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Ephesians 1:7-8
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

these are loaded verses
to fully pick them apart could take books… and those books have been written.
Most of the main points of the Christian faith are hit upon in these two verses alone.

In Christ and in Him alone we have forgiveness of our sins because of His blood or His death on the cross that took the punishment in our place.
I just want to take one idea out of here though… the one that hits me the hardest, the one that makes my head spin in wonder.
it’s this… which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

He lavished

the Dictionary definition for the word lavished is this :

Lavish : To give or bestow in abundance; Characterized by or produced with extravagance.

abundance, extravagance!

these are words that are used to describe how far God goes to forgive our sin

but it doesn’t stop there!
In all wisdom and insight
God knows us. He knows how we have failed Him… how we will continue to fail Him
He knows our weaknesses and how we can’t make it on our own.
He is not surprised or disappointed at what we are.
He already knows we will fail at times, and He still loves us
He still desires us to be His
He still calls us to Himself
He still forgives

Romans 5:7-8 says
For one will hardly die for a righteous man;
though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
but God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If He loves me that much
doesn’t He deserve my whole life?
He didn’t hold back for me.
How can I give Him anything less then all of my life

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
2 Corinthians 1:8-10

a few weeks ago, I heard someone on the radio say that they thought that the saying that “God would never give you more then you could handle” was a lie from hell, because it made us trust and put our strength in ourselves and not in God. That God would give us more then we could handle so that we had no were to turn but Him.
this stopped me dead in my tracks! I had never even thought of this before!! I mean, doesn’t everyone always tell you when you are going through a hard time… ” Don’t worry, God will never give you more then you can handle”

....Somehow, I can do this then.. I can get through this trial...
Now here is this guy saying the exact opposite!! and yet… it sound so right.. I know it’s right, because I know I can never handle things on my own!
However, what sounds right to me is NEVER a good gauge and he gave no scripture back up
so I prayed that God would show me in His Word if that was true

in the above verse, Paule writes
We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure_
why?
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God

things have been going crazy the last few weeks in my life.
I haven’t shared much of it on here, but I have had things happen that I never thought I could endure
but with each new thing that happens I find a God that is bigger

that’s what Paul was talking about
if our problem are always small we never rely on God… we can do it ourselves
the bigger our problems, and the more we allow Him to take them
the more we see how big our God really is, how powerful He is.

and when we have a Big God, our worries melt away

Matthew 8:23-27
When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “ Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

As many of you know already, I am a Flight Attendant. On almost a daily basis I see people who are afraid to fly. One of my biggest tasks is to calm the fears of people.

this can be challenging on a calm day when there is no turbulence, but add a little rough air and bumps in the mix, and it becomes even more so…

I find myself looking at my nail or counting my fingers… Why? Because everyone is looking at me to see if I look worried, so I do something, anything, to impress upon them how trivial those bumps really are.

I’m not worried about those bumps because I know who is flying the plane and I have faith in their ability. I understand who is in control and I know they can handle it, even if I can’t.

Jesus and his disciples got on a boat to cross the sea… a storm started rose up and the winds almost toppled the boat, yet Jesus slept… and the disciples got mad

how could he sleep? why wasn’t He helping? they woke him up..”save us” they cried

but they really didn’t expect Him to save them.

they were surprised when He calmed the seas
“who is this that the wind and seas obey Him”
If they had really believed they they were with God… that God was in control, then they wouldn’t have been afraid.
They, too, would have been able to sleep during the storm

How do we react when the storms of life hit us?

can we rest knowing God is in control?

If we really trust Him to take care of our needs, would we worry and complain?

one final thought, the disciples faith may have been weak, but their faith was in the right place

they turned to Jesus… and Jesus answered

He is always faithful

Romans 4:4-5 (ESV)
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted as righteousness

This is a verse that I go back to over and over.
It’s in our nature to want to be “good enough” to get to God… to always “try harder”
but this verse makes it so clear what grace is… it’s a gift that God gives us… just because
if we could earn it … it would become our work and it would no longer be grace.

if we could work our way to heaven, Christ would not have needed to die for our sins
and when we put our faith in Him, His death becomes our righteousness.

about taking turns and in what order… if there are assigned weeks.
I would like it to just be kinds spontaneous…. if that will work.
just as you, or anyone else come across a verse that really means something to them or something they have heard and would like to share. that may leave it open for more people to share.
if that doesn’t work out to about once a week or so then we might need to get more of a schedule going… but lets try that for now

how does that sound to everyone?
or would you rather have a more permanent schedule?

this goal has gone stale too long
how do you all feel about taking turns and just posting
a verse a week and then just write a sort note on why you
like it or what it taught you
then anyone who wants can leave a comment or ask a question.

it’s better then having a goal that just sitting here

anyone can join in who want to