Daily Devotionals

“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles
– if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God
which was given to me for you”
– Ephesians 3:1-2 –

In Ephesians 3, seven ideas are highlighted:

1. Credentials. Paul presents himself as a prisoner of Christ, for love of His children in faith.
2. Mystery. It is a mystery how the Gentiles, who lived far from God, could participate and enjoy the blessings of the gospel of Christ.
3. Privilege. Paul, who considers himself the least of all the saints, was given the grace to preach to the Gentiles the gospel of Christ’s unfathomable riches.
4. Freedom. In Christ, we have access to God with full confidence, through faith in Him.
5. Strengthened. In Christ, we are rooted in the Father’s pure love.
6. Purpose. God dwells within us so that we can understand the width, length, height, and depth of the Father’s love, and understand Christ’s love, which surpases all understanding. It is also so that we maybe filled with all the fullness of God.
7. Power. God is powerful enough to do infinitely more than all we ask or think, according to His power which works in us.

A parable tells that the donkey that carried Jesus brought his whole family together and said, “From now on you cannot treat me like just any donkey.” His mother asked him to clarify a little more. And he said, “As I was entering the city, people laid down palm leaves and sang when I passed by. It was a great party, the people all recognized who I am, all of you don’t value me enough.”

The family, realizing what happened, told the donkey to enter the city again. Happy, the donkey did so. This time, without Jesus, he did not receive any honor and was even hit so he would leave.

Paul was hidden in Christ. He was not the center of the gospel. The center was Christ. It is wonderful to serve and worship a God who offers us salvation; transforms us from the inside, and before waiting for a change in our lives, empowers us with His power and grace.

“Your hope is not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united
to His strength, your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty
to His enduring might. So you are not to look to yourself,
not to let the mind dwell upon self, but look to Christ…
It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him,
that you are to be transformed into His likeness”
(Steps to Christ, p. 70)

Allow Him to transform you from the inside. May the Lord be with you…

“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone”
– Ephesians 2:19-20 –

Paul says that the gospel is available to all. To those who, like the Jews, feel close; as well for the Gentiles, who are far away. Christ wants all of them to belong.

God, and those sent by God, work to reconcile, which means to bring together, to gather the pieces, and rebuilt the puzzle. Sin is a great divider in this world. It has been dividing since the Garden of Eden.

The apostle will use three examples to prove that we are citizens, members, and living stones: one nation, one family, and one building.

We are not foreigners in a foreign land, nor strangers just passing through. We are fellow citizens of the saints. Israel was the nation chosen by God, but they rejected the Lord, and the kingdom was taken from them. Sin divides, but Christ reconciles.

The new nation is the church.

We are reconciled in order to be part of God’s family. The family of the earth and of that of heaven which will become one at His return (Eph. 3:15).

We have one Father, and we are all brothers and sisters.

The last example is a temple, a building. God dwelled in His sanctuary, in the life of Christ, in the church, and in us. God dwells in the heart of the believer and in the church. Christ is the main cornerstone which supports the building. The Jews thought about the temple in Jerusalem and the Gentiles about the temple of Diana. Both were detroyed. However…

Christ’s church will remain forever.

The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are two small seas in Palestine, separated by a mere sevety-five miles. They are united by the Jordan River, but are different from each other. The first receives water from the north and sends it multiplied to the south. It is a channel. Life thrives around it, and in its crystal waters there is an abundance of fish. 

The second receives waters from the north but does not share a single drop. It water is so salty and bitter that there is no life in its waters. All around it are deserts and desolation. While the Sea of Galilee is an appropiate symbol of life, the Dead Sea is an impressive symbol of death.

We are not foreigners or strangers. We are fellow citizens of the saints.
We are not orphans. We are a part of God’s family.
We are living stones whose purpose is to complete God’s building.
Reconciled in order to reconcile others.

May our Heavenly Father be with you…

“That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ”
– Ephesians 2:12-13 –

There are movements today in some countries that identify with those who are “without:” “Those without land,” “Those without homes,” “Those without power,” “Those without a partner,” “Those without names,” etc. Each raises the flag of a cause they defend.

Paul speaks of the Gentiles with a past (“before”) and a present (“now”). The past of the Gentiles is grouped into the word “without.” They were those “without.”

There were many pagan gods and religious syncretism. Diana was the most famous goddess of the Ephesians. The Ephesians had never heard of Christ, so Paul calls them “those without Christ.”

“Without Christ.” It is not neutral ground, it is a tragedy.

“Without citizenship.” God had turned the Jews into a nation, which in its time was mighty, noteworthy, and meant to enlighten and bless the other nations: that was its purpose.

“Without a covenant.” God had made an agreement with the Jews, and although by extension it reached the Gentiles, as a nation they were strangers to the covenant. That is why the Jews always told them they were “without.” They even prayed like this: “Lord, I thank you that I am a Jew and I am neither Gentile nor a woman.”

Wiersbe says that historians refer to great hopelessness in the ancient world, with hollow philosophies, vanishing traditions, and religions that generated neither faith nor hope. The beliefs did not provide strength to endure life or to face death. They were “those with no hope.”

The heathen had countless gods, but these many gods amounted to nothing; that is why they were without God. In reality, it was not that Godhad left them, but that they left God. History says it all started with one God, but as they moved away from the one true God, they began creating many false gods.

“But now,” Paul says, history can change. It is that, for both those Ephesians and for us, we do not need to be the “without” because God has called us to be those “with.” “Those connected to God,” “Those with hope,” “Those with a covenant,” “Those with a citizenship,” “Those with Christ.”

The “without” are defeated; the “with” are invincible.
“Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible,
than the soul that feels its nothing and relies wholly on God”
(Proohets and Kings, p. 174).

Be the one “with” today. God bless you…

“Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as the others”
– Ephesians 2:3 –

Life was, is, and will be being united to the Author of Life. Only in Him we have life.

What does sin do for us? It kills us.

Sin separated us, and therefore, leads us to death. A dead person can do nothing for themselves of for others. They don’t hear, have no appetite, don’t feel tired, or feel pain. Just like a physically dead person does not respond to physical stimuli, a spiritually dead person does not respond to spiritual stimuli. Non-believers are not sick, they are dead. They need resurrection.

There is no middle ground: either we are alive, or we are dead.

The degradation of the world, the cunning of the devil, and the desires of the flesh lead human beings to disobedience.

Sin condemns us, Sin does not allow us to do anything that will save us. By nature, we are children of wrath, and by our actions, we are children of disobedience (Eph. 2:3; 5:6). The sentence has been handed down, and execution is delayed by the mercy of God, who procures and seeks our repentance for our salvation.

What does God do for us? He loves us.

Just as by nature man is a sinner, by nature God is love. The lecturer and writer Warren Wiersbe says that by nature God is truth; but when He relates to man, truth becomes faithfulness. God is holy by nature; and when such holiness relates to man, it becomes justice. By nature, God is love, but when this love relates to sinners it becomes grace and mercy. And all this is possible by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

On Calvary, God exhibited His hatred for sin and His love for sinners.

God gives us life. In other words, He made us and resurrected us. We are reborn by the Spirit and by the Word. Just as Jesus resurrected by giving physical life to the widow’s son, Jarius’ daughter, and Lazarus, this spiritual resurrection is much greater because it unites us with Christ. Our physical location may be on earth, but our spiritual position is in “the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

Sin worked against us, but “if He is with us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

“Jesus. Precious Savior!
His grace is sufficient for the weakest;
and the strongest must also have His grace or perish”
(Messages to Young People, p. 131).

His grace is enough…

“And you He made alive, who were dead in the trespasses and sins”
– Ephesians 2:1 –

Ephesians 2 is a spectacular chapter; even more so remembering that it was written from prison. Without grumbling he wrote words of hope and encouragemennt. In this chapter, six profound truths highlight God’s love for us:

1. In the past, without God, we lived far from Him, and we were children of anger: hopeless and aimless in life. We were spiritually dead (vv. 2, 3, 5).
2. God has found us and given us life in Christ. He forgave our sins because of His immense love and not because of our merits (vv. 4, 5).
3. We are saved by grace, as a gift from God. Therefore, no one should believe that they have any merit in salvation (vv. 5-9).
4. Because we are saved, we must do the good deeds that God wants us to practice (v. 10).
5. We are no longer foreigners, but citizens of God’s kingdom, members of our heavenly Father’s family (vv. 11-19).
6. All this is only possible because Christ is our only sure Rock of Salvation (vv. 20-22).

Martin Luther is said to have walked through the dense German forests seeking peace, when a strong storm broke out, with lightning, winds, and torrential rain. Thinking he was going to die, he made a vow to God: “If You save me, I will become a priest.”

As he finished his prayer, the sky cleared. Fulfilling his promise, he entered the monastery and became a priest. He fasted, prayed, and whipped himself with whips. But he did not find peace.

One night he learned that the only path was Jesus. He read that God loves us and that He gave us His Son, and that if we confess our sins, He forgives us.

He had a terrible dream that night. Satan showed him a list of all his sins: lies, greed, deception, dishonesty, and anger. Then the devil said to him, “The Bible says that the wages of sin are death. That’s why you are condemned to death.”

Filled with guilt and anguish, Luther saw satan clutching a parchment with his hands. “In the name of Christ, move your hand,” cried Luther. As satan moved his hand, he read, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses Martin Luther of all sin.”

Like Paul, the Gentiles, and Luther, the enemy accuses us,
but no one needs to remain dead.
God is the only One who can organize a feast in a cementery
and resurrect us from death to an eternal life.

May you be cleansed today, by the precious blood of Christ, our Saviour. God bless you…

“And what is the exceeding greatness of His power
toward us who believe, according to the working
of His mighty power”
– Ephesians 1:19 –

Did you know that camels can kneel? It is said that travelers who use them in the desert make these animals kneel in order to load or unload their burdens. As travelers of life through this wilderness of sin, we would do very well to imitate the camels and kneel before our Divine Master so He can arrange our burdens and help us carry them, resting in His promises.

For this, we have prayer. Continuing with the list we made two days ago, we could state the following:

1. Prayer is essential in the conflict against the enemy. Paul knew that in our struggle against evil is against principalities, against powers, against dominions, and against evil spirits (see Eph. 6:12). He was convinced that believers need God’s supernatural armor to resist, as is described in Ephesians 6.
   Prayer is one of the fundamental pieces of that armor, and is essential for not giving up and moving forward. This is why he counsels the following in Ephesians 6:18: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perserverance and supplication for all saint.” Prayer is the most powerful spiritual weapon, and helps us overcome.
2. Prayer allows us to know God’s will. In Paul’s first recorded prayer, he already seeks to do what God asks: “Lord, what do You want me to do?” (Acts 9:6). This is an experience that we should all imitate. Prayer is not a fight with God so that His will can adapt to ours, but that ours is adapted to His. To pray is to discern, affirm, and participatein doing His will against the perverse influence of the devil’s power.
3. Prayer and the eternal. Being in contact with God elevates us to think about things in Heaven and not those of this world. The apostle places his focus on the eternal and not on the temporal, not fixing our eyes “on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (2 Cor. 4:18).

Our personal spiritual life and mission can be as successful as Paul’s. To achieve that, it is necessary to renew our life of prayer and make it a priority.

You do not have to carry your burdens alone anymore.
Kneel now. Be a camel today.

God bless you…

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that you may know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”
– Ephesians 1:17-18 –

Paul prays from prison and, from there, asks for nothing material or personal. He prays for the brethren and the mission:

1. That they get to know God. This is the greatest and most elevated knowledge. The rejection of God’s knowledge has led the world to the corruption we currently suffer. Man is not interested in knowing God as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, let alone wanting to know Him as Father and Friend. The knowledge we need is not theoretical, but one that maintains a bond of contact and trust. We need a vital experience with God.
2. Let them know God’s calling. Paul always said that he was called by God’s grace to proclaim that grace to others. The call is not for grades, attributes, resumes, or experience. It is His grace. Lost, we had no hope. Now we have a living hope that strengthens us day by day. The hope of our calling is an active force in us, which leads us to purity, obedience and fidelity.
3. Let them know the riches of God. Here it is not addressing the riches of Christ, but we being part of God’s riches. It is amazing that God sees us like this. Because he does not look at our past but our future, he looks not at what men are but what they can become transformed by His grace.
4. Let them know the power of God. By declaring ourselves His inheritance, He has shown us His love and by promising a future, He has strengthened our hope. Thus, He grants us the fullness of His power to be victorious. Having wealth without strength is insufficient.

May today God strengthen your weak, trembling hand that extends with hope toward His riches. Do you feel unworthy? Take hold of His dignity. Do you feel guilty? Take His forgiveness. Feeling impure? Take His purity. Are you fragile? Take some of His power.

“The soul is of infinite value.
Its worth can be estimated only by the price
paid to ransom it. Calvary! Calvary!
Calvary! will explain the true value of the soul”
(Gospel Workers, p. 92).

May the Lord be with you…

“Therefore I also , after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you,
making mention of you in my prayers”
– Ephesians 1:15-16 –

Behind Paul’s tireless energy as an apostle, missionary, pastor, and theologian, there was an extraordinary life of prayer. Paul began his ministry by praying and ended it by praying. His Christian experience was essentially an act of paryer. For him prayer and mission always go together. Gabriel Cesano tells in this way in the November 2019, South American Spanish edition of a magazine:

1. Prayer as recognition of the Sovereign God. For Paul, it was impossible to conceive of any human activity separated from God, for “all things are from Him, for Him, and for Him (see Rom. 11:36).
2. Prayer as a response from the creature. For Paul, it established a permanent channel of communication with God.
3. Prayer as an action of thanksgiving for salvation. Paul feels so unworthy of salvation, because he considers himself the “chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), that his life is a continuous prayer. “Pray without ceasing” he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
4. Prayer as an indispensable ally for service. For Paul, prayer was essential for evangelization. It is not the preacher, but God who supernaturally intervenes through the call of the Spirit and justifies those who believe. Paul asked for prayer so that God would open the doors for the gospel (2 Cor. 2:12). In the intercessory prayers the apostle requests of his congregations and leaders, the dominant theme is his concern for the mission.
5. The role of the mind during prayer. The apostle unites prayer with the knowledge of God and faith. Prayer arises from an intelligent or rational faith that is based on the certainty that God is not a stranger, but has revealed Himself in Creation, in history, in Christ, and in the Scriptures. Therefore, he counsels to “pray with the spirit,” but also “with the understanding” (1 Cor. 14:15).

In a certain place, the owner of a boat had two words written on his oars. In one oar it said “Pray” and in the other “Work.” One day, a passenger mocked his oars. “Working is enough,” he said. Then the boat owner started using only one oar. After circling without getting anywhere, the passenger understood the lesson.

Paul lived and taught how to live by rowing with both oars.
If we want to reach the safe harbor soon,
we need to both pray and work.
Do not go around in circles without getting anywhere.

Be blessed…

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard
the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed,
you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption
of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory”
– Ephesians 1:13-14 –

Paul invites the Ephesians to a new experience: by believing in Christ they are sealed by the Holy Spirit.

But what does it mean to be sealed? The stamp and signature guarantee the document and establish membership and ownership. The seal means we belong to God. He buys us in order to free us and we say that we are His property. It seems contradictory, but it is not, since complete freedom is only found in Him.

This seal also means safety and protection. The Holy Spirit remains with the believer forever. We may sadden Him, but He does not abandon us, He will always remain and act toward our salvation.

The seal also implies that the document is genuine and authentic. And in the Christian life, only the presence of the Spirit can make us spiritually authentic.

Redemption has three stages:

1. We were redeemed from the condemnation of sin by Christ’s death.
2. We are redeemed to the extent that we allow the Spirit to act in us and free us from the guilt and power of sin.
3. We will be redeemed from the presence of sin at Christ’s return, when we will see Him and be like Him.

Paul confirms that being sealed by the Holy Spirit is equivalent to a deposit, or guarantee, on our inheritance (that is, untill we come into possession of the aquired inheritance). Now, what is the “deposit” Paul mentions? Only Paul uses this word for both the Corinthians and the Ephesians. Legally, a deposit means a first payment, or a down payment of what will be received later. It is the guarentee of what we will receive and the deposit which guarantees our inheritance.

“The Spirit whom God has given them is for Christians the guarantee of their full future possession of salvation,” wrote Johannes Behm. This deposit is a symbol of our acceptance of God’s will, of love, belonging, and faithfulness forever. Thus, the seal of the Holy Spirit is the initial payment of our heavenly heritage; is the guarantee that, in due course, we will receive the inheritance in its entirely.

Soon Jesus will say, “Behold the purchase of My Blood!
For these I suffered, for these I died, that they might dwell
in My presence throughout eternal ages” (The Great Controversy, P. 671).

In Heaven we will praise and glorify God forever.
God bless you…