Posts
Scripture||
Observation|| Application|| Prayer
Ephesians 4:1-16
1I therefore, the prisoner in the
Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been
called,
2with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every
effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There
is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and
Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7But
each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore
it is said, “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he
gave gifts to his people.” 9(When it says, “He ascended,” what does
it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He
who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that
he might fill all things.) 11The gifts he gave were that some would
be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until
all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We
must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of
doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But
speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit
together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working
properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
For
Tuesday August 19th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 1I
therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the
calling to which you have been called,
Observation: Being bound to the will of God is living into His calling
and commissioning of our hearts into ministry.
Application: Living into the lifestyle of Grace is fully committing
yourself to serve within and through the priesthood of all believers. This is a calling that must take priority in
your life and your life lived in gracious response to a loving and gracious God
must bear fruit in honor and praise of God.
Prayer: Gracious Jesus, King of Peace,
May your calling of grace and
commissioning to our hearts
Be incorporated and lived fully with
the gracious fruits of our lives
May we hear deeply Your Living Word
To be and become salt and light in
the world but not of the world
For Your Name’s sake
May our spirits be bound to being
active participants
In the priesthood of all believers
For Your glory, honor and praise—
AMEN
For
Thursday August 21st, 2014
Verses Scripture: 2with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Observation: With a good humble perspective, meekness, and enduring
patience; We are to empower each other with agape love (great compassionate
indiscriminating love).
Application: We are to live into the call of discipleship keeping by
keeping a good kind of humility to our responding in kind to empower, love
neighbor being and harboring a gentle nature that is ruled by the Lord and His
precepts.
Prayer: Dear Lord,
You are the ruler of our hearts
Continue to encourage our inward
reflection to harbor a good kind of humility
A kind of humility that bears the
beautiful fruit of being gracious
Of being salt and light through
compassion and empowerment
To our neighbors for Your Gospel’s
sake
We pray for your continued guidance
as we sojourn into living into the lifestyle of Grace
For it is Your Love and Grace that
fuels us
May we be worthy servants to Your
Will.
AMEN
For
Sunday August 24th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 3making
every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Observation: Using heart knowledge in consideration of all is allowing
the Holy Spirit to bring people together and bear among many blessed fruits;
the fruit of peace.
Application: We are to first develop and operate from a Holy
Spirit-informed heart knowledge to then bear forth the gracious fruits of love,
compassion, generosity, kindness, mercy and so on. Developing heart knowledge first requires us
to develop our prayer-filled union with Christ.
This union with Christ further transforms our hearts, our inner being to
be obedient, accountable and willing to respond with Grace as this is the
reality of the Kingdom of God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Prince of Peace,
We adore your endless font of Grace
which pours down upon us
And into us as the Living waters of
New life
These Living waters like Your Living
Word challenge and shape us
To live into the lifestyle of Grace
to be and become the servant leaders
You need for Your Will and precepts
Help us to continue to discipline our
hearts
In obedience to grow in Your Grace
For Your Glory and truly out of Love
for You and Neighbor.
AMEN
For
Monday August 25th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 4There
is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling,
Observation: We were summoned and commissioned to build together through
hope as the spiritually unified body of Christ in the world.
Application: Living into being and building true community together
takes unity in heart knowledge, and a good kind of humility that allows hope to
flourish and bring the Holy Spirit’s work within us to fruition.
Prayer: Gracious and Loving God,
You are our light of binding hope
You connect our hearts to reflect
upon Your love
Confess through our hands and feet
our faith
And repent—keep in perspective, Your
Will and precepts for our lives
Our renewal is baptismally lived
through our transformed lives
In loving and gracious response to
you
And all that you have given us
May our lives spiritually know and
live unity
Through Your Grace
AMEN
For
Tuesday August 26th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 5one
Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Observation: Alone and universally we have Our Lord, faith and baptism—a
truly connected reality.
Application: As Lutherans we affirm that we believe in Christ alone,
faith alone and we baptismally affirm our lives lived in community, for
community through Grace alone guided by the Living Word alone.
Prayer: Dear Jesus,
We are never alone
Especially when we ground our lives
around you, alone
It is through Your Grace alone
We find our place within the
Priesthood of all believers
It is through Your Living Word alone
We are shaped by faith alone
To lead lives worthy of Your Gospel
Lives regenerated and spiritual
connected to one another
In great fellowship, a profound
unity as developing children of Grace
May our lives continue to
baptismally transform
Daily reflecting, confessing,
repenting and renewing
Our love for You and for neighbor—
AMEN
For
Wednesday August 27th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 6one
God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Observation: Our Sovereign Lord, Creator and Loving parent is present
with us truly everywhere and most importantly in our hearts transformed, united
to His will and precepts.
Application: One of the more beautiful tenets of the theology of the
cross is spiritually realizing that we have a Lord and savior who comes down to
us. The reality of the lifestyle of
Grace is becoming aware of the sovereignty of God at the center of your
lives. This awareness of a loving and
gracious God alone shaping and transforming your lives to His is being and
becoming the children of Grace the Lord aspires for us to be/ become.
Prayer: Gracious and Sovereign Lord,
You are our heavenly parent
Whose love and Grace builds us up
Shapes us into knowing profoundly
how you are everywhere
In everything to tap into
As Living into the lifestyle of
Grace
May we continue to grow in unity to
Your Will and precepts
May we love You and neighbor fully
and completely
As Your growing to go with Your
Gospel, children of Grace.
May You always inspire us to be and
become the disciples
You need us to be.
AMEN
For
Thursday August 28th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 7But
each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Observation: The Grace given is both unmerited and sufficient for all.
Application: As humans it is hard to fathom the magnitude of Grace yet
alone aspire to live into the lifestyle of Grace as faith-filled disciples of
Jesus. We want to measure and make finite that which is boundless, more than
sufficient and profound. Christus Victor
is Christ the victor. Why is he called
this? For through Him, His cross and His
resurrection defeated sin, death and the devil restoring a right relationship
with the Father. We must always with good humility hold the truth and magnitude
of grace as our fuel and reason to persevere and fight the good fight of the
Gospel for Christ sake and our neighbor.
Prayer: Dear Jesus
You Grace truly freed us from
bondage
It magnitude we may never truly or
truthfully understand
May it however, motivate our hearts
To bear gracious fruits
As you have been gracious and shown
no partiality to us
May we in turn harbor a beautiful
humility
One that knows we can never repay
this Grace given freely
But live lives bound to Your Living
and ever-sufficient Word
May we know deeply, Your Victory for
our sake
May we live deeply Your Gospel for
You and our neighbors sake
AMEN
For
Monday September 1st, 2014
Verses Scripture: 8Therefore it is said, “When he
ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his
people.”
Observation: The Grace of God freed us by taking captive all that had
put us in bondage(sin, death and the devil); therefore releasing us (through
the gift and cost of Grace) to be and become freely responsible and freely
expressive servants of Him.
Application: Being and becoming children of Grace is living into an
empowered servant leadership out of Love and obedience to God and through the
spiritual fruits of the grace given:
compassion, mercy, kindness, love and so forth for our neighbor
Prayer: Loving and Gracious God,
May our hearts come to realize
With all humility and true
transformation
That the spiritual fruits we bear
are from the Gift and cost of Grace
May we grow to be and become fully
accountable
To the Living Word—to be freely
responsible servants to and through Jesus
May our Faith be shaped and
regenerated by Your Grace
To realize this throughout the
journey of our lives
Lived for You and for Your Glory—
AMEN
For
Sunday September 7th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 9(When
it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into
the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who
ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
Observation: Our God of Grace is one who is truly sovereign as well as a
God who comes down to us; Our Crucified Lord—victorious Christ.
Application: According to Martin Luther, the theologian of the cross
preaches that humans can in no way earn righteousness, humans cannot add to or
increase the righteousness of the cross, and any righteousness given to
humanity comes from outside of us. Being a theologian of the cross today means
for us to live lives shaped by and through the cross—this is being and becoming
a sacrificial, merciful, compassionate servant leader to Love God and neighbor
with the fullness of faith built by Grace.
Prayer: Dear Jesus,
You are Our Crucified and Sovereign
Lord
May our lives be shaped by Your
Grace
More importantly shaped by Your
Cross
Help our hearts to be transformed by
Your Holy Spirit
To be sacrificial in our lives lived
under Your Grace
To be merciful as we can never match
that which you have given us
To be a compassionate servant and
leader
May we live and die through You, for
You as children of Grace
May we never not be grateful—
AMEN
For
Monday September 8th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 11The
gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for
the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Observation: Being a part of the Body also involves an awareness of the
body of individuals who come with creative and unique gifts to serve God and
neighbor.
Application: The role and most important function of the corporate
church is to enlighten, encourage, educate and equip the people of faith to
live into their faith actively as disciples.
This means nurturing witnessing, spiritual formation, education—study
& share the faith in fellowship. It is not about what God can give you or
do for you... It is about what can you do in response naturally from faith to
love God and neighbor.
Prayer: Dear Jesus,
Help to inspire Your church in the
world
To faithfully disciple others
through solid mentoring
Solid and encouraging, enlightening
and enhancing proclamation
And a healthy humility that centers
all concerned under your cross
Help us to find sanctuary and
fellowship again as a feeding and leading opportunity
A Place where Grace is lived within
grateful hearts
For Your will, for Your Glory and
truly to love you and neighbor
With our unique gifts given to build
the Kingdom of God
Thank You Lord for all you have
Blessed us with—
AMEN
For
Tuesday September 9th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 13until
all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
Observation: Unity is more than an accord and the development required
is more than heart knowledge but spiritually growing in union to the Will and
precepts of Christ.
Application: Unity is more than fellowship it is to be a family
bond. We are the children of God,
brothers and sisters to Christ Jesus who is Lord. In order for us to come to full development
as the Body in the world; we must be and become spiritually focused on
nurturing and bringing to fruition—our heart knowledge—intentional spiritual
transformation through faith by Grace for the Love of God and neighbor.
Prayer: Gracious Lord,
You are the giver of life
As Your Holy Living Word inspires us
And challenges us to be and become
unified
As Children of Grace
Help to transform our hearts to grow
and go with Your Gospel
For the sake of the world
May we truly be and become what You
have always hoped for us
May we live for You and die to You
For the Glory of Your heavenly
Kingdom—
AMEN
For
Wednesday September 17th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 14We
must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of
doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
Observation: We must be truly careful to not stray from the Living
Word’s True message; for it is all too easy to be lead astray into our own
agendas and perspectives that are divisive and against God’s Will.
Application: Human nature is, by its nature, contradictory to the godly
nature the Living Word tries to instruct us to live into baptismally as freely
responsible disciples of Christ. Instead
we cave into selfishness, greed, indifference and idolatry which renders God’s
Word ineffective especially when we are lawless and unwilling to be accountable
to being and becoming agents of Grace for the sake of loving God and neighbor.
Prayer: Gracious & Loving Lord,
Help us to fight the temptation to
be servants to ourselves
Help us to be and become agents of
Grace for Your Holy Gospel’s sake
Help us to daily reflect, confess,
repent and renew
With Your Living Word as the fuel to
our hearts being shaped to Yours
May we never become intellectual
idolaters manipulating Your Living Word
For our self-concerned agendas and
goals
May we never, as well become lawless
and nihilistic in our duties
As disciples to love and care for
the world you gave and for our brothers and sisters
Help us, O Lord, to truly be and
become Children of Grace
For the Glory of Your heavenly
Kingdom—
AMEN
For
Monday September 22nd, 2014
Verses Scripture: 15But
speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ,
Observation: As both a disciple and a member of the corporate church of
Christ; we must be accountable to His Will and upholding the integrity and
supremacy of the Living Word by living Gospel-centered lives as children of
Grace.
Application: Being and becoming a completely Christ-centered disciple
takes spiritual obedience—a willingness to adhere to the Living Word of God in
order to go and grow with the Gospel abroad.
Prayer: Gracious & Loving Lord,
Speaking the Truth in Love is our
responsibility to be a steward
To Your Living Word and its central
transforming authority within our Lives
We must be and become spiritually
obedient
To Your Will and precepts for the
glory of the Kingdom of God
In order for us to grow and go with
Your Holy Gospel
We need to be and become accountable
As children of Grace and as freely
responsible servant leaders
Who are in the world, but not of the
world
Living Grace is living the truth of
the Gospel
For Your sake and our neighbor
through Love—
AMEN
For
Sunday October 12th, 2014
Verses Scripture: 16from
whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it
is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in
building itself up in love.
Observation: Being in unity as disciples means being truly connected to
Christ in order to lovingly and spiritually grow to then GO with the Gospel!
Application: Being and becoming is the constant state and process of
spiritual formation. In order to be in
true fellowship (Koinonia) and in true mission (Kerygma) we must live into the
priesthood of all believers as servant leaders (Diakonia) to most effectively
live into our call and commissioning to be the hands and feet of Christ in this
world.
Prayer: Heavenly Father,
We have come together and indeed
confess
Jesus is Lord to Your glory
Help to build within us an
unbreakable unity
One that does indeed build, reveal
Your Kingdom
Here and Now
May the love and Grace You have
showered upon us
Inspire and discipline our hearts to
continue the process
Being and becoming children of
Grace, cross-bearing disciples
May our hearts to hands and feet
Illumine and steward the Gospel for
centuries to come—
AMEN
To view the rest of today’s S.O.A.P.
or to subscribe to (almost daily) posts of S.O.A.P.S
Please see the Facebook group for
the Gathering North Spiritual Formation:
No comments:
Post a Comment