GROW PLAN
Jan. 19-25, 2026
Day One
Prisoner of Christ Jesus
Paul is in prison in Rome. He is there awaiting trial by the emperor, but he isn’t really a prisoner of the empire. He isn’t accused of any real crime. And he could have easily avoided his imprisonment by not going to Jerusalem. He went there because the Lord told him to go. As we saw when we studied Acts, the Lord told Paul that he would be put in chains and handed over to the Gentiles. Paul went to Jerusalem because that was the Lord’s plan for him. His friends begged him not to go, but he insisted on obeying the Lord’s instructions. Paul appealed to Caesar because the Lord had told him that he would testify about Him in Rome. From the world’s point of view, Paul was a prisoner of the Roman Empire, but Paul knew He was a prisoner of Jesus. He had put himself where he had been told he would be arrested because he was obedient to what the Lord told him to do. He wanted to be where God wanted him to be, where the Lord planned to use him, even if that were in prison or resulted in his execution. That made him a prisoner of Jesus, not Rome. And a prisoner of Jesus was exactly what Paul wanted to be. Paul knew why he was a prisoner — “for the sake of you Gentiles.” He was in prison for the Lord to make the most of his testimony and spread the Gospel.
It’s impossible to know whether we would do something tremendously hard like put our life or our freedom in jeopardy to obey the Lord until we get that instruction. Pray that He would give you the boldness to serve and obey Him as Paul did.
Day Two
The Mystery
Being God’s chosen people was central to Jewish identity. They understood that God dealt only with them and no other peoples. But the Lord had shown as far back as Genesis 12:3 that He intended to save Gentiles as well as Jews. When he called Abraham to leave his home and go to the promised land, He told him that He would bless all peoples through his descendants. But neither the Jews nor the Gentiles expected that God would accept Gentiles in the same way He accepts Jews, that He would offer grace, salvation, fellowship with Him and eternal life to people of all nations equally. The Jews eagerly awaited the Messiah, but they never dreamed of the wide-ranging salvation that Jesus accomplished. When this revelation was revealed by the Spirit, it amazed the church. Paul emphasized the fact that Gentiles are not just free to join Jews, the two are joined into one body. He told the Ephesians that they are heirs together with the Jews, that they are members of one body and that they share in the promise of Christ. This shocking mystery is that Gentiles, who were shut out of any relationship with God, are not just allowed into His fellowship, they are full citizens and members of the body of Christ, just like the Jews who believe in Jesus.
Have you ever felt that you were somehow least in the body of Christ, somehow less valuable than other members of the body? If so, you were wrong. All of us are heirs, equal members and share in the promise of Christ. Revel in your full citizenship in the kingdom of God.
Day Three
Paul’s Mission
Paul gives us a glimpse into his vision of what the Lord has done for him. He says that he became a servant of the Gospel by “the gift of God’s grace.” He goes on to say that he is “less than the least of all God’s people.” Like many of us, Paul has not forgotten his past sins. In 1 Corinthians 15:9, he wrote: “I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” But as all of us can, he rose above that past to seize the mission the Lord had for him. Regardless of his merit, the Lord gave him his mission by grace. That mission was to preach to the Gentiles the riches of Christ. These riches are called unsearchable, incalculable or unfathomable depending on your translation. The meaning is the same. The riches of Christ, the riches God gives to us through Christ, are so vast we can’t count them, measure them or even understand their vastness. His mission also was to make clear to everyone the mystery of the Church, that God was building a people for Himself from all the peoples of the world. This mystery was kept hidden in the mind of God but was being revealed.
Paul thought of himself as the least of God’s people and the greatest sinner he knew, but the Lord entrusted him with riches beyond measure and a mystery which had been treasured in the mind of God. How much can the Lord do in you despite your past?
Day Four
Freedom and Confidence
The Church is an example even to the angels, who are still learning about the wisdom of God. This wisdom is called manifold or multi-faceted. It is complex, and we are wrong if we think we understand all about the wisdom of God. Even the angels don’t fully understand His wisdom. But the Lord is using the Church to show this panel of heavenly witnesses what He is accomplishing through His grace, His power and His wisdom. We should be awed by the riches of Christ and the wisdom of God, which are both beyond our ability to understand, but that doesn’t mean we draw back from Him. On the contrary, through faith in Him, we approach the throne of Almighty God with freedom and confidence. The Lord wants us to approach Him. He has paid a tremendous cost in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross so that we are able to approach Him. We should always be quick and consistent in approaching Him about all things.
We have the freedom to approach the Lord whenever we want. We have the confidence of knowing that He wants us to come to Him and that He loves us. Let your prayer life reflect this freedom and confidence through consistently living your life with Him.
Day Five
Filled to the Measure
The last time that Paul and the Ephesian elders saw each other, they were on their knees, praying and weeping because they knew they would never see each other again. Here, Paul told them he was again praying for them to the Father, from whom the whole family of God, Jews and Gentiles, gets its name. He prays for strength and faith in them. He prays that they would be able to grasp the width, length and depth of Christ’s love. And in the very next sentence, he notes that this love surpasses knowledge. If Christ’s love surpasses knowledge, how can we know its dimensions? We can’t know or understand the fullness of Christ’s love. It stretches beyond where our minds can reach. But when we acknowledge how huge His love is, when we realize that it is beyond our understanding, and we rest on that great unknowable love, when we rely on it, it is then that we are filled as much as we can be with the fullness of God. We cannot hold all His fullness, but He can fill us up to the brim of our capacity. That is what Paul prays for his Ephesian brothers and sisters, that fullness that is better than mere understanding. We worship and submit to the God who is worthy of worship, the Lord who is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.
Spend some time in prayer and meditation on the unsearchable riches of Christ, the multi-faceted wisdom of God, His glorious riches, His love that surpasses knowledge and His power to do more than you can imagine. Let His infinite glory inform your praise and worship.
Day Six
Our Calling
Paul urges us “to live a life worthy of the calling” we have received. What is our calling? Just like Paul, we don’t deserve the grace that the Lord has given us, but He has given it to us anyway and called us to serve Him, to serve each other and to spread His Gospel. Paul urges us not just to pursue this calling but to live our entire lives as worthy of this calling. Our walk with God is not just an aspect of our lives, it is our lives. Everything we do should reflect the nature of Christ at work in us. That’s why Paul tells us to be humble, gentle and patient with one another. Humility has been devalued these days. It has become more and more acceptable not just to brag and boast but to do so while demeaning others. This behavior does not please the Lord. He wants us to pursue unity through peace. He lists seven ones on which the followers of Christ should focus: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God. All of those ones should mean greater unity in the body of Christ.
Do you see this kind of unity in the Church as a whole? How can you better show humility, gentleness and patience to live a life worthy of the calling you have received?