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One of the greatest lessons I have ever learned about the peace of God was taught to me one hot summer day several years ago when my son and I were trout fishing in a river not far from where we live. The weather started out pleasant enough but as the day progressed so did the temperature until we were well into the nineties. We needed relief from the heat. We found a calm pool out of the main current and laid down in it. Just lying down in the river met a need in our lives that day. It was so refreshing, it felt great, we were relieved from the heat that was bearing down on us. The lesson He wanted me to take hold of that day was we were already standing in the source of our relief, all we had to do was lie down in it. (Matthew 11:28-30).

A practical application of this lesson came later when I was blindsided by one of life’s unexpected events. I don’t need to share the details of the event, we’ve all had our share of them. What I do need to share is how my Good Shepherd tended to me and gave me His peace.

I found myself waking in the middle of the night in an inner turmoil over past issues that had been dealt with, sins that had already been confessed, forgiven, and forgotten by my Heavenly Father. Lying there at  2 a.m. I remember calling on the Lord, telling Him “I know this is an attack from Satan and I’m asking You to deliver me from it.” This pattern continued for several nights with me praying the same prayer, until I finally heard the thoughts that came to my mind “if you will get in My Word I will (deliver you).” When I finally got in His Word the 23rd Psalm came to my mind, and as I started reading it the word “shepherd” stood out to me . I looked up the definition of the word and discovered it simply means “one who tends to a flock.” At this point I shut my eyes and prayed, “Lord, I just need for you to tend to me right now.” What happened next did indeed bring the rest I so desperately needed but also taught me a valuable lesson that would be beneficial in dealing with future  events as they arose.

In my minds eye I immediately saw a vision of a Shepherd watching over a flock of sheep. Then I saw myself entering the vision and making my way to the Shepherd. When I got to the Shepherd not a word was exchanged but  I found myself in perfect peace. Indeed He wants to give us peace in the midst of life’s turmoils, but more importantly He wants us to discover He IS our peace. The truth of Matthew 11: 28-30 became relevant  to me in the situation in which I  found myself, i.e. “Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Many times when we find ourselves laboring we labor harder to figure out a way to deal with whatever we are laboring about, when He is saying to us all along to simply come to Him and He will give us rest.My wife and I found this truth to be so relevant to us when our children decided they no longer wanted to walk in the ways of the Lord. As they were out doing their thing we found ourselves laboring over not knowing where they were or what they were doing. When we came together and prayed a very simple prayer like, “Father, we don’t know how to deal with this, but we are coming to You, we need You.” Without fail He honored that simple prayer and we laid our heads down on our pillow and slept in His peace.
He also reminded us that we don’t have to know what they are doing but what He is doing in their lives.

We’re all familiar with the friendly invitation at the local swimming hole to “Come on in. The water’s fine.” The 23rd Psalm says “He leads me beside the still waters.” He always respects our right to choose and will never force us to enter into His peace but  could it be He is saying to us “come on in, deep inside my heart.” I am your source for any need you have.

 When we find ourselves in a dry desert place, in desperate need of water, Jesus our shepherd wants us to remember that not only will He quench that thirst but He has given us the well (John 4:14). He has also promised us rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19). The last thing you expect to see in a desert is a river, but with His help we can learn to expect the unexpected.

Later on The Lamb will lead us to living fountains of waters (Revelation 7:17).

Oh, by the way, in case you can’t swim, don’t fear, our Lifeguard walks on water.

 “Fanfare”, prominent public figures receive it, dignitaries from all over the world receive it, war heroes receive it, and even our athletic heroes receive it. They usually receive it in recognition of a job well done. Fanfare usually occurs prior to the appearance of a very important person. According to Webster’s dictionary, fanfare means a noisy or showy display.

On Sunday evening, December 17, 2006, our Father illuminated the heavens with this showy display. Shortly afterwards, a very important person, our beloved Sandy takes eternity’s stage and walks into the loving embrace of the One she has longed to be with.

As she stands there center stage with her beloved Jesus, I’m sure she hears Him say, “You fought a good fight, you finished your course, you kept the faith; well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord”.

If I know Sandy, she is leading the rest of heaven in a cheer for us to continue the course God has given each of us.

Thank you Sandy,
Thank you Lord Jesus for encouraging us all.

If you don’t know what to say to a lost person just direct them to the book of John and allow His Word to convince them that He is everything they need. Sandy is in heaven right now because the power of His Word gave her the faith to trust in Him (Romans 10:17).

When  God sent Moses to the children of Israel He told him if anybody asked who sent him he was to say “I am” has sent me. When Moses approached the children of Israel and talked to them about God’s plan to deliver them I’m sure they wanted to know who gave him his marching orders. When they asked Moses who sent him he said, “I am.”  Moses didn’t say “I am God” or “I am your deliverer,” even though both are true, he just said “I am” has sent me.
For many years I tried to figure this one out, just seemed like a strange name to me. It seemed like He stopped in the middle of a statement about Himself, then through a series of events with a family member, my dear Father cleared it up for me.

Sandy became a part of our family when she married my brother-in-law. As I got to know Sandy I discovered she had always been a very independent, driven person that worked very hard to support herself and her children. Because of circumstances she had no control over as she was growing up she had to learn from a very early age to fend for herself. She trusted no one but herself. Sandy thought it very strange to see us loving on each other at family gatherings. She felt like if someone showed you love they wanted something in return.

Then, in one of life’s unexpected turns Sandy was diagnosed with several debilitating diseases that included fibromyalgia, COPD, and emphysema. In a matter of a few months she was no longer able to work. This once independent, hard working woman was unable to do anything for herself.

Concerned about Sandy, especially in regard to her relationship with the Lord, a friend of mine and I  visited her one evening with the intention of sharing the gospel with her. As I shared that God loved her and wanted her to trust Him for salvation she told me that trusting anybody was totally foreign to her thinking. She wasn’t belligerent, she was just being honest with me.

I didn’t press the issue, quite frankly, I was at a loss for anything else to say to her and then I noticed a Bible lying on the table. I asked Sandy if she would do some reading in the book of John. When she agreed I asked her to write down every time she saw the phrase “I am” and the description of our Lord that followed. I told her I would check back later to see what she had discovered.

During a visit with her a couple weeks later I asked her if she had done her homework, to which she replied “yes I did”.
When I asked her what she had learned she told me “the best I can understand, I think He is saying I am everything you need.”
I thought “what an awesome definition of His name”. A week or so later Sandy trusted in Jesus as her personal Savior. She fell head over heels in love with Him and His Word.

 Later on Sandy was diagnosed with cancer and as all these diseases ravaged her body we would visit to encourage and comfort her but it didn’t take long for us to discover we were the recipients of “her” encouragement. She could hardly wait to share something new she had learned about Him from His Word, and shared she did. In the short time she had left on this earth, if you were around her for a few minutes you heard about her Savior.
We would leave her knowing that she was being comforted by the God of all comfort.

If Sandy could speak to us now I believe she would say,
If you feel like you are unloved Jesus says “I am the One that loves you unconditionally, just the way you are.”
If you have lost your way Jesus says “I am the way.”
If you need forgiveness Jesus says “I am the one who forgives all your sins.”
If you need peace Jesus says “I am your peace.”
For whatever question, for whatever need you have,  Jesus says “I am everything you need.”

The next post is a very special surprise God gave us the day Sandy went home.

In light of what we looked at in the previous post I believe Psalm 85 is a prophetic picture of America at this present time. Let’s look at it together:
vs.1  O Jehovah, You have been gracious to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.
vs.2  You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sins.
God has always been gracious to His children, giving us what we do not deserve, especially the forgiveness of “all” our sins.

vs.3  You have taken away all Your wrath; You have turned from the heat of Your anger.
vs.4  Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease.
vs.5  Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
God has not been pleased with what He has seen in America for many years but as we continue to look at this psalm I believe we will see that the judgment of God on our nation was averted by the repentance of His people, possibly for generations to come.

vs.6  Will You not give us life again, so that Your people may rejoice in You?
As repentance came, so came revival (life again) and joy was restored to God’s people.

vs.7  Show us Your mercy, O Jehovah, and grant us Your salvation.
Indeed He showed us His mercy throughout 2016, granting us His salvation and healing as thousands repented of their sins and turned back to Him (He in His mercy is always there for us, the condition of our heart needs to be right in order for us to realize His mercy).
I believe many of us repented of the sin of complacency, especially in regard to our relationship to Him (complacency always leads to despondency [the Bible calls it “perishing]). Our continual heart’s cry should be “God, show us your mercy and please deliver us from this horrible trap of complacency”.

vs.8  I will hear what God Jehovah will speak; for He will speak peace to His people, and to His saints; but let them not turn again to folly.
Many heard His voice, responded to Him and are once again enjoying the peace that comes from walking in His will.
He wants us to remain vigilant after coming to repentance, hence the warning “but let them not turn again to folly.” It is foolish for us to think that we can have the abundant life that He has in store for us and live some sort of haphazard life of thinking, “Well, I’ll work on my relationship to Him if I feel like it, or if it is convenient for me.” Our relationship to Him must remain at the forefront of our lives  and when it does it will permeate every other relationship we have. The relationship with our spouse, our children, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbors, our nation, and our world, all of whom will benefit from our repentance and renewed commitment to our Savior.

vs.9  Surely His salvation is near those that fear Him, so that glory may dwell in our land.
A new work of God started well before election day this year. It began when God’s people responded to His Word, turned from their wicked ways, and simply cried out to Him for His deliverance. The healing has begun.

vs.10  Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The word “kissed” in verse 10 means “to catch fire:-burn, kindle”; it also means “to equip with weapons”. As I started writing this the mountains close to our home are literally on fire. As the wind intensifies so does the fire, consuming everything in its path. As God’s people repented and cried out to Him mercy and truth met and righteousness and peace were set ablaze in the hearts of thousands of believers. With the power of the Holy Spirit I believe this new work, revival, awakening, call it what you will, has sprouted and will continue to grow as the wind of the Holy Spirit will push us ever forward, cause us to soar with wings as eagles, and continue to fan the flames of revival, empowering His children to overcome anything Satan puts in our path (2nd Corinthians 10:3-5) on our way to seeing His glory once again fill our nation.

vs.11  Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from Heaven.
Will we see immediate results? The phrase “spring out” means “to sprout.” Many are sensing the positive effect of revival and are expecting to see it grow just as I expect to see new garden plants in the spring grow to maturity and fruit bearing with cultivation on my part and favorable weather conditions on His part.

vs.12  Yea, Jehovah shall give good; and our land shall yield its increase.
The goodness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), therefore I am expecting a great harvest of renewed saints and lost sinners, starting now and continuing over time from Him. 
We should expect His increase and share that increase with the rest of the world. Our Father teaches us in Proverbs 18:20-21 that with the increase (produce) of our lips we will be filled and that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Seems to me that we just need to speak the increase that we want to see by the indisputable authority that our Savior has given us, especially increase in His goodness and His truth and speak death to any attitude that would prevent us from seeing the increase He wants us to have.
I’m expecting to see the goodness of God prevail in our nation once again and the increase of that goodness to overflow to the entire world.

Join me as we encourage each other to continue to declare His truth, His goodness, and His glory over our nation, whether it is always evident or not, until we see it manifest itself in a way that will be evident to all (Romans 4:17 “speaking of Abraham …. and calls the things which do not exist as though they do exist.”)

I would be very naive to think that everyone will agree with this assessment. We can and should be sure that Satan will war against us and will try to convince us that the divisiveness, anger, and hatred we see on the news is how things really are but we must continue to put him in his place with the indisputable authority that Jesus has given us and continue to speak the word of healing and revival until we see both manifested in our nation.
We must keep our Lord’s armor on at all times (Ephesians 6:10-20) and continue in prayer and encouragement of each other.
We must continue to reach out in love to those around us with our message of hope. Hope that Jesus Christ is the one and only source of deliverance for any bondage in which we find ourselves.

vs.13  Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His steps.
I am also expecting Him to go before us, fight our battles, and keep us in the way He has made to accomplish this new work that has begun.

Let me encourage you as Mountain Movers to join me in removing the mountains of divisiveness, anger, and hatred and speak His truth, His goodness, His mercy, His glory into the void where these mountains once stood, continuing to praise Him for all of these (truth, goodness,mercy, glory) until we see them manifested in our nation once again.

God gave me the message in these next two posts just a few days after the election of 2016 and I have neglected to publish it until now. I apologize for the neglect, complacency, whatever it was that kept me from publishing it, however, since that time there have been some enormous mountains that have arisen that we have an opportunity to remove. And remove them we will.  

As I watched the election returns into the early morning hours of November 9th, 2016  I, among many other surprised Americans, saw Donald Trump pull off one of the most amazing upset victories in modern political history. According to many he was out spent and less organized than his opponent but he simply continued sharing his message to “Make America Great Again.” A message that obviously resonated with voters that were fed up with the direction our nation has been taking for the last several years.

Yet another man had a simpler, even greater message than either of the contenders for the White House. During the most grueling, and distasteful presidential campaigns ever witnessed by the American public, my thoughts continually returned to the message a brother in Christ was sharing. I believe it is the only message that will “Make America Great Again.” He didn’t need a well organized political machine, he didn’t receive (nor did he need) much media coverage, he personally took God’s message to God’s people. I am convinced that because he was obedient to what God called him to do, God released His promise found in 2nd Chronicles 7:14 to forgive us and heal our land. The healing started well before the first vote was cast (” if My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land“). As God’s tour of our nation took Franklin Graham to all 50 capitals he simply encouraged God’s children to pray, to take to heart 2nd Chronicles 7:14. The resounding theme of his message was if God’s people would repent of their wickedness and call on Him He would hear them, forgive them, heal them personally, and heal their land.

Over 200,000 thousand attended the prayer rallies. Some traveled for several hours to attend. Think with me a moment, if  just a tenth of these people took this message back to their respective communities this message was spread nationwide over the months leading up to the election.
He always stands ready to bless His children but He waits on us to ready our hearts to receive it and I believe enough of God’s children cried out to Him in repentance and confession of their sin that it caused Him to release the promise.
As I stated earlier, I believe America entered a season of repentance, revival, and God’s healing well before the first vote was cast.

Do you ever struggle with renewing your mind? Well take heart, if we would be honest with each other we would have to admit that we all do.
One of the daily disciplines for reprogramming  your sub-conscience mind and  becoming an asset for the Kingdom of God is the repetition of Biblical affirmations about yourself. It is such a simple thing to do but it has had such a profound effect on helping me remember who I really am (I’m an old guy, and need all the help I can get). It is an exercise in being a doer of the Word, not just a hearer.

VITAMIN PA (Positive Affirmations)

Dosage:
Twice a Day, Out Loud (faith come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God) in front of a mirror if possible.

BECAUSE OF HIM:
I am more than a conqueror.
I am well able to overcome anything life throws at me
I am a winner.
I can do all things through Him.
I am a success.
I am abundantly blessed in all things.
I am absolutely, unbelievable, incomparably, immeasurably, wealthy because all things are mine (1^st Cor. 3-21)
I am free spiritually, I am free physically, I am free politically, I am free mentally, I am free emotionally, I am free financially (John 8: 32 and 36).
I am strong spiritually, I am strong physically, I am strong politically, I am strong mentally, I am strong emotionally, I am strong financially (Joel 3:10).
I am energized, I am experienced, I am excited, I am enthusiastic, I am exuberant, I am ecstatic, I am empowered, I am expectant.
I am expecting explosive expansive growth in my relationships and business.
I AM EXPECTANT, I AM EXPECTANT, I AM EXPECTANT!
I would rather be grateful than hateful, I would rather be a river than a swamp.
Today, I am smart enough, I am wise enough, I am clever enough, I am resourceful enough, I am able enough, I am confident enough, I am connected to enough people to accomplish my hearts desires. I have enough to pull off miracles, enough is all I need, enough is what I have, I have more than enough, I have Jesus!!!
Every day and in every way, I am getting better and better.
I am inferior to no one!
I am a leader that deserves to be followed.
I am courageous.
I am a vanquishing victor.
Inch by inch, EVERYTHING is a cinch.
Champions are willing to do the things they hate to achieve the things they love, I am a champion.
Success is a journey.
We won’t stop before the top.
I will not fear because YOU are with me.
I will not doubt because YOU are with me.
I am better not bitter.
I will think of others more than myself.
God is watching me right now, I am watching me right now, giving Him praise on a stage somewhere in front of thousands of people who are now thinking, “I want some of what he has,” because of the tremendous success God has made me to be, He is smiling and so am I.
Be all you can be, let Him determine what “All you can be” is, with His help we can see that high.
I am who I am because The Great I AM says that I am!
I am confident, I am competent, I am capable.
I am an eagle; I WILL use the storm winds to soar higher and higher.
I am a great thinker, therefore I am great.
I am a giant slayer.
I am a giver.
I am a forgiver.
I am prosperous.
I am favored.
I am visionary.
I am supernatural.
I am encouraged.
I am an encourager.
I am a good and faithful servant.
I am accepted.
I am professional.
I am a crusader.
I am a favor-ite.
I am complaint free.
I am a possibility thinker.
I am an inverted paranoid; the whole world is conspiring to do me good.
I am a vision setter.
I am the salt of the earth.
I am a mountain mover; it’s who I am, it’s what I do!
I am like an ant, I WILL NOT be stopped.

I compiled this list with the help of some other people. Use it to start your own . Study His Word to discover others you can add to it.

The next two posts deal with how we can put into practice what we have learned about ourselves, i.e. we are Mountain Movers, let’s do it!

In light of the fact that God Himself has declared us Mountain Movers why do we still struggle being all God wants us to be? Do we want to become more of the person He says we are in Ephesians 1? I hope this will help.

“Ass” in the Hebrew language means “a male ass (from its dun red color).” it also means “to boil up, to ferment; to glow (with redness); be red or trouble.”
A
Stubborn
Soul
We all have A Stubborn Soul living in us i.e., our sub-conscience mind. It’s almost as if it has a life of it’s own that works voluntarily to dredge up past failures to keep us entrapped in a vicious cycle of failure and prevent us from going on into the abundant life He has in store for us..
It is stubborn but there is hope, we can reprogram it (Rom 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”,) and become the asset to God that He wants us to be.

“Asset” (Webster) “a valuable or desirable thing.”
Affirm
Simple
Servant
Enthusiastically encourage
Transparent

Affirm: (Webster) “to make firm, to declare positively; assert to be true.”
Learn to affirm yourself and others. Surround yourself with people that will affirm you (build you up, not tear you down).

Simple:
Simple positive disciplines (especially in our thinking) carried out daily over time will compound into the positive results we desire. (We’ll look at this more in the next post).

Servant:
Develop a servant’s heart. Help enough people get what they need and you will have all you want.

Enthusiastic, encourage:
“enthusiasm” comes from two Greek words that mean “in God.” (Webster) “Intense or eager interest; zeal.”
“The zeal of the Lord will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:7). Enthusiasm is a God-given human trait. With Him all things are better. Get excited, stay excited!
Encourage yourself, encourage others!

Transparent:
Find someone you can be totally honest with and that will be totally honest with you. Someone that will encourage you to be more than you think you can be; someone who will see through you when you make excuses for not being all you can be.

When we are faced with challenges from within or without we can:
Turn red and bray or
Turn from our stubbornness and pray.
Oh, by the way, the next time someone says “you’re acting like an ass” they might just have a Biblical basis for saying it.  
How many of you will be honest enough to say with me, “been there, done that way,” or worse yet,”still there, still doing that way.”

ASS or ASSET, it is our choice. 

Still struggling to be an asset? Maybe you just need the right kind of “vitamin.” Check out the next post.

                                  Mark 11: 22-24
“And answering Jesus said to them, Have faith in God.
For truly I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said shall occur, he shall have whatever he said.”

“Have faith in God,” Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). All words, whether negative or positive, always produce results (Isaiah 55-11).

“say” We, not our enemy, have the final word.
“to the mountain”; “mountain” means to rise or rear.
First we are told to speak to anything that rises up against us, and then we are told what to say.
“be removed”, comes from the same word that mountain comes from, meaning “to raise the voice.”
“be cast”, means “to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls;” “to neutralize, violate, frustrate, to throw off;” “to cause to happen before expected”.

“sea”
Have you ever wondered why He said cast it into the sea? He could have just as easily said fill up a valley with it.
Mt Everest is the highest mountain on earth, at 29,035 feet. The Marianas Trench is the deepest place in the ocean, at 36,070 feet. If Mt Everest was cut off at its base and set on the ocean floor in the Marianas Trench there would still be over a mile of salt water above it. The sea is made of salt water. He says we are the salt of the earth. In the Greek language the word “sea” and the word “salt” come from the same word meaning “salt.”
Could it be that God wants us to keep a picture in our minds of being greater than any mountain we will ever encounter and will actually be well able to “neutralize” anything that rises up against us, especially those things that rise up from our sub-conscience mind? I think He does (John 12:12-14; Isaiah 54:17), and He even gives us a formula in the rest of the verse to reprogram our minds to accomplish mountain moving miracles.

“and shall not doubt in his heart”, How do we overcome doubt? Get the attitude and authority we have already looked at and continue to speak in that authority. Three times, in something we can read in about ten seconds, He tells us to speak. We spend far too much time talking to Him over and over again about the same mountain when He tells us to talk to the mountain ourselves (death and life are in the power of the tongue, Proverbs 18:21). As we continue to speak these words of faith in the form of praise to Him it produces the faith to overcome any doubt that rears its ugly head until we see the manifestation of the mountain removed. 

We don’t have to settle for what life deals us. We all have our share of trouble (mountains; Job 14:1). When trouble comes some say “that’s just not fair.” Others get the attitude that this present state is the best they can expect and start to blame anyone or anything for their plight. Many times we settle for what life deals us instead of taking responsibility for our actions or reactions to troubles when they arise.
We all choose a life of responsibility or a life of blame. When we get the right attitude about who we are and use the authority that we have been given we can speak confidently expecting things to change. Remember, for things to change, our thinking about ourselves has to change.

Oh by the way, there will come a time that the mountains and the hills shall break forth “before you” into singing and the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12), also, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerrubabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings, Grace!” Grace to it! (Zechariah 4:7). Sounds like our enemies, both inward and outward, will submit to our authority and actually celebrate us.
                                                                                                                                                                                          No mountain too great!

See Prayer Outlines for suggestion for removing mountains.

“Well, who do you think you are?”  is usually a derogatory statement rather than a legitimate question designed to put someone in “their place.” However, it is a very valid question each one of us should be asking ourselves.

To start our journey let’s look at the benefits listed in Ephesians 1:1-14 that we have simply because we are “in Him”. Actually a description of “our place” in Him and a partial picture of who we really are (we will delve more deeply into who we really are in future posts). Notice also how many times He uses the word “grace” or “good pleasure” (five times in something we can read in less than two minutes) as He heaps these benefits on any that will come to Him for salvation. It’s all about Him, His grace, His good pleasure toward His children.

vs. 1 “in Christ Jesus”
“saints and “faithful”
(I am a saint and part of the faithful in Christ Jesus)

vs. 2 “Grace”

vs. 3 “in Christ”
He “has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places”
(I am blessed beyond anything I deserve).

vs. 4 “in Him” “before Him”
He “has chosen us”  to “be holy and without blame”
(I am chosen, I am holy, I am without blame)

vs .5 ” by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”
He “predestinated us unto the adoption of children”
(I am adopted! He took a long, hard look at me and still said “I want him”).

vs. 6 “grace” “in the beloved”
“He has made us accepted”
(I am totally and unconditionally accepted by Him. Because of my position  in Christ Jesus my Father accepts me as totally as He accepts His own Son).

vs. 7 “in whom” “grace”
“we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins”
(I am redeemed, I am of incredible worth to Him, I am forgiven).

vs. 8 “he has abounded toward us”
“in all wisdom and prudence”

vs. 9 “in himself” “His good pleasure”
“we can know the mystery of His will”
(I can know His will).

vs.10 “in Christ” “in Him”
“he might gather together in one all things both which are in heaven and which are on earth”
(I am part of His Body).                                     

vs. 11 “in whom” “of Him”
“obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to His purpose”
(I am an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus).

vs. 13-14 “in whom” (twice)
“you trusted for salvation”
“you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
(I am saved, sealed, and will be delivered to heaven someday). Glory, Glory, Glory, saved,sealed, delivered, I’m His!

I can’t stress enough that all these benefits are given to us at the very moment we receive Jesus as our Savior. They are nothing we work for, just a huge package of gifts on our birthday from our incredibly gracious Daddy. Enjoy.

PS. The only thing we should work for is to “work at” studying His Word to discover all the blessings He has in store for us.

Click on the Bible Studies tab for the complete study and Prayer Outlines tab for a possible prayer based on these verses.