December 10 – Ephesians 2:11-14

December 10 – Ephesians 2:11-14

Jesus, our Savior King, we praise You for You are Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!!!! We thank You for You secure our peace! We fall before You in worship and adoration. Draw near to us, Lord of all.

These verses are everything to me! Once, we were far off, but now we are near! I remember back to long deployments. Especially the one just days after 9/11. We were gone for longer than the usual length of time, and after the first 1.5 months of deployment with only two very short port visits under our belts, we were directed to no longer pull into port. So, for
months on end, we did not set foot on land. We did not see land. We did not hear land. It was months of open ocean and the sounds of either silence, the ship slicing through the waves, radars turning, or helos choppering by. Oceans whose waves crashed on the shore we were not allowed to go to. Shores of countries where there was anything but peace occurring. Finally, the call came saying we could turn around and go back home. Returning to our homeport, we entered our transit into the harbor, which also happened to be the longest transit on that coast!

The waiting was excruciating. Knowing my parents were on the pier, thanking God, we had returned relatively safely and unharmed. And all the while knowing that there were so many who wouldn’t be coming home as such. The yearning for my parents’ embrace was just too much to bear, I couldn’t get there fast enough! There were other deployments that were much harder, the ones coming back to my children and husband. One such deployment, I was coming home to a baby that was still very much an infant! I wanted to scream in anticipation. My body ached, and I was drawn to my loved ones standing on the shore. I strained my eyes, looking through binoculars, trying to catch a glimpse of the children born of my flesh. I wanted to jump ship and just swim to shore. I couldn’t contain myself!

That yearning, that longing, still pales in comparison to how we should be feeling about reuniting with Jesus. That deep yearning within us because we are so far from God, from Jesus… the Jesus!!!! Me, who was not a chosen person, who had no hope of the peace only Jesus can give, through adoption, I am a chosen person! I have that hope, and you have that hope because Jesus came! We have that peace. We are His, and He is ours! If you don’t know the hope and peace of Jesus if you are reading this lesson today and don’t know Salvation… reach out to us. We so much want you to know just how much our good, peace giving God loves you.

My Verse: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians 2:14

My Response: Thank You God!!! Thank You for sending Your one Son to come for the sake of me over two thousand years after You rose from the grave. The peace I have in You is indescribable. God, You are my everything, my all in all. Your Son is coming back for me! I will stand before You, through the torn veil I shall walk because Your Son came to rescue. Thank You for the birth at the manger, my Savior forever!

Further Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7; Micah 5:1-6

What’s next?
As the Spirit leads, share what He has laid on your heart in the comment section below. Then join us again tomorrow for the next commentary.