<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Ephesians 1;15<div><br></div><div><b>15. &nbsp;For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,</b></div><div><b>16. &nbsp;I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><span><br></span></div><div>Our<span>&nbsp;</span><span><i>“faith </i><u>in</u><span>&nbsp;the Lord Jesus</span></span><u>,</u><span>” &nbsp;<u>is</u>&nbsp;</span><span>Christ’s own faith. &nbsp;It is a participation in his own certainty of the resurrection. &nbsp;Jesus knew he would be raised, death could not hold him. &nbsp;We have this same certainty.</span></div><div><span>Just as Jesus said, <i>“The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised&nbsp;on the third day</i></span><i>”</i><span>&nbsp; &nbsp;(Matthew 17;22&amp;23),&nbsp;so we say, <i>“After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” &nbsp;</i>(Hosea 6;2)</span><span></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>We do not put ‘our’ faith ‘into’ Christ, ‘His faith’ has become ‘our faith’ because we are ‘<u>in Him’</u>.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>In our baptism we die with Jesus <u>and</u>&nbsp;<u>in</u>&nbsp;<u>Him,</u>&nbsp;we are raised! &nbsp;(see, Romans 6)&nbsp; Our spiritual&nbsp;resurrection&nbsp;happened 2000 years ago. &nbsp;The only resurrection we still await is that of our mortal <u>bodies</u>&nbsp;to be raised to&nbsp;immortality.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Because we are now&nbsp;raised with Jesus, we <i>“live before him.” &nbsp;</i>Living “<i>before”</i>&nbsp;Jesus means we love one another with Christ’s own love, &nbsp;<i>”I have heard of …&nbsp;your&nbsp;love for all the saints.” &nbsp;</i>This love in not ‘our’ love, but the love of Christ at work in us.<i></i></span></div><div><span><i><br></i></span></div><div><span>The gift of being partakers in the faith of Jesus, makes us partakers in his own love.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Such faith and love at work in us makes us constant in prayer.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>If we fail to love, or fail to pray, we are failing to believe that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.</span></div><div><span>To do so is to yield our members to sin and unbelief. &nbsp;We have been set free to, <i>“live before him” </i>meaning, to live in his presence, loving and praying without ceasing and with thanksgiving to God&nbsp;for each other. &nbsp;We do not give up our thankful&nbsp;hope for each other.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, bless our faith to not be intellectual information, but the&nbsp;actual living out of Christ in us. &nbsp;Let our faith not be <u>our faith,</u>&nbsp;but the very faith of Jesus. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,&nbsp;</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric</span></div><div><span>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“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.”</span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><a></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Ephesians 1;15
15.  For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,16.  I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

Our “faith in the Lord Jesus,”  is Christ’s own faith.  It is a participation in his own certainty of the resurrection.  Jesus knew he would be raised, death could not hold him.  We have this same certainty.Just as Jesus said, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day”   (Matthew 17;22&23), so we say, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”  (Hosea 6;2)
We do not put ‘our’ faith ‘into’ Christ, ‘His faith’ has become ‘our faith’ because we are ‘in Him’.
In our baptism we die with Jesus and in Him, we are raised!  (see, Romans 6)  Our spiritual resurrection happened 2000 years ago.  The only resurrection we still await is that of our mortal bodies to be raised to immortality.
Because we are now raised with Jesus, we “live before him.”  Living “before” Jesus means we love one another with Christ’s own love,  ”I have heard of … your love for all the saints.”  This love in not ‘our’ love, but the love of Christ at work in us.
The gift of being partakers in the faith of Jesus, makes us partakers in his own love.
Such faith and love at work in us makes us constant in prayer.
If we fail to love, or fail to pray, we are failing to believe that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.To do so is to yield our members to sin and unbelief.  We have been set free to, “live before him” meaning, to live in his presence, loving and praying without ceasing and with thanksgiving to God for each other.  We do not give up our thankful hope for each other.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, bless our faith to not be intellectual information, but the actual living out of Christ in us.  Let our faith not be our faith, but the very faith of Jesus.  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.”


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
