Finally, be strong in the Lord

Ephesians 6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), ³ so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁵ Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; ⁶ not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. ⁷ With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, ⁸ knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

⁹ And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, ¹⁹ and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

²¹ But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. ²² I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts.

²³ Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.

Throughout his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul has been speaking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of relationships in the church, the Christian walk in love and righteousness and of human relationships in family and the world. In today’s text, after all that he has said, he says:   Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.      Earlier, when we looked at Ephesians 2, that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, we saw that it is for good works that we are saved. We looked at how in Psalm 37, the psalmist says we must cultivate faithfulness. So, we acknowledged that to be faithful, to walk out our faith in the fullness of God, requires work. In today’s text we see that more than just work, it is a struggle, a battle, an actual war we are engaged in. While God created and calls us to His image and likeness, the devil schemes against us.  

We are called to walk out our faith, but in order to walk, Paul says:  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.   Before we can walk forward to do the will of God we need to stand firm against the enemy. Jesus said:  “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  (Matthew 16:18-19)   Not only can we stand firm against the schemes of the devil, but through Christ, the gates of Hell and the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, cannot stand against us. Jesus said He gave us keys to the kingdom of heaven. I believe today’s text reveals some of those keys to us. The illustration of the armor of God is a picture of a Roman soldier, prepared for every attack of the enemy.  As we prepare for battle, we are to:  Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.       It is one thing to know truth, but we need to put truth on. The enemy fights dirty. The first blow he will strike against us is often below the belt. He will use a lie about something from our past to cause us to look down and take our eyes of Jesus. We need to put on the truth of what Christ has done for us and in us, that we are redeemed and restored. We need to be girded in truth against the lies of the enemy.

The second thing we put on is the breastplate of righteousness. It is the righteousness of Christ that we put on. When our confidence is in Him and His righteousness we remain humble, depending on the Lord to protect us and fight for us. He says:  shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.     In Romans 16:20 it says:  The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.    We can walk in peace, sharing the gospel of peace and the grace of the Lord Jesus because we have the confidence of knowing that God will fight for us. He will crush Satan, in fact He already has. In Deuteronomy 28:7 God says:  "The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.”   Paul continues:  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   It is through faith that we are saved, but faith is also a shield. In Psalm 91, the psalmist says:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.    Nothing can come against us if we stand in faith with Him.

Last, Paul says:  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  1 Corinthians 2:16 says:  We have the mind of Christ.      2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says:  The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.   The first battle we must fight and win is the battle in our own minds. Above all else we need to stand on our salvation in and through Christ. Hebrews 13:6 says:  We can say with confidence, "The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?    The sword of the Spirit, the word of God is the final and first offensive weapon we are to use in our battle. Paul says:  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit. We are to pray the word of God and the promises of God against the circumstances we face, whether physical or spiritual. It was the Spirit of God, hovering over the chaos of the world, who was the power behind the spoken word of God in creation. That same power of the Spirit, speaking the word of God into the chaos of our lives, can bring order and God’s will for us.

Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.  Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit.   Amen.