Chotard Doll

Dear Friends,

” I pray ….that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,…so that you may be filled with the fullness of the Spirit.”
—Ephesians 3:6-19

So says Paul, praying for the young church at Ephesus, comprised of many Gentiles. 

It’s no surprise that in order to be filled with the fullness of God, we have to eliminate those things which block or crowd out that Holy presence.

In my own prayer life recently I have been concentrating on being aware of the presence of the Holy within me. For me those things which block that presence are manifold, but they all stem from my own self-preoccupation: the need to control, the desire to accomplish, and so on and on.

Paul was wise in his prayer and his desire for his people.  

When I slow down and reorient myself to the presence of God within me—graciously bestowed upon me in the womb and then baptism into the fellowship of Christ—then the world tilts a little for the better.

Mind you, I falter and fail repeatedly, but even those brief moments of realignment with the Holy ground me and help me to slow down. In a world where life moves at a frantic pace and uncertainly is part of the air we breathe, such a grounding is a blessing.

Paul’s world was chaotic, too, but there is no doubt that he was profoundly aware of “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19), and brings peace. That love carried him through enormous difficulties and it can surely carry us, too. 

Faithfully, 

—Chotard