Corporately Praying the Word (continued)
[And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth in Him (in Christ), [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in the Christ, the thins in the Heavens and the things upon the earth; in Him (in Christ), in Whom also we were chosen as [His] inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of the One Who works all things according to the counsel of His Own Will, that we should be to the praise of His Glory, who first trusted in The Christ; in Whom also ye, hearing the Word of truth, the Gospel of the salvation of you, in Whom believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the earnest, the guarantee, of the inheritance of us to the redemption of the acquired possession to the praise of His Glory."
[And as was Paul's manner, when he spoke of the unsearchable riches and glories of Christ, he burst into "praying in the Spirit" for those to whom he was writing; and in doing so he continued to reveal the Mystery of God Who Is Christ, for the Word says that "in Spirit he speaks mysteries," because only the Holy Spirit can reveal that which is hidden in God].
And so, as Paul reveals by The Spirit that which had been hidden in God's heart since times eternal, as he wrote of the unsearchable riches of Christ, he burst into prayer and praise! And because he is in The Spirit, he prays in The Spirit; and thus his prayer continues to bring forth the revelation of Christ's Fullness. He prays that we may comprehend with all the saints the love of Christ.
When Paul began to pray this prayer in The Spirit, it was a spontaneous flow from his heart, a spontaneous flow from his spirit and soul, as he was writing to his brethren from his cell in the Roman prison.
Paul was in prison when he wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ..."
Paul was in prison when he wrote of our "spiritual blessings" in Christ:
God hath chosen us in Christ -
God hath predestinated us in Christ -
God hath made us accepted in the Beloved In Whom we have redemption -
God hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence -
God made known unto us the Mystery of His Will, which is that He might gather together in one all things in The Christ.
God hath sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Paul was in prison when he prayed that we be granted a spirit of wisdom and revelation in a full and thorough knowledge of our Lord.
Paul was in prison when he declared that Christ was resurrected, and was seated at the Right Hand of God, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and all things are under His feet.
Paul was in prison when he revealed by the Spirit for the first time that Christ was Head of the Church, and the Church His Body was the Fullness of Him.
Paul was in prison when he announced to the "prince of the power of the air" that he was not a prisoner of Rome; but he, along with all the redeemed, had been made alive together with Christ, had been raised together with Christ, had been seated together with Christ.
Paul may have been in prison, but he was not Rome's nor satan's prisoner. NO! in spite of all circumstances to the contrary, he was a prisoner of the Lord, he was in his Eternal Position, he was IN CHRIST. And, beloved, no matter what our situation or circumstances, this is our Position also - we are IN CHRIST. So, whether we be those who are called on to suffer such as Paul, and many others - we are IN CHRIST; or whether we take our stand as we go about our normal daily lives, as many of the Ephesian and Colossian Christians were doing when they received this glorious letter, we are IN CHRIST - we too are the prisoners of the Lord.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 30)
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