Author: Rick Henderson

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 6:10-17 (day seven)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. vs 10

We live in Military City USA. We are all well familiar with the process of Basic Training, but just for posterity, lets break it down. Basic Training, sometimes referred to as boot camp, prepares recruits for all elements of service: physical, mental and emotional. It gives service members the basic tools necessary to perform the roles that will be assigned to them for the duration of their tour. Before you are given a gun or put in charge of crucial information, you are required to test your limits and strengthen yourself.

What is the training ground for Spiritual Warfare? The Church. We gather together to learn the tools necessary to perform the roles God has assigned to us. We have a tendency to treat the training like the war. We prepare ourselves for Sunday, when Sunday is what prepares us for Monday. The reason we gather is to be trained, equipped, and deployed. Today as we gather, will you test your limits? Will you learn how to wear the Armor of God? Will you strengthen yourself so that you might be able to stand against the attacks of the enemy all week long?

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

making the most of your time. Vs 16

I love reading scripture in different translations. Here are some of my favorites of the week:

Making the best use of the time (ESV)

Make the most of every opportunity (NLT)

Redeeming the time (NKJV)

What becomes abundantly clear through these differing translations is that we, as children of the light, have been called by God to make the most of the opportunities we have been given. This is not a call to programming. We have a tendency to think that “making the most of our time” means that we need to do more, so we proceed to cram our schedule with things that we perceive will help us make the most of time. Yet, this passage takes a different route. He is calling us to take the moments that arise in a given day, those that are dark, bleak or even uneventful, and redeem them. Take the moments where the enemy is trying to push forward the darkness and shine the Light back into it. “The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.” How can you redeem the moments and opportunities that will come up today?

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:8-14 (day seven)

 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord. vs 8

You were darkness itself. Before you were adopted as a child of the light, you were eternally separated from God with sin darkening your soul. Verses 3-7 showed us that immorality, impurity, covetousness, and crude humor are symptoms of this darkness.

Despite our best efforts to walk in the light, these deeds of darkness have a way of sneaking back in don’t they? Darkness is who we were and that past continues to have its hold on our life. We let it back in out of familiarity, thinking the taste of darkness won’t completely extinguish our light. Though it may not be extinguished, participating in such deeds causes our light to become more dim.

We need repentance to recharge our light by reaching the darkest corners of our heart, even those places where we are holding on to the familiarity of our past. Repentance allows us to personally walk in the light as children of the light to help the light to shine in the darkest parts of the world.

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

But you did not learn Christ in this way. vs 20

Having a toddler in the house means we are doing lots of learning. One of the things we are learning is how to dress yourself. I say this all as a disclaimer: if you see my son walking around the church with clothes on backwards or inside out, we are not terrible parents, we have allowed him to be proud of the fact that he put on his own clothes, and frankly, we are just happy he has clothes on.

Similarly, we have to learn how to put on the new self. We have to learn how to put on Christ. The goal at first is just to get it on. It may not feel like it fits quite right or may even feel backwards, but that is because Christ is counter cultural. To put Him on should feel different, but if we are faithful to put Him on everyday, the fit will begin to feel seamless.

It begins with a conscious effort, will I put Christ on today?

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

It is not even November and I am already annoyed with all the political adds. You can’t even watch a football game or the news without being inundated with advertisements endorsing a candidate. To make it worse, it seems like both sides are spewing propaganda in a last ditch effort to sway the voters who may be on the fence. Yet, this scripture reminds us that we have been given something so much better than politics can ever deliver:

The unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God… the fullness of Christ.

The Church has been given as a gift to us from Jesus Himself. He has given us a place where those whom He has called and equipped will build one another up (unity) in Him (knowledge), so that we will not be tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men. 

This wording of being tossed is the same wording used to describe the stormy Sea of Galilee in Luke 8. Just like that one, Jesus will calm the storms around us. Whether it be a politcal season or bad doctrine, He has given us the tools to keep ourselves grounded so that we will continue to follow Him in the midst of chaos.

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

walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. vs 1b

You, Christian, have been called by God. Isn’t that a cool thought? The Creator of the universe has called you to follow Him. He created you. He knows you by name. He knows your every thought. This God loves and calls you! He doesn’t need you to do to be obedient before He loves you, nor does He love you because of your obedience. He loves you into obedience.

Lets flesh this out. If you have answered the call, you know how good this God must be to call you out of your messy life to follow Him. When you recognize this goodness, you will walk with Him and be obedient to Him. This obedience is not out of desire to earn more credit from Him, but simply out of gratitude for what He has done for you. That is what love is. That is what love does. Love is obedient!

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

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. 

Paul is a master at language. He created a phrase here that is not found anywhere else: “exceedingly abundantly.” Even when we are filled with the fullness of God, He is at work around us in ways our brain cannot even comprehend. It goes beyond abundance! We may think our prayers are grand, but God is grander. We may think we have a good plan, but God’s plan is greater. Yet, here is the kicker, we have that exceeding abundant power at work within us! When we allow the Holy Spirit to teach our mind and mold our heart, we too will be able to do far more than we ever dreamed possible.

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 

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

By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. vs 4

The word mystery carries a dark tone in the English language. We liken it with words such as conundrum, enigma, and secrecy. By definition it means something that is difficult or impossible to understand. The Greek word here mysterion similarly is secretive, but it leaves room for something to be discovered. It is hidden from our human minds, but with revelation from the divine, we might come to understand it more. There is hope in this mystery.

“God works in mysterious ways” may be a popular idiom in our culture, but it cannot be found in scripture. God does not try to keep secrets from us or work behind our back. Just like His insight to the Ephesians, God will reveal His plans to us when we are faithful to seek His will. The closer we get to Jesus, the mystery will be replaced with insight. There is hope in this mystery!

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

 In whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. vs 21

You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood. 1 Peter 2:5

I teased this in the Monday vlog this week, but we are currently with our high school students at our annual Beach Retreat. We were teaching them the importance of a baptist distinctive known as “Priesthood of the Believer.” This is the belief that each person has direct access to God due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through the work of Jesus on the cross. How cool is it that we are both the temple and the priests? Not only can we enter into the presence of the Lord as the priests, but the presence of the Lord dwells within us as the temple.

If this is true, do we still need the church? The verbiage of this passage constitutes that we are being fitted together to grow into the temple. Yes, we do have access to God without others, but we fit together like a puzzle. Each of us are a different shaped piece, but as the pieces come together, the bigger image becomes more clear. Together we make a more holy temple.

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

and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:3

I have two boys under the age of 4 in the house. They do not know that they are children of wrath (nor do their mother or I believe they are bad kids), but the trail of destruction that follows them would say differently. The tendency of the flesh is to lash out when the world around us does not operate as we expected it to. This leads to kicking, screaming, hitting, etc. In the argument of nature vs nurture, this clearly an instance of nature, for I do not fall on the floor crying when I am told I can’t have a second popsicle from the freezer. I have learned how to control my natural desires.

Sin is the perversion of natural desire. God creates in us natural desires that are intended for good works (vs 10), but the flesh twists those things in such a way to cause us push back/lash out against God.  It is not just toddlers and babies that lash out, we all have this propensity to appease the flesh. But God (vs 4) gives us the ability to overcome.