This begins the practical section of Ephesians in which Paul encourages these new believers in Christ to begin to live in a way that reflects this new heart that you have been given by the Lord. If you are ever to live in unity in the spirit you will new to understand what God is doing through your life and it will involve humility , gentleness as well as a genuine love for others.

According to this passage God is able to do exceeding abundantly more than we can imagine. This doxology is perhaps one of the greatest in the Bible. This verse is a praise to God ascribing all glory to Him and is very much an encouragement to believers everywhere . We can not begin to grasp what God is able to do for us.

Title: " Living to Glorify God" Ephesians 3:14-17 Does your life as a believer actually glorify God. Well, in this passage Paul is praying that we as believers might understand that it is possible to live in the reality that our life should and can glorify God. There are some things we need to concern ourselves with first. There are 4 things for us to understand first before we can live in the reality of verses 20 and 21.

In this passage Paul is showing that the individual believer is a person in whom God the Holy Spirit dwells. This is one truth that proves that at our new birth all things become new (2 Cor. 5:17). Our bodies are the temple of God (2 Cor. 6:16). Just as God dwelt by His Holy Spirit in the temple in the Old Testament, so now He dwells in us. Very important when you consider that Paul is talking about Jews and Gentiles being unified together in Christ at salvation.

Title: " Jesus is our Peace" Ephesians 2:11-22 Once again in this passage we see what should be clear evidence of the change brought about from our regeneration. Since we have a new heart there should be unity in the church as Paul so clearly lays out for the new believers in Ephesus . There was a long standing hatred between Jews and Gentiles and Paul Encourages the believers to get over the hatred because Jews and Gentiles are both changed in Christ .

This passage confirms for us that we were not saved by works, but by the grace of God. But, this verse also says we were saved for good works. Basically, this verse affirms the basic truth that regeneration really does change us. A great cross reference to this verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17 which also says that regeneration brings about all things new. So ask yourself, how did I change when I was saved? How you answer that might indicate you spiritual condition.

Our condition before salvation is our total inability to respond to God. We are dead in our sin, spiritually dead and we are not able to change that condition. We have eyes that can't see and ears that can not hear so God who is rich in mercy gives us a new heart . Now we have spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear and a new heart to respond to God.

This passage teaches that every human ever born is born dead spiritually. That is, totally unable to respond to God in any way and is completely separated from Him. But God, quickens us , gives us life which enables us to respond to Him. He does this because He is rich in mercy and love for us.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can read a verse of scripture and it seems that God turns on a light so that you see it and its meaning for the first time. In this passage , Paul is praying for the believers in Ephesus that God would open up the eyes of their hearts so that they might see the truths in verses 3-15 of chapter 1. In other words, Paul prays that they might understand God's word.

Title: "Our Best Life is not now" Ephesians 1:11-14 This is a wonderful passage of scripture that assures us that our best life is still to come. Contrary to some who would teach that our best life is right now . For the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ our best life is when we are in heaven with our savior Jesus and not now in a world filled with evil and violence. Remember that we were saved out of this world whose ruler is satan himself. Our citizenship is in heaven which will be the last phase of our salvation.