Tonight as I sit at my computer resting from celebrating my Savior’s resurrection with my family, I look over the verses we have just covered the past 12 weeks together and these verses pop out at me:

“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” –Ephesians 2:12-13

At one time I was without hope…..without God.

At one time I was far away from God…but Jesus brought me near.

Thank you Jesus for the hope and relationship we have with you! Though once we were far from you, thank you for bringing us near through your precious blood.

Thank you for living and dying a life of love for us!

For me personally the one verse that sums up Ephesians would be Ephesians 5:1

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Be an imitator…be like Christ.

How did Christ live his life? He lived a life of love.

He loved us so much he sacrificed everything…..HE became the offering.

I want to imitate Christ with my life as a wife, mom, daughter, friend…..as a sister in Christ.

Be imitators of God….live a life of love….

As I take my place in God’s family…I need to live a life of love.

As a child of God who has been adopted into his family by grace…Eph 2:8

As I go through life with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ…I need to live a life of love.

With my brothers and sisters in Christ, be humble, gentle, patient….bear with one another in love. Eph 4:2

As I pursue my role as a wife …I need to live a life of love.

Wives, submit to your husband, as to the LORD.Eph 5:22

As a daughter and a mother …I need to live a life of love.

Honor your father and mother…do not exasperate your children…Eph 6:4

The whole book of Ephesians is about living our lives loving others, and loving God. Paul concludes by  encouraging us to be STRONG in the LORD and His mighty power….we will have struggles….living a life of love and sacrifice isn’t easy. We will need God’s help. There is a battle going on and we are the targets. We are reminded in verse 6:12 that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world…”

My advice to all of us….

Pray….work on making it a habit to be in constant communion with God.
Focus……focus on Jesus and don’t look around at what others are doing,  just stay focused on him and in his Word.
Love….imitate Christ and live a life of love.

Thank you again from the bottom of MY heart for joining me these past 12 weeks as we have studied the book of Ephesians together! You are a blessing to me!

Please join us this summer as we study the life of the Proverbs 31 woman!!!! God has great things in store for us this summer!

For more information about our summer study, click here!

Until next time…

Love God Greatly!!!