Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 114

April 23;       Ephesians 3:14;        171/260;        ‘The Father of Our Lord’

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

This is the second of the two very powerful prayers in Ephesians that every Christian should pray for themselves daily.  God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father as well.  We bow our knees to Him.  The reason we bow our knees is that He loved us so much that He sent the Lord Jesus to redeem us from our sins and sicknesses.  Because of the sin of Adam, we were separated from the Father and were destined to spend eternity in hell.  God the Father would never allow us to be eternally separated from Him and so Jesus came and the sinless, spotless Son of God, took upon Himself the sins and sicknesses of all of humanity for all time.  When we believe this and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become children of God.  Verse 2 teaches that God the Father is the Father of the family (believers).  Some believers are already in heaven with the Lord Jesus and some believers are still here on earth continuing the ministry of the Lord Jesus.  All of those who have put their faith in Jesus are in the family of God.  The Old Testament saints put their faith in the Lord who was to come and redeem them.  We in the New Testament put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who did come and redeemed us.  One day, at the rapture of the church all of the Christians currently on the earth will be taken up to heaven, given a resurrection body and spend eternity with the Father and Jesus.  Multitudes will be saved during the seven year tribulation period.  Many will be martyred and will immediately go to heaven.  Those believers who survive the tribulation will join the family of God and we will all live forever united with our heavenly Father and Jesus our Lord.