Week 3 – Spiritual Authority of the Church
Day 17 – Seated with Christ
Focus: Believers share in Christ’s authority through union with Him.
Prayer: "Thank You, Jesus, that I am seated with You in heavenly places."
Ephesians 2:1-10
Alive in Christ1What you are now is in direct contrast to what you used to be. Once you were spiritually dead because your lives were full of sin and disobedience to God's Word.2That is how you used to live, when you lived according to the world's standards, because you were subject to God's enemy, belonged to his negative kingdom of darkness and were controlled by the spirit who still works in the disobedient.3All of us at one time shared in that ungodly lifestyle, longing to satisfy our flesh. We all sought to gratify our fleshly desires and sin filled much of our thinking. Just like everybody else, we were subjects of God's anger because of our sinful disposition.4-5Despite all this, because of His great love for us, God who is so rich in mercy actually brought us to life with Christ, even when we were spiritually dead because of our sins. What a wonderful work of His grace to save us out of the death and darkness of sin, out of the hands of the evil one we once served!Seated with Christ6Now He has actually raised us up with Christ and sees us seated with Him in heavenly places because He has placed us in Christ Jesus.7He has done this so that in the future we might demonstrate that the riches of His grace are so immense that nothing can be compared to such riches. And this grace has been shown to us because of His kindness towards us, expressed in all Christ Jesus has done for us.Saved by His grace8You see, it is only because of His grace that you have been saved. All you did was to put your faith in His willingness to be merciful and gracious towards you. So your salvation is not anything you could possibly have worked out for yourselves; it is completely God's gift to you.9You can never boast that you achieved acceptance by God through the works you have performed.10The truth is that we are the work of God's own hands. Now we live in Christ Jesus, we are able to do the good works that are the evidence of our salvation. It is good to know that these are the very works that God planned and prepared for us to accomplish!
Father, thank You for making me a member of the Body of Christ. Help me to love Your Church as You love her. Teach me to serve with humility, walk in the authority of Jesus, be led by the Holy Spirit, and lay down my life for my brothers and sisters. Build us together into a dwelling place for Your presence and make us a powerful witness of Your Kingdom until Christ returns. In Jesus’ name, Amen.