<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+12:20-33">John 12:20-33</span></span></p><p>The love for God that burns in our hearts must never be seen as the fruit of our labor, as if it is something we manufacture. Seeing the love of God for us, our own heart responds with love. We give love for love. We cannot help it. Let's be done with the idea that love for God is something we work at. It issues forth in good works, of course, but it begins in contemplation of how much we are loved. I often tell my students that they cannot love until they have been loved. By this I mean that love is a response. Our souls must receive love before they can give out love. Those who did not receive much love from their parents complain at this stage: "I can't love God because my soul was never properly prepared to love; my parents didn't love me." That is a problem I agree, but it must never be seen as an insoluble problem. No one who stands at Calvary and sees God dying for them on that tree can ever argue that because they were not loved by their parents they cannot now receive God's love. If they really believe that, then they are saying that God's love is balked by the adverse influence of human conditioning. God's love will only flow into us if we let it, and if we really want it. To desire it is like the touch of the hand on a spring blind; the blind is released and the sunlight flows in. Just to want His love is enough; He will do the rest.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O God, forgive me if I have used excuses to barricade my heart against Your love. I gaze once more on Calvary and open my heart to allow its mighty magnetism to draw my soul toward You in a way it has never been drawn before. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2th+3:1-5">2 Thessalonians 3:1-5</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jude+1:21">Jude 1:21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+3:17-19">Ephesians 3:17-19</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was Paul's desire for the Thessalonians?</li><li>What was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (v. 32)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="ga+2:15-21">Galatians 2:15-21</span></span></p><p>We turn now to consider the second of our Lord's Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+5:4">Matthew 5:4</span>). It is important to note that there is a very definite order in these sayings of Christ. Every one is carefully thought out and is given a precise place in the spiritual sequence. Once we see that entrance into the kingdom of God is through the acknowledgement of one's spiritual poverty and the acceptance of Christ's riches and resources, we are then ready to consider the next: "Happy are those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given courage and comfort" (Phillips). Before pondering the meaning of this Beatitude, we pause to make clear that the Beatitudes must not be viewed simply as a code of ethics, but as a description of character. Many people view these sayings of Jesus, as well as the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as a set of regulations which they must follow in order to become a Christian - a kind of New Testament "Ten Commandments". The simple truth is that to try to live out these principles in our own unaided strength would be about as possible as trying to move the Rock of Gibraltar with a pea-shooter. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: "We are not told, 'Live like this and you will become a Christian ', but rather, 'Become a Christian and you will live like this.' " Advocates of the "social gospel" - the belief that we become Christians by attempting to live out Christ's principles - are seriously in error. We must first know Christ as a Person before we can fully live out His principles. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Father, how tragic that, down the centuries, so many have got Your truth the wrong way round - they have tried to follow Your principles before first knowing You in Person. Help me never to go wrong here - ever. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+3:1-19">Ephesians 3:1-19</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+14:20">John 14:20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="col+1:27">Colossians 1:27</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+3:24">1 John 3:24</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Of what does the indwelling Christ bring a full knowledge?</li><li>What is the 'hope of glory'?</li></ul></div></div>

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me '" (v. 20)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+3:14-21">Ephesians 3:14-21</span></span></p><p>We are seeing that once we enter the sanctuary of God our perspective changes. This can happen to us when we are alone, of course, but the chances are it will happen more swiftly in the act of corporate worship. It is a command of God that we meet together, not only that we might come to know each other better, but that we might also come to know Him better. And here's the interesting thing - the more effectively we relate to one another, the more effectively we relate to Him. We come to know God better through the act of corporate worship than when we worship on our own. That is not to say that the shut-ins, or those who for various reasons are unable to meet together in worship, cannot know God intimately, but something special flows out of the act of corporate worship. Listen to how C.S. Lewis put it: "God can show Himself as He really is only to real men. And that means not simply men who are individually good but to men who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like; like players in one band, or organs in one body. Consequently the only real adequate instrument for learning about God is the whole Christian community, waiting for Him together. Christian brotherhood is, so to speak, the technical equipment for this science - the laboratory outfit." Christians who neglect attendance at the church, or choose to deprive themselves of fellowship with other Christians, miss out on life's greatest science - learning about God. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">My Father and my God, I am so thankful that, although I can know You when I am alone, I can know You even better through the fellowship of the Church. Help me to learn about You in every way I can. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+2:1-19">Ephesians 2:1-19</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ro+8:15">Romans 8:15</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2co+6:18">2 Corinthians 6:18</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ga+4:5">Galatians 4:5</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How does Paul describe the Church?</li><li>What does it mean to be adopted?</li></ul></div></div>

" that you  may be able to comprehend with all the saints " (vv. 17-18, NKJ)

<p> Beyond measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our love towards him, and to increase our knowledge of him. I would to God that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in Jesus' college, students of Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ, resolved to attain unto a good degree in the learning of the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of him, welling up with his love, even to overrunning; hence the apostle prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts. " See how near he would have Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer to you than to have it in the heart itself. "That he may dwell"; not that he may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night, but that he may dwell; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being, never more to go out. </p><p> Observe the words-that he may dwell in your heart, that best room of the house of manhood; not in your thoughts alone, but in your affections; not merely in the mind's meditations, but in the heart's emotions. We should pant after love to Christ of a most abiding character, not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet. Faith is the lily's root, and love is the lily's bloom. Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart's love except you have a firm hold of him by your heart's faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love him. If love be cold, be sure that faith is drooping. </p>

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." - Ephesians 3:17

Evening Devotional

<font size="2" face="Verdana">
<p align="justify">
   <i>To whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter His rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed Him? (Hebrews 3:18 NLT)</i></p>

<p align="justify">We have no right to go to 
the unsaved and bid them come to Christ and find rest until and unless we 
ourselves know that rest. Our testimony and our ministry is jeopardized, 
weakened, limited and discredited if we are not ourselves in rest; and this is 
the object of the enemy's activity in this matter – to discredit us by taking 
from us that very birthright of our union with Him Who is never perturbed, never 
anxious, never in doubt as to the issue, the One Who reigns. You see, rest is 
the practical outworking of our belief that He is Lord, and the very Lordship of 
Christ is struck at by the unrest of the people of God....</p>
<p align="justify">Do not think that it is necessarily such-and-such things that account for our condition. These may be contributing factors, they may be very testing, may bear upon us very heavily. Physical matters – yes, they do press, they do make the situation exceedingly difficult, they do make a difference. Circumstances in which we have to live our lives, they do make a lot of difference, they make the situation exceedingly difficult. We say, "If only the Lord would deal with this physical matter or these circumstances or this something else! It is all due to that, that is the cause of it, the reason for it." That is our way of reasoning, but it is not the Lord's thought at all. The thing is deeper down than that, and it is simply a matter of believing God; resolute faith, confidence in God. The Lord is trying to get us out of our variable and varying soul life where we are at the mercy of all our feelings, thoughts and reasonings and all that kind of thing, into a realm where, in spirit, we are steadfast. That is the point upon which it is all fixed in the Psalm. "Their heart was not steadfast with Him" (Psa. 78:37), and around that the whole of their forty years is gathered. The key to this is spiritual; tested by every other line, every other means, it is a spiritual matter ultimately. To be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inward man (Eph. 3:16) is the answer to it all.</p>



</font>

<p>This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” </p><p>Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.</p>

Open Windows

The Rest and the Courage of Faith

 Resolute Faith 

<font size="2" face="Verdana">
<p align="justify"><i>May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love... that you may really come to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience. (Ephesians 3:17,19 AMP)</i></p>










<p align="justify">The Holy Spirit, with all that the gift of the 
Spirit means of enduement and endowment and instruction and strengthening, is 
not a substitute for experience. We are very often found asking that certain 
things shall be done for us by the Holy Spirit which the Holy Spirit will never 
do. He has to lead us into experience. It is the only way in which He can answer 
our prayers. Many prayers are answered through experience. You ask the Lord to 
do something, and He takes you through experience, and you arrive at the answer 
in that way. You had not meant that, of course: you wanted the Lord to do the 
thing there and then as a gift, as an act; but that would have been merely 
objective, something given, whereas He wants to make it a part of yourself, and 
so He answers prayer by some experience. "Steadfastness worketh experience," and 
if there is no experience, what is the good of anybody or anything? </p>
<p align="justify">So then, experience is of greater importance 
than being delivered from tribulation. "Tribulation worketh experience." Oh, how 
often we have asked the Lord why He allowed this and that, or why He did not do 
this or that. Why did He not hinder Adam from sinning? Why has He not stopped 
the world in so many things that have had most terrible results? Experience is 
very largely the answer. Experience is very important because, after all, it is 
the very quality of service. When we come to real life, and we are really up 
against things and the issues are of the greatest consequence, we do not want 
just information, we want experience, and we go where experience can help us. Is 
that not so? Thus experience is the very body and quality of service and 
usefulness to the Lord. </p>







</font>

The Importance and Value of Experience

 Experience fromTribulation 

<p>Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. § God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” § Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. § Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.<br><br>That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.<br><br>Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. § He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

<p>We … do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. § That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.<br><br>Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! § “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” § Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.</p>

 Your thoughts are very deep. 

<p>No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. § It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.<br><br>We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.<br><br>For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man … that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.</p>

Evening Daily Light

 The deep things of God. 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">16 </sup>I pray that out of his glorious riches   he may strengthen you with power   through his Spirit in your inner being,   </span><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">17 </sup>so that Christ may dwell in your hearts   through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted   and established in love, </span></p>

I pray that out of his glorious riches<cr>1</cr>  he may strengthen you with power<cr>2</cr>  through his Spirit in your inner being,<cr>3</cr> 

Ephesians 3:16

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts<cr>1</cr>  through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted<cr>2</cr>  and established in love,

Ephesians 3:17

 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches   he may strengthen you with power   through his Spirit in your inner being,   17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts   through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted   and established in love,

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 I pray that out of his glorious riches  he may strengthen you with power  through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts  through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted  and established in love,

Ephesians 3:16-17

<p><span class="bible-text ">I pray that out of his glorious riches   he may strengthen you with power   through his Spirit in your inner being,   </span><span class="bible-text ">so that Christ may dwell in your hearts   through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted   and established in love, </span></p>

 I pray that out of his glorious riches   he may strengthen you with power   through his Spirit in your inner being,   so that Christ may dwell in your hearts   through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted   and established in love,

Bible Verse of the Day

December 23, 2019

Ephesians 3:16-17 NIV

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