Ephesians 5 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

Ephesians 5:8

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 

 

I have all kinds of papers floating around in my room from prison, but the other day, one caught my eye. To get out of your cell and go most any place you need to have a pass, similar to a hall pass in school. I found one the other day that was for one of my first times going to church in there, and it has just been speaking to me. Nothing groundbreaking happened or any great enlightenment, but it reminded me how God can take something that seems insignificant and make it the start of something great! I may not have had a major breakthrough there, but the seeds were definitely planted!!

 

It also reminded me where I came from and how lost I was before Jesus saved me!! Pride is something that I struggle with, and it’s easy for me to go from one prodigal son to the other!! As followers of Jesus, I think it’s important that we don’t live in the past but own it and remember just how much He saved us from!!

 

Remember, Jesus went from riches to rags so that we could go from rags to riches, and He did it with love in His heart!! I encourage you to spend some time thanking God for when He rescued you!! I know I need to!!!

 

I love you all, God bless, and glory to God first and always!!!!

 

 

Ephesians 5:25,26

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.

This is one of my favorite verses to pray and ask the Lord for help and guidance to be able to fulfill. But we have to ask ourselves, are we loving our wives by His standards or by ours? Our view of being a husband or a man may have been skewed by the world; we may think this means to be rough and tough, emotionally detached, and able to handle everything on our own, but that’s not what the Bible tells us.

The Bible tells us to rely on His strength, not our own, to weep with those who weep and to be gentle, kind, and compassionate. Christ's ultimate act of love was His surrender to the cross, but His love for His Bride didn’t start or end there. He loved Her before that, He loved Her through that, and He loves Her after that! Our love for our wives can’t be an isolated event but must be a continual lifestyle.

Think about the characteristics that Christ displayed with the very first installment of His Bride, the Apostles. He was available to them. He cared for them. He comforted them. He shared the truth with them. He never abandoned them but lived this life with them and for their benefit and blessing. Can we say the same?

I fail at this often and pray He will continue to lead me through it. This calls for great responsibility but an even greater surrender to Him! In order for us to love our wives the way we are called to, we must first be fully surrendered to Him, walking in Him, and loved by Him! Thank You, Jesus! Help us to honor You and bless our wives in this!

1 John 4:19-We love because he first loved us.

Philippians 4:13- I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.

God bless! I love you all, but His love washed away our sins! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!