Living Out God’s Oneness

Ephesians 4:4-6 

Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 4:4 [There is] one body and one Spirit–just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received–

Ephesians 4:5  [There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Ephesians 4:6  One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all.

One.  The sublime simplicity of the Supreme!.  How deep are these verses.  Yet how simple the answer…One.  In the Garden of Eden, there was one choice.  We were deceived when we thought there was more than one.  We often look at living in this world from the standpoint of goals, visions, and steps to achieve those.  Those can be helpful, however, seeking this Oneness is Supreme.  Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (KJV)  The deceptive voice from the Garden is still urging us to be as gods IF we eat of this or that fruit.  

These verses really blow me away.  There is one body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God and Father…who is above all and living in us.  Wow!  It seems to have gotten very complicated.  I recently started reading the Upper Room devotionals on line.  They are such a simple blessing.  What has amazed me is all the comments and supporting each other in the on-line community.   Even with all the differences that we have in this world, 

I find this oneness of purpose an encouragement.  I think that it is a good example to each of us, and God must be pleased with this Oneness.  It is Oneness in Him.  People come to the community because they have read the devotional for that day.  They are full of encouraging words to the writer and to the others who ask for prayer.  They offer all sorts of help to one another.  I have been amazed and encouraged.  And, it seems that each day, the reading is just right.  The whole process just draws upon that which is good in everyone who participates.  I love the Spirit’s work in this.

Paul calls himself a prisoner of God.  He has given himself that identity.  Paul did not worry about himself, who he was, his significance, support, security, or safety.   He never thought of the impact of his doing.  Because of this, we have a fuller vision of God in him.  His Oneness with God was encouraging that Oneness in people…Jew and Gentile.  

In Romans 8:5, Paul says that those who live by the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit.  In Romans 5:5 it says: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who WAS given to us.”  This Oneness (which includes the Spirit) is something that WAS given to us after Jesus ascended.  When we receive Christ (the Truth and the Way), this Spirit is our guarantee of being sealed  “with the Holy Sprit of promise” (Ephesians 1:3).  

The calling that we have received is full of this Oneness…body, Spirit, hope, Lord, baptism, God and Father.  This is beautiful!  We live such fractured lives in the flesh.  This call to Oneness is a great relief.  It changes our focus, minds, and behaviors.  Embrace all that we are in Christ.  Again, Paul’s message to us, I find staggering in its depth and meaning.  

Paul, the Prisoner for the Lord

Ephesians Study
Chapter 4

Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 4:1  I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service,

Ephesians 4:2  Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.

Ephesians 4:3 Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

Paul begins Chapter 4 with his identity…the prisoner for the Lord!  He was imprisoned by the Romans, but his identity is in the Lord.  He appeals to us to live a life worthy of our divine calling.  Have we realized that we have a divine calling?  We have been called to this divine calling.  This is from God…not man.  Our belief will determine our behavior.  

I remember once when I worked in an office, that I got very mad about something.  I was married to the Purchasing Agent and was daughter-in-law to the Vice President.  An outside salesman knew I was upset, and he took me by the arm and said, “Girl, remember who you are.”  What an incredible spiritual lesson he taught me, and a good business one, too.  

Paul is begging us to remember who we are in the Lord.  He is pleading with us to behave in a way that supports this divine calling.  I just love this!  Are we a credit to God’s service?  If not, we have forgotten who we are and whose we are.  That which we long for is evidence of this divine calling.  The longing comes from the heart of God within us.  

In Verse 2, we see the divine paradox at play.  Remember who you are is not a place of pride in self.  It is living in humility, meekness, patience, tolerance…all of which are generated by love.  Love is the first fruit of the Spirit.  That is because all the others proceed from it.   Our divine calling comes from the Love.  Paul pleads with us to love one another.  Living as becomes you…I love that!  How does it get any better than this!  

We love because He first loved us.  This loving one another does away with judging.  We judge others because we are really judging ourselves on some level.  Otherwise, it would not make any difference to us.  We would not be urged to find something WRONG with another.  We do, because we have conscious or subconscious programming that there is something wrong with us and/or someone else. We have bought into the devil’s agenda of guilt, condemnation, and shame.  Instead of seeing what another is NOT, let us see what is…other children of God who are learning the Way, the Truth, and Life.  

Access your capacity to love.  It is the Father’s love.   Give it away.  We love because He first loved us.  He showed us how.  He filled us with this grace.  We are one in a limitless God.  That means we can believe in the limitless power that is His within us.  Do we realize that God has our back?  Realizing that, what will we allow God to be and do through us?  It is such a comfort to me…as the Good Shepherd, He has my back.  

Ephesians 4:3 “Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.”  At His birth, the angels proclaimed peace.  When you look at His life, there is anything but peace that is seen from a human perspective.  When wakened from a storm in the boat, He said, “Peace, be still.”  The peace that He brings is much more profound than the storms of this world.  This peace resonates with the energy of Heaven…love.  Oneness in the Spirit has a binding power of peace.  Wow!  Peace means that we have learned to not judge.  That means we are peaceful in trusting others to God and God with others…and ourselves.  

Paul shows us how to live in submission to the will of God…even prison.  We do not like to think that our experience might be like Paul’s.  From the emotional and spiritual perspective, our prisons are internal.  Because we are still learning to share His peace with others, we are often living without the harmony and oneness of the Spirit.  We feel it.  That is the longing in us that we keep trying to fill with the people, places, and things of this world.  We already have in Him what we are seeking. 

Paul’s description of himself as a prisoner for the Lord speaks so softly to me.  He had met the Master.  He had been captured by the Master.  He was in love with the Master. I find the following quote to be a beautiful expression of this relationship between Paul and the Master (Jesus and God):

“That is exactly the role of a Master, to create an intense desire for union 

with the Beloved--and when union happens, 

an atomic mystical power is released 

that can be directed toward humanity."  

Ladinsky, Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices 

From the East and West (Penguin Compass: 2002), 58-59.

Oh, wondrous Lover of my soul.  To be filled with this intense desire for union of which Paul is speaking and living out in his life.  We have no greater calling.

Become a Body Filled with God

Ephesians Study

Chapter 3

Ephesians 3:18-21 — Become a Body Filled With God

Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 3:18:  That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; 

Ephesians 3:19:   [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] into all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! 

Ephesians 3:20: Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—

Ephesians 3:21:  To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).

The last four verses of Ephesians 3 are God’s benediction and blessing over us!  These verses are amazing.  Below is what jumped off the page and spoke to my heart.  

Apprehending and Grasping the experience of God’s love — It is one thing to intellectually know that God loves you.  It is another to live in the experience of that love in its fullest…breadth, length, height and depth.  Paul gives this dimension!  Paul has experienced this.  He tries his best to explain it to us.  How do you really explain relationship that has this dimensional effect on you?  Do you know that brain science has shown that your brain lights up (energized) in a positive way when we feel happy about something.  It not only changes the brain; it changes the dimensions of your life.  This helps us understand how the imprisoned Paul could live life from love, compassion, and in complete freedom in his spirit.  I love this!

Know and experience the love of Christ — Relationship must be developed by knowing and experiencing the love of Christ.  It is sad how so many do not know this.  We spend so much time identifying with “the other” whether it be organization, person, place, cause, or thing that we can easily forget or dismiss the God of those things.  As verse 19 says, experience far surpasses mere knowledge.  Are we having experiences with God?  Are  communing with Him?  He is waiting to be recognized.  He is longing for time and communion.  It is an experience with Him that gives you an amazing story/witness.  This is what the world needs; not more man-centered thoughts about theology, doctrines, or creeds.  

Become a body filled and flooded with God Himself — What a glorious opportunity is ours.  We are the temple.  Envision being filled and flooded with God Himself.  Think about how His presence descended and filled up the most holy place of the sanctuary.  That is a visual aid for us of this very filling with God.  It is an internal dwelling that has external manifestation…others can tell that there is a difference.  How sweet is that filling and flooding of His.  The lighting up of the brain helps us not take personally the stuff of this world..be filled and flooded with God Himself.  That is so exciting!

Now to Him Whose power is at work within us   — This gives me such hope and encouragement!  His power is at WORK within me.  Not my power.  Not my work.  While I am a believer in being empowered, I know whose power it is.  The disempowering lies that we have been brought up believing to be our truths have given us a lens that sees things that are not real.  What I mean is that this lens is coloring life, events, opportunities, life experiences…everything…and we think we know what is / has happened but it is a false reality.  Another way of saying this is what John said in Revelation...he saw beyond / behind the veil.  He saw God high and lifted up.  This is the reality.  All this other stuff of life is a distraction to the real.  

As a result of perceiving life from a distorted lens, we have expectations of everything and everyone that are inappropriate and out of line with reality.  The fact that His power is at work within us calls us to come up to a higher understanding of everything.  What seems like misfortune, may not be.  In all of these things we have an opportunity to ask God to show us the situation through His eyes.  His power is at work within us!  The latest brain science shows that neurons in the brain implode (kill) themselves when we are constantly negative.  The best thing we can do for healthy brains is to be focused on that which is true and beautiful.  It takes three positive thoughts to make up for one negative thought.  Science is validating: As a man thinks so is he.  Awesome!  

Paul’s modeling, even though imprisoned, shows us the power of God who is at work within.  As we come to the end of Chapter 3 of Ephesians, I’m grateful for Paul’s modeling.  I am grateful for God whose power is at work within us.  I am grateful that even in our prisons (whatever kind we may be experiencing), that this magnificent God about whom Paul writes so passionately is not a respecter of persons.   He does for all of us what He did for Paul. Live life on purpose being filled and flooded with God Himself.  We are the temple of this most high God. 

The Courage of Staying

Ephesians Study
Chapter 3

Ephesians 3:16-17 — The Courage of Staying
Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 3:16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

Ephesians 3:17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,

It is easy to say you trust when your life is going smoothly and when you  have no physical or emotional challenges.  Where huge truth encounters come is when seemingly everything has fallen apart…livelihood and health.  As long as you have your health, you have the ability to make a livelihood.  Our upbringing has us trusting in our own ability.  

Paul, on the Damascus Road had a trust in himself and his ways.  Then he could not see.  Is that not a visual aid for us?  We move from a place of thinking that we know it all and have the “doing” all planned.  Then, a life-changing event happens, and we cannot see into the future or see a way out of the present.  

Paul, had to be led by the hand to another place and another person.  All of this is very good news.  There is another place to shelter us in our brokenness.  There is another person that takes us in and offers guidance.  And, there is the hope that we have a purpose when what we think our purpose is has been sidetracked.  Paul brings us the message of all of this good news.  Even after he was put in prison and ministered faithfully from there, we have his mentoring.  

Life did not turn out how Paul had it planned.  He was a Pharisee.  He had plans and had a way of making a name for himself.  What does Paul say of himself in Philippians 3:4-6:   “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

The issue is trust.  It is not trust in self.  It is trust in God and what He does with the inner man.  Trust in self would probably get in the way…it did with Paul.  

Ephesians 3:16 has some beautiful promises for us…for the inner man; for the personality.  May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory — His glory (character) is a rich treasury.  So often we are exploring our character, our personality, our gifts and talents.  This is really starting at the wrong place…a creation of man.  Start with God’s character.  That brings us up to truth.  

What God is doing — to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man — is not something that we can do by ourself.  In fact, what we call “failure” is really an invitation to us for truth encounters about that with which we need help.  These places of “failure” we tend to run from and hide…like Adam and Eve when they hid from God.  We do not want to be found out.  Yet, the first Beatitude says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who know they need help).  It is a blessed place to know that help is needed.  When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead us into all truth.  

I find this scripture to be amazing.  It encompasses the entire being.  When the character is affected, then the external behavior is noticeable.  This is an external manifestation of an internal situation.  Our being is strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].  What a wonderful picture of mind, body, and spirit development and empowerment that comes from KNOWING Him.  

I cannot say enough about these scriptures and what is being said to us!  Listen to Ephesians 3:17: May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,  Everything starts with Christ.  That is why it is so important to have a good foundation in Him and a correct identity of God and self in God.  You have something to have faith in besides yourself.  So often we measure who God is by HOW man is and our experience with that.  Our feelings betray faith in Him.  

Christ uses your faith in Him to make a dwelling place in our hearts.  We must be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.  Paul is telling us that it is all relational.  This dwelling place is in the heart. We may know a lot of theology.  We may know the scripture.  Given that, we may not know Christ.  Theology and knowing scripture does not save you.  Jesus Christ does.  Read the red words in the Bible.  What is Jesus saying about relationship with Him and with others? 

We are Christians to manifest God to others.  He said that we are to tell them what He did and what He said.  What did He say?  The red words.  That is a now type of thing.  The kingdom of heaven is within.  Christ has given us the fullness of the Godhead and His mind.  

Philippians 1:23 & 24: Paul says that he desires to depart and be with Christ.  Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needed for others.  Many of us could probably understand where Paul is coming from.  Do not let what you are going through determine who you are or what you can do to serve God.  Let God’s truth about Him and about you determine your identity.  

For Paul, escaping life (this body), was not the answer.  He saw needs. He felt it was an honor to serve His Lord in what he saw.  His perceptions and his life path was not based on escaping any of the unpleasant things with which he was faced.  Oh, this so adjusts my own perception of “how things should be.”  We are not told that this is how they will be.  The kingdom is now.  Am I going to live in present tense or am I going to walk by all of life (the good, the bad, the ugly) in the hope of His soon coming to take me to a better place.  Jesus, and Paul, endured to the very end.  With our eyes on Him, may we do the same.