ON GROWING UP SPIRITUALLY – EPHESIANS 4:11-24 The Spirit-filled life requires continuous spiritual growth so we will not become spiritual pygmies. During our last lesson, we discovered after Christ’s triumphant ascension back into heaven as Victor over Satan, sin, and death, He gave gifts to men (4:8). These equipping, or spiritual, gifts are given to us with great expectations on Christ’s part. He expects us to use them to serve and build up other believers (1 Pet. 4:10). Now, Paul lists four spiritual gifts, but many more are mentioned in the New Testament (Rom. 12:6–8; 1 Cor. 12:8–10; 1 Pet ..read more

HOW TO PRAY WITH POWER (Ephesians 3:14–21) Have you ever wished for more power in your prayer life? Do you sometimes have trouble trying to figure out for what you should be praying? Do you have problems with your mind wandering when you pray? In this passage we find four elements of praying powerfully. Paul begins: For this reason I kneel before the Father (3:14a). The phrase for this reason repeats and picks up the prayer Paul began in verse one. He began a prayer and then parenthetically wrote about the mystery of the ages—the mystery of the church—in verses 2–13. Overwhelmed by the mystery ..read more

EXPERIENCING GOD’S AWESOME POWER – EPHESIANS 2:11-22 We can’t live the Spirit-filled life if we don’t fellowship with God and God’s people. Jesus saves individuals of all races, walks of life, and backgrounds and makes us one in Him. To live the Spirit-filled life, not only do we need to know who we are as individuals in Christ (as we learned in the last lesson), but we also must realize who we are together in Christ. In this passage, Paul explains four truths we must understand to experience God’s awesome power … Without Christ we are alienated from God (2:11–12) Paul begins this section: The ..read more

ON ALLOWING GOD TO TRANSFORM YOU - Ephesians 1:7–23 As believers in Christ, we are like diamonds in the rough—some of us more so than others. Sometimes, before God completes His work of chipping off the rough edges of our lives, we wonder how we could ever be valuable and lovable in God’s sight. That’s when we need to remember what fact found in Philippians 1:6? This means God will transform us into the persons He wants us to be. It’s a process that takes a lifetime, and it’s all part of the Spirit-filled life. To understand how God can take “diamonds in the rough” like us and transform us int ..read more

Beginning the Spirit-filled Life (Ephesians 1:1–6) Pecos County in west Texas has a famous oil field known as the Yates Pool. During the Depression this oil field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates was not able to make enough money ranching to pay his mortgage and was in danger of losing his ranch. Then, in 1926, an oil company asked Mr. Yates’ permission to drill a wildcat well on his ranch, and he signed a lease. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day and some subsequent wells at more than twice that. Mr. Yates owned it all and yet was living in poverty. He owned ..read more

HOW TO HANDLE STRESS BEFORE STRESS HANDLES YOU One of life’s toughest problems is stress. The word “stress” relates to pressure applied either from the outside or inside. “Stress” is a term familiar not only to the medical field but also to engineering and architecture. When architects design a building, they are careful to calculate the stress-bearing capacity of the foundation, walls, and roof. They estimate the effects of wind, snow, and ice, and then allow a generous margin of stress safety. God is the Divine Architect who designed you and me. He created us with a capacity to bear only so ..read more

WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE A FAILURE Have you ever felt like a failure as a Christian, parent, husband, wife, friend, or as a person? We all have our setbacks and defeats—times when we feel like failures. Sometimes, failure even overwhelms us. The Bible is a series of stories about failures. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and caused the entire human race to fall. Noah got drunk. Moses killed an Egyptian and had to flee to the desert. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband. Simon Peter denied the Lord. John Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. Thes ..read more

Discouragement is one of the most effective weapons in the Evil One’s arsenal. Therefore, we need to know how to defeat discouragement. You may be discouraged right now because of some kind of adversity in your life. It may be a health crisis, a marriage crisis, a parental crisis, a financial crisis, a career crisis, or whatever. All of us have bouts with discouragement. When we are discouraged, we feel like giving up because we are disheartened, dispirited, and defeated. However, the more we try to live for the Lord, the more we will have to battle discouragement because it is the devil’s cho ..read more

WHAT TO DO WHEN BURNOUT IS BURNING YOU How much light does a burned-out light bulb produce? None! How much light does a burned-out Christian produce? None! Burnout occurs when we give out more than we take in. In Lesson 11, we talked about stress, and long-term stress results in burnout. Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It evolves over a long period of time and often results from making too many commitments. Such a lifestyle works fine for a while, but finally it brings us to the point of exhaustion. We become “zapped.” Our motivation leaves us, and we can’t stand the thought of another oblig ..read more

ON LIVING A BLESSED LIFE Building the Foundation for Lasting Happiness (Matthew 5:17–20) Nothing that is built without a firm foundation will last. A house built on a weak foundation will crack and crumble. A “journey into blessed living” requires the firm foundation of the Word of God. We cannot live out the Beatitudes unless we stand on the foundation of God’s Word. To emphasize the importance of the Bible in His confrontations and in answering questions, Jesus repeatedly begins His response with three words. The first time is immediately after His baptism when He hasn’t eaten in forty days ..read more