A Reminder of Who We Are In Christ

Ephesians 1:3-23

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

11In him we were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

A couple verses of this Scripture passage was on my Facebook page today, and I decided that I would expand it for my purposes here. I don't have anything really deep about this passage because I think it's pretty straight up. I have often read this passage to remind myself of who I am in Christ because I forget it just that much because I am a very insecure person. I am very insecure when it comes to relationships since most of mine have been very strained in one way or another. I also read this for encouragement that I'm not as awkward or dumb as I feel sometimes because if you've tried to have a conversation with me, I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about. :) So because of these things I also project these weaknesses onto my relationship with God at times.

I think the reason this has been on my mind the last day or two is because I have friends who have similar struggles, misery loves company, right? But, one thing has been different in me since we decided to move to Montana which is the fact that with all the stress, craziness, disorder, lack of a schedule, two moves, the problems with the house, and adjustments that one endures with changes like these that I have had great peace. I haven't been too anxious in general minus the past couple of weeks since I've been sick and on a decongestant which took me years to figure out that was the cause of a great deal of my anxieties. I'm not riddled with nerves or fear in my everyday life like I was in high school and college. Even social situations where I would usually be so racked with nerves that I would just want to hid and never be found has subsided. I still get nervous when I share my deepest feelings with people other than Ryan of course. And, with these other people I will convince myself how stupid I sounded which riles up my insecurities where I feel like I should just avoid them because then they know how dumb I am. So, reading through this passage helps me remember that I may talk like Moses, but God still has a plan for me even if it is just to be the best mom I can be. I have to remind myself that when I think those things I have to turn to God and His Word rather than focus on lies that Satan wants me to believe.