Author: Danny Panter

As I write this I am sitting in my daughter’s apartment waiting to depart for my first Texas A&M football game. There is a sense of excitement and anticipation here; the whole town is reading itself for a battle. This is not unlike Paul’s urgent commands in Ephesians 6-“Don’t take the enemy for granted; get dressed for battle every single day!”

The difference between A&M football game day, and life of the church in the world is certainty. Whereas the A&M fan is uncertain of the day’s outcome, we are more than certain that Jesus has already won today’s battle!

Live battle ready! Live with certainty!

Oh, and super sorry for the late-in-the day post. This dad was just super excited to get his daughter in College Station.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:15-21(day six)

The Holy Spirit always leads his children into mindfulness, the presence of mind to live for Jesus daily. That’s why Paul says, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

To be filled with the Spirit is not a mindless experience (like magic) but the movement of Christ from the periphery to the center of your life by the power of the Spirit. To put it more concretely, being filled with the Spirit means seeing and following Jesus in all life. The Spirit of God does this by helping us see Jesus. We cannot have the presence of mind to live for Christ daily if we cannot see him; the Holy Spirit ensures we do (John 16:13-16).

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I’m found;
was blind, but now I see.

—John Newton, “Amazing Grace”

John Newton’s life story is a powerful example of transformation. Once hardened by his role in the slave trade, he lived in spiritual darkness. But during a fierce storm, when he feared for his life, he cried out to God in desperation, and his prayer was answered. God spared him, opening his eyes to his need for grace and setting him on a new path.

Newton’s words echo the promise that we, too, can move from darkness to light. As Paul writes, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” To live in God’s light is to see life in a new way, to embrace hope, and to walk forward with purpose. Newton’s hymn reminds us that God’s grace is always enough to turn our darkest moments into a new beginning.

No matter where we start, God’s grace meets us there, leading us to light and life.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:17-24(day six).

Don’t forget verse 17 follows Paul’s teaching about the body of Christ (vs. 7-16). Paul is teaching the Ephesians that to live as the body (4:16), they must abandon old ways of thinking. So he is not just saying, “Don’t be greedy like unbelieving Gentiles.” He says don’t be greedy because greed and desire are the enemies of connectedness and commitment to others. Greed and desire pull people apart; they don’t bring them together. Greed and desire make others pawns to be manipulated rather than brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, brother and sister, what ways of thinking may keep you from deeper connections with your church family? Give it a thought.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:11-16 (day six)

¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Ephesians 4:13

What if Paul is NOT addressing each individual but the body? What if by “full and complete standard of Christ” he is referring to the maturity of a united community of believers? In their unique giftedness, mutual strengthening, and pursuit of unity, they present to the world the “complete standard of Christ?” (Is this what Jesus means in John 17:21-23?)

We in the Western world automatically assume (always) that Paul is addressing the individual, but what if he is not? If this is true, then this places a superior value on the maturity of the body (the individual parts all connected and growing together) over the maturity of the individual believer.

If this is true and we take it seriously, it will change how we do church. Think about it.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:1-6 (day six)

For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. Ephesians 4:4-6

What God was doing in the Church was revolutionary. Nowhere else on the planet could men, women, children, slaves, Jews, and Gentiles come together as equals. God created a new multi-ethnic family not defined by social class, gender, ethnicity, or even age but by Jesus.

No one had seen anything like it. Ever. Not only was the diversity of this assembly revolutionary, but more so was how they related to one another. Pride and power were exchanged for humility and gentleness. Division and control were exchanged for unity and patience. There was belonging instead of fear and autonomy. They began to live together at the speed of Jesus.

Now, that’s a revolution.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:14-21 (day six)

This is Paul’s second prayer in this letter. Paul pauses to pray, “For this reason.” (3:14) Paul uses that phrase twice in the preceding verses. So, what’s the reason? He has two that I see. First, he prays because of his unique calling to bring the good news to Gentiles; he feels responsible for them. Second, he prays because of the mystery that has been revealed in Jesus, that God is recreating a multi-ethnic family of Jews and Gentiles. The bigness of God’s plan inspires Paul to pray.

What inspires you to pray? God wants us to pray in the small things, but he also desires us to pray because of the big things

Your Kingdom Come.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:1-13 (day six)

God’s grace is not limited to forgiveness but travels into everyday life. In Christ, grace can bring about real-life transformation from one life to the next. That is Paul’s objective when he describes his life in Christ as a prisoner and servant. He wants the Ephesians to know that God does not play around. The grace of God in Jesus is not a fashion trend to take out on the occasional spin. We don’t move grace around; grace moves us. Paul’s life was a living testimony of what the grace of God can do through him in others.

We are the beneficiaries of the very same grace.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 2:19-22 (day six)

⁴⁴ Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. ⁴⁵ The Jewish believers^[e]who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in other tongues^[f] and praising God. Acts 10:44-46

There was a great concern among Christians in Ephesus that they weren’t family but instead second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom. Paul’s letter had to have been a relief, “You aren’t strangers anymore; you are first-class citizens with all the rights and privileges.” What the law had kept separate, Jesus brought together. Jews and Gentiles together had become God’s dwelling place in the world, a new humanity in Christ. What a miracle?! What a responsibility?!

And come to find out, that had been God’s plan all along.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 2:8-10 (day six).

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. Ephesians 2:1 (NLT)

Once is a pregnant word, full of history yet firmly in the present.  It is a whole story wrapped up in one word. In the case of Ephesians 2:1-10, it is the beginning of the greatest story ever told.

The story of Ephesians 2:1-10 is the greatest story ever told because of its divine intervention. The ending is so improbable that you would never have guessed it if you didn’t already know it. The distance between ‘once’ and the end is so vast that only an act of God could have connected the two.

Once is the start of our story, too. The only reason we have a “once” in our story is because God gave us a new present with a future promise in Christ. Does that not put a smile on your face?

Be thankful for divine interventions that completely and impossibly change our trajectory!