Pick Up Your Tools and LIVE!

So how has God equipped us to make a difference for Him everyday?
Before we look at the equipment gifted to us through salvation, let me remind you of something...

You can be starving to death...have all the delicious food in the world piled up beside you...but you still have to make the effort to reach over, pick it up, and eat it, before you can be nourished. The same is true of being nourished by His Word...The Bible.

God has made the tools for living out this life
available to us, but it's up to us
to reach into the toolbox (The Bible),
pull out the tools, and use them.

He will not force us to do so. And we already carry the gifts that are mentioned in Ephesians 3. We've just got to use them!

"This is according to the purpose of the ages, which He made in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness, access, and confidence through faith in Him." Ephesians 3:11-12

What these verses indicate is that through faith in Christ...by asking Him to come live in your heart, by giving your heart & life to Him, in repentance of sin and through trusting Him...we have a certain boldness to live out life as a witness for Him and a sacrifice to Him...we have access to His glorious plan/wisdom/love/grace/mercy, and all that He offers us...and we have confidence to carry out His plan for our lives. And confidence that we can forever trust His intentions.

Again, I am only scratching the surface...
In verse 19, Paul's desire is for us to be filled with all the fullness of God. Part of knowing how to use that boldness, access, and confidence is understanding God's love for us, which leads to being filled with His fullness. So how do we comprehend the length/width/height and depth of His love? We start by trusting Christ as our Lord and Savior. We continue the walk by putting into practice our new found boldness...access...and confidence. Only then can we realize that Christ sacrifice was our new beginning...on the walk towards knowing God's love for us and truly being free.

Don't you just love that?

"Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think---according to the power that works in you---to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
Realizing the gifts...the tools...that we have through faith in Christ enables the Holy Spirit to work more profoundly in us, to the glory of God.

We reach out and God reaches in.

That's a bold statement that offers access to the Creator of the universe...
and I'm stating it with utter confidence.
And we need to live that truth and share that truth everyday. In everything we do. Through lifestyle evangelism, and just plain 'ole using our mouth.

THAT makes the difference!