Study Desk

God did this according to his eternal plan. And he was able to do what he had planned because of all that Christ Jesus our Lord had done.

God is wonderful and glorious. I pray that his Spirit will make you become strong followers

and that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. Stand firm and be deeply rooted in his love.

I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.

As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own.

Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us.

so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong.

Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children.

Let love be your guide. Christ loved us and offered his life for us as a sacrifice that pleases God.

A husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head and the Savior of the church, which is his own body.

A husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.

He made the church holy by the power of his word, and he made it pure by washing it with water.

In the same way, a husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself. A husband who loves his wife shows that he loves himself.

because we are each part of his body.

As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother to get married, and he becomes like one person with his wife."

This is a great mystery, but I understand it to mean Christ and his church.

So each husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself, and each wife should respect her husband.

Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God's Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others.

Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all others.

He almost died working for Christ, and he risked his own life to do for me what you could not.