Through the Bible - 1 Kings 11-12, Luke 24:13-35
Good morning,
I had a devotional planned for this morning, but changed gears once again because of something I read this morning. Today's New Testament reading was about the road to Emmaus, we'll go there, Lord willing, tomorrow.
Yesterday, I was driving along some roads in the beautiful countryside of Kentucky and on through West Virginia, Virginia and back home to North Carolina. Some of that area had received several inches of rain the night before and some of the creeks and rivers had overflowed into the fields. The flood waters will recede but will leave their mark.
For today's verse we'll return to Ephesians 3 and a passage that I posted just a few days ago. Reading them in the Amplified Bible brought to mind the thoughts of the impact of a flood.
Ephesians 3:18-19 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! - Amplified Bible
The words the struck me this morning in reading these verses were that we are to become "a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself".
We can be flooded by sin or we can be filled with the Spirit, God Himself. If any of you have ever had your house flood, especially with dirty water, you realize how it permeates ever nook and corner that it reaches. Nothing is left untouched. This is a picture of what sin can do.
Flooding in the farm field can bring needed nutrients and help the fields to produce better crops. Being flooded, filled with the Holy Spirit will produce the good soil in our hearts and lives that will help to produce fruit for the kingdom. Nothing is left untouched. In a positive way, this is how Christ is to be in our lives. Every area, every aspect should or will eventually be impacted.
As you read through His Word, take some time, let it dwell, let it flood and permeate your mind, may it nourish and strengthen you as you go along the road.
16May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.nethttp://mikesvotd.blogspot.comEph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace NIV
Ephesians 3:14-19 (Amplified Bible)
14For this reason [seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ], I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name].
16May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
17May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
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