Listen to Paul’s prayer for his friends in Ephesians 3:16-19.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being…that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.“
Be blessed with being enlarged in a community of saints. Although God loves you singly and individually, you grasp the love of God with others in a way that you cannot grasp it alone. Be blessed with strength through his Spirit so that Christ may dwell presently and richly in you to root and establish you in love in community. Be blessed to feel God’s love in the greatest dimension of its great depth, and length, and height, and width. How deep, and long, and high, and wide is God? Infinite! It is not about how much you know about his love but how much you receive his love. Be blessed with the love of God which surpasses knowledge through the Spirit of God. You can never understand it with your mind. Your soul cannot comprehend or receive it, but be blessed in your spirit with being filled to the measure of all the fullness of the love of God.
Be blessed with Spirit-ordained covenants of love in mutual commitment with other Christians of like spirit. Thank God for those who remind you of your deepest identity and legitimacy. Be blessed to reach out and meet others with joy, because both of you will be changed for the better. As the community of spirit is synergistic, the whole is greater than the parts.
Be blessed with a loving network of mutual support, affection, and loyalty. Be blessed with those who care greatly and intimately, so that you face nothing alone. Be blessed with awareness of the life and reality in community and its power to unlock hidden capabilities and joys in yourself and others. Be blessed with coming out of isolation into a safe place where God’s love prevails.
Acts of goodness and generosity to others align you with God and bring out the best in you and others. Acts of bitterness, pettiness, and anger put you at cross purposes with God and diminish you and others. As others express confidence in you, it builds you up and strengthens you. As others bless you, God calls forth passion, warmth, and life from you that are contagious. Spirit, be blessed to stay aligned with God in community to receive life and be proactive in giving life.
Be blessed in the name of the Father from whom his whole family
in heaven and on earth derives its name (Ephesians 3:15).
You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2011/08/15/sg_loving-community/
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Short Thoughts for Cell Phones – God-daily.com
