Book of Ephesians Study #1- Spiritual Blessings in Christ

After reading this and reading Ephesians 1:3-14 try answering these three questions:

• Who is God?
• What has He done for me?
• Why should I praise Him?

I'm going to break my interpretation of this passage down by verse, starting with verse three.
3. There is a God, our Father, and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Christ, who connects us to the Father, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We are foremost blessed because we have God and Christ, without them we are nothing; no blessing should or would come our way. It specifically says "EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." What's spiritual? Perhaps fruits of the Spirit, being blessed with all that is in God, things that are good because it is from God. The blessings come from a heavenly place meaning it's above where us humans are on earth, it is holy, it is good, it is majestic, it is pleasant, it is created and from God. So if God is willingly to give us such spiritual blessings that are beyond amazing then He has no problem giving us material blessings. God is a giver and gives the best and most high. 4.We are already chosen, placed in Christ before the world was even created, before Genesis was even written. Jesus came to earth over/about 2,000 years ago, so how long was the earth created which was way before Jesus came? God had already chose us by then. He not only chose us just to say "Hey I picked them out first," but chose us that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Holiness would make us sacred, different, and set apart from what isn't holy. Blameless-less blame, no blame, we aren't blamed or accused before Him. 5. In love, God why are You doing all these things for us humans? Humans aren't equivalent to Gods no matter what religion, legends, or belief you observe. So why is this God doing this, what makes Him different? He is doing this out of love. He loves us, He loves you, He loves me. He is a God of love. In love He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus according to the purpose of His will. God already chose us and chose our destination- a plan for each of us- before us and this world were even created. Our plan was to be adopted through Jesus- if we are to be adopted that means we belong or used to belong to something or someone else. Something used to own us but God wanted us to belong to Him. God didn't just adopt right then and there, He used Jesus in order to get us. God doesn't add unnecessary routes and obstacles which must mean Jesus had a purpose, Jesus had to be used in order for adoption. Without Jesus we couldn't have been adopted. With this all, it says it is according to the purpose of His will, this was meant to happen! No accident! 6. To the praise of His glorious grace, this plan of God for us was to be praised, it would be praised because He was displaying His grace. His love was being put into action because He blessed us and could keep on blessing us in Christ. Thank You Jesus! 7. We know what caused Him to do it, because He is loving and gracious but why did He do it? Did we really need that, especially if we didn't ask? God did this so that in Christ we have redemption through His blood, Christ shedding His blood meant my bondage to slavery..to sin was broken. He paid the price with His love and holiness; absolutely perfect, no blemishes whatsoever. We also receive forgiveness of our sins. God forgives us for everything willingly because His perfect Son already died for an imperfect people. God knows we will sin because we are natural born sinners but through Jesus, He sees us as clean and blameless. This forgiveness NEVER runs out, He is a God of abundance. 8-9. Through wisdom and insight God made all of this, which once was a mystery, known to us; again according to His purpose. Only friends, people who are close, trusted, and loved are told secrets and mysteries. God shared this, the gospel with us, welcoming us not just as some pitiful, worthless humans but as friends. Through and in Christ we are embraced by God with open arms. 10. God has no ending but when I interpret the fullness of time, I see that God gives us time, earthly to us, where He will unite all things in Him; to Him. Everything will eventually be brought together to Him for His glory. 
11. God is in us and we are in Him, what's His is ours, what's our is His. God has given us an inheritance. We are His children so we inherit from Him that gives, which yet again is according to His purpose was predestined. God has given us so much before our creation, before the mystery was known. God has so much to offer and give. I truly see He is a God of love. Only love could cause this. This love on earth is a generic brand of the love He is. I can't imagine what it would be like to fully grasp it. He couldn't possibly just like us or love us, He is in love with us. It is literally the "so in love" type of love that He would die for us to have us, to have a relationship with us, to share with us and so much more. He is not like these other gods, that rule and punish if you don't do right. He is a God, the only God, that wants to love you, hold you, kiss you, comfort you, take care of you...it all comes back to loving you. He doesn't want to be a heartless ruler. He wants authority over you to keep you safe, give you guidance and freedom, and to protect you from the evil one. And when you do wrong He doesn't stand there with a belt ready to tear you apart. He tells us to ask for forgiveness and that's exactly what He does, forgives. He is certainly a friendlier and loving God than any other one I've heard about. I love Him for that. Thank You God. 12. Once again praising His glory is brought up. Look what He has done for an undeserving people. He deserves the praise, us believing and hoping in Christ is the beginning of us showing praise to His glory. 13. When you hear the word of truth, gospel of your salvation, and believe in Him, God promises the Holy Spirit. Wait you mean another promise?! He just keeps on giving and blessing. There's no reason to not ever rejoice, to ever feel without. In Christ we have it all! 14. The Holy Spirit is witness of God's existence, of salvation, of God living within us. He is the guarantee of our inheritance until we have possession of it. The Holy Spirit is within us while we are not yet fully with God. He's a part of that heaven while on earth. With Him there is certainty God is going to return and our inheritance is to be received. What an amazing God!

Unintentional Religious Ways

So as a Christian we always talk about wanting go grow more and more in Christ. To be more like Him and for any heart problems we have to be fixed. Well I have seen where I went wrong in attempting these things...which is I'M attempting them. Without realizing I was trying to fix these things, unintentionally being religious. I was trying to reach God. I realized if I want these changes and to be closer to my God, I've got to let Him do it. Everyday I would try to walk in the fruits of the Spirit,say I'm going to read my bible and pray. Before I knew it I was in my flesh being mad it someone, night arrived and I hadn't prayed or read that bible yet. I've been listening to sermons and the one right now that is bringing revelation to my life is Mark Driscoll's series of Ephesians. All I can say is wow. Things I have been praying for, such as to not be bitter and angry, have been decreasing by the power and grace of God. I'm seeing God through my whole day, realizing much of what I had been praying for was already answered. I would pray for God to help me serve people, be humble, accept humility, and little by little God would grab my attention and show me at that moment how I was doing these things. One day I cleaned the whole house by myself while my family sat in the living room the whole time. I didn't ask for help or even complain, I wanted the house to be clean so I did it. The Lord showed me that at that moment I was serving because I was cleaning for my family. I was being humbled because I wasn't seeking a thank you or recognition. I was walking in humility because what female wants to clean up a bathroom after all her brothers? Honestly, I was doing a job that I really shouldn't have been doing by myself because I wasn't even apart of the majority that made the mess. My mom works 8-10 hour shifts 5 days a week. Without asking or saying thank you my mother assumes I'm going to babysit my siblings the whole day. I literally am a second mom when I'm home from school. I cook, clean, give baths, keep the peace, discipline, etc. and it's only by the grace of God that I do such a thing even though a lot of times I never receive anything in return. God is changing my heart so much but some of these trials He is using to accomplish this goal aren't easy at all. By studying the book of Ephesians I'm learning who my God is. Without knowing God we will not grow, trials will knock us, satan will set the bait and we will take it every time. I'm seeing all the wonderful things God is doing on my behalf and for His glory so I'm going to share this journey with everyone as I study Ephesians. I pray this will encourage you, increase your faith in God, and that revelation of knowledge of God will be brought to your life. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Follow up on stopping Phentermine use

Well I had made the decision to stop Phentermine and had a doctor appointment to discuss it all this past Friday. There weren't many alternatives and I didn't want anything that was going to cause side effects again. So I'm doing it the old fashioned way and taking B12. Since its a vitamin I won't have to worry about side effects or anything. I'm taking this to increase my energy and metabolism. So far I'm back to my normal self and feel just fine. The doctor said my lost inches is due to toning and that my weight may not get low if my body is mainly muscle. I'm fine with not having a low weight, I prefer a smaller size. The only issue is the food choice in the house but I'll survivie. I'm going to try working out more that way my exercise is over doing the eating and I will continue to lose weight rather than maintain which is what I'm doing now. Once back at school I will actually have the decision to eat junk or healthy; so if I stay at 168 the rest of the summer I'm content with that knowing I can pick back up in August. I'm still going to at least workout to keep my body in shape. Basically just doing all I can. Also I finally got myself prescribed medicine for the crazy heartburn I've been having for years!..I just thought I through that in there lol

Goodbye Phentermine!!

Today I decided to stop taking Phentermine. I just couldn't do it any longer. It didn't give me energy the last few weeks I was taking it, it made me sluggish, moody, sooooo irritable to where I felt like crying or cursing right when something I didn't like happened or couldn't figure something out, gave me headaches from low to extreme just about everyday, bad jitters that if I didn't eat in a reasonable time (about every 3 hours) that caused me to lose focus while trying to figure out what to eat! The worst part was the increased heart rate. It was frightening and would even happen while I was watching tv. This caused me to have real short breaths as if the oxygen wasn't getting in. My body just did not like this medication so I informed my doctor and she ok'ed it to stop. I have another appointment Friday to discuss where my journey goes from here...oh and bad heartburn! I've always had heartburn when I eat spicy food, which I love, but now I even get heartburn when I eat yogurt or take aleve for headaches! It's ridiculous what can happen over a month. I am glad the insomnia was fixed earlier but this product is just not worth it to help me in my weight loss. I'm not sure if it's meant for people with more body fat that can hold it better or maybe the fact that I don't consume much caffeine. Either way it goes I'm not taking that anymore. I got blood work done last Friday to make sure my body's chemicals aren't imbalanced because if so this can affect the body not allowing it to lose weight. So hopefully I can find my results and start of with a new plan. I'm not giving up, just taking a new route. I'm still 168 right now and loving it. I'm like die hard obsessed with the toning in my legs, I literally touch them all day..so smooth lol :)

Weigh In 2 and 3

Ok so last Friday I forgot to post about my week with exercising, eating healthy, and all that good stuff. Well last week I ate mainly junk, only because that's what was in the house. When mom's money starts running low, we go from healthy to junk so I had to go with what was available. Knowing how the week was going to be with food I made sure to exercise. I exercised just about everyday, or at least 5 days..can't remember exactly. I also was taking one phentermine a day but taking half of it in the morning, and then the other half at noon, which didn't cause side affects at all. Well Friday came and I was at the same weight, 170. I was a tid bit upset because my biggest goal is just to get the heck out of the 170s! But I took it for what it was and still reminded myself to congratulate and encourage my mom who lost weight that week. Doing that actually made me feel better.
  So the second week I would also have to eat junk so I decided to work out twice a day. I only did that once on Monday due to the fact mother nature decided to visit and when that happens my body just changes in so many ways. My energy is low, horrible cramps, headaches, gain 5 pounds in water weight, cravings, always hungry. You get the idea but I did still work out everyday once. I went back to taking phentermine whole in the morning and my body responded well, no side effects, except at the end of the week I got headaches so today I only took half. The medicine doesn't really mess with appetite or energry but that could be do to the unhealthy stuff I'm eating right now. Anyhow Friday morning, still on cycle, and I didn't expect any loss but surprisingly I was 168! Thank God! I haven't seen the 160s since 8th grade so it was very exciting.
  Another thing I'm learning is to not only focus on the scale. During my workouts I noticed that one of them I no longer breathed as hard or got tired as quickly like I did when I first started it. It was a great feeling and accomplishment because regardless of the scale I know I'm doing good for my body. My heart is getting stronger and endurance is getting better. I noticed increase muscle in my arms and my legs feel toned. I took my measurements about a month ago: Chest 37in, Bicep 12 1/2in, Waist 39.5, Hips 44in. Now my measurements are: Chest 35 1/2in, Bicep 12 1/2in, Waist 36in, Hips 43 1/2. So overall I'm really excited about how my progress is going and I'm still enjoying working out, surprisingly lol. I'm learning to not be so focused on the scale but let my body speak for itself. Shout out to Richard Simmons by the way! :)