“Give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so we may know you better.” Ephesians 1:17
I want to know Jesus more…don’t you? But often we feel we are taking steps backwards rather than forward. We read our Bibles and don’t hear a thing. We go to church and feel inwardly dead. We hear others talk about how cool Jesus is and yet, we don’t sense His nearness.
If Jesus is alive and active like He says He is, why do we struggle to know He is real?
In Ephesians 3:1 and 14 Paul says, “For this reason I, Paul…” It’s almost as Paul stops and loses his train of thought, becoming distracted for a few verses. Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you were there? Old age. Senility. Too many thoughts crammed into a little brain. It happens to all of us at times. We lose our train of thought because of distractions and busyness, just to name a few. Although all of us have had these brain freeze moments, Paul must have had some divine inspiration. He just left it hanging right there. The Holy Spirit must have been working to remind him to go back to his initial point later on.
Before we dive any further…I want you to fill in the following blank with your name. Let’s step into Scripture together today.”For this reason, I ________” (put in your name). Have you ever considered what drives you? What motivates you? Why do you do what you do? What characterizes your life? Because whether you are intentional about it or not…you are pouring it out. You are always 24 hours closer to being done with this thing called “your life.”
Why do we do what we do? Why do we work where we do? What drives you?
As I look back at my life, I see a cyclical cycle in my life of people pleasing as a driving force for me. For this reason…I want them to like me. For this reason…I want to feel accepted by others. For this reason…hmmm. Whether you are intentional about it or not, your life is going somewhere. You are acting out from a driving purpose–and if you can get to the root of it, it is powerful!
If we can live our lives with purpose, we will live changed lives.
Live your life with purpose because we are not going to be here long. It’s pouring out fast. And what will change our lives, what has changed my life, is if we can get to the root of what it is that is driving us. I want to encourage you today that you can live a transformed life, but you must come to a point where your motivation or inner drive is to bring God glory.
Paul finally gets back on track and listen to his encouraging words to the church in Ephesus…
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 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, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19