Ephesians 1:16-20

16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you: The riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people

Through the spirit, our eyes are enlightened to see the richness of his strength, power grace. The eyes of our heart- we have, and we need them open in a way that only the spirit can.

God gave Jesus as savior and now God has Jesus sitting at his right hand- this was his journey, doing God’s work here and now, he’s sitting at his side. We need to consider Jesus’ life over and over- how did he live, how was his heart?

Philippians 2:5-11 tells of how, by lowering himself, he was exhalted by God’s power, God’s blessing. When we have a heart like Jesus, then we can be called true Christians, true disciples, true believers. Inwardly we become Christians when we ponder his life deeply and long to live like him- imitating his life, his love we have the fragrance of Jesus Christ.

This is th3 goal of our lives, our hope- our hope is in Jesus Christ. We admire him and follow in his footsteps- he who saved and loved us. He touched us and changed us forever; changing our hearts forever.

He laid down his whole life to love others. This is his beautiful life story. He laid it down- his whole life, his everything, pouring out his life to satisfy lost humanity, lost and thirsty in this broken world that we created with our arrogance, with our disobedience. We love him, do we not? We love and respect his heart.

As the praise song goes, we think about his love, we think about his goodness- the perfect one loving the sinners of this world- ugly and wretched.

He obeyed God and emptied everything, not just because he’s the son and has power to save, but because he loved us. His love is enough reason to imitate him.

Trying to follow Jesus is the way all humans should walk.

He was authoritative, compassionate and loving- even in rebuke, it was out of his great heart for God and for others.

19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength

20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

God raised him and sat him at his right hand- even angels, heavenly beings admire him.. Why did God seat him there? Because of his Love.

Love is the source of true admiration. If you live the life of love, you will find this to be true.

The Bible says Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

Walk following this way your whole life- this is the only one direction for life, There are many other paths, but only one right direction. Live with this heart like Jesus and you will receive a lot of love. This way is the true way of blessing
Anyone who’s been evangelized can testify the love they feel towards the leaders who taught them the way. And a bigger example might be the late great Billy Gram. He was respected and adored world wide by celebrity and layman alike. You would have thought he was Jesus’ little brother or something the way the people honored him. And it was all because he lived imitating Jesus, pointing people to God.

Matthew 19:29 New International Version (NIV)
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

No one wants to walk the narrow path, but the narrow path of Christ is the most amazing way. It looks really tough, we face many hardships, but there’s a reason we need to walk in this way. There’s enough value, greater blessing, more than our expectations come on this path.

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Some may ask, why do you follow Jesus, is there any benefit to it? There is, more than we could imagine. Just follow him and see. You don’t need money, abundance of ability or intelligence- just follow Jesus.

People will be curious about why you live this life, they will sense something different in you. They’ll ask you why you love Jesus- ever having an issue answering that? If so, simply put, he loved me first- He loved me and laid down everything for me

So now I love him back and want to be just like him. I want to have that heart of Jesus. With that heart you change little by little and come to resemble his life, character, faith, obedience warm heart and passion to heal this sick world.

We come to sound like him, act like him, smell like him. This should be our challenge and journey- how much can I be like Jesus?

This should be our prayer daily. It may challenge us though.

22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church

Because of his great love for this world, he was given this great honor and respect, power. The same way- love others and God gives you authority and power; only when you love.

Have love like him and these sorts of blessings come upon you. The church is full of authority based on the love of Jesus Christ- we need to have this purity, great love and God will bless our way.

We can be broke, weak, unprepared, but those things don’t matter compared to our heart. The Bible tells us that

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God called us and gave us everything we need to live this Godly life of imitating Jesus.

But it’s sort of like going to the gym- you have all the equipment, and resources like trainers to guide you- but do we try to sincerely follow Jesus, do we seek to have his heart? If we do, God will bless our way as he blessed Jesus.
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.