Have a wonderful day of thankfulness.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!  And do I have something to be thankful for--in spades.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning, fixed my tea and sat down to do the crossword.  And the electricity went off.  Talk about pitch black.  I was sitting in my chair and had to feel my way along in the darkness to get back where I keep the flashlights.  Then I had to figure out where the candles and matches were.

I tried to do the crossword by flashlight, gave up and about then, Squig came shivering up into my lap.  No heat.  I covered up with a coat and blanket in my chair, covered Squig up and he kept my hands warm.  He snuggled down and went to sleep.  Not me.  I started worrying about how I was going to do my part of Thanksgiving dinner without a cooktop.

Sometimes we forget about what we should be most thankful for until we don't have it.  Water--hot water, food in cans, electricity, ice.  Start there and then think car, gas, etc., good roads, (well, it is Oklahoma--so perhaps I should say "generally good roads.")  Then go through the list of things that work on your body: your eyes, ears, taste buds,  arms,  hands, legs and feet--all of which some people don't have.

The list is endless.  Hot air, cool air, a roof over your head.  Some people don't have those.

We are so awesomely blessed.  Praise God who from all blessings flow.

"Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights--in whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

 "In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Have a thankful and blessed day.  You will be doing the will of God.

Salvation by grace--not good works.  This letter, Ephesians is the letter that defines that concept.  Paul, who had lived his entire life by the law and good works, is ecstatic about what God has done through grace--and wants to make it absolutely clear to people that it is a gift.

Eph.2:8-10,15 "For by grace you are saved through faith; and that is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any one should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ  Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them...having abolished in his flesh...the law of commandments contained in ordinances.."

Those verses are the clearest and most concise description of how we come to God.  It is by faith in Jesus.  Period.  His atoning death and resurrection.  We believe.  We have faith in Him.  Nothing you can do will earn it.  Jesus paid it all.

However, our lives are a constant testimony to the world of who we are.  After salvation, our desire is to please God.  It isn't because there are rules, it is because we love him that we want to live by His design for our lives.  Are we perfect?  No, we fail.  But we pick ourselves up and with his grace, we try once more.  I personally don't want to do anything that would bring the Father shame.  I personally don't want to feel God's disappointment in me--because I love Him and am so thankful for what he has done for me.  But that is not what saves me.  He Himself, is my salvation.

You and I are the children of God, in different stages of growing up.  You and I must not judge another child of God.  You wouldn't give a baby a steak and baked potato and salad and say, "Enjoy!"  Christians start out wherever they are and start growing.  "For he is our peace, who has...broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Eph. 2:14.

Our job is to love each other, encourage each other, provide for each other and be a help in time of trouble.  Just because you have conquered something in your own life doesn't give you the right to judge someone who hasn't.  Help them.

There is a phrase in Ephesians that doesn't occur anywhere else in the Bible.  Ephesians 2:1-2 "God quickened (made alive) those of you who were dead in trespasses and sins.  You used to walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, (that's the phrase) the same spirit that now works in the children of disobedience."

There are two spiritual forces at work in humans.  Good, and evil.  Paul calls this evil force (Satan) a prince of the air.  It is all around us, and within us.  Think of it this way:  If you have children, you know for a fact that you never had to teach them to do wrong.  You spent their entire childhood trying to teach them to do good.  We are, by nature, (born) inclined to do wrong.  It must be fought.

Don't bite.  Don't spit.  Don't steal.  Don't lie.  And on and on.  It takes constant instruction to teach a child to "Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you."  Which is basically one of the two natural laws of God.  "Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself."  Left to themselves, children grow up into self centered brats.  Every elementary school teacher will attest to the fact that learning "goodness" begins in the home.  It's almost impossible to straighten a child out that has been raised in a home of "badness."

This "Prince of the Power of the air," that Paul talks about is what the Bible calls the natural inclination of man--a force, Satan, that has great power to destroy us.  It also indicates that we should, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  (1Peter 5:8)  Paul says it one way; Peter says it another.

But we--Christians--have been "quickened."  We have been made alive.  We have been given the power of God within ourselves--His Holiness, His life.  "Christ in you, the hope of glory," which Paul said is a mystery that has now been made clear.  We have power to conquer evil.  We have the power to be what God wants us to be.  Without Jesus, you can't do it.  He is your holiness.  We become a Christ--ians when we repent and ask him to take control of our nature.

Every action movie uses these concepts.  Good versus evil.  Star Wars, Cinderella and the Seven Dwarves, etc.  We want the good to win.  We are on God's side.

There's no way I can do every verse in Ephesians, but I will comment on parts of it.

In 1:13-14, Paul says, "...when you trusted in Christ...after hearing the word of truth...after you believed...you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance..."  Earnest is a word that means down payment.  We get His Holy Spirit as a down payment now.   We get the rest in heaven.  We are heirs.  "Now if we are children (of God), then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." Romans 8:17                                     

Finishing the first chapter, Paul tells them that he prays for them--prays that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and knowledge of Him, and that their eyes might be opened.

That's what we all want.  The ability to use knowledge--which is wisdom.

Someone asked me the other day if I was biased in any way.  I answered, "Yes.  I am.  I don't tolerate ignorance very well.  Stupid, I can tolerate.  Stupid can't help itself.  But ignorance drives me nuts."

There is another thing that I don't deal with very well in people, and that is when they have absolutely no knowledge as to what they are talking about, but proceed to expound upon their "opinion" anyway.  And trying to  have a conversation with them just makes it worse.  No point in trying.
 
When I know a little bit about a subject, rather than offer an opinion, I sometimes say, "Humm...That's an interesting thought."  Best to keep my mouth shut when I encounter "ignorant."  That kind of person doesn't want to listen, or they already would have done it.

But if someone wants to listen, I know something about God's word--especially Paul's letters.  I take the verse seriously that says, "Be ready to give an answer to anyone that asks a reason of the hope that is within you..."  I try to be "ready" in those cases.  Note the words "that asks."

That's what studying the Word of God is all about.  Being ready when someone asks.  Hitting someone over the head with your opinion--on something Biblical--doesn't work very well.

Once we are His children, "...we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to his grace." Eph. 1:7  Grace.  A free gift from God, purchased by the blood of Jesus.

My Sunday class has been studying the book of Leviticus.  I can't wait for it to be over.  It is such a difficult book.  It explains all the laws concerning sacrifices.  Law, after law, after law.  Details in minutiae.  Hundreds of items placed in the Tabernacle to receive Sin offerings, grain offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, wave offerings, etc., etc.  It is mind boggling.  It makes me tired.

But in Christ, all that was done away with.  One sacrifice, for all time, for all men and women.  He is our sacrifice.  Paul said this, (in the letter to the Romans) "...by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."  In other words, we couldn't keep all the Old Testament laws if we tried.  Thank God for doing away with them.

King David recognized that all the laws weren't what God was wanting anyway!!  God wanted our hearts.  In Psalms 51:16-17, David says, "You don't want sacrifice--else I would give it.  You delight not in burnt offerings...the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart..."  Even though David didn't know God's plan to sent Jesus, David knew that God wanted him to repent.

So after Paul introduces himself in his letter to the Ephesians and tells them of God's grace in doing away with all those burdensome laws, he introduces a word that he uses over and over again in his letters.  (1:9)  The word is "mystery."  Paul says that, "...he (God) has made known to us...the mystery of his will."  I had to read all of Paul's letters to find out exactly what this "mystery" was that he was talking about.   I found the answer in Colossians 1:25-27.  "Even the mystery that has been hidden from the ages...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

God's plan was to put Christ in our hearts.   Instead of imposing laws from the "outside," we would choose to do what was good--from the "inside" out.   God changes our "want-to."

Just think, if Paul hadn't been converted to Christ, we wouldn't have over half of the books in the New Testament.  But because he found Christ, and was saved by the grace of God, Paul had a story to tell.  And he did it superbly.  He was a scholar of the Jewish Torah.  He studied at the feet of Gamaliel--who was the top scholar of the day.  Paul was brilliant.

He was the consummate person of the intelligentsia to connect prophecy concerning the coming Messiah with the person of Jesus Christ.  No one writes like Paul does.  The other disciples were common men.  Fishermen, etc.  Not Paul.  Today we would say that he graduated from Harvard, got his Masters at Yale and his Doctorate at Oxford.  Paul was smart.  Knowledgeable.  A virtual sponge of the history and writings of the Jews.  Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David.  Paul knew everything about them.  He knew all of the prophetic writings of the elders of the Jews.  He knew Jewish history.

So when Paul wrote a letter to someone, it was full of connections to the Old Testament.  He pulled everything together and explained why Jesus was the Christ.  I said I was going to write about his letter to the Ephesians, but it is important that you first understand the man who wrote the letter.

Eph. 1:4-7 "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself...in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins..." is a passage that, by interpretation, separates one group of Christians from the rest of us.  They are called Calvinists.  They believe that not everyone can come to God--that God has already decided who gets redeemed and who doesn't.  Who has their sin forgiven, and who doesn't.  But that's just not Biblically possible.

You can't take one or two verses out of the Bible without trashing the meaning of the rest of it.  We all remember John 3:16, "For God so loved the world...that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish."  The New Testament is replete with verses that bid, "Whosoever..." to come to Christ.

God predestinated all of us to be adopted into His family.   The opportunity to become a child of God is for everyone.  But some people say, "No."  The choice is up to you, and me, and every individual.  Are you a believer?   Have you said,  "I give Christ my life.  I will live it for Him.  I repent of my sins."  If you are sincere, Yea!! You've been adopted.  'Welcome to the family.  The family of God.