Letters & papers from prison...

Today we continue with our study of Ephesians & Paul's "Letters From Prison."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer while he was interred in a Nazi prison wrote to his friend Eberhard Bethge that he was neither a pessimist who expected things to get worse or an optimist who expected things to get better. He was rather choosing to live by hope.

One cannot read Ephesians without catching some of Paul's own hope despite the fact that he too was in prison & going to die as Bonhoeffer did so many years later.

What kind of life do you think God has?

He invites us into that life as a living hope.

'We will never be pushed around by fear, never tempted by greed, never slowed down by selfishness never dragged around by others opinions, never paralyzed by self-doubt, and never dependent on our current circumstances.' Neil Livingstone

Ephesians 1:19-23
I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven. There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. The church is Christ's body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.