Chosen, Before the Foundation of the World

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Bible Passages

Eph 1:4-5 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.

Eph 1:13 And now you Gentiles have also heart 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.

Eph 1:18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Eph 1:19-20 I also pray that you will understand the greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heavenly realms.

Eph 1:23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

Devotional Thoughts

I love how living and active God’s Word is. Every time you read it, God has a tailored message for you in that moment. I have read Ephesians 1 many times, but I love how each time, the Lord highlights something different. Today as I read the concept that stood out to me is that before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4), way in advance (Eph 1:5) God had already decided to adopt us as his kids! Before he knew anything about us. Before we were even born, he had already decided.

Eph 1:13 he identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit. How often do you recognize the Holy Spirit’s work in your life? Our natural flesh is to pursue self. Something Pastor Charlie used to say that has always stuck with me. “The greatest evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life is the ability to say no to sin.” Every time we say no to sin, we are responding to the Holy Spirit. That is evidence of His work in your life!

The Holy Spirit is the seal, or guarantee that God will give us the inheritance he has promised. (Eph 1:14) But, have you ever noticed that God also is giving Jesus an inheritance? According to Eph 1:18 you and I, those He chose and adopted, those He decided to make His own before the foundation of the world, are HIS inheritance. Paul says that this truth should “flood our hearts with confident hope.”

We are his body, and He fills us with Himself. It’s His life within us that makes us full and complete. (Eph 1:23) Jesus has an invested interest in those he has chosen. If we are His inheritance, I think He will be doing everything He can to make us full and complete, to be His perfected inheritance.

Prayer Points:

  1. Revel in the truth of your adoption and God’s choosing you, of everyone in the world, He chose YOU! Before you were born, even before the world was created, He chose you to be His adopted child. (Gal 4:4-7)
  2. May God flood your hearts with confident hope of Christ’s work of molding you into His image.
  3. May you find God’s power, the power that raised Christ from the dead, to be your source of strength today.
  4. May you be confident that the Holy Spirit, the resurrected life of Christ in you, will be, desires to, display Christ through you. After all you are his physical body on earth.

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