Danny Panter

Praying with Jesus

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day six)

This week, I stumbled upon this profound quotation from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together:

“The Psalms are the prayer book of Jesus in the truest sense of the word…Because Christ prays the prayer of the Psalms with the individual and the congregation before the heavenly throne of God, or rather because those who pray the Psalms are joining in with the prayer of Jesus Christ, their prayers reach the ears of God. Christ has become their intercessor.”

That claim is both comforting and revolutionary. It means that when we open the Psalms, we are not simply reading ancient religious poetry; we are stepping into the living prayer life of Jesus Himself.

We often read the Psalms looking for references to Christ, and rightly so. But Bonhoeffer pushes us further. The Psalms are not merely predictions about Jesus; they are the very words Jesus took on His lips.

He prayed them in the synagogue.
He sang them with His disciples.
He cried them from the cross.

So when we pray the Psalms today, we are not praying alone. We are praying with Christ.

This transforms how we think about prayer. Prayer is not first about finding the right words or reaching a certain emotional state. It is about participation, being drawn into the Son’s relationship with the Father.

Kingdom Servants

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 25:14–30 (day six)

The servants had a singular purpose: to extend and preserve the household’s legacy. It wasn’t a side project or optional task; it was their primary calling. The story challenges our tendency to treat the Kingdom like a hobby, something we add to an already full life.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33, “seek first the kingdom,” remind us that stewardship is about priority, not just participation. And it’s not only about money. Time, relationships, gifts, and opportunities are all part of what God entrusts to us.

Stewardship isn’t something Christians occasionally do; it’s part of who we are. To follow Jesus is to live with open hands, recognizing that every part of life belongs to Him and can be invested for His purposes.

Gardeners

Re:Verse passage – Genesis 1:26–31, Romans 8:18–22 (day six)

In Married for God, Anglican theologian Christopher Ash says we are called to make “little gardeners.” I love that phrase. It captures something tender and profound about the heart of our most ancient commission: to multiply, to cultivate, and to care for the earth and all its inhabitants.

From the very beginning, humanity was not created merely to exist in creation, but to participate in it, to be gardeners. Even the seventh day of creation, the day of rest, is not the absence of purpose but the fulfillment of it. God’s rest reveals the goal of creation: a world where humanity co-rules with God in harmony, delight, and trust, resulting in genuine human flourishing in the land.

And yet, isn’t it striking how few of us know anything about gardening? How far removed we are from the soil beneath our feet? I’m not sure the connection is simple, but it does seem that living by our own wisdom (reaching for the fruit of the tree of knowledge) has left us less attentive to the world we were made to tend and less careful with the lives placed in our care.

Perhaps Treebeard says it best when describing Saruman in The Two Towers:

“He has a mind of metal and wheels, and he does not care for growing things.”

It’s a haunting description because it feels familiar. We know what it is to live at a pace and in a system that prizes efficiency over cultivation, productivity over patience.

But the gospel tells a different story. Jesus came not simply to rescue souls, but to restore creation—to make us gardeners again. In him, we learn once more how to tend what God has entrusted to us: relationships, communities, and the world itself.

To Give is Human

Re:Verse passage – 2 Corinthians 8:1–9, 2 Corinthians 9:6–11 (day six).

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9

When Paul points the church toward generosity, he doesn’t begin with obligation. He begins with Jesus. Christ’s self-giving life is not only the means of our salvation; it is the restoration of our humanity.

We were created as image bearers, made to reflect a God whose very nature is self-giving love. Sin distorted that image, turning us inward on ourselves. But in Jesus, we see humanity healed. He gives, not reluctantly, but freely. And in doing so, he shows us what it means to truly live.

Generosity, then, is not a loss of life but its fulfillment. To give is not to become less human, but more. When we live generously, with our resources, our time, and our presence, we participate in the life of Christ himself.

Being generous is what it means to be human.

Gifts of Belonging

Re:Verse passage – 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Romans 12:4-8 (day six).

(Sorry for the late post! I’ve been at All-Church Retreat enjoying a little “community.”)

The Spirit of God gives gifts in the context of Christian community. Scripture is clear: Jesus didn’t just redeem individuals, He redeemed a people. In a world marked by division, separation, and rivalry, the church bears witness to a different reality. In Christ, we are one body. We are family, not because of shared background, ethnicity, economic status, gender, or season of life, but because of what Jesus has done.

That’s why spiritual gifts never exist in isolation. Their place and purpose are always within the body. This reframes an important question. The primary question is not, “Do I know my spiritual gift?” but “To what degree am I participating in the community Jesus has already secured for me?”

Historically, the church understood this well. In the early centuries, discerning spiritual gifts was not an individual project but a communal one. Gifts were named, affirmed, and stewarded together.

My conviction, more and more, is that we must get back to that kind of community, or as Pastor Chris would say, “deeper relationships.”

Will you join me?

Today

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:15–17 (day six)

When Paul writes in Ephesians, “Make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil,” he is not saying that the day itself is morally bad. He is not condemning time, work, or ordinary life. Rather, Paul is naming a reality we all feel: our days are filled with forces that quietly resist God’s purposes.

In Scripture, “evil” often describes not just overt wickedness, but a shaping pressure. Genesis 6:5 says that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the day.” The problem wasn’t that time itself was corrupt, but that the day had become crowded with thoughts, desires, and patterns pulling humanity away from God.

Paul is getting at something similar. The days are “evil” because they are full of distractions that dull our attentiveness, forces that slowly deform our loves, and currents that pull us away from God’s will and the life of His Kingdom. Left unattended, our days do not remain neutral.

That’s why Paul urges us to live wisely. His exhortation is not anxious or frantic, but intentional: fill your day with what is good before something else fills it for you. Live awake. Live sober. Live responsive to God today.

Kingdom Servants

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 24:1-10 (day six)

Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place? Psalm 24:3

Psalm 24 is not, at least directly, a psalm about stewardship, and yet it fits perfectly. It is a song that declares the greatness, holiness, and majesty of God, the King of Glory. Before Scripture ever calls us to give or manage resources, it first calls us to lift our eyes and recognize who God is.

As we begin our new series, Kingdom Generosity, we are not starting with money, but with identity. This series is about how we live as servants of the King of Glory. In God’s economy, stewardship always flows from belonging. Before we ask what we do with what we have, we must ask who we are and who we serve.

Psalm 24 serves as the perfect reminder. Ultimately, we discover that our identity as Kingdom servants finds its home in Jesus, who alone can ascend God’s holy mountain.

Good Questions

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day six)

One of Luke’s consistent emphases is that news about Jesus did not stay contained. It spread quickly, widely, and almost uncontrollably. From the earliest chapters, Luke tells us that fear, wonder, and word about Jesus moved through towns, synagogues, and households (Luke 1:65; 4:15, 36–37; 5:15; 7:16–17). This is simply the nature of the Kingdom of God. When God’s reign breaks into the world, it unsettles the status quo. People talk. Questions surface. Expectations are challenged.

John the Baptist heard these stories too. Sitting in prison, he sends messengers to Jesus with a question that feels surprising: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Hadn’t John already seen the Spirit descend at Jesus’ baptism? Hadn’t he proclaimed the coming kingdom? And yet, like many in Israel, John may have expected a different kind of Messiah.

Luke invites us to notice an important distinction. John’s question is not dismissive skepticism; it is sincere seeking. He brings his confusion honestly to Jesus. That posture stands in sharp contrast to Jesus’ hometown, whose familiarity bred contempt rather than faith. Luke reminds us that the Kingdom spreads not only through miracles and proclamation, but through honest questions brought humbly to Jesus—questions that keep us listening rather than closing ourselves off.

Division

Re:Verse passage – Luke 4:14-30 (day six)

Luke’s purpose in this scene is unmistakable. As Bryan has already noted, Simeon prophesied that Jesus would be a sign that would be opposed; a dividing line running straight through the human heart. Luke wants us to see that division take shape in real time in Jesus’ hometown, the place you would least expect.

At first, the people of Nazareth are impressed. They marvel at his words. But admiration quickly turns to offense. Why? Because Jesus refuses to be reduced to a hometown hero or a comforting religious voice. He declares that God’s salvation is not controlled by familiarity, ethnicity, or entitlement. By pointing to Elijah and Elisha, Jesus makes it clear: God’s mercy has always reached beyond expected boundaries, often bypassing those who assume it belongs to them.

This is where the tension erupts. Jesus is not a novelty to admire; he is the promised Messiah who demands a response. Luke presses the question on every reader: Will you receive him on his terms, or reject him because he refuses to conform to yours?

There is no neutral ground.

Waiting

Re:Verse passage – Luke 2:4-7; 3:23, 31-34, 38 (day six)

Scripture insists that God is never late, even when it feels like He is. What we often experience as delay, Peter reminds us, is not indifference but mercy (2 Peter 3:9). God’s timing is shaped by love, not haste. Paul puts it this way: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4). Long before Bethlehem, God’s redemptive plan was already unfolding, moving toward its appointed moment (Ephesians 1:9–10).

That truth is both comforting and challenging. History is heavy with suffering, violence, and loss. We’re left wondering: why wait so long? Why allow the world, and our lives, to become so painfully broken? Some of you may feel that tension personally right now, stuck in a season of waiting, exhausted, questioning God’s goodness.

Christmas doesn’t deny the pain. It declares that God enters it, at just the right time, to redeem, restore, and make all things new.