This is The Way – Devo Day 20

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:16–21 (ESV)

We’re coming to the end of 3 weeks of this journey together and I hope and pray that you have also come to the realization that the Holy Spirit has been with you and speaking to you all the way. Today’s devotional, in our 3-day cycle, normally would focus us on the application of what God has been speaking to us about. But I’d like to take this moment to focus on what God is doing in us. I imagine that as you’ve opened yourself to God’s Word and His Spirit you may have had some difficult days and real heartache. God knows where you’ve been but more importantly where you are going (His dreams for you). His work transforming your mind and realigning your heart is about the journey to health and wholeness. The heartache, the angst and the struggle within you is just the evidence of the deeper work that God has begun.

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:1–5 (ESV)

To go back to yesterday’s parable that Jesus taught, the process of tilling the soil of your heart, the breaking up and removing of the massive rocks (old unhealthy patterns, relationships, and passions), and the ripping out of the toxic weeds in your life (sin and rebellion) is very, very uncomfortable even to the point of painful. But it is even more painful to resist or to put-off the work. There is no other way to realize the goal, the prize. Fortunately, God doesn’t expect us to do the work ourselves. As a matter of fact, like Eustace discovered, in C.S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawntreader, most of that heart surgery must be done by God himself as we yield to Him and His will.

This is The Way

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:17–24 (ESV)

APPLICATION – QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

1. What is God speaking to you about? How have you taken action?
2. What work is God doing in your heart, mind, or life? How are you yielding to and cooperating with Him?

PRAY

Wrap up this section of the devotional by combining the Scriptures that we’ve focused on the last two days and your answers to the questions into a prayer. I’m pretty confident that He has been talking to you already so pray it back to Him – what you learned, what you decided, what you committed to, what you need his help with. Then, when you are done, make sure you wait silently, patiently, expectantly for God to speak to you. You might want to have a pad and pen handy to jot notes.

IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING AND WANT TO GO BACK AND READ THE PREVIOUS POSTS IN THIS SERIES