Our Response to God's Love: Day 2

When I was younger, my parents and Sunday school teachers did a great job.  I was constantly taught that Jesus loves me, and that He was willing to die in my place.  I might not have understood why He loved me, and what I was suppose to do with that love, but at least I knew.  In fact, the first song I ever learned was "Jesus Loves Me."  (Here's a fun fact: the second song I ever learned was "Achy Breaky Heart").  

I wouldn't change anything that I was taught during my preschool years, but I realized my teaching came with a price.  I now understand that many Sunday school kids will come to experience a strong temptation when they get older; a temptation to use God's love in a way that it was never meant to be used.

The selfish temptation goes something like this: "God loves me and always will.  God will forgive me because of His love.  I can be sinful and ask God to forgive me later."

That's not the way God intended for His love to be used.  No one likes to be taken advantage of.  God died for us so we could live for Him, but what does that mean?  

Read God's plan for mankind in Ephesians 1:9-14 (NLT):

God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Answer the following questions:

1. Rewrite God's plan in your own words:

2. What is the most amazing or unbelievable aspect of God's plan in your opinion?

3. Who receives an inheritance, and how do they get it?

4. What does this passage teach you, personally, about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit?

Weekly Challenge:

God desires for us to praise and glorify Him. We praise God by thanking Him for His goodness, and we glorify Him by telling other people about His incredible love for us. Spend time writing down some of reasons why you are thankful for God, and then pray for the courage to share those reasons with another pers

Our Response to God's Love

(Today is the first day of the 18 part devotional on Ephesians.  I will be updating this blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Email me if you want this email sent to your email address.  joshua.wheeler03@gmail.com)


When I was 18 years old, I decided to quit waking up for church. I wasn't mad at God, nor was I hurt by the church; I just thought church was irrelevant. I was in college at the time, and learning so much from my
professors and friends that I thought Sunday morning lectures could wait until I was older. This is fairly common for people my age, in fact, a recent study by the Barna Group revealed that 60% of young people chose to leave the Church during college. I admit that I learned a lot from those years, but many lessons were painful and unexpected.  I now bear spiritual scars which remind me that some decisions can cause deep wounds.  At first I didn't understand why I made so many mistakes, especially considering my background. I grew up with parents who brought me to church every Sunday morning and dropped me off at youth group every Wednesday night. The problem wasn't my church attendance, it was my motivation. I only went to church because my parents. They wanted me to go, and I never took responsibility for developing my relationship with God.  My weak faith made it easy to forgot God once I got to college, but the experience also taught me a very important life lesson: I need to focus on my relationship to God.  As I look back, I am able to see that I could have avoided so many hurtful decisions if I only would have made God a priority. This is because many of my mistakes stemmed from insecurity and a desire to be loved and
accepted. I now understand that God has always loved and accepted me, but I couldn't see it until I started focusing on Him.

I have learned that humans can only focus on one thing at a time, so I try to focus on God as frequently as I
can. I do this by reading the bible in the morning, asking God to remind me about Him throughout the day, and going to church on Sunday. In essence, I am making a choice to prioritize God above anything else, and then asking Him to help me honor that choice.  As we spend this week reading through the first chapter of Ephesians, let's take notice that Paul spends a whole chapter focusing on God before focusing on us. It
seems as though Paul is demonstrating that God was the top priority in his life, his family and friends were second and ministry work was third.

Read Paul's introduction in Ephesians 1:1-8 (NLT):

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.

I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious

grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Answer the following questions:

1. What does this passage reveal about God's love for us?

2. What do we learn about our freedom?

3. What aspect of God's love is hardest for you to understand or appreciate?

Fellow Travelers...

I have often struggled to understand how the bible relates to my life, and I know I'm not the only one. I hear many people complain that the bible is irrelevant for the 21st century, but I read the bible assuming that God is going to use the words on the page in order to communicate with me. I believe that God wants to talk to us, but do we know how to listen?

During the past two months I wrote a bible devotional hoping that it would help my family and friends learn how to listen to God and grow in their understanding of Him.  I wanted to use my past experiences as an example of how I have learned to listen to God in the past.  I'm not perfect, and I believe that God communicates differently to each of His children, so I suggested that they use the devotional as a workbook instead of a textbook. But why am I telling you this inside of this blog post?

Well, during the next 6 week I would like to share my devotional study with you online.  I want to use this blog as a way for us to read through the book of Ephesians together and grow in our understanding of God.  I will format the blog differently than a normal blog post, and I will be making blog posts 3 times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  

Each "blogvotion" will begin with a brief insight that God has shared with me, followed by a short section of Ephesians, and conclude with a few questions about what you read.  Because this is online, you can use the comment's section in order to add your own questions, answer some of mine questions, or share an insight of how the section applies to your life.  I would love for us to challenge and encourage one another to see the Bible as a source of living communication between God and His children.

Finally, I want to provide two quick notes in conclusion: 

First of all, the questions are the most important part of the study because they are designed to help you focus on God and communicate with Him. Therefore, slowly read and answer the questions as thoroughly as possible, writing your responses in a separate notebook if needed.

Secondly, send me an email if you want this blog to come directly to your email inbox.  Joshua.Wheeler03@gmail.com

I pray that we all grow a lot closer to God in this time.