonderful and amazing in its own right. There are other gems such as righteousness, purity, no more sickness, no more death – the list is endless and we are unable to fully appreciate, by a long way, the extent of God’s riches, made available to us through His grace. 

But in this life, as we tramp along life’s highways and byways, we can dip into God’s gracious treasure trove, accessing all the resources we need. We find that there are truly “cascading riches of His grace” flowing over us in times of need. Think of the times when we need nuggets of perseverance, patience, love, peace – all available to us just by lifting the lid on His treasure chest and seeking out just what is needed for our souls. All there through His grace. Day by day. Hour by hour. Wisdom is in there too. Lots of it. And as the verses say, it is working within us – most of the time we don’t even know that it is there. The use of the word “practical” is significant. Our God is a practical God, helping and resourcing us in practical ways. By His grace we march on, God-drumbeats powering our steps. 

The “treasures of redemption” are not just there, though, for us to look for and find. We are not in a life, searching for some Holy Grail, jumping through hoops or undertaking some difficult mission to find these treasures. Note that they are given to us. They are right here now. The treasure chest is before us. The key is in our hands. There is nothing to stop us accessing its contents. God’s amazing grace, His super abundant grace, empowers us. Whatever our state is in life, good or bad. Easy or difficult. Sick or healthy. We are breathtakingly blessed by the riches of His grace, cascading over us. Forever. 

Adoption

Posted on by korgrocker

“God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son.”
‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:5-6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The previous verse in Ephesians 1 burst into our consciousness with the thought that we have been chosen by God, not on a whim, but before God even created the heavens and the earth. This theme develops in our verses today. Not only did God choose us an eternity ago, but He has placed us in a special family. His own family. And Jesus is our elder brother. He did it through Jesus’ death at Calvary, the place where Jesus took on our sins and gave us instead His cloak of righteousness, enabling us to not only be able to stand before God in a sinless form, but to be adopted into His family.

My sister was adopted. I know other people too who were adopted. People who came from a family where parents were unable to look after their children and instead allowed them to be chosen by new parents, with the will and means to look after them. Most adoptions work well, devoted new parents pouring in all the resources required, but others perhaps haven’t been ideal. Thankfully, in God’s family, there are no failed adoptions. Every child of God is assured an equal place in His family, and the certainty of a lifelong relationship with a gracious and loving Parent. A relationship that extends beyond the grave. As a Parent, God gets great pleasure from His adopted family. And there is no limit to the size of His family either. His heart of love is infinitely able to embrace all who respond to His call.

So with Paul, another adopted brother in God’s family, we praise God for His “glorious grace”, grace that sees beyond the imperfect sinful beings that we are, and instead beckons us through the door of adoption into His presence. What an amazing “spiritual blessing”. What an amazing Father God!

He Chose Me

Posted on by korgrocker

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
Ephesians‬ ‭1:3-4‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

There is much depth in these verses. Right at the start of this Epistle, Paul sets the scene. And his focus is on our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He starts by offering his praises to Father God for Jesus. After all, if it wasn’t for his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, Paul wouldn’t have found himself in a zone of blessings. A zone so real to him that he wrote about yearning to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23), a yearning underpinned by his understanding and knowledge of “every spiritual blessing in Christ”.

But what are these “spiritual blessings”? Several are listed in this chapter in Ephesians. Some we won’t fully inherit until we are in God’s presence. Some blessings we can start to experience in our lives right now. One thing for sure is that a blessing in Christ is infinitely, and eternally, better than any earthly blessing. But one spiritual blessing I would like to focus on today is that God, through Christ, chose us. He chose you and He chose me. And amazingly He chose me before He even created the world. He could look down from eternity at my life on this earth and through His love and grace, He chose me. Of course that is not to say He didn’t choose other people. We know from that famous verse, John 3:16, that He loves everyone in the world, regardless of when they lived, past, present or future. But that doesn’t dilute the fact that He loves me in a personal way. He whispered my name as He was putting together the plans for creating Planet Earth. 

But the spiritual blessing doesn’t just end there. He chose me to be “holy and blameless in His sight”. It is at the realisation of what this means, that the enormity of this spiritual blessing really hits home. How can God not only choose me, but then establish me through Christ as being “holy and blameless”? Really? After all my sins committed in this life? After all the times I have rejected Him? But that is what this verse says. Paul didn’t just write some nice words, nice ideas based on his feelings. No, this was a faith-filled statement written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This was God saying how it really is through Paul’s pen.

But there’s a catch. I can’t just read these verses and then move on, unchanged, regardless. I have to respond to God calling my name. His whispering of my name hangs there in eternity, waiting for me to respond. And He’s waiting for you as well. We have to respond to His invitation, saying “Yes” to Him, accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Confessing and repenting of our sins. Aligning our lives to become worthy of His choice. But that personal gentle whisper won’t be there for ever. When we cross the Great Divide, the whisper will stop. Opportunity gone. God’s choice rejected. Many go to a lost eternity because they have rejected His calling.

Truly, we can do nothing else other than what the Apostle Paul did. With him, we bask in the awesome realisation that God chose us. What else can we do but utter our praises to “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And we won’t stop. Ever.

Credentials

Posted on by korgrocker

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.“
‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:1-2‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

The first verse in the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians contains much information. Paul starts by claiming his apostleship – the account of his conversion from a Christian hunter and persecutor to a Christian maker and lover on the Damascus road can be read in Acts 9 and 22. History records Paul’s credentials as an apostle. The verse continues with a description of who the epistle, the letter, is addressed to. It wasn’t to everyone – just “God’s holy people”. Credentials describing those who faithfully followed Jesus. And because of the God-credentials of both the writer and the reader, God’s blessings of grace and peace in the second verse can be uttered and received, real and true.

What are my letter-writing credentials in life? In writing a similar letter to someone, how would I describe myself? Something like, “Fred, the husband of Chloe” or “John, the accountant in London”? Or perhaps something with spiritual weight, such as, “Matt, a believer in Jesus”? But how we describe ourselves, who we are and what we claim, will impact the receiver of our letter. Often, our self-description can be at odds with our behaviour though. Hmmm…

Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church would have been read out in a public meeting. And what a letter it was. The grace and love of God dripping through every stroke of his pen. And this epistle is read and re-read today, fresh and real, because of the credentials of the writer, Paul. A servant of God; a life dedicated to His service.

In our pilgrimage through life, we need letters. Epistles of encouragement, correction, guidance. Biblical accounts and passages that we can always refer to because God is in them. Step by step we can hear God’s voice, providing for us all we need. There is a man near me who lost his son to multiple sclerosis 30 or so years ago, and just last week he had to have his dog put to sleep because of an incurable spinal condition. And he is devastated by grief. The death of his son is still raw many years later and now the loss of his wee dog, who was like another son to him, has opened up all the old wounds. A pilgrim without the comfort and presence of God facing into the realities of life alone, uncomforted. And he has rejected the One Person who is able to help him. He needs a Letter, God Himself, to bring peace to his soul.

What do I need today? What do you need today? Whatever it is, there is a Letter written by the Creator of the Universe. Jesus came as God’s Word bringing the solution to all our worldly dilemmas and assuring us a future with the Letter Writer Himself. John 1:1-5 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” What a Letter Jesus is. His credentials are indisputable. Irrefutable. Eternal. And His letter is written just for you and me.

The Psalms in a Pandemic

Posted on by korgrocker

Today we finished our pilgrimage through the Psalms. It started last April and on the journey we found some amazing truths from this unique book within the Book of books, the Bible.

I have collated and published all the blog posts as a book, which is available in either a Kindle or Paperback version, from Amazon. Here is the link, should anyone want their own copies.

More Action Praise

Posted on by korgrocker

“Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heaven!
Praise Him for His mighty works; praise His unequalled greatness!
Praise Him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise Him with the lyre and harp!
Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flutes!
Praise Him with a clash of cymbals; praise Him with loud clanging cymbals.
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!”
Psalm 150:1-6 NLT

Well, here we are, looking at the last Psalm in the Book of Psalms. Another Psalm following on from the action praise-theme in Psalm 149. But the Psalmist is getting carried away with the thoughts of adding more and more noise to his praise. You see, we cannot be quiet when it comes to praising God. We can’t whisper our praises. And the Psalmist knew that. And so he started to add some more instruments to his praise-band. So in addition to the tambourine and harp, we now have a lyre, stringed instruments, a ram’s horn, flutes and not just any old cymbals – these are clashing cymbals with loud clanging gizmos attached to them. Within me is the thought that I want to get to play the loud clanging cymbals in the praise band – but don’t tell anyone! But in case there is anyone who feels they will miss out, those who don’t get to play an instrument – they can sing their praises (assuming they are still breathing of course). 

Just this morning, as the new day was breaking over the woods in my corner of Scotland, I paused. I listened to the noises around me. The distant traffic a constant reminder of our 21st Century world, but closer by was the bird song. And the wind gently murmuring through the tree tops. And within me was the deep impression that there was a lot of praising going on – I just wasn’t hearing it with my earth-bound senses. And the creation around me was shouting it out.

But why should I, a 21st Century pilgrim, praise God? My musings took me to Romans 8:29-30, “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.” And I looked at verse 30, and personalised it, like this, “And having chosen [me], He called [me] to come to Him. And having called [me], He gave [me] right standing with Himself. And having given [me] right standing, He gave [me] His glory.” Why should I praise God? Why should I not praise God? Not only has God chosen me, He has made me righteous before Him. Jesus is now my older brother. And God has given me His glory. Truly, I will praise God as long as I have breath.