Ephesians 1 Personal Version

I have recently been reading and meditating on Ephesians 1 (NKJV).  I used an online Bible website and personalized it.  I found great truth and encouragement from it and I hope you do as well.

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus (Asia Minor), and faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be You the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as You chose me in Him before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before You in love, 5 having predestined me to adoption as a son by Jesus Christ to Yourself, according to the good pleasure of Your will, 6 to the praise of the glory of Your grace, by which You made me accepted in the Beloved.

7 In Christ I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward me in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to me the mystery of Your will, according to Your good pleasure which You purposed in Yourself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times You might gather together in one all things in Christ, both[a] which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.11 In Christ also I have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of You who works all things according to the counsel of Your will,12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Christ you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who[b] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,18 the eyes of your understanding[c] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all  things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 1:10 NU-Text and M-Text omit both.
2. Ephesians 1:14 NU-Text reads which.
3. Ephesians 1:18 NU-Text and M-Text read hearts.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Reading With the Author

Can you remember back to your high school days?  I know for some of us it’s more difficult to remember these days. Think back to sitting in your high school english class. Your teacher hands you a book and tells you to read it.  You notice that it seems to be over 300 pages and you think to yourself, “Ugh.  I will never finish this.  It looks boring.”  So you take several weeks to read this book only to find out that you have to write a long essay about the book and it’s plot and characters.  If only you could speak to the original author of the book, you could get all the answers.  In most cases this is no longer possible.  However, there is one book that you can still find out the answers and meanings to questions from the author.  That book is the Bible.

As a believer in Christ, you and I are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Christ himself dwells within your spirit.  So the author of life and the author of God’s word dwells within you.  This gives you and I incredible access to the author Himself.  We don’t need Cliff notes to discover the meaning behind the word of God.  We can simply read the Bible with the author.  I know that for myself, I have read and studied the Bible for many years.  But I approached it from a theological perspective.  I used the tools I learned in Bible college to interpret the Bible.  I rarely read the Bible with the Lord.  I read it apart from Him.  Jesus said in John 15:5, “…apart from me you can do nothing.” I believe this includes attempting to read and or study the Bible.  

We need to approach our time in God’s word with prayer for Him to guide us along in the Scriptures.  I have begun to see His word anew as I involved Him in my reading of the Bible. Now I also am looking for Christ in every part of the Bible, especially in Old Testament books.  After all Jesus told the religious leaders in John 5:39, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.  These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.” All of the Bible testifies about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Do you seek Jesus to help you in reading and discovering the truths about Him in the Bible?  Or do you simply read it and attempt to find ways to apply it apart from Him?  Something to think about.