“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,” Ephesians 1:7-8 NKJ
I can sense Paul’s excitement when he wrote this verse! He breaks forth with a joy filled explanation of what the two spiritual blessings of adoption and predestination mean to us who believe! Paul knew what a wretched man he was before he received and accepted the revelation of Jesus Christ. He speaks of his knowing throughout many of his writings. What Paul did before he accepted Christ he did out of a belief that he was doing right by God. It is important that all of us understand that before we believed IN Christ we lived according to our limited knowledge of God just like Paul did. This caused us to think, speak, and act contrary to God’s purpose for our lives. After Paul accepted Jesus he realized just how wrong he was and how devastating his actions of living in wrong thinking was and he changed! This is what happens to us as well when we accept Christ and walk in the revelation of Jesus Christ!
When Paul came to understand who he was IN Christ, the revelation of being IN Christ opened his understanding to see ALL the blessings that accompany it. This inspired him to share that revelation with others as God called him to. I am going to be very vulnerable with you right now so you can understand why Paul’s life and his writings have had such a huge impact on my life! You see like Paul I was a murderer before I came to the revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ. Yes I said I was a murderer! I had taken the lives of two of my children through abortion when I was a teenager because I had a limited understanding of life and of God’s purpose for my own or my children’s lives. This caused me to live a life of shame and guilt for many years and a life that was contrary to God’s purpose. I felt that God did not love me or that He could ever use me for His purpose because I had killed His own children, just like Paul had.
But when I came to understand that IN Christ I was restored to His original plan through salvation and I came to accept my adoption as His child IN Christ Jesus; everything changed! So when I read Paul’s writings hope comes alive on the inside knowing that I was redeemed by the blood and my sins were forgiven on the Cross; because of the riches of His grace that He made abound in me in ALL wisdom and prudence. This is the most liberating truth for us who believe because it is where we can release the memories of our past sinfulness and embrace our righteousness IN Christ Jesus! This is the ONLY way can live IN the mindset of Christ because without it we are bound to the thoughts of our past failures and shortcomings in sin.
But IN Christ our minds are renewed to the truth of what Christ redeemed for us on the Cross! We all deserved judgment and death for our sins! And in the eyes of God ALL sins are the same! He doesn’t elevate the sin of murder above the sin of gossip for instance. Sin is sin and we have all sinned. Romans 3:22-24 says, “even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Jesus died for ALL sin so that through faith IN Him we could be redeemed from the judgment and death that our sin required according to the law. With His blood He bought us back! He paid the ultimate ransom for our sin when He gave His own life on the Cross! We are no longer bound by the sins we have committed or that we will commit. We are bound by the blood of Jesus Christ which is the ultimate glue that holds us together in our relationship with God!
The problem for most Christians and even for me at times when the accuser comes to remind us of our past sins is to accept the truth of our redemption and forgiveness through grace. The reason for this is that even though we know this is true we have not come to place of accepting it in wisdom and prudence. Prudence in Ephesians 1:8 refers to understanding. This is why in Ephesians 1:17-20 Paul says, “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, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,”
So the power to believe in our redemption and forgiveness comes by faith through the power He worked IN Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Again it is not something we can do in our own strength or reasoning. It is ONLY IN the mindset of Christ that we can fully come to understand the grace of God and our redemption from sin. In His great and mighty love for us who believe He makes His grace abound towards us in ALL wisdom and understanding through His Spirit of revelation. This is where we can begin to know the mystery of His will which is what I will expound on in tomorrow’s devotion. For today I want to encourage you to spend time meditating on the Word and ask the Holy Spirit to grant you wisdom and understanding in the full revelation of who you are IN Jesus Christ.
Prayer: I desire to come to the fullness of the knowledge of who I am IN You! It is my heart’s desire to operate IN Your mindset so I will know how to complete the work You have preordained for me to accomplish on this earth. Thank You for redeeming me by Your blood and for raising me from the dead so that I can reign in life by the power of Your Spirit IN me! Amen
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