Eudora

Q2. (Ephesians 5:15-16) Why does Paul exhort us to make the most of every opportunity? We each are given a limited amount of time on this earth. The Bible tells us that The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet our boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. In order to get the most out of these years that we are blessed with, we should always be in the Word, learning all that we can so that when an opportunity arises, we can share what we have learned. We are told to watch and pray too. This is a verse to be on guard watching and praying in the latter days stuff but I think that it applies to us every day. We are a people in constant prayer through out the day, either in audible voice or in our hearts and our mind or perhaps in the spirit. When we are out and about, we are always watching what or who is on our path for that day. We should always be looking for The Lord. So when we are always on the look out, we will see where He is leading us. We are Kingdom thinkers, seekers and builders. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. It is when we see the part of the kingdom that God has laid out for us to walk into, that we can at that time, utilize what we have learned from Him and share it with the person or the event that God has placed on our path. Why do we resist that? I don

Q1. (Ephesians 5:2-3) Why does Paul warn so strongly against sexual sin? As folks who are set aside for His Glory, our actions should reflect our faith. Jesus said it best:

Q4. (Ephesians 4:32) Why is it so difficult to forgive those who hurt us? Because hurt has been in our creation for a long, long time. When Adam and Eve committed sin and sin entered the human race through the mouth, it was the mouth that would speak into existence every unkind word that would hurt our fellow man. It hurt God to see this happen and as a result, God had to hurt again by coming to the earth in the form of flesh and really take upon Himself, all hurt, all pain, all bitterness, all strife, all sickness, all disease, all of God

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? The most common I believe is the unwholesome talk of other denominations. The talk of another denomination judges the entire congregation and who among us can really cast that first stone. Do we not know of evil that lurks in all churches? Did we see satan work in the first church garden or did we not? We deceive ourselves when we look at anything other than Christ. This happens to be one on my pet peeves if it were to be given a name. My anger really does get heated when I hear Christians bashing fellow folks who consider themselves Christians as well. How will they know different if we are all walking around with our noses stuck high in the air? What makes us think we are better than this one or that one? In truth, this is pride in religion and self flattering pride. It is ugly and must stop. Jesus will sit on His throne until we all submit to His will and not our own. He can not rule a kingdom if we are not kingdom people who think kingdom thoughts and speak kingdom likeness and bare His image of love in all unity. I remember a meeting of the women

Q2. (Ephesians 4:26-27). Why did God give us the emotion of anger, do you think? It is right to be angry at evil and the consequences of evil. It is right to despise evil. God gave anger as an emotion to represent in us, one more of His character traits. He is angry with how His creation has turned out and His anger will be released on all that is wicked and evil. We must not be vengeful towards anger but re-act in love and not let anger control us but to control the anger in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Vengeance is His and He will repay evil for what evil has done. How can anger be dangerous? Anger can be dangerous , especially to the Christian. We are good soil and in good soil, things grow very, very will and multiply much fruit. This is why we must deal quickly with all that is not of God that He brings to our attention. When we see something or the Holy Spirit reveals something to us that we must fight and attack, we must not quench the Holy Spirit and ignore it. We must pluck out that which is a bad seed before it takes root. How can we keep from sinning when we are angry? Stop, Drop and Pray! When we are in a fire like situation, the fire men tell us to stop, drop and roll. Through the fire of the Holy Spirit, we need to do what is similar and crawl on our hands and knees and go through the fire in prayer so that we can be refined by His fire. Is anger itself sin? Exodus 32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. Exodus 32:22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. I think it depends on what we are angry about. God

Q1. (Ephesians 4:17-19) Using Ephesians 4:17-19 as a basis, how would you describe (in your own words), the secular, non-Christian mindset of our age? Dead men walking! People have been lied to for so long they don

Q4. (Ephesians 4:12) WOW! This puts a whole new perspective on it when you combine these two verses. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: This does make a division between the gifts that are imparted. The ministers and the teachers (co-shepherds under Christ Jesus) are supposed to be equipping the general body with the platter of food and the body is supposed to come to the table, eat and then go out and share their portion with those who didn

Q3. (Ephesians 4:11) How could a person have the spiritual gift of pastor or teacher without having an official position in a church? Spiritual Gifts are the special endowments of supernatural energy, yet not to be idolized for they come with tremendous responsibility. Yet Paul tells us that we should eagerly pursue love to cultivate love into our society around us. 1 Corinthians 14:1-3 He tells us we should desire spiritual gifts, but that he rather that ye may prophesy. The prophet is Spirit led and is the mouth of The Lord. It

Q2. (Ephesians 4:11) How can we stir up the gift of evangelism among members of our congregations?

Q1. (Ephesians 4:11) If there were apostles today, what kind of function might they have? There function would be no different than the function of the twelve that Jesus appointed. He called them into His ministry and they followed Him. They learned from Him, They listened to what He had to say. It was not until after He died and was raised from the grave that they were told these words: Acts 1: 7-8 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power...... But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Jesus told them to go and wait upon Him in Jerusalem, and that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit... courage, boldness, confidence, insight, ability and authority and be a witness of Him in Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth. Jesus had instructed them to witness to people of all nations about Him. The extraordinary results that were evidence of the power with-in the Apostles, followed when they spoke of Him. In the book of Mark, we read in the 16th chapter, verses 15-20 these words: And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. (Jesus had fulfilled all the law and all the prophecy and when His job on earth was finished, He was received up into heaven, and sat down. He took His Sabbath in rest... on the right hand of God.) And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. Again, we read where first you have to believe and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This may confuse some people to think that this means water baptism. In the book of Acts we find that those who were baptized by John the Baptist, in the River Jordan, were later baptized in the Holy Spirit, by the Apostle Paul . Acts 19:2-5 (King James Version) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Obviously it was important enough to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, after repentance. Other scriptural samples: Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Acts 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. ----------------------------------------------- Jesus said: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God You have to be born again in The Spirit of God before you can see the Kingdom of God. We must be born again. The born again experience is the changing and the renewing of the heart, mind, body and soul. Folks that are born again, are baptized in the Holy Spirit. These folks take the truth of the spirit to anyone who will listen. These were apostles then, the folks who follow this pattern, I believe are apostles in this day and age. Signs and wonders follow those who share the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. What needs do our congregations and regional groupings of churches have that an apostle might meet? The Spirit of T R U T H! THE W O R D of G O D! Not their idea, or doctrine or belief, but the truth and the Holy Spirit reveals the truth. How might we detect false apostles? (2 Corinthians 11:13; Revelation 2:2 If you are a messenger of God, you will give God the glory. You would see consistency and growth, a steady change. Patience, love, faith, service. They would reek of the fruits of the Spirit.. Galatians 5: 23-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. These folks... would keep His statutes and His Law. If this criteria is not met... they are false..... The Holy Spirit hasn

Q4. (Ephesians 4:7-10) Who gives spiritual gifts? Can our "natural" talents be related to our "spiritual" gifts? How? What is the difference between a natural God-given talent and a spiritual gift? God

Q3. (Ephesians 4:3) How much energy must we expend on Christian unity? What is "the bond of peace"? How do we strike at peace when we are intent on argument and dissension? We Christians (Christ man) are to live totally in peace, through the bond of love which is from Christ Jesus in us. Colossians 3:14, says above all things... put on love. Despite our differences, we are to bond together in love. Love is a decision to meet each others needs. We can use the rule of peace to make a decision and to do so... in love. We are to keep in tune with each other by being caring and listening folks. Caring for one another's spiritual, mental, physical and emotional needs. We are to be praying for one another and exhorting each other daily, as said in The Word. We are to instruct and direct each other using the Word of God. Our words , our actions and our deeds be done in the name of Jesus so that we glorify God in all things. Is this actually easy to do? Yes it is. When we stay in the Word of God, and daily take up our cross and follow Him, He leads us into ever lasting peace. And regardless of what else we do, we are to put on, the garment of love. It's our basic, all-purpose garment. We should never be without it. All that we have with in us should be spent on the bond of love for it is with Christ Jesus that we walk in love and by His Spirit, we will be united in love. The bond of peace is the Spirit which flows through those who are filled with His Spirit. Those who walk daily in communion with the heavenly and adoring Father. We would not be in dissension if we follow what is written in the scriptures and there would be no need for argument because we had walked daily in His Word. We are bound by the Spirit of love. We are bound by the Spirit of peace. We are one in accord, all seeing and understanding what the spirit is saying to the Church of God. His body is baptized in One Spirit, by One Faith in One Lord.

Q2. (Ephesians 4:2) Why are patience and humility so important to preserving unity? What happens to the reputation of Jesus Christ when we have right doctrine along with a sense of arrogance towards those who disagree with us? How are we to be both "gentle" and to "fight the good fight of faith"? As God's own chosen ones, we are basically His ambassadors here on earth. He paved the way by His example when He came in the flesh of man, to lead us, His way. However, God is Holy, purified through and through Holy. He is extremely tenderhearted and gentle and patient and is tirelessly tempered with grace, mercy and kindness. He is gentle and will pardon the sin of anyone who asks of Him to do so. Judgment comes after repentance, not before. He freely forgives us and we absolutely must freely forgive others or we can not be forgiven. If we walk by His spirit, obeying His commandment and His statutes, and seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, we will glorify Him and the seat of judgment will not burn us up with anything other than His overwhelming passion and love. The spirit of the Lord is to unify the brethren. We must be yielding and willing vessels of His direction for our mortal lives so that we can live in and where immortality dwells. Other wise our first line of defense will be wiped out and God will not be glorified. We must bring Glory to our King. There is to be no arguing or disagreement in the camp. We fight the good fight in faith, against the enemy. We who are in the body of the Spirit of The Lord are not the enemy of God. We are part of an enduring and eternal flame . It really does humble us to even grasp that He too... is humble. He doesn

Ephesians Study Ephesians 4:1-10 Wow, this passage is so huge.. This is very exciting to me.. When Jesus died on the cross, in the book of Matthew, Jesus fulfilled a prophesy that was prophesied through Ezekiel. Ezekiel. 37:12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. When Jesus in verse nine of Ephesians, went down into the lower parts and came back up it was because He had to fulfill all prophecy and this is yet another one fulfilled, that He might fulfill all things. In Matthew 27:50-53 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. There was no way that His death could go un-noticed with all the graves opening up and folks whom had died, were now rising from the grave. He had led captive up from the grave into the gift of eternal life. Not only would His death and resurrection provide the gift of eternal life to the living but to the dead whom had gone on before Him. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; All these gifts would follow and be empowered by the one gift that Jesus would send to aid those who would be filled with the gifts to carry on the gospel. The Holy Spirit. As Jesus hung dying on that cross, He gave up His Spirit, and that Spirit manifested in the appearance of flames and fire that came with such a loud sound that all of Jerusalem on the outside of that upper room , heard the sound. and came running to see what had happened and found those folks in the book of Acts, speaking in their own languages. Think about that. The Holy Spirit came through the portals of heaven and boom.... crashed to the earth for the first time and was imparted to those who would call upon His name. Not just a few here or a few there for this moment or that moment to complete a task as God directed in the times past... but here now... empowering man kind to fulfill their mission, just as God had fulfilled His..

Q2. (Ephesians 4:2) Why are patience and humility so important to preserving unity? Because anything less brings division of unity, even with in one center core. We are to bare fruit that is worthy of our privilege to be called children of God. Galations 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Humility is the condition of being humble not proud or arrogant. God told Joshua these words: "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:7 I really love this verse in the NLT: Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. God bestows upon us all that we desire and all that we ask for. We only have to ask in His will. This is so humbling to me that He loves us so much and wants us to be so satisfied, He will bless us at every opportunity that He gets. He is an awesome Father. What happens to the reputation of Jesus Christ when we have right doctrine along with a sense of arrogance towards those who disagree with us? How are we to be both "gentle" and to "fight the good fight of faith"? Well we sure don't want to be arguing over scripture and or our interpretation of scripture. We really don't need man face's doctrine when we have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to teach us what our Father wants us to know and to understand. If folks disagree with us, fine. It's salvation that they deny and that is not fine. God's desire is that none perish. If we come upon a road block we have tools to tear them down. Matthew 17:20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Some manuscripts leave out verse 21 and for the life of me I can not figure this out unless satan doesn't want people to know that there is such great power in it. The verse is like this: 21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. So by scripture sometimes left out, we do not know that we must fast and pray to bring down the mountain through faith. If we come across someone who does not want to listen we do not walk away and stay away. We walk away and pray and fast and then return and return and return until the battle is won. We know it will be but we can not give up.

Q3. (Ephesians 3:16, 19) What does it mean to be "filled with the Spirit" (verse 16)? Is this a one-time experience or a continual reality? What can we do to be filled with the Spirit? Is it different or the same as being "filled with all the fullness of God" (verse 19)? When John the Baptist was baptizing, his voice was crying: Mark 1: 8 "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. " Also in Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: The River Jordon ran down between Egypt and the promised land of Israel. On one side you have sin, slavery and bondage and on the other side, salvation. So when John was saying to the folks on the other side, "Repent ..... and be baptized" The point that he was making was that they needed to come away from slavery, bondage and sin and their sins would be washed away in the river on the way over when they repented but that they still needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. This is why later on in the book of Acts we see the folks that have been dunked in the River Jordan by John the baptist, (who had prepared the way for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire) went to Paul to be Baptized. Acts 19:2-5 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The River Jordon was where repentance of sins were washed away so when Jesus came to John to be baptized, this is why John reported this scripture: John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. So the river was full of the sins washed away by the baptism of John, the river was literally full of sin that had been poured into it and John was preparing the way for Jesus to come into the river of sin. So when Jesus was baptized, He was baptized in the river of sin and took upon Him self the sins of the world, and would soon take sin away. Jesus had to go away because if He had stayed on earth, His spirit could not be all over the world because He could only be in one place at a time. The Holy Spirit was sent by God so that God could comfort His chosen and lead them into truth, where He abides. The Spirit of God is like His conscience, working in us, teaching us what He wants us to know. This truth, reminds us of the words that Jesus spoke, give us the right words and the power of the Holy Spirit to speak them into the world. We can speak truth with the authority of Jesus.. Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. To repent means to turn from sin, and rebellion of God

Q1. (Ephesians 4:1) According to verse 1, what is the standard of our behavior? What is the "calling" to which God has called us? A prisoner that is called by God to serve Him, and that we walk worthy of Him who called us. A behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service.

Picadilly, You inspire me. After I read this paragraph, I asked out loud, who are you? The debth in which you have grasped the verse that you quoted, challenges me to think on a higher level, to really seek His understanding. He inspired the words written in the Holy Scriptures. Your translation of just this one single verse intrigues me. I thank God for you in this study. I thank God that He gave you a voice. I thank God that He uses people on this wide earth to impact my spirit in such a way. I thank God that You are on His team. - Eudora We must desire to understand and reflect this kind of love because the LORD says it is the defining mark of the transformed Christian - and it reflects the essence of His character (1John 4:7-8). When we begin to comprehend, know, and experience real love it genuinely is life-changing. As I trust God's love more and more, I have become more confident that His will for me really is good and perfect. I believe that He can be trusted with my needs and desires. My healthy sense of value and worth has been enlarged and strengthened. And the way I view others is being changed. Love is a choice that seeks the welfare of others, desires no harm to anyone, and searches out opportunities to do good to all. Love is active, flowing, building, and giving. Heaven help us, doesn't our desperate world need such "love, sweet love"?!

Q2. (3:18-19) What kinds of things prevent us from comprehending the far reaches of Christ's love? Being preoccupied with what I can get from God now. I know I am so guilty of that. I have to keep reminding my self that in Him and by Him, I have all that I need or could ever want. What I really need, is to get to know this God. To get to know the depths of Him and the width of Him. To come to know the one whom I have chosen to lay my life down for and that I have surrendered my life to. My desire is to know more of Him. What makes Him tick. What makes Him laugh. What makes Him choose to be with someone like me. Why does He love me so? Why does He care about every single detail of my life. Why does He greet me each morning with His breath? What happens in the way we live when we do comprehend, know, and experience this love? When I really take the time to stop and think about the intricate love He has for me, that He should love a fool such as I, That He humbly loves me., I cry. I am in awe. I stand in awe of Him, who would do all that I could ever want or even hope for. That He does this, because He loves.. It make me want to lay down before Him a sacrifice that is worthy of this great love. His loves makes me want to be a holy fragrance before Him. What would be different about your life if you could grasp this? I would not ponder, or meditate, or question. I would just be all that He says I am and will ever be. I would just be. Lord Jesus, help me to just be... teach me Your way. Teach me how to shut up like You did when You were accused. Show me how to just be... In your name I pray.

Q1. (Ephesians 3:16-17) Do the concepts of (a) by the Spirit in the inner person, and ( Christ dwelling in our hearts say the same thing, or are they separate and distinct ideas? I do believe that they are different and yet one in the same. One is a concept of what brings life to the other. What do you think? Strengthened by His spirit is where we are able to do all things because of the faith that we believe Him and His word. He supplies all that we need both in and out of the body. He strengthens our heart, mind, body and soul with His written and spoken word and He supplies , by His creation of all things, everything that we need as humans, while we are here. We are constantly restored with His energy. His energy comes with an overwhelming supply of humble love, joy, peace, patience, and every expression of emotion known to man. He doesn

Tabatha, I enjoyed your writing. I get the feeling that you have read of the writings of Madame Guyon. This is where I first found that we could go before the throne, in quietness and just sit and love on Him. Or just sit and do nothing, expecting nothing except just being at the feet of the Most High God. I agree in the approach. I couldn't even begin to make this attempt with out crying out like David did, to search my heart and cleanse me before entering the Holy of Holies. I feel, we still live in the resemblance of the tabernacle of our relationship with Him in this manner of worship. He washes us in the basin of His forgiveness when we repent, then we go before the alter and lay down our sacrifice, before we enter the sanctuary -Eudora

Q4. What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? If I were brought before the King of England, I wonder how I would act? That is it right there in a nutshell. With Jesus, we don

Pickadilly, Once again your written words have moved me. I have taken your second paragraph and turned your written words into a prayer for me. Dear Jesus, Please remind me constantly, lest I forget where I was headed before You rescued me. It was by Your loving mercy and grace that I was saved and absolutely nothing else. I was unrighteous and a liar, thief, murderer, coveter, idolater, and more; and I have nothing to get puffed up or prideful about except Your grace toward me. I have no cause to be self-righteous. My gratitude for Your transforming work in me should always be moving me forward. It is my privilege, and should be my pleasure, to joyfully and willingly submit to serve You in whatever You asks me to do so that You might gain all the glory and recognition as the great God that You are. In Jesus name I pray. - Amen

Right off the bat, I am reminded that this letter is coming from Paul who is in prison. With the feverish pace that Paul went around here and there, teaching this revelation to the Jews and Gentile, God in all His infinite wisdom, knew that he had to place Paul into prison to write these letters because would that man ever have slowed down long enough to write all the letters that he did write from prison? Just a thought in question to myself. Q3. (Ephesians 3:7-9) Why is Paul so careful to be humble about his call and apostleship? I think it was because Paul had his anointing from Jesus Christ. It

Q2. (Ephesians 3:6) Just what is the "mystery" that Paul is talking about? The mystery that Paul was talking about is the lesson in mystery that was shown and taught to Peter in Acts chapters 10 & 11. Cornelius had true faith in God's word, as far as he understood it. He just hadn