November 15 Devotion - Be strengthened and spiritually energized

حَيْثُ إنَّ الجَمِيعَ أخطَأُوا، وَهُمْ عاجِزونَ عَنْ بُلُوغِ مِقياسِ مَجدِ اللهِ.

الَّذِينَ أَرَادَ اللهُ أَنْ يُعْلِنَ لَهُمْ كَمْ هُوَ غَنِيٌّ مَجْدُ هَذَا السِّرِّ بَيْنَ الأُمَمِ: أَنَّ الْمَسِيحَ فِيكُمْ، وَهُوَ رَجَاءُ الْمَجْدِ؛

لِكَيْ يَمْنَحَكُمْ، وَفْقاً لِغِنَى مَجْدِهِ، أَنْ يُمِدَّ الرُّوحُ الكِيَانَ الدَّاخِلِيَّ فِي كُلٍّ مِنْكُمْ بِالْقُوَّةِ الْمُؤَيِّدَةِ، ¹⁷ لِيَسْكُنَ الْمَسِيحُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ بِالإِيمَانِ؛ حَتَّى إِذَا تَأَصَّلْتُمْ وَتَأَسَّسْتُمْ فِي الْمَحَبَّةِ، لِذَلِكَ امْتَحِنُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ لِتَرَوْا هَلْ أَنْتُمْ فِي الإِيمَانِ. اخْتَبِرُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ. أَلَسْتُمْ تَعْرِفُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ، أَنَّ يَسُوعَ الْمَسِيحَ فِيكُمْ، إِلاَّ إِذَا تَبَيَّنَ أَنَّكُمْ فَاشِلُونَ؟

 Since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory.

¹⁶ May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?

Romans 3:23,   Colossians 1:27, Ephesians 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 13:5

We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God had a plan for humanity to give us a hope and a guarantee to meet God’s expectations of us through Jesus Christ. God is giving us power through His Spirit to dwell in our hearts through our faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour; who died for the forgiveness of our sins; and we make Jesus Lord of our lives by being deeply rooted in His love. We need to live a life of committed believers constantly examining ourselves and repenting of any area in our lives that is not pleasing to God.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith and I become deeply grounded in His love. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Thank You God for loving me with a deep and everlasting love, for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I pray to You Father in The Holy Name of Jesus. To Him be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein