SEPTEMBER 23, 2025, TUESDAY
Entry: 7:08am, FAIRVIEW, QC
VERSE OF THE DAY:
EPHESIANS 2:18
For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
Humans being tend to form groups, drawing close to people who think like us, act like us, or look like us. It gives us a sense of safety and belonging. But this also means we tend to build barriers. We place ourselves into categories based on culture, language, race.
Throughout history, religion, our practiced efforts to please God- has included some and shut out others. The results have been awful, because- This is not the way of Jesus.
Before Jesus walked the earth, God chose the people of Israel to uniquely demonstrate His goodness to the nations. Outsiders could and did follow God, yet there was still a clear line of distinction between Israel and the other nations.
The book of Ephesians is the apostle Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. They're struggling with issues of division and exclusivity. Paul explains that the division between the Hebrew people and the rest of the nations changed when Jesus came.
Jesus broke down the barrier that separated humanity from God, and the walls we built because of what Christ has done for us.
Paul writes Ephesians 2:18 that means every person is invited to come and know Jesus-His love, mercy, and compassion, and promises. Every person is invited to follow Him into eternity. There are no exceptions!
None of us earned this gift. Jesus reached out first. He loved us when we were lost, hopeless-when we didn't even know we needed Him.
Consider this: Are you hiding behind walls that Jesus has already torn down? Or will you open heart and arms wide, as Jesus did, when He extended His generous welcome to everyone?
The Gospel is Good News for the whole world. Let's share it!
REFLECT
How might you extend God's love to counteract division?
I can show compassion to someone very different from me.
I can include someone who has been excluded
I can share the Good News of the Gospel.
Jesus, thank You that we can all come to the Father through You. Not because of anything we've done, but because of Your generous love and kindness. Will You change my heart to be more like Yours? Help me to share Your Good News with the people around me- even if they look, act, or think differently than I do. In Your precious name, Amen.
Take a deep breath, and as you exhale.
Release whatever thoughts might take your attention off God.
Open up you hands, and visualize letting them go.
EXODUS 3:5
Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
You are standing on holy ground because the Lord is with You in this place.
Take a moment to give Him glory and praise.
COLOSSIANS 3:1
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Picture holding out your hands in front of you. What do you need to hand over to God right now?
As you talk to God about your concerns, ask Him to show you what to focus on instead.
God, You are with me in hard times, and protect me at all times. My future is secure in You because I am Your child. So today, I give my life and my year over to you. Teach me to seek You first this year so that way I can embrace the abundant life that You offer me. In Jesus' name, Amen.
God, eternal life begins the moment I choose a relationship with You. As I follow You, please help me to have an eternal mindset. When I'm tempted to only focus on what's right in front of me, help me to look up and consider the realities of heaven. Give me the wisdom to know how to prepare for eternity in my daily life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
God, You know exactly what I'm going through right now. You're not surprised of intimidated by it. Thank You for always being near to me. You never fail me. You are worthy of all my praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.
God, I will give thanks to You and praise Your name! All glory, honor, and power are Yours! Because my life is Yours, help me present myself as someone who belongs to You: someone who doesn't need to be ashamed. Let my whole life bring You glory! In Jesus' name, Amen.
Cover this day with prayer.
Continue to bring to God anything that's on your mind.
DAILY BIBLE READING:
SONG OF SONGS 1-3
GALATIANS 2
THE BRIDE CONFESSES HER LOVE
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. Draw me after you; let us run, the king has brought me into his chambers.
We will exult and rejoice in you, rightly do they love you.
I am very dark but lovely, My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! Tell me, you whom my soul loves, why should I be like onw who veils herself beside tha flocks of your companions?
SOLOMON AND HIS BRIDE DELIGHT IN EACH OTHER
O most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock, Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels. While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
The beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
1I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love.
His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
THE BRIDE ADORES HER HUSBAND
The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes, My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
11for behold, the winter is past; the time of singing has come,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
our vineyards are in blossom.”
My beloved is mine, and I am his;
THE BRIDE'S DREAM
On my bed by night
I sought him whom my soul loves;
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
SOLOMON ARRIVES FOR THE WEDDING
What is that coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
1Go out, O daughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
GALATIANS 2
PAUL ACCEPTED BY THE APOSTLES
Yet because of false brothers, to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
PAUL OPPOSES PETER
he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
JUSTIFIED BY FAITH
We are Jews by birth and not Gentiles sinners. yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
ACTS 20:17-24
PAUL SPEAKS TO THE EPHESIAN ELDERS
17Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18And when they came to him, he said to them:
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
INSIGHT
In Acts 20:22-24, Paul was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. No matter what happened to him there, his aim was to complete “the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (v. 24). This urgency likewise motivated him to urge Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). Peter too felt the same urgency. Immediately after being filled by the Spirit (Acts 2:4), he began preaching the good news to the gathered crowd (vv. 14-40). The Spirit is the one who empowers and motivates believers in Jesus to spread the good news (1:8; 4:31; 8:29). And He’s the one who gives us the words to speak (Matthew 10:19-20). The Spirit continues to motivate and compel believers today to tell others about Christ. We can trust Him to provide the words to tell of the Savior who died and rose again so that all who receive Him can spend eternity with Him.
By: Alyson Kieda
SAVING LIVES
Adolfo Kaminsky knew how to remove indelible ink from paper. As a member of the anti-Nazi resistance in France, he altered identification cards to save hundreds from concentration camps. Once he was given three days to forge nine hundred birth and baptismal certificates and ration cards for three hundred Jewish children. He labored two straight days without sleep, telling himself, “In one hour I can make thirty blank documents. If I sleep for an hour thirty people will die.”
The apostle Paul felt a similar urgency. He reminded the church in Ephesus how he’d “served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing” (Acts 20:19). Paul said, “I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you” (v. 20). This urgency compelled him to share with everyone the necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus (v. 21). Now he was sailing back to Jerusalem, eager to “finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus [had] given [him]—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (v. 24).
Paul couldn’t save people. Only God does that. But he could tell them God’s good news about Jesus, the only “name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Who is the Holy Spirit bringing to your mind today? You can share God’s good news with them.
By: Mike Wittmer
REFLECT AND PRAY
Who do you know who needs to hear “the good news of God’s grace”? How might you share it with them?
Dear Jesus, please open my heart to those who need You and give me opportunities to tell them of Your love. in Jesus' name, Amen.
GOD IS THE MOST HIGH
When you think of your life, where do you want to end up? You may want to be prominent and well-regarded. You may want financial security to be your legacy or to reach the pinnacle of your given profession. You may want your family to be respected, your intellect to be celebrated, or your contributions to be acclaimed. It’s natural to desire to reach the highest point of whatever you are most passionate about, to be in the spotlight. But here’s the scary thing about the highest highs and the brightest lights—you can’t stop there. You have to keep pushing. Keep chasing. Keep proving you are worthy. This is not the case with God. He is the Most High. The most glorious. When He is rightfully at the top of your life, you can dwell in His shelter and abide in His shadow. You don’t need the spotlight or the striving because you know you have already arrived at something much sturdier, much more life-giving—a refuge, a fortress, God whom you can trust.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Reflect on the imagery in this text: ‘shelter,’ ‘shadow,’ ‘refuge,’ and ‘fortress.’ What comes to mind when you think of these words and how they describe God?
PRAYER
God, You are my stronghold and the shadow in which I rest. You are my refuge and my fortress. I choose to trust You today, regardless of my circumstances. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
PSALM 91:1-2
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
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Summer turns into Fall with the help of extra inventory
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