I came across this on page 49 that has just touched my heart so much.
“How did God do such a fantastic thing as to make us holy in His eyes? Paul says, We who stand before him covered with his love (Ep 1:4). A blanket of love! He drops it over us and then stands back to look. What does He see? His own love!
Others may see you. You may see you. God sees His own Love! Isn’t that enough to start the JOYBELLS RINGING (caps and bold are mine) in your heart, turning your life into thanksgivings and praise? Why did God do such a marvelous thing for us? He did this because He wanted to (Ep. 1:5) Paul stated mater-of-factly. God wanted to wrap us in a blanket of His love.
Ephesians1:1-8
1 Dear Christian friends at Ephesus, ever loyal to the Lord: This is Paul writing to you, chosen by God to be Jesus Christ’s messenger. 2 May his blessings and peace be yours, sent to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
3 How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ.
4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!
6 Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. 7 So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; 8 and he has showered down upon us the richness of his grace—for how well he understands us and knows what is best for us at all times.
"Don't you believe that He has the authority and the power to give us anything He wants to? Every blessing in heaven? Thousand-dollar gifts?
Why did He choose to do it Himself? I am convinced that this was the only way He could be sure that His work would be perfect. If he had to depend on you and me doing it right, He would never had had anything worthwile to present to His Son. The end product was to be for God's glory and not for man's.
Paul wrote, God's purpose in this was that we should praise God and give glory to him for doing these might things for us (Ep.1:12).
The resul of placing our complete faith in what Christ does for us is glorious.
Now we can come fearlessly right into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in him (Ep. 3:12).
(I LOVE THIS SECTION - it totally spoke to me!!! The underscoring is mine, not the author's.)
Too many prayers are made with a whining, self-effacing, false humility. We don't need to apologize to God for being human. He knows all about what we're like. He has watched billions of human beings and knows all of our weaknesses.
And . . . I guess that's as far as I'm going to take you today. Hopefully, if you don't have this book - I have whet your appetite to bless yourself by buying this gift for you . . . for others.