Today we continue our new series, “NEW LEVELS IN 2021!” If we are going to make progress in 2021, we must be intentional. I am calling this “Progress on purpose.” God is saying, “New Levels” are available for us. But if we don’t pursue divine progress ON PURPOSE, we can surely miss out on what God is declaring for this season.
With that in mind, I told you that I would discuss “Leveling Up” in five areas:
1. Spiritually
2. Financially
3. Physically
4. Internally
5. Externally
I told you that for area #1, we would take about recommitting ourselves spiritually in three areas:
1. The Word of God
2. The Holy Spirit (hearing from God)
3. Prayer
We covered the first two last week. I introduced you to the topic of prayer a few days ago. I hope you have been enjoying the teaching. Yesterday I deal with Ephesians 1:3-6. Today we will look at verses 7-12.
(Ephesians 1:7-12 ERV)
In Christ we are made free by his blood sacrifice. We have forgiveness of sins because of God’s rich grace. God gave us that grace fully and freely. With full wisdom and understanding he let us know his secret plan. This was what God wanted, and he planned to do it through Christ. God’s goal was to finish his plan when the right time came. He planned that all things in heaven and on earth be joined together with Christ as the head.
In Christ we were chosen to be God’s people. God had already planned for us to be his people, because that is what he wanted. And he is the one who makes everything agree with what he decides and wants.
So what does this mean for you today? Let’s learn about prayer by looking at a prayer Paul prayed.
1. In Christ, we were made free because of God’s free and rich grace.
a) Jesus came to get us out of everything Adam got us into.
b) Because of Adam, sin and death were introduced into the world.
c) Jesus delivered us from the power and penalty of sin.
d) Jesus delivered us from the sting and fear of death.
e) God offers us freedom from sin and death in Jesus, and He offers it to us fully and freely, by His unearned grace.
2. God had a plan from the beginning.
a) God had a secret plan, a plan to redeem through the world through His Son.
b) Had the princes of this world known what they were doing, they would have never crucified the Lord of glory. Satan thought he was winning when Jesus was going to the cross. But when that first drop of blood hit the ground, it sealed his fate.
c) God planned to bring the power of heaven to the earth through His Son Jesus.
d) Because of Jesus, the Kingdom has come, and God’s will can be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.
3. God’s plan was manifested in God’s timing.
a) The Old Testament provides types and shadows of things to come.
b) The Old Testament had the New Testament concealed, but in the New Testament, the Old Testament is revealed.
c) In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit lived inside the Temple, where he could only be visited by the High Priest once a year. In the New Testament, we are the Temple of God, and the Holy Spirit lives IN us!
d) In the fullness of time, God sent His Son Jesus to reconcile the world to Himself and to restore the Holy Spirit to mankind.
4. You are just like Jesus in so many ways.
a) God had a plan for you, just like He had a plan for His Son Jesus.
b) God made His plan for you before the world began, just like He did with Jesus.
c) God did not bring Jesus into the world before the proper time. The same can be said of you. You were born in God’s timing, for God’s purpose.
d) In Christ, you were chosen for a specific purpose.
e) God already planned to use you for His glory because that is what He wanted.
5. Paul did not pray for God to give them whatever they wanted.
a) Paul was praying for them to want what God had already provided for them by grace.
b) When you pray, you are not ordering God around, and God is not serving you like a waiter.
c) Productive prayers are prayers that are prayed from a position of death-to-self.
d) When you yield your will to God, and you fully open your heart to receive all He has already provided, you can then use your faith to access His grace, through prayer. At that point, you are not praying for what you want. You want what God wants for you!
e) A major key to effective prayer is building up a desire for what God already desires for you!
f) In Paul’s prayer, we see that God is looking for us to AGREE with what He has already DECIDED and DESIRES for us!
g) God has already made plans for you for 2021. Your job is to find out what those plans are, to submit/surrender to God’s will, and to then pray in faith to access God’s grace for His best to manifest in your life this year. This is how you will LEVEL UP!
h) To LEVEL UP in life, you must LEVEL UP in prayer!
*** My prayer for you is that this year would be the best year of your life. But it will not come with more trying… it will come with more DYING! Dying to self is how you will access God’s Grace to walk in NEW LEVELS in this season!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for showering me with Your amazing grace. I also thank You for teaching me to pray and to pray from a position of grace. I see what You did in and through Jesus by Your rich grace. You made plans for Him before the world began. You already knew what Adam would do, and You had a plan to redeem humanity from everything Adam got us into.
You made plans for Jesus, and You sent Him into the world in the fullness of Your timing. I am just like Jesus. As Jesus is, so am I in this world. You made plans for me before the world began. You sent me to this planet at just the right time. You have given me an assignment and the grace to fulfill it. I will accomplish all I was born to achieve, by Your grace, for Your glory.
When I pray, I pray from a position of grace, with my full confidence in You, to bring to pass all You planned to do through me, in the earth, as it is in heaven. This is a season of NEW LEVELS because You have declared it to be. Since this is what You decided and what You desire, I choose to want what You want and to receive what You have already provided. I LEVEL UP in 2021! GREATER IS COMING for me! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
