<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Ephesians 1;1-4<div><br></div><div><b>1. &nbsp;Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,&nbsp;</b></div><div><b>To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:</b></div><div><b>2. &nbsp;Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b>3. &nbsp;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,</b></div><div><b>4. &nbsp;even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>With these words, Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians, and to us. (<i>“The saints who are faithful </i><u>in the Lord Jesus”</u>). &nbsp; Faithfulness belongs to us because we belong to Christ and&nbsp;live&nbsp;now <u>in Christ.</u>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Because&nbsp;Jesus was faithful, his very&nbsp;own faithfulness now belongs to us. &nbsp;We are partaking of the divine nature. &nbsp;(2 Peter 1;4)</div><div><br></div><div>This faithfulness is not a distant notation,&nbsp;divinely credited to us in God’s heavenly record. &nbsp;It is his own&nbsp;true, real, living faithfulness, for&nbsp;we now are truly living <u>in Christ.</u>&nbsp; <i>“Do you not know that all of us who&nbsp;</i><i>were baptized </i><u>into</u><i>&nbsp;</i><u>Christ…”</u>. (Roman’s 6;3)</div><div><br></div><div>Our true life and existence is not ‘in’ or ‘from’ our flesh, but ‘from God’ and ‘<u>in Christ Jesus’.</u></div><div><u><br></u></div><div>We indwell human bodies, but they are instruments, tools, to be used for God’s glory, they are not our true identity. &nbsp;As Paul said, <i>“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” &nbsp;</i>(Philippians 1;21) &nbsp;We take our true identity from Jesus, <i>“We are God’s workmanship, <u>created in Christ Jesus </u>&nbsp;for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” &nbsp;</i>(Ephesians 2;10)</div><div><br></div><div>Our Heavenly Father blesses us with every spiritual blessing <u>in Christ.</u>&nbsp; Apart from Christ, we are fruitless,&nbsp;dead branches. &nbsp; We do not look into a mirror to see ourselves, we look into God’s Word and we see our true identity, who is Jesus!</div><div><br></div><div>The <i>“heavenly places” </i>are not some distant far off location, in some other spiritual&nbsp;dimension. &nbsp;They are our own cleansed and forgiven souls, hearts, minds, and spirits, now indwelt by Christ through the Holy Spirit who has been given into us as God’s gift in our baptism into Christ.</div><div><br></div><div>Our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit, including our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits. &nbsp;This is why Peter writes that we are <u>“partakers of the divine nature”</u>.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>All this work of God, making us&nbsp;to now be <u>in Christ</u>, was planned by God&nbsp;before the foundations of the earth we laid! &nbsp;Even before sin came into this world, the Father’s plan was that we find our life and true identity in Christ, not ourselves. &nbsp;His plan from before the beginning&nbsp;was that we would be holy and blameless before him. &nbsp;This can not be, except if we by God’s grace alone,&nbsp;find&nbsp;our life and existence&nbsp;in the holy One, Jesus.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, your works and love are beyond human understanding, therefore, grant us the Mind of Christ, that we may know you fully even as you perfectly and completely know us, you own dear children. &nbsp;<u>In Jesus</u>&nbsp;we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His!”</div><div><br><br><div><a></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Ephesians 1;1-4
1.  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:2.  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,4.  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
With these words, Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians, and to us. (“The saints who are faithful in the Lord Jesus”).   Faithfulness belongs to us because we belong to Christ and live now in Christ.    Because Jesus was faithful, his very own faithfulness now belongs to us.  We are partaking of the divine nature.  (2 Peter 1;4)
This faithfulness is not a distant notation, divinely credited to us in God’s heavenly record.  It is his own true, real, living faithfulness, for we now are truly living in Christ.  “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ…”. (Roman’s 6;3)
Our true life and existence is not ‘in’ or ‘from’ our flesh, but ‘from God’ and ‘in Christ Jesus’.
We indwell human bodies, but they are instruments, tools, to be used for God’s glory, they are not our true identity.  As Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1;21)  We take our true identity from Jesus, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus  for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2;10)
Our Heavenly Father blesses us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Apart from Christ, we are fruitless, dead branches.   We do not look into a mirror to see ourselves, we look into God’s Word and we see our true identity, who is Jesus!
The “heavenly places” are not some distant far off location, in some other spiritual dimension.  They are our own cleansed and forgiven souls, hearts, minds, and spirits, now indwelt by Christ through the Holy Spirit who has been given into us as God’s gift in our baptism into Christ.
Our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit, including our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits.  This is why Peter writes that we are “partakers of the divine nature”. 
All this work of God, making us to now be in Christ, was planned by God before the foundations of the earth we laid!  Even before sin came into this world, the Father’s plan was that we find our life and true identity in Christ, not ourselves.  His plan from before the beginning was that we would be holy and blameless before him.  This can not be, except if we by God’s grace alone, find our life and existence in the holy One, Jesus.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, your works and love are beyond human understanding, therefore, grant us the Mind of Christ, that we may know you fully even as you perfectly and completely know us, you own dear children.  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His!”

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