Regina 
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Ephesians 1:3-4
Every time I open these pages fresh wonder washes over me. The promises held within these Words are nothing short of miraculous. We do not deserve this grace. Yet by faith in the once crucified now risen Savior Jesus Christ, we rest in this truth. Last week I shared with you the topic of this Smiles of Grace Bible Study, repentance. This week I would like to share with you the Scripture we are going to feast upon, Ephesians. I wish you could see my smile, because I’m beaming with the knowledge of how God’s Word heals us, how it upends our pride, how the Lord comes to us gently to show us His ways. He is so kind. Do you know it? It is His kindness that leads us to repentance. The Lord doesn’t come to us with an iron fist; He comes breathing life into us, this time by means of a perfect all-sufficient Word.
The Bible is one of the single most beautiful treasures I’ve ever laid my hands on, given my attention to, or allowed to saturate my mind. I do not do this perfectly. Some days I long to have spent more time just lingering with Him. Other days I come again and again to Him in the Word, because He is that good. I come with my husband at times, with my children other times, with my church as we gather, but I always delight to come to Him by myself too. I am His and He is mine. It is in the context of those sweet times that the flame of my love for Jesus has been blown into full force by the God-breathed Words. It is often in the personal pursuit of God the Lord chooses to reveal, renew, refresh, and give vision based on the sole authority of His Word. I’m hoping that even if the Word feels like dry bread in your mouth at the moment you will allow yourself the opportunity to remain there long enough for you to taste its sweetness.
I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. Psalm 138:2 (emphasis mine)
The Lord chose to exalt two things above everything else, His name and His Word. I’m simply asking you to week after week, day after day exalt what He already does.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34:3
I’m also humbly asking you to join me week after week to worship Him together. Isn’t it beautiful when we set off together in direct obedience to God and in direct defiance to our flesh and the enemy of our souls and decide to pursue Jesus together? It is easy to forget that we are at war. It is easy to find the comforts surrounding us so satisfying that we are lulled to sleep and are lost to the good purposes for which God created us in the first place. Let us purpose as much as we are able to walk in the places where faith is built and fortified. If we do it together, it’s just a little sweeter I think. Are you ready to study at last?! I hope so, but first let’s pray.
Dear Father, Your Word is beautiful, pure, true, trustworthy, life-giving, and we ask that you would open our eyes and enlighten hearts to desire it. I ask over each one of these precious friends that your work through this Word we study would become so evident that they cannot help but praise You. May we share in the goodness of God together today. In Jesus accomplishing name, Amen.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:1-2
So, first things first who is Paul? If you’ve studied the New Testament Scriptures a bit or have ever made it past the book of Acts in your Bible reading, you’ve probably heard this man’s name. Paul was a former persecutor of the Way. That is what they called the Church in the early days of our faith. He was present at the first martyr, Stephen’s, death giving hearty approval to it, but God opened His eyes by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul’s own eyes laid hold of the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. Every person in the New Testament with the title of Apostle has seen the risen Christ. If there was ever an unlikely candidate for ministry it was Paul, but the Lord calls even the hardest hearts to saving faith by the Spirit of Christ and the compelling wonder of His Gospel.
I was unlikely too. In fact, if we could all share our testimonies, I think we would find just what an unlikely bunch we really are. I came from a rough home to say the least. Apart from the investment of neighbors my ears may never have heard the Good News. As a child I longed to feel loved, but it is difficult for people who haven’t experienced the salvation that is in Christ to love. Broken people do the best they can, as did my precious mom and dad, but at the end of the day the broken tend to break what is around them, and I was witness to that. There was fear in our home, often, if not, always. Things were broken. People were hurt. When Paul says he chose us I never wonder if that’s true, because I could not have found my way to Him in all the darkness that shrouded my childhood home. That is why I’m so thankful that at nine a darling girl on my school bus told me of that great mystery we call the Gospel. In this moment, I at last I understood the Gospel and at once heard His call, and He saved me.
Paul was called to be an Apostle and that by the will of God. What we are called to must also agree with God’s will for us. The unlikely Paul was called to be an Apostle. The unlikely Regina is called to be a wife, called to be a mom, called to teach. There is a call on your life, and it cannot be answered if you have refused the Gospel, or if you have refused repentance as lifestyle. Do not refuse Him who calls.
So, Paul, from prison, writes to the Ephesians. Paul’s almost always in prison, you guys. Wonder if God put him there to write? Pretty sure He did. The HCSB Study Bible notes that the letter to the Ephesians was a circular letter written primarily to the church at Ephesus, but likely passed around from church to church (HCSB, 2025). The tone of this letter doesn’t take on a scathing disciplinarian type of tone as is found in other letters like those to the church at Corinth or the church at Galatia. Instead the book of Ephesians contains precious promises so rich with beauty (and run-on sentences; it’s the Pauline way) that I pray your heart is undone by God’s grace.
Grace and peace is what Paul speaks over them before he shares a few of these promises in the third verse. So, do you remember that third glorious verse of Ephesians you read a few moments ago at the beginning of this post? Here it is again below, and we are going to stroll through it together just a bit now.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Ephesians 1:3-4 (emphasis mine)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Simply put, praise, honor, glory be to Him, to Him alone.
Who has blessed us in Christ. He has graced us. He has demonstrated unmerited favor, mercy, kindness. The God who deserves to be blessed by us, blesses us who do not deserve it.
With every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Not with material things, but with spiritual graces. Not with things that originate from earth, but with gifts that originate in the place He lives, in the heavenly places.
Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Your mind may be boggled by this statement, because many are proponents of absolute freewill, but I believe this statement means exactly what it says plainly. In schools theology we call it the perspicuity of Scripture. In other words, Scripture is plain or clear. If we were literally dead in our sins and we were, if it is true that none seek for God, and it is, of course God our Father had to choose us not in response to a choice He knew we would make in the future, but beforehand, before He even created the world. Does that mean we are robots? Not in the slightest, but does it mean that God pursues us before we pursue God, yes, it absolutely does. Scripture echoes this truth elsewhere. Whether or not you’re convinced, we can study on sweet friend (warmest smile).
The Lord chose us for something. That we should be something… holy and blameless. We do not choose repentance, because our works save us. We choose repentance, because it is the reason we were chosen to be His. We are set apart.
This truth sets my soul ablaze. This is the reason we study together this fall to seek the Lord with all our might that we may discern how blessed we are and intent God is on conforming us to the likeness of His Son. Have we the faintest clue how blessed we are? Have you tasted and seen today how good the Lord is?
Thank you for all the encouraging comments, y’all. I read each one on the blog, facebook (Smiles of Grace page), and Istagram (smiles_of_grace). It is a joy to me that you are here. If you have the time and care to share your testimony with me or what you learned in today’s lesson on any platform you like, I would be honored to read your words. See you here later this week, Lord willing.
