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Spiritual MOT: Lights, tyres & exhaust
Does my daily life reflect the calling I have received?
Ephesians 4:1-16
Maintain unity with the believers1I am a prisoner for the Lord's sake and I encourage you to live in a way that is worthy of this great calling you have received from Him.2This involves remaining humble and gentle, being patient and sensitive to the needs of others out of your love for them.3Do everything you can to maintain the unity you have with other believers in the power of the Spirit by remaining at peace with them.4For there is one body of Christ and only one Holy Spirit, and we all share in the one hope to which we were called in Christ.5-6There is only one Lord, and we all share in the same faith in Him. There is only one baptism into Christ, only one God and Father of us all. He is over all of us, He works through all of us and His life is in all of us!Grace given to fulfil the call7Yet, at the same time, each one of us is given the particular grace we need to fulfil our calling, and it is Christ Himself who imparts this grace to us.8This is why we can understand, from what was written years ago, that when He ascended back to heaven He led a procession of those who had formerly been captives and gave gifts to those who were to continue the work of His Kingdom here on earth.9We need to understand that before He ascended to heaven, Christ first descended to where the souls were kept waiting for the release He alone could give.10Yes, He who descended there to free them is the same Lord who ascended to the highest place in heaven, so that the whole universe could be filled with His glory!God's order in His body11This same Lord Jesus appointed some of those who belonged to Him to be apostles, others to be those through whom He would speak prophetically to His people. Some were anointed to be evangelists, others He made pastors. Still others He made teachers.12-13All these various ministries have a common purpose. They are to prepare God's people to serve Him, happily doing the works God prepared for them. This is what will enable the body of Christ to be built up in the way He desires, and will bring people into unity in their faith, sharing in a common knowledge and experience of God's Son. Having servant hearts shows that people are mature in their life in Christ and that they are able to enjoy everything God has made available to us in Him, the fullness of His life that He came to impart.14Those who are mature in this way will no longer be like immature toddlers easily swayed and pulled this way and that. They will not be like corks bobbing about on the sea, or like falling leaves that are at the mercy of any wind that blows them around. Immature people are like that because they do not have a grasp of the truth of God's Word. So they are easily swayed by the latest fashion in 'spiritual' teaching. They are deceived by those who want to manipulate and use them and their money for their own ends.15The mature are not like that. They speak the truth to others out of love for them and, therefore, in a loving way. They are believers who keep growing in their faith, becoming more and more like Christ who is the Head of the body to which they belong.16From Him, the Head, the whole body is to draw together in unity. Every part is to fulfil its function in love, for the health of the whole body. And this is accomplished by each fulfilling the work Christ has appointed for him or her.
Colossians 1:9-14
Paul's continuous prayer9This is why, since we heard of what God is doing among you, we have never stopped praying for you, asking God to make you aware of His will; that He will give you all the spiritual wisdom and understanding you need.10The reason why we pray like this is simple. We want you to live lives worthy of the Lord, so that you please Him in every way possible. For then you will produce much fruit for His glory, through all the good works you do as you continue to know Him better.11-12He strengthens you with all the power of His glorious might, and it is this power at work in you that gives you patience, enables you to persist in doing His will and causes you to maintain your joy, thanking God the Father for all He has done in you. Yes, it is His work in you that means you are now qualified to share in the inheritance He has prepared for all those He has called and set apart to belong to the Kingdom of light.13For He has already rescued us from the devil's dominion of darkness and has brought us into His own Kingdom, the Kingdom that belongs to the Son He loves.14It is through Him that we have been made worthy in God's sight through the forgiveness of all our sins, so that now we belong to Him.
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