Ephesians and Lent

I have been thinking about Ephesians 3 as we study the second half of it this week in our Good Morning Girls Bible study.  We all go through difficult situations in this life.  We all have choices to make when faced with those situations that we would rather not face.  How we choose to respond can make all the difference!

A Prayer for the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:14-21, NIV)

  For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.   Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Paul prayed those words above while in prison!  Paul was living these words as God's Spirit lived through Paul and he wrote these inspired words down in a prayer!  What if Paul had chosen to hold onto bitterness, anger, or envy?  What if Paul had decided not to pray for the Ephesians, or the Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, or the Thesssalonians?  What if Paul had not written down any of his thoughts toward these other young churches?

I was talking with my kids this morning about these verses in Ephesians and we reviewed what a "dwelling" is and then when I asked them what it means for Christ to "dwell in your hearts through faith", one of them excitedly said, "He lives in your heart!"  Isn't that extremely exciting news?  Christ, the very Son of God, can actually live in our hearts?  And not only that, but He can strengthen us with the power of the Holy Spirit inside of our "inner-being".  God's Spirit can come live in our spirit, with ALL of His awesome power!  And if that weren't enough, He can do more with His power that is working in us than we can ask or imagine!  Doesn't that just blow you away?

Here we are, ready to embark upon the season of Lent once again.  We are not Catholic, but we do have a special Ash Wednesday worship service at our church and we participated in that tonight.  It was good to take some time to sing, listen to scripture, and reflect upon my own sinful state.  We were given small slips of paper to write something on that is keeping us from God.  Then, we placed the papers in a metal urn, took bread, dipped it in the grape juice, and received ashes on our foreheads.

Many people "give up" something during Lent.  However, the words that I wrote on my little slip of paper were not something that I like to eat or do.  They were "worry, anger, fear, control." I can only let go of these words with the help of Jesus.  I don't ever really have "control", that is such an illusion, but when I give my perceived "control" over to God, that is when He can really work in me and make me the kind of person that He wants me to be. Then, I can let go of the worry, anger, and fear, because I allow God's peace to reign in my heart. We can't face tough situations and respond to them with super-human kindness, generosity, forgiveness, or love on our own. That can only be accomplished through God, because His Son, Jesus, came to earth to save us from our sinful selves.  Now His Spirit can live inside of our hearts, if we allow Him to dwell there.

I don't know if I am going to give something up, but I will continue to study Ephesians and think about Jesus and his sacrifice during this Lent.  I have been inspired by Mary at Homegrown Learners and her post entitled "Shrove Tuesday and a Collection of Lenten Ideas"  and I printed out a Lenten calendar from her links that my daughter is coloring in each day as we journey toward the celebration of Easter!

Have you been thinking about this, too?  What do you plan to give up or do away with in your life that is separating you from God?  What will you do differently?  Just remember, we cannot do this on our own, but thankfully, "He lives in your heart!"

This post is linked to the Good Morning Girls WIWW Link-up Party and  Women Living Well Wednesday Link-up.