December 5th, 24:Embracing Grace in Ephesians: A Journey Through Ephesians 1-4

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:Ephesians. 1-4 Click HERE to give! TODAY'S EPISODE:

Dear Daily Radio Bible Family,

Good day to you all, dear ones! As we gather on this 5th day of December, it marks day 341 in our incredible journey through the Bible. Thank you for joining us again today, or if you're new, welcome to our loving community!

📖 Today's Episode Recap: In today's episode, Hunter revisits Ephesians chapters 1 through 4 to correct a mix-up from yesterday. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a powerful reminder of God's grace and our identity in Christ. Here are some key themes:

Identity in Christ:

Paul emphasizes who we are in Christ—chosen, adopted, and redeemed.

Unity and Peace:

The unity between Jews and Gentiles through the peace Jesus offers is a cornerstone of these chapters.

Living Out Faith:

As believers, we are encouraged to put on our new nature, which reflects God's love and righteousness.

🧠 Reflection and Analogy: Hunter draws a poignant analogy between our Christian journey and Mr. Miyagi's advice in "The Karate Kid": "Wax on, wax off." Just as Daniel is taught to put on new skills, we are called to put on our new nature in Christ and remove our old, sinful habits. This process starts by understanding and living out our identity in Christ.

🙏 Time for Prayer: Hunter leads us through transformative prayers, focusing on gratitude, empowerment, and the mission of spreading peace and love.

Morning Prayer for Safety and Purposes

: Asking for God's guidance throughout the day.

Global Unity Prayer

: Praying for peace and unity among all peoples.

Prayer of St. Francis

: Seeking to be instruments of peace and love in the world.

Lord's Prayer

: Reaffirming our faith and trust in God's provision and protection.

📲 Stay Connected: If you haven't already, don't forget to download our new app from the Apple App Store. It makes listening to and sharing our podcast even easier. Also, consider signing up for daily email reminders with links to the day's episode, a summary, and the prayers.

🌟 A Special Thank You: We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our partners and supporters. Your participation allows us to continue this unique and humble mission of sharing Scriptures and prayer daily. If you'd like to support our ministry or become a partner, please visit our support page.

📅 Join Us Again Tomorrow: Let’s show up for more soul work tomorrow! As Hunter always reminds us: Go forward in God's joy, let His joy be your strength, and remember this—you are loved.

Stay blessed!

Warm regards, Hunter & Heather

P.S. Feel free to share our app and podcast with friends and family. Simply text or email the link—it’s that simple!

TRANSCRIPTION DEVOTIONAL:

Wax on, wax off. Do you remember that? These are mister Miyagi's words to Daniel san in the movie Karate Kid.

This passage in Ephesians for some reason reminds me of that. Our Christian life starts by putting on what we are and Paul spends the better part of these three chapters telling us who we are and encouraging us to put it on, wax on. We are in Christ, he says repeatedly. God has made us new in Christ. He took us who were not his people and he made us his own people. He took us who were not citizens and he made us his own citizens and he adopted us as his own children. He has done all of this for us by means of his death on the cross. He did it for us.

He forgave our sins. He made us new in him by his grace, and that, my friend, is what you are. You are his. You are in him. So put that on. God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. That is what you are. Put that on!

The Christian life begins and ends including everything in between by putting on Christ, living out who you are. Wax off. We need to take off what we no longer are. You are not your old self. You are not the summation of all your old failures, all your old feelings and lusts, desires, regrets, and shames of the past? No. Take it off. That's not who you are. Put on who he says you are in him.

It's by living out of who you are that you'll have the power to put away what you are not. It doesn't go the other way around either. It's not putting away all the old stuff so you can really begin to live who you are. No. It begins with understanding and living in who you are. Then you'll have the power, the perspective, the presence of God within you that enables you to live that life, to take off what needs be taken off. You can't muster it up by trying really hard. Right? There's no physical, spiritual, emotional, or psychological regime that can equip you well enough to do what you wanna do.

No. It's only the power of God living in and through you that can accomplish that. Paul ends the chapter by saying, since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the...