Family Devotional Guide

FAMILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE August 24-28, 2009

Theme for this week: By immersing ourselves in Christ’s love we can have unity in Him.

Monday, August 24. Scripture reading: Eph. 3:16-17a. In these verses Paul speaks of Christ dwelling in our hearts and the Holy Spirit strengthening us as He dwells in our inner being. What is our inner being? It is our capacity to reason, our conscience, and our will. The strengthening of Christ comes when the Holy Spirit takes residence in our inner being. And when does that happen? When we are baptized into Christ? The Holy Spirit and Christ will gladly come into your life but They will never force their way in. They wait for our invitation to come in by our being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Sprit abides in us and we yield to Him it means that He controls our reason, our conscience and our will, and we are exercising them and growing in the Word as we read in Hebrews 5:12-14. It is only when we yield to the Spirit and let Him control our inner being that we succeed in living to the glory of God. Are you and I yielding to yield to the Spirit?

Tuesday, August 25. Scripture reading: Ephesians 3:17b. In this verse Paul said that he is praying that Christians are rooted and grounded in love. The word rooted moves us into the plant world. The tree must get its roots deep into the soil if it is to have both nourishment and stability. So Christians must have their spiritual roots deep into the love of God. God so loved us as to give us His one and only son to die as a sin offering for us so that we can be eternally saved. In return we should so love God that we will present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. The second thing for which Paul prayed in this verse is that Christians may be established in love. This word established can also be translated grounded which I believe is more with the context. This is an architectural term and it refers to the foundation on which we build. Builders say that the foundation is the mot important part of a building. If you don’t do deep, you can’t go high. Paul wants us to have a deep relationship with Christ, for only then can we remain steadfast during severe trials. Suggested prayer: Our Father, thank You so much for giving Jesus to us, and may we be so rooted and grounded in Your love that no trial can ever move us from walking with Jesus all the days of our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, August 26. Scripture reading: Eph. 3:18-19. The word translated “to grasp” in this verse stems from the Latin word prehendere. We say that a monkey has a prehensile tail.” That is, its tail is able to grasp a tree limb and hold on. Paul is praying that we grasp and hold on to God’s love, and His love is so vast that it is four dimensional: width, length, height and depth. When God gave the land of Palestine to Abraham he told him to Go walk through the length and breath of it. Abraham had to step out by faith and claim his inheritance. But our inheritance of God’s love is so vast that it has four dimensions and Paul says it is surpasses knowledge. We are so rich when we have Christ that our riches cannot be calculated even with the most sophisticated calculator. So even though we can not comprehend the love of Christ, we can relish that we have it. Suggested prayer: Dear Father, the love of Christ is of such a nature that we can never comprehend it, but we are so grateful for that love. May we in return love You and Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and may we never be a disappointment to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Thursday, August 27. Scripture reading: Eph. 4:1. In the book of Ephesians there is a beautiful balance between doctrine and duty. The first three chapters deal with doctrine which has to do with our riches in Christ, while the last three chapters explain our duty, which are our responsibilities in Christ. There are two significant words in the first verse of chapter 4. that we want to notice. The first is therefore. The word therefore indicates something has gone before. That which had gone before was doctrine. The Christian life is not based on ignorance, but knowledge, and the better we understand Bible doctrine the easier it is to obey. Contrary to a lot of people’s opinion, it is important what we believe. The second significant word is urge. God, in love, urges us to live for His glory. He does not say, as He did to the Old Testament Jews, “If you obey Me, I will bless you.” Rather He says, “I have already blessed you—now, in response to My love and grace, obey Me.” Let us diligently study the Bible and learn God’s will, and then let us walk the walk and thus live for Him. Suggested prayer: Our dear God, will You give us the wisdom so that we will take the time to study Your Words, will You also, by Your Spirit, give us the understanding of Your teaching, and then will You help us to realize the intrinsic value of obeying Your commands. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Friday, August 28. Scripture reading: Eph. 4:2. The main idea in the first 16 verses of this chapter is the unity of believers in Christ. God is building a Body, a Temple. He has reconciled Jews and Gentiles to Himself in Christ. Jesus has brought to a disunited world the way to unity. This way is through faith in Him. Paul states the characteristics that we are to have in the church so as to be united. And these same characteristics are not true only in the church, but they are true of us as members of any organization. The first is lowliness or humility. Someone has said Humility is that grace that, when you know you have it, you have lost it. Humility means putting Christ first, others second, and self last. It means knowing ourselves, accepting ourselves, and being ourselves to the glory of God. We all are valuable; God has even made us in His own image. In Christ we are even the temple in which the Holy Spirit lives, but as we read in Rom. 12:3 let us never think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Suggested prayer: Our dear God, we are so grateful that You consider us so valuable as to make us in Your own image. But will You help us to be humble so as to help bring about unity in the church and in all organizations of which we are members. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)