IBS Application for Ephesians 2:4-7

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

I know that this passage is a bit longer than usual, but it spoke to me as we studied it together this week as a team. We have been listening to Bible teachings by Pastor Joe Focht the past couple of weeks. The one we’re currently going through is his teachings on is Ephesians, obviously. His insights into the structure and the message Paul was trying to communicate have brought the beauty of the message of this letter into a new light for me.

The first three verses of this chapter serve to explain where we were spiritually before Christ came on the scene: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Dead spiritually because of our trespasses and sins, under direct influence and being fueled by the enemy, living the feed the desires of our sinful flesh, and of wrathful nature. Things looked grim for us.

“But God” did not leave us to stay dead. He came into the world as one of us, but alive in Spirit, and without the sin that killed the rest of us. Jesus then died and rose from the dead, that we too might be cleansed by His sacrifice and be brought to life by the Spirit for the first time. But beyond this mercy, He extended incredible grace to us, such that we have also been made co-heirs with Christ in the world to come. And this promise doesn’t cease when the next world comes; He has promised to keep showing grace to us for all eternity. God will not stop showering us with blessings! How amazing and awesome is our God!

But what I found so particularly encouraging was this simple phrase: “But God.” “But God” is the ultimate response to any accusation the enemy could ever throw at me. As someone who has repeatedly suffered from self-condemnation at the hands of the enemy, God and His declaration of my salvation and adoption as His son is the ultimate trump card to any condemning thought that the enemy would seek to use against me. God loves me, shown me mercy, made me alive together with Christ, and raised me up with Him so that I will one day sit in heaven with Him as co-heirs of the Kingdom to come. I am no longer a slave to my sins or my failings because of God’s declaration.


For my application, I will seek to take this truth to heart. I will make it a point to reread this passage at the start of each day for the next three days and pray that I would not forget this truth over the course of this time. If I start feeling self-condemning thoughts start to surface, I will try to pray that God would make this truth real for me in that moment, so that the enemy will not be able to seize hold of my mind in these moments. And finally, I will write “But God” on my hand so that whenever I look at it, I will be reminded of the truth that God has saved me and is sanctifying me even now.

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