Episode 127: Ephesians 1:4

Listen here.

Dear friends, welcome to Peace Prayers. My name is Juli, the creator and host of the podcast, and I would love to be able to spend some time with you today. Our goal is to take a few moments and dive deep into God’s word before meditating on it ourselves. I’ll read a scripture from the Bible, and then pray it over our lives. Please join me in the prayer. Invite a friend to listen in and let’s begin our day with God’s peace. I am so excited to get started; thank you for joining me today.

You’re listening to Episode 127 and today’s verse is Ephesians 1:4.

“Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love.”

Let’s pray together.

Jesus, that’s pretty mind-blowing if you think about it. I can’t truly picture next week. I have no idea what happened to me as a baby. I can only juggle my own life, and that rather ineffectively. So to imagine and know that You thought of me before You made this world, that is amazing beyond belief. The complexities You carry are staggering and I am so grateful that it’s You and not me.

It's really easy to feel unloved, neglected, and unworthy in this life. People dismiss us or don’t know us or don’t care about us or hurt us. Even the people we love can be so damaging to us. Sometimes it’s hard to feel like I have a purpose or that I’m important. But I am important to You. And I was important long before I was made. If anyone doubts that You created us or that each one of us isn’t important or that life doesn’t begin far before we take our first breath, then this verse disproves that. We are Yours and always have been.

I am grateful, LORD. I don’t always understand Your will, but knowing that Your purpose is well-thought out and long-planned and eternal. Well, that is very reassuring. It’s so much easier to give up control now that I truly understand just how long You’ve had my life in Your hand and that never once have You faltered with it.

This verse means, LORD, that not only did You plan for me to come into being, but You planned it out of love. You wanted me. You desired me. You decided that the world needed one of me. And You needed (as much as You need anything), one of me. I was a missing piece and You called me into being. I am the focus of Your love. You called the whole word good, but us, You called very good. Help me to rest in that love and never doubt it. No matter what’s happening in the world or my life, never let me doubt it.

Because it is a hard and broken world. But You know that. You knew that. And You made it anyway. This verse says before You made the world You desired to make us whole and holy by Your love. We only need to be made whole and holy if we are not. And I am very much not. This world and my life needs restoration and redemption. I am fractured and disintegrating under the weight of evil and my own sin. And it doesn’t matter if I’m the world’s worst sinner or the sweetest saint, all of us need to be whole and only can be in You. I need You.

So thank You that You created me but that You also created a plan to save me. You didn’t leave anything up to chance and You didn’t let my desire for self-rule keep me from being created and from having the opportunity to be in love with You forever. Please save me from myself and from the cruel enemy who lies to me and says You aren’t real and I don’t have a purpose and everything is hopeless.

Jesus, be our Redeemer as You have been from before the foundation of the world. I know You have always been the Lamb and then, at one moment in time, it was fully realized to us. Hope entered the world, but it was foreordained. So I pray that You help me to grasp hold of that love. To make You the focus of my love and to let myself be made whole and holy. Holy Spirit, draw me and sanctify me.

I pray this in the all-knowing and loving name of Jesus. Amen.

That is the end of our collective prayer, but don’t forget that you can keep praying and meditating on this on your own. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you have a peaceful rest of your day. I’d love to ask you a favor before we go and that is to please subscribe and leave a review for the podcast if you haven’t already. That is the best way to invite other people to join us in our prayers and it helps me more than you can know.

I also want to get to know each other better. Follow me over on Instagram where I’ve recently updated my handle to reflect my married name. It’s now thejulihernandez where you can DM me prayer requests or suggestions on verses you’d like me to pray on the podcast or just let me know what’s going on in your life. Another way to get in touch with what I’m up to is on my website at www.thejulihernandez.com. My website hosts a transcription of each prayer so that you can pray them whenever you like. You’ll also see monthly blog posts that detail my current writing projects and I can’t wait to engage with you on that. Let’s connect, but for now, Shalom.