Daily Devotionals

Peace Week 2: Friday

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 3:18-19

It is one thing to tell someone that you love them. It is a completely different thing to show them that you love them. Saying “I love you” is fairly easy for most of us, but demonstrating that love is far more difficult. Demonstrating that love puts actions to the words we say, proving our love. As we think about having peace with God and accepting His love and forgiveness, it is helpful for us to remember that Jesus not only tells us about His love, He showed it to us by paying the price for our sins on the cross. 

Paul writes about God’s demonstration of love for His children in Ephesians 3. In these verses, he writes a prayer for believers. One of the things he prays for is that believers will grasp just how much God loves them. He prays that they will have the strength to grasp how wide, long, high, and deep God’s love is (vs.18). Understanding this, Paul writes in verse 19, will allow a believer to live fully in the power of God, rooted in His love. It will also help us live at peace with ourselves.

 Just how much does God love you? He sent Jesus to come to earth and ultimately die a painful death on a cross to pay the price for your sins and offer forgiveness to all who place their faith in Him. In other words, there is nothing that He would not do for you because of His great love. This is the greatest love anyone could ever experience. 

My prayer for you today, my friend, is that you would know just how much God loves you. His love is genuine, not superficial, and it is deep. His love caused Him to go to great lengths to rescue you. He not only tells you of His love in Scripture, He proved it when He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for you to rescue you from your sin. So today, rest in His love for you.

Moving toward action

We can so easily take God’s love for granted that we forget just how remarkable it is that He went to such incredible lengths to rescue and forgive us and make us right with Him. Take a few extra minutes now to consider just how amazing God’s love and forgiveness are. When we were far from Him, He came to us. How does this forgiveness affect the way you forgive and view yourself? How does His forgiveness bring you peace not only with Him but also within yourself?

Going Deeper

Ephesians 3:1-21 (NLT)

When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles … assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

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.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.