“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined
according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the
purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in
Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in
Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When
you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who
is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are
God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:11-14 NIV
Most of us think that we are able to do all
things in our own strength—without the Spirit of God. Therefore, we try to do
everything that we desire, and then take credit for ourselves. If things are
not working out as they suppose to be, we give up right away, even they are
actually will of God—thinking that they are definitely not the will of God.
Eventually, we come to realize that our own pleasures match the will of God, since
we can easily fulfill them.
However, the truth is that all of us cannot
do anything without the Spirit of God, even though we plan them (Proverbs
16:9; Proverbs
19:21), due to the fact that He already knows everything (Romans
11:33-36). This means that everything that we are going to do, God is
already planning them, in advance, to somehow make us to come to Him (Isaiah
55:8-9), for the word of God repeatedly states that He is jealous God. He
is jealous over us, that He gave His only beloved Son to be crucified for our
sins and has given us eternal life through Him (1
John 4:9-10), instead of death (John
3:16-17). “For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans
6:23) The main reason for this is that all of us have actually been created
by Him to be His image (Genesis
1:27). “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. And those he predestined, he also
called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also
glorified.” (Romans
8:29-30) The main reason why terrible and disastrous things happen to us
is that He wants to bring us back to Him and create an intimate relationship
with us (2
Chronicles 7:14; 1
Peter 4:12-13).
Once you were
alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil
behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death
to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if
you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope
held out in the gospel… (Colossians
1:21-23)
As soon as we start to trust and believe in
God intimately, the Spirit of God, the Advocate (John
14:15-27), starts to grow and nurture in us right away (Proverbs
3:5-8). Psalm
37:23-24 declares, “The LORD directs
the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they
stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.” In
other words, we are becoming perfect in Jesus Christ (Hebrews
10:14). I believe that I am becoming perfect in Him through writing. This
is because when I write devotionals, sometimes, I gain more knowledge of God
and I think my devotionals are making the word of God more real. Furthermore, I
have no idea how to do them when the power of the Spirit of God is not within
me. I realised this quite few times. Because the power of the Holy Spirit is
often empowering me as I write devotionals, I glorify God through them and take
no credit for myself. Romans
8:28 states us that God is working within us for good, especially to those
of us who love Him and who are being called to His purpose.
For this reason I
kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives
its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with
power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love, 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, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God.
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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians
3:14-21)
Lord,
let the Spirit of God to grow and nurture in us
so that we may become Your masterpiece.
We
know that we have ignored the power of Your strength
That
is working within us but let us feel the presence of the Lord,
So
that we can glorify You, instead of taking credits for ourselves.
In
Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen!
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