2012 Day 270 – Ephesians 6

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

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Paul’s request in his letter to the Ephesians in verses 19 and 20 is a very good reminder to me about my position in Christ and what I should concern myself with. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. May I become fearless in my actions, deeds, and speech so that I can fulfill my duty as an ambassador of Christ.

2012 Day 269 – Ephesians 5

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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Verse 1 in chapter 5 summed up today’s reading for me, Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children. As a kid I always tried to be like my dad when I was growing up. I tried to talk like him, walk like him, act like him; in fact, I kinda wanted to be him. That is what we should be like when we are imitators of our Heavenly Father.

2012 Day 268 – Ephesians 4

24 Monday Sep 2012

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Chapter 4 of Ephesians talks extensively about unity in the body of Christ, meaning, unity with all of us as believers. It is easy to get caught up in our individualistic desires and our own sin, but God wants us to focus in on the greater good. We need to put away our struggles and sins in order to focus on being children of light for Christ. In the second half of the chapter, verses 26 and 27 were a bit convicting to me, 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. I’m a happy-go-lucky sort of guy, but when anger takes hold of me it is difficult for me to let it go. These verses have served me well (at times) in reminding me to let go of anger because it only gives the devil another means into my heart. Any time we allow sin to enter into our cracks of imperfection, it is like water running through cracks in a foundation; eventually the foundation will be ruined. We can not allow that to happen to the foundations of our lives.

2012 Day 267 – Ephesians 3

23 Sunday Sep 2012

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In today’s reading, the second half of verse 17 and all of 18 spoke to me, And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. God’s love is total. It is wide enough to cover the breadth of all our experiences. It is long enough to cover the entirety of our lives. It is high enough to reach above any elation we could ever experience without Him. And finally, it is deep enough to cover despair, discouragement, and even death we will experience at the end of our lives. No matter what happens to us, we will never be lost to God’s love.

2012 Day 266 – Ephesians 2

22 Saturday Sep 2012

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In verses 18 and 19 Paul is talking about our Christian lineage, For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. Since Christ died for the sins of the world, it included those people who are not necessarily of Jewish heritage. The beauty is this now includes the rest of us. This is our gentile heritage, and we are now the equivalent of God’s chosen people as citizens of His kingdom.

2012 Day 265 – Ephesians 1

21 Friday Sep 2012

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Verses 22-23 are great reminders of God’s leadership over the Church, And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. As the Church, we are His body. We are to be aware and available to be used by Him to fulfill His perfect plan in this world. God gives us gifts and blessings for His glory, not ours. We are to be the full expression of Christ as ambassadors for Him. This is something I need to continuously remember.

2012 Day 264 – Philemon

20 Thursday Sep 2012

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Philemon is a strange little book of the Bible; at least to me it seems strange. It is written as a short letter from Paul to a man named Philemon. Paul is asking Philemon to forgive his runaway slave, Onesimus, and to accept him as a brother in Christ. The reality is we were all slaves before we became brothers (and sisters) in Christ. Once we accepted Christ’s forgiveness, we became brothers. My thought is this book was written as an example of who we have become in eyes of God once we accept our freedom from the consequences of sin. Praise God for loving us enough to give us a way to have that freedom.

2012 Day 263 – Psalm 119:137-176

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

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God embodies perfect truth so His words cannot lie. Verse 160 says, All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal. Everything in God’s word is completely true and trustworthy. The truths are also eternal; they are no less true today than they were 2,000 years ago. We can trust it to lead us through any situation because it will not lead us astray. We should trust, obey, and follow His words in all we do.

2012 Day 262 – Psalm 119:89-136

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

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Verse 105 speaks volumes to me, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. There is nothing like walking in the woods in the dark. It is intimidating when you can’t see the ground in front of you; you slow down, you are more cautious, and you can easily get disoriented with your direction. What is amazing is how little light you need to change everything. A simple little light can make all the difference in your confidence and your ability to speed up your progression. The same applies when it comes to walking with God and allowing Him to light your path. When you know He is with you and He is guiding you, you can move with confidence and know that the things that not in the light really don’t matter.

2012 Day 261 – Psalm 119:45-88

17 Monday Sep 2012

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When we go through trials it is hard to look at the situation and see the good. However, once we come out of the hurt and gain some perspective, we can look back and see what we learned. In verse 71 it says, It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. It is unfortunate, but we learn our best lessons from some of our deepest pains. That’s not to say its the only way to learn, but it is effective. The key is to remember to be thankful to God for walking through it with us and giving us the grace and mercy to allow us to learn from it.