“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:1-4
“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.” John 1:1-5
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” –Jesus, Revelation 22:13
“The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.”—Paul, Ephesians 3:6
Ephesians 3, The Message
The Secret Plan of God
1-3 This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you’re familiar with the part I was given in God’s plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.
4-6 As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.
7-8 This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.
8-10 And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!
11-13 All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!
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14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
PAUL BRINGS THE SECRET OUT IN THE OPEN! The secret is Jesus came to rescue everyone! This was God’s plan from the beginning. God knew we would need a Rescuer! God created each one of us so He knows us well—from the inside out!. He knows us by name, even down to the number of hairs we have on our heads on any given day! Mind-blowing, I know!
God so loves his created people, who are made in His image. He knows our thoughts, sees our hearts, watches as we grapple with decision making while sorting out the choices offered to us daily. God delights in all the details of our lives! From the beginning, God also knew we would need a way back to Him when our decision making failed us when relied only on ourselves, refusing guidance from Him. Although we break His heart as we stumbled onto dark paths, His love never changes, His plan never fails.
God knew before we did that the “darkness” of His enemy would try to overcome us. Hence, God’s plan was put in place to save us from ourselves and from the Enemy who hates God.
God loves everyone and His desire is that NO ONE perish in the darkness. That’s why EVERYBODY is welcomed to come to Him. Yes, from the beginning, we were on God’s mind. He had this plan to bring all who believe and trust Him to be brought out of darkness and into the Light of His love, forgiven by His unfailing mercy, and unending grace. The plan was divinely executed in Jesus who willingly came to earth to seek and to save the lost who were without God, reconciling all who believe to God.
This message of reconciliation, rescuing and reconnecting us to God, our Creator by believing in Jesus, His Son, compels Paul, along with others down through the ages, who are called and equipped by God to passionately and tirelessly go and tell the Truth of who God is, what Jesus did, along with proclaiming the gift of God’s Holy Spirit provided to help us live God’s best.
We are called to go and tell, too! We are created to give God glory! We were created to love like He loves us—that includes everyone!
I pray our response is like Paul’s—
“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”
In Jesus Name, Amen! Yes! Be our strength by day and our song in the night!
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 