Prayer ~ Lord God, thank you for always hearing my prayers. Please forgive me for not reaching out more to my neighbors, showing and sharing Your love. As I read Your word and stop to reflect upon what You are saying, I am listening…and I hear Your plea to repent.
God’s message to the church at
Ephesus.
I know all the things you do. I have seen your
hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people.
You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not.
You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without
quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each
other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do
the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your
lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor: You
hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. Anyone with ears to hear
must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To
everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the
paradise of God. Revelation 2:2-7
Meditate. Read God’s word and listen to what He is saying.
Are you listening to God? How can you “hear”
without listening? Have you fallen away? Do you love God and others as much as
you ever have? Good questions.
💕God knows our hearts and
thoughts—even our very words before we speak. As I understand
Revelation, this letter to the Ephesians was not necessary to that church—but
to people with those characteristics that God called out. Those who were hard
workers, had patient endurance in suffering for Christ, and had no tolerance
for evil deeds or liars. God was insisting that even those good folks were
falling away from loving Him and other Christians. He pointed out that in order
to be victorious and eat of the tree of eternal life, they needed to repent…to
turn back. That repentant message was the same message with which Jesus began
His ministry. It is still what we need to do on a daily basis. Can you do that?
Are you listening to God?
Verse of Salvation ~ And after they had argued back and forth
among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: "The Holy
Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, 'Go
and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When
you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are
hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their
eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot
understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.' So I want you to
know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and
they will accept it." Acts 28:25-28 (Underlined for emphasis.)
Memory Verse of the Week ~ In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Happy Anniversary Blessings - Kendall and Lindsey
© 2022 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
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