Your Daily Bible

How’s your morning been? Your week? Your month? We live in a world of crazy deadlines, commitments, and opinions. Sometimes it feels like we’re barely keeping our heads above water. Pause, take a breath, and soak in Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul’s prayer for the church of Ephesus is a wonderful reminder of how much more God wants for our lives than our short-sighted vision shows us.

This beautiful prayer depicts the wonderful relationship Jesus invites us to. The only way to experience the fullness of Jesus’ love is to let Him fully into our lives. God works through us not by pushing us around, but through His Holy Spirit’s guidance. The business of life can drown out the whispers of the Holy Spirit showing us how loved and cherished we are by our creator. Paul prays we’re strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and we’re given the power to realize just how deep and wide God’s love is for us (Ephesians 3:16-18). 

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In the movie "Gladiator," Maximus Decimus Meridius goes from being a general in the Roman army to being a slave and gladiator. Maximus is incredibly skilled in combat, but no matter his arena, he never goes out to fight without his body armor, shield and sword.

The Greek word for “whole armor” in Ephesians 6 is “panoplia,” which refers to the shield and weapons of a fully armed soldier. Knowing our lives will be faced with trouble, and that Satan’s mission is to steal, kill, and destroy, Paul advises us to put on the full armor of God.

As humans, we were not meant to fight the troubles of this world on our own. Our enemy is powerful, but the Lord trumps the enemy’s power by a long shot, and He gives us exactly what we need to stand firm against our enemy.

The armor God gives us — righteousness, salvation, faith, the Bible, peace, the Holy Spirit, and prayer — offer far more strength than physical armor ever could. With these tools, we can defend ourselves against the enemy in the tough times and train proactively in good times.

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“Thanksgiving is not a day; it’s a lifestyle.”

Maybe you’ve heard that phrase or seen it on a church billboard. Learning to be thankful every day is not a new concept. It’s an idea Jesus taught and a principle that Paul, the writer of Ephesians, tried to teach Christians in Ephesus almost 2,000 years ago.

Paul was a Christian missionary who was imprisoned for his faith. Yet in Ephesians 5:20, Paul encouraged the church to give thanks to God for all things. How could Paul, of all people, be thankful in every circumstance?

The answer is the Holy Spirit. When we ask Jesus into our lives, we receive the Holy Spirit to be our helper and our guide. And in the same breath that Paul encourages us to be thankful in all things, he says to fill up on the Holy Spirit instead of turning to wine, or whatever else used to bring us joy, because the Holy Spirit is far more valuable (Ephesians 5:18).

The Holy Spirit in us is what allows us to be thankful even when things aren’t going right, to have peace when life feels chaotic, and to have hope when all seems hopeless. When we can’t think of anything to be thankful for, the Holy Spirit reminds us that we can be thankful for Jesus – for the forgiveness of sins, for a relationship with God, and for the promise of eternal life.

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When family and friends get together, sharing food seems to be a required part of the process. Holiday celebrations wouldn’t be the same without everybody’s favorite dish or two. But, we can’t eat every day like it is Thanksgiving. If we do, the impact becomes obvious quickly. Bulges show where we don’t want them. Comfortable clothes aren’t comfortable anymore. Just like with any behavior that is excessive, there are consequences.  

To reverse undesirable results, we have to discipline ourselves. It might be smaller portions, or putting down the fork sooner, or avoiding the candy jar and ice cream. If we really want a different result, we have to be willing to submit to the discipline.  

Following Jesus happens one decision at a time, day in and day out. 

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Ever noticed how one customer service experience can make or break a business’s reputation? Stories about a bloody Band-Aid can make you avoid chili for the rest of your life, while good reviews on Yelp can be the deciding factor in where you go for dinner. One person’s experience can affect the perception of an entire group.

The same can be said for Christians. Often, the people around us are looking at our actions to see what Christians look like, and you may be the only picture they see. The way we act as Christians can either point someone to Jesus or turn them away from Him.

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Have you ever felt ill-equipped to do something you wanted to do or knew you should do?

We all feel that way at times. Sometimes we feel that way as we walk with Jesus. We know we should read our Bibles, but it’s difficult to sit down and focus on God’s Word. We want to serve others, but it’s hard to find the time when so many responsibilities demand our attention. We know we should share our faith with a co-worker, but we can’t seem to work up the courage. We all face situations in which we don’t feel good enough.

Paul, the writer of Ephesians, felt ill-equipped sometimes, too. Paul was a missionary who wrote most of the New Testament. Yet in Ephesians 3:8, Paul refers to himself as “less than the least of all God’s people.” So how does the least of these become one of the most influential church planters and leaders of all time?

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I am a college football fanatic! There is no sporting atmosphere that rivals a good college football tailgate. Thousands of people drive for hours to hang out in a parking lot together. Even if people can’t make it to the stadium, nothing seems to bring people together like football. Fans meet in houses and sports bars just to be around other people who root for the same team.

The same way that football unites people of all backgrounds and walks of life around a common love, our love for Jesus is what unites Christians around the world as one church. A shared love for Jesus breaks down the wall of hostility between people who would disagree in any other setting — Republicans and Democrats, Duck fans and Beaver fans, Coke people and Pepsi people. At the time Ephesians was written, the great divide was between Jews and non-Jews, or Gentiles. But the message remains the same: In the Church, we all root for the same team, because we’ve all received the same grace.

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Imagine yourself walking into your favorite coffee shop. The barista greets you by name and starts making your drink before you even order. That feeling of being known, of being cared for personally, that’ll change the way you approach your day.

In Ephesians 2:10, the apostle Paul writes that God created each of us to fulfill a plan and purpose. The same way the barista was ready and waiting for you to step into the coffee shop, God is prepped and ready for us to step into the “good works he’s prepared in advance for us to do.”

When we say ‘yes’ to fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for our lives, we move from consumer to server. No longer the consumer, we become like the barista getting joy from seeing others experience the personal way God loves us. 

We don't earn our way into heaven. Our faith in God is what saves us, and our good works are a direct overflow of the love, grace, and mercy Jesus gives us. The way we thank God for all He’s done for us is by giving back a piece of what He’s given to us.

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Ephesians 1:17 
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. "

Now, that is really the major objective of a Christian life -- to know God better. We need to ask ourselves, "Is this happening with us? Are we really getting to know God better?"

There is a principle in the Scripture that is very important for us to understand. We are all familiar with the phrase that says we are made in the image of God, which means in some way that humanity reflects God. But that fact means that we cannot learn who we are until we begin to know and learn who God is. It is the revelation and understanding of the nature of God that will tell us what we are like.

I believe that this is one of the major reasons why many people today never seem to discover who they are. They never learn what they can do, what possibilities lie within, and what potential is theirs because they have never discovered who God is. We reflect him, and therefore it is extremely important that we come to know God better.

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Perhaps it was an athletic team, a special project at work, or the popular crowd at school — we’ve all experienced the feeling of wanting to belong. There is a special feeling that comes from being chosen on purpose.

In Ephesians 1:4-5, Paul explains that God chose us before the creation of the world, and in love, He adopted us as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. He did all this not because we were good, but because He is good.

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