Ephesians Chapter 2
In the past we were:
• dead in sins
• existing in sin
• following world
• under Satan's power
• objects of wrath
Now seated in Heavenlies
Members of a body of Citizens:
• God's People
• God's Household
January 14 - Morning
"The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome."
- Genesis 32:27-28
- Genesis 32:27-28
"I-Will-Rule" or "God-Will-Rule"
Jacob’s name means “to grasp the heel” and “to supplant” (“supplant” means to take the place of another through force, scheming or strategy). Jacob is asked by the man (or, angel) that he is wrestling with, “What is your name?” In answering Jacob is admitting, or confessing, before he re-enters the promised land his sinful tendency to come from behind in order to manipulate the situation for his own purpose and cheat to win.
Upon his confession to being “Jacob,” the Lord changes Jacob’s name to “Israel.” The idiom in the Hebrew says, “they shall say no more” that you are “Jacob.” The meaning of the name “Israel” is debated, but it would appear in this case the meaning that is referred to is “El will rule,” and “El will strive.” This verse may indicate a change in character for Jacob. Instead of being the nature of “Jacob will rule,” it has submitted to God and it is now, “God will rule.” Jacob has learned to trust God for protection and provision in a foreign country where he could not rule and could not defend himself. If it had not been for the Lord’s blessing Jacob in Padan Aram, Jacob would have been oppressed and destroyed by Laban. Jacob learned to trust God and not his own ability.
Jacob would now re-enter the promised land with a new name that indicated that he understood and had experience the truth – God will rule!
‘Arar (Hb) - Cursed (Eng) – ‘arar is the Hebrew verb that means “to curse.” In scripture it is clear that God made the earth and man in order to bless them, but people who are disobedient to God place themselves under his ‘arar. To be ‘arar is to live under God’s judgment.
Do I allow God to rule situations, relationships, opportunities?
I will live knowing God is willing and able to intervene.
I will live knowing God is willing and able to intervene.
Bible Reading Descriptions Here
Personal
Contacts with people and network building
Church
Fruit and production
Nation
Unemployment
World
African church leadership’s desire for power, pride and carnal desire
Looking up at the first century tomb in the Kidron Valley traditionally (but, wrongly) called Absolom's Tomb.
Outline of Ephesians chapter 2
Someone to Quote
"Meditation is simply talking to God about His Word with a desire that your life and those you pray for come into agreement with it."
- Bill Thrasher
- Bill Thrasher
Something to Ponder
Churches did not sing hymns as we know them until 1696 when Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady published in England a metrical psalter called "New Version of the Psalms of David." (Tate also wrote the Christmas carol, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night.") So, the church went through the first 1700 years without hymns being sung in church, though they did sing some rhymed versions of the Psalms.
(Image here)
(Image here)
Here’s a Fact
In 2 Samuel 2 David and Joab's men fought against General Abner's men at the deep pool of Gibeon. A deep cylindrical shaft 40 feet in diameter and 35 feet deep has been found. It was cut to access the water line below. There are 93 steps cut around the side of the shaft that are used to reach the spring of water. (See details here and photos here.)
Proverb
"From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things, but the unfaithful have a craving for violence."
- Proverbs 13:2
- Proverbs 13:2
Coach’s Corner
We live in a big world, so there is an answer, there is a solution and there is a way. Seek, knock and ask until you find it.
Genesis 16
New International Version (NIV)
Hagar and Ishmael
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Footnotes:
New International Version (NIV)
Hagar and Ishmael
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
6 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:
“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael,[a] for the Lord has heard of your misery.
12
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen[c] the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi[d]; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Footnotes:
- Genesis 16:11 Ishmael means God hears.
- Genesis 16:12 Or live to the east / of
- Genesis 16:13 Or seen the back of
- Genesis 16:14 Beer Lahai Roi means well of the Living One who sees me.
Job 3
New International Version (NIV)
Job Speaks
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:
3
“May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
4
That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.
5
May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.
6
That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.
7
May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.
8
May those who curse days[a] curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
9
May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
10
for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
11
“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
12
Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
13
For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
14
with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
15
with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16
Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
17
There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.
18
Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
19
The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.
20
“Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
21
to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
22
who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
23
Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24
For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.
25
What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
26
I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
Footnotes:
New International Version (NIV)
Job Speaks
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 He said:
3
“May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
4
That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.
5
May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it.
6
That night—may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.
7
May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.
8
May those who curse days[a] curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
9
May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
10
for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
11
“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
12
Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
13
For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
14
with kings and rulers of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
15
with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16
Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
17
There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.
18
Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
19
The small and the great are there, and the slaves are freed from their owners.
20
“Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
21
to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
22
who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
23
Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
24
For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.
25
What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
26
I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”
Footnotes:
- Job 3:8 Or curse the sea
Job 38
New International Version (NIV)
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2
“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
3
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
4
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
5
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6
On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
7
while the morning stars sang together and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8
“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9
when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10
when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
11
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
12
“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,
13
that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
14
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.
15
The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.
16
“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17
Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
19
“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
20
Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21
Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!
22
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23
which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?
24
What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25
Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
26
to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,
27
to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
28
Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?
29
From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30
when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31
“Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c] or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?
34
“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36
Who gives the ibis wisdom[f] or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38
when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?
39
“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40
when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?
41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Footnotes:
New International Version (NIV)
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2
“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
3
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
4
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
5
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6
On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
7
while the morning stars sang together and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8
“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9
when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10
when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
11
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
12
“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,
13
that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
14
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.
15
The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.
16
“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17
Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
19
“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
20
Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21
Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!
22
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23
which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?
24
What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25
Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
26
to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,
27
to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
28
Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?
29
From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30
when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31
“Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c] or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?
34
“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36
Who gives the ibis wisdom[f] or gives the rooster understanding?[g]
37
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38
when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?
39
“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40
when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?
41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Footnotes:
- Job 38:7 Hebrew the sons of God
- Job 38:31 Septuagint; Hebrew beauty
- Job 38:32 Or the morning star in its season
- Job 38:32 Or out Leo
- Job 38:33 Or their
- Job 38:36 That is, wisdom about the flooding of the Nile
- Job 38:36 That is, understanding of when to crow; the meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.