Worship. Ephesians 1.

As I finished my third reading this morning of Ephesians 1, I thought to myself, "Why is this chapter so mushy in my brain? I can't seem to follow Paul's thinking, and I have no idea what to write about, let alone what to take away from God's Word for my day." What to do?

Aha! Bad preparation. Go back and seek God's help.

It turned out, that especially in the first 14 verses of Ephesians 1, I was failing to see the full extent of Paul's expression of worship as the start of his letter. Once I saw that, everything seemed to fall into place. Our expressions of worship should be extravagant, broad reaching, imaginative in considering Who God is, and what He's done. Paul is doing that here.

If you've been in a group prayer setting, where the start of the session is centered directly on God - "our Father in heaven", you might recognize what I mean. Even when the expressions of praise are limited to one and two-word phrases of recognition, the magnificence of God, the glory of God, the awesomeness of His nature come through: creator of the universe, all-knowing, all-powerful, loving Father, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, El Shaddai, Adonai, mighty one, redeemer, counselor, just, kind, righteous... what starts as as a trickle, continues building into a floodwater of understanding and response to the One Who made us, loves us, and has rescued us.

Three times Paul uses this phrase: "to the praise of His glory". Each use signifies Paul's response in worship to one person of the triune God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be the name of the Lord! I got it. Time to live it.