Paul's Letter to the Ephesians

By Sybrand Van Kwawegen

Daily devotional in the form of an exposition of Ephesians.
This “daily devotion” is not intended as a theological exegesis of the book of Galatians. I believe that there are already too many of those in circulation and they are causing sufficient confusion without me adding to that. This book is a daily walk with Jesus through the book of Galatians in a way that makes its meaning and purpose available to the average believer and born-again disciple of Jesus with an eye on the fact that we are currently living in eleventh hour of the end of end times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sybrand Van Kwawegen
• Release date: May 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005950828

Sybrand Van Kwawegen

I was born 21 August 1950 and grew up in a home best described as atheist. I knew nothing about Christianity until my high school years. After school I qualified in the trade of bricklaying before doing a BSc degree in Building Science at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). I worked in construction progressing to Construction manager and managing contract in what is currently known as the provinces of Gauteng, North-west, Limpopo, Mpumalanga Free State and Kwa Zulu Natal. I moved on into full time ministry in the Methodist Church of South Africa and studied for a B.Th. through the University Of South Africa (UNISA). During this time I also served as vice chair and chair of the West Rand Local Peace Committee as well as serving on the Regional Peace committee before and during the first democratic elections in South Africa and served as chair of Hospice in the West. I left full time ministry after 12 years and returned to construction and allied industries until my retirement two years ago. I the started acrylic painting as a hobby and doing further Bible studies that led to this publication.

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GOD – God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Pastor/pastor – used as a general term for all ordained clergy. Includes those variously entitled ministers, fathers, lay preachers, etc.

Word – as opposed to word is the Word of GOD also referred to as the Bible

KJV – The Authorised King James Version of the Word of God

AOV – The Word Afrikaans Ou Vertaling.

RCC – The institution known as the Roman Catholic Church.

Born-again – the name given to people that have remorsefully repented and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour and have been baptised in water by full submersion and born of the Holy Spirit.

Agape – Used wherever the love that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:3-8. (See also detailed summary in my book "Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.)

Tribulation - The moment in time when Jesus Christ will appear in the Sky to call the born-again believers to join him at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

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New Testament Chronology.

New Testament Book Dates

Galatians: AD 49-50

Matthew: AD 50-60

1 Thessalonians: AD 51

2 Thessalonians: AD 51-52

1 Corinthians: AD 55

2 Corinthians: AD 55-56

Romans: AD 56

Luke: AD 60-61

Ephesians: AD 60-62

Philippians: AD 60-62

Philemon: AD 60-62

Colossians: AD 60-62

Acts: AD 62

1 Timothy: AD 62-64

Titus: AD 62-64

1 Peter: AD 64-65

2 Timothy: AD 66-67

2 Peter: AD 67-68

Hebrews: AD 67-69

Jude: AD 68-70

John: AD 80-90

1 John: AD 90-95

2 John: AD 90-95

3 John: AD 90-95

Revelation: AD 94-96

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Suggested way to use this Devotional

Most people that have a regular daily devotional time set aside will adapt their own routine to the use of this book of daily devotions. For those that do not the following is a suggested basis for you to start from. It would be best to stick to the suggested routine for at least three weeks before making your own adaptations to suit your personal lifestyle.

1. Set aside a time each day where you will not be interrupted for at least 30 minutes but preferably an hour

2. Spend a few minutes unwinding and setting the day’s activities aside and then enter into a prayer (conversation) time with the Father through Jesus beginning with the adoration of the Father as our creator and head of the Holy Trinity and ask Jesus to set a guard of His angels around you to keep the tempter out and your mind fixed on the Word of God. Ask that God, the Holy Spirit will open your mind to the understanding and absorption of the Word for the day.

3. Read the daily text(s) carefully and relatively slowly (don’t rush or speed read).

4. Read the commentaries in the text(s) as if they apply to you personally. Where something touches a nerve in you stop, ask the Holy Spirit what He is telling you and then continue. Make a note if something important comes to mind by highlighting the text and making a note as your app allows.

5. After reading spend some time reflecting on the day’s passage(s) and what they are meaning to you. Ask yourself how you can and decide how you will apply that lesson during the next twenty three hours.

6. Close off your time of devotions in conversation with the Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and ask Jesus and the Holy Spirit to help you in your resolutions for the next day. Note that you can expect satan to tempt you extensively to forget or skip just today or a thousand other ways to stop you from a regular pattern of daily devotions. Therefore ask Jesus for a discerning mind so that you will know when satan is attacking and to help you 2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; The attacks will start in your thought life and that is why we need to take every thought captive to the authority of Jesus and He will make it clear what thoughts to throw out with the trash.

7. The best way to imprint the Word of GOD and its application on our minds is to find someone to share your daily devotion with in the course of the day.

8. On day seven of each week spend your devotion time reviewing the week and making notes that you can come back to in the days and the years ahead.

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Contents:

Glossary

New Testament Chronology.

Suggested way to use this Devotional

Week 1: Ephesians 1:1 to 1:15

Week 2: Ephesians 1:13 to 2:15

Week 3: Ephesians 2:16 to 4:6

Week 4: Ephesians 4:7 to 5:4

Week 5: Ephesians 5:5 to 6:11

Week 6: Ephesians 6:12 to 6:24

Other titles by this author

About this author

Bibliography

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Day 1 - Ephesians 1:1-2

Ephesians 1:1-2 KJV Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have discussed Paul's greetings at length in my devotionals of Romans and Corinthians. Here let us consider what the born-again believer’s response to a greeting like that should be. We have all heard that every word in the Word of GOD is useful to us;

2 Timothy 3:16 KJV All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Do we sometimes tend to ignore greetings in the Word as inconsequential just because they have become so in our everyday life? That how are you, and well thanks. Which we say not really caring for the answer at all or while in fact we are all but we'll. According to 2 Timothy 3:16 however, we cannot disregard Paul's greeting in the same way. Therefore we must consider an appropriate response to Paul's greeting.

To begin with Paul introduced himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of GOD. If, as born-again believers we must respond in a similar manner, how would we do that? What does the Holy Spirit in our hearts and the indwelling Jesus Christ make you and I? Is there perhaps some common ground that we have with Paul's apostleship?

Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King. Not only are we through our salvation and the new birth also appointed as prophets, priests and kings and like Paul we also have Jesus Christ indwelling us. Like Paul we also have a divine appointment by the will of GOD.

Matthew 28:18‭-‬20 KJV And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Is the difference between the majority of born-again believers and Paul then not in the fact that Paul had the saints which are at Ephesus, i.e. he has given tangible evidence of his response to the Great Commission, but what have we got to show for it? How is our relationship with the faithful?

Yes we are not Apostles but what has that got to do with the Great Commission? I am sure that the defence of many here will be that the Great Commission is the job of pastors and evangelists. Then allow me to point out that is not what the Word of GOD says. Go ye, refers to all disciples (followers) of Jesus Christ. Does that include us or not?

The fact is that more people are influenced to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour by the laity than by pastors or evangelists. More people look for guidance in matters affecting their daily lives from laity than from pastors and evangelists. The scary thing is that the vast majority of those influenced by laity are actually negatively influenced!

How many of us could greet those with whom we associate, with the words, Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. GOD is my Father and the Father of all born-again believers but how many of our circle of friends think of GOD as their Father.

These challenges are least of all intended to be malicious accusations. It just shows what we can learn from the Word of GOD when we put ourselves in the roles of the players and ask a few obvious questions. In this instance Paul’s hearty greeting should serve to encourage and inspire us to be more diligent in our obedience to the Great Commission.

John 20:31 KJV ...but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

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Day 2 - Ephesians 1:3-4

Ephesians 1:3‭-‬4 KJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Spiritual blessings are all the blessings that GOD can give to those that obey Him. The term spiritual, is used to distinguish the gifts that are received from GOD, from luck or good fortune or simply from hard, diligent work. If we were to list all the possibilities we could probably fill pages and pages. However I venture to say that the one most commonly overlooked and undervalued is the purpose for which GOD created us. My existence, your existence and everyone else's has a specific purpose in GOD 's master plan. Our greatest worth is not a matter of public opinion but is derived from the