Author: Danny Panter

Danny is the Associate Pastor for NextGen Marrieds & Community Missions at FBCSA.

Steadfast

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 89 (day six)

For the mountains may move
    and the hills disappear,
but even then my faithful love for you will remain.
    My covenant of blessing will never be broken,”
    says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10

One of the words most often used to describe God’s love is steadfast. The word comes from the old English words “stede,” meaning place, and “fæst,” meaning firm or fixed. It is hard to imagine anything more firmly fixed in place than a mountain. Geologists estimate Enchanted Rock is one billion years old (if you are comfortable with an old earth). Even if it were a few thousand years old, that’s firmly fixed in its place. And yet God’s love is even more steadfast; it is immovable, eternally reliable, unwavering, and resolute.

We don’t always describe love in those terms. Our love can be fickle; it changes with the wind. We fall in and out of love.

God never falls in or out of love, he is love. It is that kind of love that is turned towards us in Christ.

Amen.

Scope

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 98 (day six)

The scope of Psalm 98 is breathtaking. It commands us to sing a new song—a joyful response to God’s glorious acts. This is not merely a song of the moment but one rooted in inexhaustible inspiration. The display of His righteousness in Jesus is a wellspring that never runs dry. His glory is infinite.

Psalm 98 invites us to reflect on God’s mighty deeds in the past and anticipate His future work in Christ. The content of our joyful singing spans past, present, and future, declaring that His redemption is complete.

The psalm moves in expanding circles of praise: first Israel, then all the world, and finally all creation. It calls everything in the heavens and on earth to sing, shout, and roar in worship. This new song is a cosmic chorus, encompassing all of creation.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of scope. He is worthy of all our praise—of everything we can give and more. That is the point: His glory deserves nothing less.

God Speaks Peace

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 85:1-3, 8-13(day six)

I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying,
    for he speaks peace to his faithful people. Psalm 85:

Have you ever experienced a conflict with someone you deeply care about, anxiously longing to hear the reassuring words, “I love you; we’re okay”? That seems to be the sentiment the writer of Psalm 85 conveys; Israel longed for a restored relationship with God. They listened for words of peace.

Ultimately, their waiting is fulfilled when God sends THE WORD (John 1:1). In Jesus, peace is both a declaration (God speaking) and a person. We have peace with God THROUGH Christ. Jesus didn’t just mediate our peace (through his death and resurrection), he is our daily and eternal peace with God.

Real Lament

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19(day six)

Those who originally sang this psalm had every reason to lament. They likely were exiles from the northern kingdom after Assyria’s conquest. They saw their city burn, friends and family die, and now they were far from home. It was out of their deep lament and longing for restoration that hope was born.

Real lament keeps hope honest. In other words, if we do not understand our need, hope is nothing more than a word.

We begin this Advent season with HOPE. Ask the Lord to help you see your own need for rescue and restoration for today and tomorrow, which can’t help but overflow into real and daily hope in Jesus.

Intercession

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 6:17-20(day six)

It’s hard to imagine Paul being intimidated by anything. Yet, in Ephesians 6:18-20, we see him asking the church to pray for boldness in the face of adversity. Paul, their spiritual father and an eyewitness to the risen Christ, seems like the last person who would struggle with fear. We might expect him to be fearlessly independent, yet here he is, humbly asking for their help.

What if this reveals that spiritual maturity and strong character aren’t about self-sufficiency—just “me and Jesus”? Instead, what if maturity involves recognizing that God calls us to deep connection and commitment to one another? Could it be that intercession isn’t merely a means to an end but the point itself?

In other words, what if Paul needed the church’s prayers as much as he needed boldness?

The ultimate goal of intercession isn’t just answered prayer—it’s connection.

 

Certainty

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.

Mindfulness

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).

Now I See

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.

Ways of Thinking

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.

Body

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.