Ephesians is a letter where we will see Paul's "train of thought" being frequently "hijacked" by his sense of the greatness and glory of God.
In this prayer, Paul has been thinking of the power of the Spirit that is at work in believers and he identifies it as the "power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in at God's right hand in the heavenly realms."
Today there are many who are sceptical about the resurrection. But for Paul, the resurrection is a non-negotiable and it is the trigger that sets off an explosion of praise in him. The moment Paul thinks of the resurrection he thinks of the glorious and exalted position of Christ! Here's what he sees:
1. Jesus is above all powers, dominions and titles - past, present and future!
2. EVERYTHING has been placed beneath His feet. Even death and suffering because He has been to the cross and has triumphed.
3. Jesus is the head of the church. The church can never exist without Christ, just as the body cannot exist without a head.
4. The church is "His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way." The best analogy I can think of is when my son Caleb started walking, he used to love putting his feet into my sheepskin slippers and "plopping" around the house. For Brenda and I there was an awareness that one day he would grow into those slippers (he's more than halfway there!!!) As the church we growing into all that Christ has done for us!
Paul was easily brought back from the sidetracks of life to the "maintrack" of praise... shouldn't we be the same?
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
