"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." - Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)I read about a prison surrounded by barbed wire. To make it look nicer, they planted pear trees along the fence. If you're driving by, the pear trees look pretty, and you might think the prison is a nice place. But if you go inside and look out, all you see is the bar...  Read More

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." - Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)A woman was teaching her child about money. Once he figured it out, the child asked her, "Mom, if you give me a hundred dollars, I'll be good." The mother replied, "Son, why can't you just be good for nothing... like your father?"This fu...  Read More

"To the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:6 (NKJV)What's the ultimate result of God's eternal plan of salvation? It's simple: "to the praise of the glory of His grace." When we get to heaven, we're not going to be walking around talking about how good we were or how special we were. All the praise will go right up to God.There was a man na...  Read More

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:5-6 (NKJV)There are two great train tracks in Scripture that run parallel to one another. One is God's sovereignty, which simply means His purpose will never be thwarted by man. The oth...  Read More

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." - Ephesians 1:5 (NKJV)A few years ago in the NFL draft, Eli Manning was the quarterback the Chargers wanted. But Archie Manning, his father, made it clear publicly: "If you draft him, he's not going to come and play for you." It was pretty brazen, but he made it plain. "You may choos...  Read More

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." - Ephesians 1:5 (NKJV)All of us have experienced some form of rejection at one time or another. Perhaps you were the child who wasn't as athletic, and as the teams were being chosen, you watched one by one as each child was picked, until there were three to go, then two, and finally,...  Read More

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." - Ephesians 1:4 (NKJV)Have you ever felt like an afterthought? Like you weren't part of the original plan? Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to your relationship with God. Before Adam and Eve walked in the Garden of Eden, before the first star was hung i...  Read More

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" - Romans 8:32 (NKJV)There was a man and wife who won an all-inclusive cruise, but they didn't realize it was all-inclusive. Being poor with little money, they stayed in their cabin eating cheese and crackers the entire trip. When crew members noticed they hadn't been to th...  Read More

"But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.'" - Numbers 13:30 (NKJV)Moses sent out a committee, a team of twelve individuals who would spy out the land and see what it looked like. Ten of them came back with an evil report, a report of doubt, a report of "I can't do it." These ten spies came back and they sai...  Read More

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 that we've been blessed "in the heavenly places." "Places" is not in the Greek. It's fine to put it there, but it's just "in the heavenlies." What ...  Read More

"Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!" - Psalm 68:19 (NKJV)Ray Stedman once said, "It is amazing the change that comes over us when we simply review our resources and count our blessings. That is where true encouragement is found in an honest accounting of the Father's limitless resources and blessings, made available to us in Christ."He wrote, "I once r...  Read More

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." - Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)There was a man in South Africa who owned a small compound where he and his horse would travel daily. As they passed through his property, there was a little stream filled with shiny objects that frustrated him greatly. His horse would c...  Read More