Ephesians 3-4

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,  and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,  so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.  This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,  in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.  So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Eph. 3:8-13

My first thought after reading these chapters was, 'I have nothing to say about this.' You know, Paul does say things pretty well without me rambling on about it. But I'll throw out a couple things about the above verses specifically:

~ If you've heard Josh talk about the word polypoikilos then you'll be happy to know it's found in these verses! Here though it is referencing the wisdom of God. Through the church the manifold (there's that word) wisdom of God might now be made known... I think it's pretty cool that through us God makes known his wonderful plan and abundant wisdom even among the heavenly places.

~ After giving this spiel about God's eternal purpose and mysterious plan that has now been made known Paul tells the Ephesians not to lose heart because of his imprisonment. So he is writing to people who are scared and at risk of falling away from Christ because of the trials they see in others. His way of combating these issues is to tell them that God has had an ETERNAL plan and has worked it out for all to see. These trials are not going to thwart the plan.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1:2-3