#bible passage

[randomvideosicantletgoof]

Biblically accurate angels please never show yourself to me

[blissfulcabin7]

July 15, 2026

*Always Giving Thanks*

Be very careful, then, how you live . . . . always giving thanks to God. - Ephesians 5:15, 20

*Today's Scripture*

Ephesians 5:15-20

*15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,*

*Today's Devotion*

A fifty-ton, female humpback whale swam into a web of crab lines off the coast of California, trapping her in a tangled mess. Hundreds of feet of line and hundreds of pounds of traps wrapped around her body as she struggled to stay afloat. Four divers came to her rescue, swimming under her belly. For an hour, they cut rope—dangerous work since one flap of her tail could have killed them. After they freed her, rather than immediately escaping, she swam to and gently nudged each diver. “It felt to me like she was thanking us,” one rescuer said.

Whether or not whales are able to express gratitude, being thankful is truly an important part of being human. It’s vital for our life with God. Many of us thank Him for larger blessings (the birth of a child or healing from a disease). However, Paul tells us to offer gratitude for every gift we receive, for every bit of goodness we encounter. We’re to be “always giving thanks to God,” the apostle writes (Ephesians 5:20). Not sometimes. Not only for exceptional moments. Always. And to make sure he’s made his point, Paul adds a bit more. “[Make] the most of every opportunity” and give thanks “for everything,” he says (vv. 16, 20).

Genuine gratitude is more than an occasional word we offer; it’s the posture of our lives. Gratitude turns us to God over and over again, always giving thanks in celebration.

*Reflect & Pray*

What gifts can you thank God for today? How can you move toward a posture of gratitude?

*Dear God, please help me to live a life of gratitude to You.*

*Today's Insights*

Ephesians 5 invites us to walk in Christ’s light rather than stumble through the darkness of the world (v. 8). In verses 15-20, we encounter a surprising source of spiritual strength: gratitude. Paul urges us to “be filled with the Spirit” (v. 18) and to “[give] thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 20). Gratitude is a posture and attitude that returns our focus to the source of all good things (see James 1:16-18). When we express our thankfulness—even in ordinary or difficult moments—we acknowledge God’s presence and goodness. This reorientation helps us to live intentionally, reflecting Christ’s love. The apostle’s command to give thanks is paired with God’s enabling presence (Ephesians 5:18). The Holy Spirit fills, shapes, and empowers us to live a life of gratitude, which turns our hearts toward God.

Credit: Our Daily Bread Devotionals

[grace-and-grace-alone]

Psalms 48:8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord almighty, in the city of our God - God makes her secure forever.

[thewordfortheday]

[warriorsofgodchannel]

[testimonyz]

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

-Isaiah 44:22

[amymichael7]

Psalm 64

[sealmonger]

Ephesians 2

Made Alive in Christ

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Footnotes

a. Ephesians 2:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.