When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~Ephesians 3~

So a few days ago I read this scripture as I was thinking about the spiritual aspect of this journey. I have read this a thousand times, I have prayed prayers using this section of scripture. I have preached this and taught this, but this day I see it as brand new.

As parents and grandparents we do everything we can to try and make sure our children grow up to be people that love the Lord, serve the Lord and are involved within the church body. We send them to christian schools, we make sure they go to church every week, we send them to summer Christian camps, we teach them about morality, don’t let them date until a certain age, don’t allow kissing or even holding hands with the opposite sex. All the while living our lives in front of them.

As a pastor growing a church is the most important job we have (so it seems) and if a church is growing we are having new converts, more baptisms, better attendance and bringing in more money (of course to help the community) Every service “with all eyes closed, nobody looking around, just slip your hand up” the pastor “I see that hand over and over again”, there are times there is not one hand up. For years this has driven me nuts, what happened to repentance, being forgiven? There is a HUGE difference between someone telling you that you have been forgiven and hearing from the Father, “You are forgiven” and Nowhere in scripture do I see anyone raising a hand and being led in a prayer. (you tell me what you see in the word) It is not all bad and people do find the Lord during these times, every day, week in churches. But I can’t help but think this is why the church is weak and fading into the sunset faster than anyone really understands. But at the same time the church will rise up in GREAT POWER in the last days (I believe we are in) (Could preach and write on this subject for days)

Bottom line, I do not think we can really for the most part lead anyone into true salvation with our rules and our energy trying, as parents and as church leaders. And today I come across this Scripture and see it in a brand new light……new hope……new mindset. I have often wondered how in the last days there will be the GREATEST falling away and the GREATEST revival in the history of the world both at the same time. I believe with all my heart that what I am talking about is a key to understanding this and a key to security in our salvation.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~Ephesians 3~

The following days I will break down these few Scriptures to show you!