Ephesians
3:16-21 Nasb
16
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded
in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the [m]saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ
which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of
God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far
more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that
works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations [n]forever and ever. Amen.
I
was travelling with a friend of mine on our way to a respective homes after the
prayer meeting at the Church where we are both active members, my friend pointed out
a very distinctive smell as we got into his car and we both commented on the
origin of this smell and we both realised it was the unique smell of silage and
we both wondered how that smell got there.
I
pointed although I grew up in the South Wales Valleys, I remembered a similar
smells especially in the summer months, my friend pointed out about the rows of
terraced houses that he saw in his travels to South Wales and how those
terraced houses would be built alongside the sides of both hills and mountains,
I pointed that I lived in a terraced house for a number of years with my parents and
sisters in Melin Court, near Neath.
Melin Court (Cwrt) Waterfall.
Melin Court (Cwrt) Waterfall.
When
I was growing up in the South Wales Valleys, my only knowledge of Liverpool
would be from TV programmes such as The Liverbirds, Bread, Watching and
Brookside, and watching the news about the latest antics of Militant Tendency
led by Derek Hatton when he attempted to turn Liverpool into the People’s
Democratic Republic of Liverpool in the early 1980’s.
I
first visited Liverpool some 12 or so years ago when I was travelling to
Llandudno from Bradford by coach to see my Grandad who has been taken ill with a
stroke and the coach had stopped in Liverpool, I remember looking at St
George’s Hall and The Walker Art Gallery as I passed by on the Coach heading
for The Mersey Tunnel and thinking wow what fantastic buildings.
Until
two years ago when the Lord moved me from Neath to Southport, Liverpool would have
been somewhere I would have visited for the day when staying on holiday or
visiting Southport, and then some weeks ago when I started working in Liverpool, my perception changed, previously it would
have be somewhere I would go to go shopping, visiting Museums etc. or attending
Interviews, my perceptions, knowledge
and understanding of Liverpool would have been restricted to these trips but
since working in Liverpool these have both increased and developed.
Liverpool Town Hall.
Liverpool Town Hall.
I
think Liverpool is a great place, and although I enjoy working there, it is not
somewhere I would choose to live because of the simple fact God has called me
to Southport.
For
many us, our understanding of Spiritual Truths is based on the understanding of
others, either because of the revelation and knowledge that has been revealed
to them.
When
I was a lad of 15 – 16 years old and living in Melin Court, my understanding of
Liverpool was based on what I had seen on TV, this was not a true picture or
understanding of Liverpool, and again I had been only walking on the Lord on my
Christian Life’s journey for a few years and my understanding and revelation of the Lord, His Word, His Church and His Kingdom was limited, since then this has increased as I have walked in faith with Our Saviour and alongside other believers.
If I had wanted to travel to the
village of Abergawed on the opposite side of the valley, I had two ways of
getting there, the long way and the
short way, the long way meant travelling up the valley some two miles to the
village of Resolven and then down to the village of Abergawed or the most
direct route across the railway line then across the river Neath and then across
some fields, the long way was generally a safer route.
When
the Lord speaks to us, and reveals an aspect of His truth and revelation to us
we see more often or not he leads us not in the shortest route or indeed the
most direct route but the long way around because we need to learn some things
and adapt, change, grow up before we see the fullfilment of that revelation.
For
many of us how understanding and revelation of God’s Word comes from reading
Christian books I love reading especially My Bible and Christian books but for
many of us including myself we need to put into practice and implement what we have
learned and learned again and take action and see that revelation we
have received from the Lord into a fuller and broader understanding.
Ephesians
3:20 - 21 Nasb
20
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or
think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in
the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations [n]forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians
4:11 – 16 Nasb
11
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists,
and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the [d]saints for the
work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all
attain to the unity of the faith, and of the [e]knowledge of the Son of God, to
a mature man, to the measure of the stature [f]which belongs to the fullness of
Christ. 14 [g]As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and
there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of
men, by craftiness [h]in deceitful scheming; 15 but [I]speaking the truth in
love, [j]we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even
Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together [k]by what
every joint supplies, according to the [l]proper working of each individual
part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Every
Blessing in Christ Jesus
Blair
Humphreys
Southport,
Merseyside
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