Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible ® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.
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EPHESIANS CHAPTER 6
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1-4 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.
Eph 6,1-9
(87k) Thy kingdom come
>>
Obedience >> Obey authorities
(95j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Attitude >> Obedient attitude >>
Positive attitude about authority
Eph 6,1-4
(3l) Parenting
(Key
verse)
(73i) Authority
>>
Respect authority in the family >> Respect your
mother and Father – The phrase “in the Lord” means
that Paul
is not commanding children to intrinsically obey their parents, but as they guide their children in the ways of the Lord. Conversely, in the
ways their parents do not guide them appropriately, their children are not
required to obey them, though they are still required to respect them. What if someone’s parents use their children to rob stores, should
their children obey them? No, of course not, though one of the commandments
say to honor their father and mother, which carries a promise, that life may
go well for them and that they may live long on the earth. That
phrase still applies, “Honor your father and mother [in the Lord].” If parents are wicked,
children should respect them as the people who gave birth to them and changed
their diapers,
but to honor them only to the degree that they advocate the biblical
principles of Scripture. Paul assumes that parents want what is best
for their children, which is true in most cases, but not in all. To honor that
which is good is obviously how things will go well with us and
live long, but if we honor that which is evil, things will not go well
with us, and it is the recipe for dying young. So in the process of honoring that
which is good, we should honor also our parents, who are assumed good
people and want the best for us.
Eph 6,1-3
(3o) Responsibility
>>
Children are accountable to their parents – The assumption of parents is that they are
respectable, and that they love their children and know what is best for them,
which in the days of the old covenant were understood through the Law of
Moses. For children to respect unrespectable parents would only lead them to
become like them. According to the Law of Moses the promise of the Ten
Commandments is that if we obey them we will be blessed, and we could
summarize that blessing in one promise to children, that we should be
prosperous and live long on the earth. This carries with it a set of
prerequisites, such as respect and trust, and that we should live righteous
lives and become like our parents. By these things we will have the skills to
develop a network of relationships all around us within the community and
within the Church, who can assist us in need, where we can also learn of
others in need of assistance as we interweave our lives together. This is the
basis of learning throughout our lives.
(206d) Salvation
>>
God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to
promises >> Conditions to receiving in the
natural >> Conditions to participating in the
natural realm
Eph 6-1
(89a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Being
sensible is always appropriate –
One of the perks of being a child is relying on their parents for almost
everything. Before they are teenagers, younger children must endure many
commands, yet they don’t mind so much since they don’t know what to do and
they want to be led. The upside of being younger is they can just sit back and
let their parents wrangle out the details of life for them and their family.
At the age of two they are just developing mindsets for obedience, and when
they become teenagers, they want to abandon those mindsets and put into
question their parents’ sensibility and wisdom and begin to explore the
world on their own. This is normal though scary for both parent and child.
Parenting teenagers is like walking a tightrope. If we lean one way, and
become too authoritarian, they will ignore us, but if we lean the other way
and become too permissive, they might make wrong choices and find trouble that
we could have spared them. Parenting must start with the child when they are
very young, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old
he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22-6). When they become teenagers,
they will have a solid platform on which they can stand and draw from their
lessons and experiences to discern right from wrong, and what is sensible and
appropriate, drawing from a base we previously established in their younger
years. Being a good parent, then, is having wisdom to know when to give
teenagers room to make their own decisions and when to step in and officiate.
Barking orders about everything is a losing proposition that entices teenagers
to turn off their parents and do what they want. If we instead show trust in
our teenagers and step in only when needed, they will be more inclined to
listen to us and respect our opinions.
Eph 6-2,3
(90h) Thy kingdom come
>>
Keeping the law >> Righteousness of the law >>
We must keep the law because it is righteous
(151f) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears
witness of the Old >> The law
Eph 6-4
(3n)
Responsibility >> Parenting >> How to discipline your children – Teenagers especially have a rebellious side.
To provoke them to rebellion is not a good parenting strategy, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t discipline them or instruct them in the ways of the
Lord. Discipline children without provoking them to anger by starting from the
very beginning of their lives, showing that everything you tell them has a
good reason and is always meant for their benefit. Your consistency in this
will never give them reason to doubt your motives and good judgment. Never
discipline your child or instruct them for selfish purposes or to make your
life easier, but always to make their lives better.
(4m)
Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >>
Disciples are chastened by the Lord
(24l) Sin
>>
Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Unrighteous anger
(80j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Know the word to minister to people >> To edify
one another
(176j) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >>
Extremes >> Truth is never found in your conduct
on either extreme of any circumstance
(239g) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom >> Teachers are construction workers >> God raises
up teachers to raise up the body
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5&6 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.
Eph 6,5-8
(13i) Servant
>>
Support the body >> Servant in the work force
– We are to work at our jobs for our employers as though we were working
for Christ Himself, as though He were our boss, because indirectly He is our
boss. It
says that whatever good thing we do at work, we will receive our reward from
the Lord even if we paid in this life too, but don’t
depend on your boss to be as generous as your heavenly employer.
(73g) Authority
>>
Respect Positions Of Authority >> Respect your
boss at work – Serve your boss as though you were working
for Christ. Don’t just nod at him and say you will do what he asks and then
don’t do it. If your boss asks you to do something that is not unreasonable,
you should try to please him to the best of your ability. Do everything in
your power to make his business succeed, giving him the best of yourself,
especially to those who are also brothers in the faith. For him to mention
this suggests that it was common back then for fellow Christians to pool their
resources and work with each other. He was saying that their fellow Christian
employer lives by the principles of love, hence he will be merciful, kind and
generous to his employees, who are not to take advantage of them but serve
them all the more. God has called us to be loving and
gracious, and the world immediately recognizes this as a vulnerability and
instinctively exploits that weakness. Therefore, we should not be like the
world but serve our employers and fellow Christian brothers with all the more
sincerity and vigilance in attempt to make up for some of the abuse they
receive from those in the world. We are to be an example of faith to our
employers and diligently serve them. Any so-called Christian employee who
would take advantage of his fellow Christian employer displays a lack of
faith, and a discerning employer who is abused by a so-called Christian
brother in the work place ought to know that this person may not be a brother
after all. If he is a Christian, he certainly has a lot of growing-up to do.
People can talk big about their faith, but in reality it is only as big as we
can prove it. Faith can be observed through our character.
(78d) Thy kingdom come
>>
Sincerity >> Taking God to heart >>
Having a genuine heart
(100d) Thy kingdom come
>>
Diligence >> Diligence in your service to
others
(227a) Kingdom of God
>>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >>
God rewards us for obeying Him >> God rewards
what we do for Him in secret
Eph 6,5-7
(233i) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering
>>
Seek His glory through obedience
Eph 6-5,6
(74a) Thy kingdom come
>>
The heart >> God wants you to bless your brother
from the heart
(169i) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory
of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than
the approval of God >> Coveting the favor of men
(247k)
Priorities
>>
God’s priorities >> The will of God >>
We play our part in the will of God >> Doing the
will of God
Eph 6-6
(184g) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace
of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >>
Abusing your position –
“Eye service” refers to those who look their employer in the eye and nod
with the appearance of every intension to dutifully serve, and then places his
business in jeopardy the minute the employer turns his back, not having his best
interest at heart. Our performance on the job is a depiction of our relationship
with the Lord in that we should be serving our employer as though we were
serving Christ. Therefore, taking advantage of our employer is like abusing the
grace of God, like taking advantage of His kindness and mercy and developing the
attitude that we have a license to sin (licentiousness), because God has
promised to forgive us. To the degree that we have this attitude at the
workplace and elsewhere is the degree that we abuse the grace of God.
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7-9 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.
Eph 6,7-9
(131g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Interdependence >> Serving one another
Eph 6-7,8
(127e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >>
Rewards for doing good >> Sow the seeds of
goodness >> goodness yields a harvest of
righteousness -- These verses go with verse 14
(218d) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> God’s will
over man >> Reaping the harvest >>
We choose our actions, not their consequences >>
God controls the consequences of our actions –
Most Christians these days live for this life only; few bank on the rewards of
heaven and the rest berate them, seeing no value in them, but if there were no
value in heavenly rewards, the Bible wouldn’t have called us to pursue them
even as Paul is saying in this verse. God will reward us for our labor, for
our positive attitude toward our employers and also for the dedication that we
showed them in doing everything we can to enhance his business and make a
profit for him. Attitudes like these are what make companies strong. There are
rewards in this life for being a conscientious worker, through the cause and
effect system that is at play, for whatever a man sows, this he shall also
reap (Gal 6-7,8), and this also goes for the judgment of God in the afterlife,
and God is in control of both of these. Positive circumstances come to reward
us for the good we have done, and He will also repay us at the resurrection of
the righteous. There are many times when we do the right thing to no benefit
in this life, but in the life to come we will see that God has been keeping
tabs on us the whole time. If we are Christians, He forgives the bad,
considering them mistakes, and rewards us for the good we did intentionally
for His namesake. When we are willing to wait and are patient to accept
God’s blessing in the next life, it will be infinitely multiplied as an
eternal reward for patterning our lives after Him, far greater than any reward
we could receive in this life. The longer we must wait, the greater the
reward. He rewards us more for waiting than the good we have done in His name.
Waiting is a matter of pure faith, whereas our works could have any motive
behind it.
(235i) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
Giving (your inner self) >> Give for goodness
sake
Eph 6-7
(75c) Thy kingdom come
>>
Motives of the heart >> Being motivated to do
the will of God
Eph 6-9
(51h) Judgment
>> Judging the Church with the world
>>
No partiality among us with God –
Paul started this conversation saying that we should serve “with fear and
trembling, in the sincerity of our hearts, as to Christ” (v5). Employees
should treat their employers with fear and trembling, and employers should do
the same, knowing the Master of them both is in heaven. He shows no partiality
with anyone, because to Him we are all nobodies to His grandeur, though He has
made us to be His children and beloved. It is only by Him that we are
somebody. If we consider ourselves special, we are alone in it; and if we
think God should consider us special too, He doesn’t think anyone is more
special than another. In the life to come, when everybody finds their place,
when the righteous are reward with eternal life and the wicked are cast into
outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, then He will
consider His people special in relation to unbelievers who refused to serve
Him, but among His people, He does not consider one more special than the
other, simply because the greatest are least and the least are greatest in the
Kingdom of Heaven. If someone is greater, it is only because He is least of
all. It is impossible for God to show partiality to anybody under those terms.
We are both great and small at the same time in the eyes of God.
(75j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Motives >> Being manipulative >>
Controlling people by abusing authority
(88g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Fear the judgment of God is the beginning of wisdom >>
Fear the consequences of your disobedience – Bosses, supervisors and foremen, owners of
businesses, give up threatening. If you are a Christian owner of a business
and you have people working under you, praise them for their excellent service
and reward them for being good employees. Paul by the word of the Lord
commands you to treat your help utmost respect instead of breathing threats of
consequences. Model your use of authority after Christ, who saw it as an
opportunity to bless those in his care.
(135n) Temple
>>
Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of
Christ >> Similarity in the body >>
The things we have in common >> Common Lord
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10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Eph 6,10-20
(8m)
Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause
>>
Laying the foundation of freedom – God speaks to His people one person at a
time, and each thing He says is the truth. God’s will is that each person
hears a similar message in his spirit, so when we come together
and share our ideas, we discover everyone thinking along the same lines. This
builds confidence in each person’s ability to hear what the Spirit is saying
so we don’t feel alone in what we believe. It also builds confidence in the
direction of our lives being on track with God’s plan. This is how God leads
His people, and it is how He discloses His truth.
(28j) Gift of God
>>
God is our advocate >> God protects us from the
devil –
In the story of David and Goliath (1Samuel 17,38-53), he put on the king’s
armor and it was so heavy that he couldn’t move let alone fight, so he took it
all off and faced the giant his way, clothed in the protection of God. He fought
the good fight in the way that he knew, and that was with a sling and a few
carefully selected stones from the creek bed. He spent the day alone with God
next to the flowing stream and talked to Him about defeating the Philistines,
and this is how he prepared for battle. When he came to Goliath, fresh on his
mind was his beautiful relationship with God. Half the mistake the giant made
was underestimating a vulnerable young boy with a sling, and the other half was
messing with the armies of Israel. David slung a stone and
buried it in the giant’s forehead, and he fell down dead. David could have
approached Goliath with all the armor in tow and the giant would have made sport
of him. Satan has no power over us,
but if we are unwilling to fight, no amount of armor will help us.
(45j) Spiritual
Warfare
(Key verse) –
The
Bible says that we are fighting a spiritual war. If there were nothing at stake,
how could it be a war? What is the cause of this war? We are fighting for
freedom from fleshly bondage to walk in the Spirit, and we are also fighting to keep the faith (1Tim 1-18,19), and we
are fighting for human souls.
(45m) Judgment >>
Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >>
Satan VS the saints >> Demons are subject to the Church through Christ – The battleground of the mind is where
spiritual warfare takes place. This is why God commands us to renew our minds in the
word of God and prayer, according to Rom 12-1,2. Without renewing our minds we
will eventually regress to a secular worldview, though we may still believe the
Scriptures. Without renewing our minds in the word of God the
things we perceive in our flesh will take precedence over our unattended belief
system. Getting
ready for spiritual battle against sin involves putting on our headgear,
footgear, thorax shield and pelvic guard. Wearing all this stuff doesn’t mean
we won’t sin; it is just preparing for battle. After doing everything to
stand firm, we must still stand firm in the faith. Many a Christian
has sinned fully decked in battle array, like an arrow that finds its place
between the armor. The devil can defeat us fully armed if we are not willing to fight these spiritual
forces for our right to be Christians in a world of evil.
(46g) Judgment
>>
Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >>
Removing Satan’s obstructions –
These are some of the most significant verses in the Bible pertaining to how we
should walk with God. Sometimes we get tempted and want to throw in the towel. We all know what it is to
backslide as Christians; it is very deflating, since Jesus has delivered us from such bondage. We
don’t know why we surrendered so easily and why we so willingly gave up
everything that was valuable to us. We humble ourselves before God and confess
our sins and let Him forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and set us
back on track, pointing us in the right direction and give us a little push, and
off we go again. This is the process of repentance. So how do we rise above our bondage to sin? These
verses actually tell us how! He said to take up the full armor of God, and the
key to this after we have done everything to stand firm is to "stand firm
therefore." This means that preparations before battle do not cause us to stand
firm; they only aid us when we make a stand against sin.
(68c) Authority
>> Jesus delegates authority to execute judgment >> Against Satan –
Spiritual warfare is often construed to mean something other than what the Bible
teaches. Our war is not against other people; it is against spiritual forces of
wickedness in high places (v12), and the war is against the animal nature
of our own willful, fleshly passions and desires. We are in a war against Satan,
against the forces of his wickedness that wants to coral our flesh in its sinful
passions and desires. Satanic forces attempt to warp our worldview, providing us
with secular, humanistic interpretations of our five senses; in short he wants
to control our perspective on reality. A good analogy of satanic forces at
work in the world is an overcast sky, where the clouds go from horizon to
horizon, setting the mood for the day. The sun is still up there, but it
doesn’t seem like it. Satan’s objective is to train people’s minds to think like
him, because
when they do, it will become a deterrent to receiving the gospel of Christ and
being saved. Talk to people about Jesus and the excuses that surface to justify
their rejection of Christ are all the things they learned from Satan. All their complaints are the ideas they received from the spiritual
darkness in this world, not handed to them personally by the devil, but by the
world, which is under the Satan's control.
Eph 6,10-17
(7g) Responsibility
>>
Protecting the gospel >> Defending your
territory –
Defending our territory goes back to the days of Joshua when they cleared the
promise land of its inhabitants, on occasion not destroying the people
completely. The people then made an effort to return to their land, requiring
Israel to resist and defend their territory. This has become an allegory for
the battles we fight in our own lives today against spiritual forces of
darkness for the purpose of freedom. The whole point of spiritual warfare is
becoming free from sin; Satan would have us enslaved and working for Him, but
God has saved us, and now we have a new Master, but Satan does not recognize
Jesus Christ as our Master, and neither does the evil desire and temptation
that erupts in our flesh. They all want us to go back to the way it was, where
we were comfortable living in our addictions. We gain spiritual ground over
these evil forces in our lives, while they attempt to reclaim what we have
won, and we must stand our ground and resist the temptation to return to our
old ways. We remember the battles we fought to achieve the freedom we enjoy in
Christ. We never knew we were slaves until we met Jesus. Go to a psychologist
and he will try to help us, but he doesn’t address sin, and so how are we
supposed to be free through human agency?
(113f) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >>
Garments of warfare –
We put this armor on us and then remember the story of David and Goliath; they
put all that armor on David too, but he couldn’t even walk, partly because
he was just a boy and the armor was very heavy on him. He shed himself of all
these things and fought the giant in the way that he was familiar, that is
with a simple sling and a rock. He was very accurate with it and drove the
river pebble into the giant’s forehead so that he died. In this word picture
we see people heaping their ideas on us about how we ought to fight the devil,
these pieces of armor representing sermons we have heard about spiritual
warfare, and none of them work, because we need the truth, and the truth for
us is the word that God has imparted in our heart, the very last thing
mentioned in this list of spiritual weaponry. This is our fiercest weapon
against spiritual darkness, the truth that God has personally planted in the
garden of our hearts. Truth is our weapon of righteousness that we wield
against satanic forces of wickedness and evil. Whatever armor we wear as a
supplement to protect ourselves is specific in the way that God has instructed
us. Each piece of armor represents God’s specific manner of revealing His
truth to protect us from evil.
Eph 6,10-15
(168a) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to
the world >> Do not let the world’s approval
form you to itself – When we come down to the real meaning of
Paul’s discourse in Ephesians chapter six, he is not talking about human
governments at all, but the hierarchy of satanic authority that is in the world.
When we look at it this way, we see the social engineering of people groups and
nations to think, believe and act a certain way. Satan would have us automatons,
what a difference between he and God on this level. The more people conform to a
certain belief system, the more power Satan has over that society, simply
because Satan is leading the way into conformity, so that people will invariably
agree with the devil and come to terms with his point of view if they don’t
commit their lives to Christ. For this reason God has commanded His people to
become separate from the world (2Cor 6-17), for we are all going to conform to
one or the other, either to the mind of Christ or to the mind of the devil.
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Eph 6,10-13
(194f) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >>
Condemning sin >> Judging evil
Eph 6,10-12
(184b) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >>
Hiding behind your own imagination >> Hiding
behind a false authority – What we perceive in our flesh is a lie, but
what we see with the eyes of our spirit is the truth. Man’s world is
arbitrary; it is a concoction of ideas that change like the seasons. The world
may be a certain way now, but in a couple years it will be different. It is
not developing or maturing – it is churning like cement in a mixer. Is it
real now, or was it real then, or is it becoming real in the future? It is
real at every point, but there is no truth in it, hence the difference between
truth and reality. This ever shifting reality is man’s truth, but God’s
truth never changes and those who believe in Jesus have adopted His reality in
place of the world and all its deceptions of the flesh. The less truth changes
the more real it is, and for this reason God’s truth is more true than
anything man will ever believe in himself, because God never changes. Our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the world forces of this
darkness.
Eph 6-10
(9i) Responsibility
>> Strengthen one another
>>
Be strong – We are called as saints to be strong in the
Lord in the strength of His might, not in the strength of our flesh. We
don’t serve God with our flesh, but with His Spirit. We put on the whole
armor of God, which paints a picture of a military soldier in God’s army,
only we aren’t out to kill anybody; rather, we are saving them. We put on
the military garb before we go to battle, the breastplate of righteousness,
the helmet of salvation, etc., because there is a spiritual war that has been
raging ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin. We are in a war against our own
flesh and the world itself, which collectively are in the likeness of Satan.
Our flesh is one of our greatest enemies; Paul said it is one of the three:
the world, the flesh and the devil (Eph 2-2,3). We have been given a body that
actually understands Satan, and we can’t allow our bodies to speak to us,
because it will instruct us to do things that are not only counter-productive
but would destroy the work of God in us.
(102a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling >> To see
God’s will in your life
(116d) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> Through worship >>
Through His authority
-- This verse goes with verses 13-20. If God gives us His strength, then why does Paul
tell us we still need to be strong? If God has strengthened us, then shouldn’t we
already be strong? No, everything God gives us is potential, and we are
supposed to take His potential and manifest it in the natural realm; otherwise
His grace is of no effect. We have a will to do, and if we choose not to walk
in His grace, He will not make us. The only way to test our
willingness is to provide an opportunity to opt out of walking in His grace.
Our will is critical to God; He values it more than we do. It creates a point
of failure, but it is a point of failure that God is willing to risk, because
it is also a point of faith. God expects us to walk in faith in order to
implement the grace that He gives us, because we are His children. That
employs our will, and employing our will is an act of faith, which pleases
God. This is how we behave like God, because God consists of faith. By
operating in the realm of faith we prove our willingness to serve Him. God
gives us His grace for the purpose of walking in it, hence working the grace
of God. If we were to become strong just because God strengthened us, there
would be no occasion for faith, and that simply is not how God operates. That
is, we are supposed to take the potential to be strong that He gives us and
become strong in it, like a fledgling bird that knows it is supposed to fly
but hasn’t yet learned how.
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11&12 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.
Eph 6-11,12
(158a) Works of the devil
>>
Excerpts of the greatest verses of this chapter – The King James uses the phrase “high
places” instead of the NASBs “heavenly places,” which sounds like the
place where God lives. We are not talking about heaven; we are talking about
the earth, high places referring to the “prince of the power of the
air” (Eph 2-2), high places as in principalities, as in governing positions,
meaning our politicians who campaign for our vote, who put on their pretty
smiles and comb their hair just right and have their suits and ties pressed
and adjusted have learned how to put on a façade to get elected. These are
the principalities and powers in high places according to the flesh, and these
same positions have a more spiritual office to which the fleshly caricature is
subject. This is not to say that our politicians are satanic, though I
wouldn’t put it past some of them, or that they even avail themselves to
satanic powers; rather, Satan uses them albeit inadvertently. Follow this
train of logic: There have been many wars, politicians start wars, Satan loves
war, politicians do the will of Satan. The most powerful tool in the hand of
Satan is man’s willingness to desecrate his own conscience. It doesn’t
matter if our government has ever tried to do the right thing and governed
with the people’s best interest in mind, eventually and ultimately it erodes
to people serving the government. The cause of this stems from a corroboration
of both man’s willingness to do evil and Satan’s ability to govern that
evil. In this way he can gain control of society and the governing powers and
laws of nations to slowly turn them to a level of evil that is
self-destructive that eventually collapses under its own weight of sin. This
describes the lifecycle of nations.
(164f)
Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >>
The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >>
He is the prince of the power of the air – Our struggle against Satan and his minions is
in high places. These high places refer to governmental authorities, but that is
not the most accurate depiction of our enemy. Metaphorically, Satan and the
demons inhabit the first heaven, which surrounds the earth, our atmosphere. (The
second heaven is the physical universe and the third heaven is God’s holy
habitation that exists outside the physical universe.) Paul calls him the prince
of the power of the air (Eph 2-2). The earth’s atmosphere works well as a
metaphor for Satan’s realm especially in these last days with the radio and
television blaring at us with a constant barrage of messages passing
through the atmosphere. Satan is ultimately at the helm of these messages.
Although mankind claims to be in control, Jesus said that Satan is the ruler of
this world. He is the one with the ultimate say-so about world-truth, which
itself is an oxymoron. The world doesn’t believe in any one message, but in
the conglomeration of all messages that all converge to ultimately take one form
as a single perspective of its reality. Seizing on the summation of what it says
is the basic gist of how the world changes from day to day, never corresponding
with God’s truth, because the devil and his world are opposite of God and His
truth. World-truth is elusive like the wind that blows; you can hear the sound
of it Jesus said, but you do not know where it is coming from or where it is
going. Jesus spoke this about the Holy Spirit, indicating that Satan’s
deceptions and God’s truth have one thing in common – they are both
spiritual, hence they both use the atmosphere surrounding the earth as a
metaphor to describe their truth.
Eph 6-11
(44f)
Judgment
>>
Satan destroyed >> Transformed >>
Completing the will of God
(183g) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >>
Spirit of the broad road >> Spirit of the world
Eph 6-12
(19a) Sin
>>
Twisted thinking >> Evil is good >>
Loving darkness –
the Church over the last few decades has
attempted to reach the world by conforming to it, but the more the Church integrates into the world, the less influence the Holy Spirit has on His
people. There is no amalgamation of ideas between the wisdom of the world
and the wisdom of God, for then it is no longer God’s point of view. The
result of this deadly concoction is just another version of Satan’s
delusions. Conversely, the more the Church separates from the world, the
more influence God has on His people, and ironically the more influence the Church
has on the world with the gospel of Christ. Since the people of God
have attempted to doctrinally and theologically integrate into the world
these past few decades, structural problems have plagued the Church along
with spiritual problems from sin. People must venture into the world to
their jobs to make a living; they can’t really be like the Amish, or could
they? That is how the early church lived! They constructed their own society
and were patrons of one another’s goods and services; they were committed
to each other, and established an economy among themselves, though they held
jobs among the unbelievers just like the Amish today. In contrast, the Church
nowadays is completely dependent on the world for its sustenance,
because it is not united, and it is not united because Christians
have shut their ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit; they are not
conforming to His truth, but instead have embraced the deceptions of the
world.
KJV
NAS
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13&14 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,
Eph 6,13-20
(5b)
Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause
>>
Disciples are soldiers in God’s army
(116d) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> Through worship >>
Through His authority
-- These verses go with verse 10
Eph 6-13,14
(86g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Obedience >> Be doers of the word >>
Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Practice
the truth – Jesus
said, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free" (Jn
8-32).
It is interesting that we gird our loins with truth; the average person would
have guessed that truth belongs with the helmet, but that is where salvation
goes. The genitals are the location of Satan’s deceptions, yet Paul also
says that money is the root of all evil, so sex and money go hand-in-hand to
deceive the world into rejecting Christ and getting lost in the darkness of
sin. Some within the Church persecute the knowledge of salvation, complaining
that knowledge narrows the road that leads to life and this restricts
unbelievers from heaven. Yet, salvation actually comes through knowledge,
as Rom 10-9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” How do
we know what to confess or believe without the knowledge of the Bible? We
apply this knowledge of the truth to the body parts that are deception prone,
such as our groin area; for this reason truth belongs wrapped
around our pelvis, since it contains the body parts that are most proficient
at deceiving us, for nothing else lies to us like our sex organs. When we
launch a campaign of dying to self, our sexual desires are quite possibly the
most difficult to subject to the authority of Christ. When our loins tell us,
‘You should seek a sexual encounter with that young woman over there,’ we
should reply, ‘On the contrary it is written, “Marriage is to be held in
honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and
adulterers God will judge”’ (Heb 13-4).
(139k) Temple
>>
Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >>
Abiding in Jesus
(192j) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Turn from sin to God >> Repent >>
Stop practicing sin >> Stop sinning – Paul is saying that there are many available tools and weapons that we can use to counteract sin, but in the end we just have to grit our teeth and endure our temptations through God’s help. We must forcibly push ourselves from the table of sin and evil desire. We take
precautions to develop an anointing and renew our minds in the word of God and
prayer, and we put on the armor of God and walk in the Spirit, yet in the end we still must force our flesh
under subjection to the will of God.
Eph 6,14-17
(80c) Thy kingdom come
>>
Know the word in spiritual warfare >> To fight
in the Spirit
Eph 6-14,15
(93c) Thy kingdom come
>>
The narrow way >> You will find your ministry
along the narrow way
Eph 6-14
(74c) Thy kingdom come
>>
The heart >> God wants you to protect your heart
– If God has given us the grace to stand firm,
then why do we still need to stand firm? Ultimately, we must
implement God’s grace for it to be complete. So the first thing, we need to
complete the grace of God in our lives by girding our loins with truth, that
is, renewing our minds in the word of God. In renewing our minds, we must
apply the truth first and foremost to our loins, our pelvic area, our
reproductive organs. Why them? Because they are the body parts most apt to lie to us, telling us we should have sex with whomever is available. This is the
experience with men; women may be different, but the result is the same. We
put the breastplate of righteousness over our hearts. We must train our hearts
to love righteousness; otherwise we won’t.
(127e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >>
Rewards for doing good >> Sow the seeds of
goodness >> goodness yields a harvest of
righteousness -- This verse goes with verses 7&8.
We
put righteousness over our hearts, for if we don’t love righteousness, then
we will hate it and love lawlessness instead; these are the principles of the
spiritual realm. God wants our hearts to beat for righteousness; He wants
righteousness to become our passion. He wants our heartthrob to be about doing
all that is good and right. This is a joke to the world, their passion
obviously is to live like King Solomon and exploit their own bodies and
extract as much pleasure from them as possible. This usually requires them to
have as much money as possible to hang their pride and finance their pleasure
seeking pursuits and lord themselves over those who have less. However, for we
Christians, our passion is righteousness, which is opposite of the world,
which scoffs at righteousness. Say the word “righteousness” in front of a
worldly person and the hair on the back of his neck will stand on end. He will
react to it like no other word, except perhaps the name of Jesus. Just before
they vomit, they will suck it up and turn and want to tear you to pieces. This
is how much they hate righteousness; it hits at the very core of their sinful
nature, and this is why God wants His children to love it, because He is
opposite the sinful nature of this world.
KJV
NAS
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15-17 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.
Eph 6-15
(126h) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Peace >>
Anointing of peace – We put peace on our feet and tell them to
shuffle us to the next person who is open to the gospel.
Eph 6-16,17
(114g) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy
Spirit >> Implementing the revelation of the
Holy Spirit
Eph 6-17
(40i)
Judgment >> Judgment of Christ
>>
God’s word executes judgment by the Spirit
(78m) Thy kingdom come
>>
Renewing your mind >> God renews your mind by
His Spirit
(109g) Spirit And The Word (Key verse)
–
The Holy Spirit is often found with the word of God throughout the New
Testament, revealing that they have a dynamic relationship with each other. This topic puts over 100 verses together, having one thing in common, they all refer to the combination of God's Spirit
with His Word in one way or another. The significance of observing so many instances of the Spirit and the Word
together in the New Testament is that in each case it refers to the manner
in which God communicates with His people. Thus the context surrounding each of these verses endeavors to instruct us about walking in
the knowledge and wisdom of God. You would be blessed to ponder this topic and look for the instances of the Spirit and the Word in each
verse.
(111k)
Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >>
Living and active word of God – “…And the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God,” is the primary verse in the Bible that speaks of the
Spirit and the word together in single verse and context. It comes in the form
of a sword, which is an offensive weapon! This concept of the Holy Spirit and
the word of God mentioned together is repeated dozens of times throughout the
New Testament, because they belong together. The Spirit and the word
complement each other in that Jesus called Him the Spirit of truth. The word
of God obviously is the written account of God’s truth that never changes
over the eons. That’s why God can have His people write a book about Him and
it still be relevant 2000 years later. Whenever we place together the Spirit
and the word, we create a weapon similar to a sword that has the power to
destroy the forces of wickedness in our lives. The way we combine these two
elements, the Spirit and the word, is through prayer. It is the most spiritual
thing we can do, so prayer unites the word of God with the Holy Spirit. The
things that God reveals to us as we pray, builds upon our knowledge of the
truth as we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The things we learn in
this fashion become revelation knowledge, which is life-changing. This
revelation knowledge takes the form of a sword that slashes through the evil
of this present darkness, and opens the way for us to walk in the will of God.
(119b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >>
Law of the spirit >> Law of the Spirit of truth
(122e)
Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >>
Confidence in yourself as you die to sin >>
Confident in your salvation – “In addition to all…” faith, the most
important thing to God, which Paul depicts as a defensive weapon in the form
of a shield, our faith protects us from the devil’s flaming darts of
unbelief, lies and deception. “The helmet of salvation,” renewing our
minds, puts confidence in our salvation that we belong to God.
(255b) Trinity
>>
Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >>
God’s word is Spirit >> Spirit of the word >>
Words of His Spirit are truth
KJV
NAS
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18-20 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.
Eph 6,18-20
(7c) Responsibility
>> Protecting the gospel >> Defending the word of God >> Protecting the men who carry the gospel
Eph 6-18,19
(81m) Thy kingdom come
>>
Pray without ceasing >> For the Church >>
Life of prayer – Paul commands us to pray in the spirit.
That is a term that Pentecostals and Charismatics regularly use. They are not
misunderstanding anything here. To pray in the Spirit is to use our prayer
language that God has given us. Paul is talking about doing this alone, not in
the congregation, not even with one other person. This is our personal,
private prayer language with God. Rom 8-26,27 says we do this when we don’t
know how to pray. When we feel God tugging on us but don’t know what He’s
trying to tell us, we pray in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is what some
people call gibberish, but to us they are a sequence of phonemes (word-sounds)
that God leads us to say one at a time, just as we walk one step at a time
along the narrow way. We often don’t know which way we should go, and this
is why we pray in the Spirit for divine guidance.
(83k) Thy kingdom come
>>
We have the ministry of intercession >> Church
intercedes for each other
(84b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >>
Keep watch
(99l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >>
Persevere in prayer
(130g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Committed to caring for the needs of the body >>
Caring for spiritual needs – In the days of the apostles, when
unity was strong, when one person was persecuted, they all felt persecuted,
and when one person was encouraged, they were all encouraged. When one was
blessed and comforted, they were all blessed and comforted, and so God’s
solution to persecution was multiplied in the Church. When the body of Christ
is in unity, we can put up with just about anything, because it is not
happening to us alone, though some were arrested and thrown in dungeons to rot
and die alone. Others were tortured to death apart from any help or
encouragement from the body of Christ, but the grace of God was with them, and
they knew the Church was sure to benefit from their suffering. From the blood
of martyrs the Church grew both numerically and spiritually. The people of God
had nothing to lose, but today’s Church is steeped in apostasy, where each
person is separated from everyone else. They may all sit together, yet they
are separate. We might defend our reputation or even suffer for Christ in
heaven, but we can hardly suffer for the sake of our fellow brother and sister
in the faith here on earth, because they are unable to receive the blessing of
our sacrifice. We hope for heaven in the afterlife, but unity is the hope we
have in this life, and the Church has been stripped of it.
Eph 6-18
(7k)
Responsibility >> Use time wisely >>
Get ready >> Make time to pray
(13j) Servant
>>
Support the body >> Bear one another’s burdens
Eph 6-19,20
(85e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Words that are spoken in faith >> Powerful when
spoken by the Spirit >> by the anointing
(123a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Boldness to speak the
word by the Spirit
(148i) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >>
Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in
chains – Pray for the proclamation of the gospel, that
it may penetrate the darkness of this world. Paul says that he is an
ambassador in chains, but even if he isn’t in prison, he is a bondservant of
Christ. He is in chains to the Lord; he is God’s slave. It is as though he
were a robot doing only the master’s will. Whatever buttons God pushes on
Paul is what the robot does, but does God make robots of people? Paul is still
using his will to be a robot, so the answer is no. If He were to override our
will, then we would be robots, but God has no interest in that. When you think
about the devil, how he enslaves people in their own fleshly impulses, whether
it be through sex, drugs and rock and roll, or something else, we are really
no longer in control, but become addicted to our fleshly desires, which
borders on robotic behavior, yet people complain that God makes robots of His
people, and that simply isn’t true. He would never ask us to do something
apart from our will. He always calls us to incorporate faith into everything
we do, which by nature requires our will.
(152ia)
Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father
>> Prophets >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >>
Church operates under a prophetic anointing >> Delivering a prophetic
message from God
Eph 6-19
(231a) Kingdom of God
>>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery
of godliness >> Solving the mystery of godliness >> The Church discloses the mystery of Christ
Eph 6-20
(61a) Paradox
>>
Two implied meanings >> Prisoner—In jail /
Of God’s will
KJV
NAS
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21-24 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.
Eph 6-21,22
(14l) Servant
>>
Ministry of helps >> Helpers fill in the gaps >> Messengers help in
communications –
They didn’t have telephones in the first century, or TVs or cell phones;
most communications were by word of mouth. Although there was the written
language it wasn’t as prolific as it is now, partly due to illiteracy but
mostly due to the fact that paper wasn’t invented yet. A sheet of paper
today is almost worthless from overabundance, though it is very useful as a
medium of the written word; however, in ancient times they wrote on valuable
parchment and other materials, being the utensil of the ancient scrolls, similar to processed birch
bark. Consequently, just about everything was conveyed by word of
mouth, unless it was very important, such as the letter Paul wrote to the
Ephesians while in prison, where he mentioned his faithful messenger,
Tychicus, who probably talked to Paul face to face, or else received messages
indirectly that he relayed to the churches. There weren’t dozens of people
lining up to be Paul’s messengers but a very finite number of handpicked
men, all who had an abiding faith in Jesus, suggesting that Tychicus was close
in heart to Paul. Anyone who was close to Paul had a blameless reputation; it
was his requirement. He simply did not rub shoulders with people of
ill-repute, simply because it wouldn’t look good to those who were watching.
If onlookers saw Paul associating with people of questionable character, they
would have questioned Paul's character too.
(32g) Gift of God
>>
Father will honor you if you die to self >> Your
faithfulness –
Anybody’s name found in the Bible in a positive context was as good as a signature in
the Lamb’s Book of Life. They are both permanent records that will forever
remain. What did Tychicus do to receive this honor? He was a servant! He
wasn’t a great orator; he didn’t have many people working under him; he
wasn’t important in the world's eyes; he was just a humble servant. God
will honor us too if we will serve Him. Those who reject this purpose for
themselves will someday meet God, and they will want Him to honor them too. It
is too bad they can’t think about that now and live for the day they meet
God face to face. God has given us this life for the express purpose of
preparing to meet Him. Those with ultimate wisdom busy themselves day and
night preparing for that day. The more service we render Him, the more
faithfulness we show, the more obedience we prove, the better our experience
in heaven. When we meet Him we will know then that all our weeks, months and
years of preparation was worth it.
(228c) Kingdom of God
>>
God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God
working in you >> Comforted >>
We are comforted in the presence of God >> Holy
Spirit is our comforter
(247e) Priorities
>>
God’s priorities >> God’s interests >>
Concern >> Concerned about your well being
Eph 6-21
(102c) Thy kingdom come
>>
Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Faithfulness is
dependable >> God’s servants are dependable –
One advantage of surrounding ourselves with loyal people is simply that we can
trust them. Another advantage is their spiritual fellowship, because they have
the same faith that we have in Jesus, and there is nothing like two or more
people coming together and sharing their faith. It is the very definition of
encouragement. Edification is the word that best describes encouragement, and
the root word of “edification” is edifice, which means house
or dwelling or more specifically rooftop. Encouragement is where
we go to get out of the rain, sort-a-speak. Paul associated with likeminded
people and basked under the umbrella of their loyalty that they showed not
only him, but also the Lord. Spiritual fellowship is one of the main
advantages of Christianity in this life, though it is extremely rare these
days. Finding spiritual fellowship is almost as difficult as finding a
faithful spouse.
Eph 6-23,24
(125b) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >>
Faith and love
>> Faith toward God and love toward man
(138h) Temple
>>
Building the temple (with hands) >> Exhortation >>
Exhorting the people to glorify God –
“Faith and love” is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament, for
where we find faith we find love, and where we find love we find faith,
meaning there is a relationship between them. Faith is the basis of love and
love is the manifestation of faith, and wherever these two coexist there is
peace. The reason we can be patient with somebody is that we have the peace of
God resting in our hearts. The best way to deal with a person who requires our
patience is through the peace of God that dwells within us. Incorruptible love
is divine love that does not originate from anywhere on the earth but from
heaven, and heavenly love is better understood as faith. It originates from
the Spirit of God and given to us to give to others. He entrusts His treasures
to us, and nobody can take them from us. This faith that originates in heaven,
kept by God and entrusted to us as we entrust it to Him, is manifested in our
bodies through love as proof that we possess something from God. Love that we
manifest through faith is the grace of God. People talk about grace and mercy
together as though they were the same, but they’re not. Mercy is what we
received from God on the basis of faith in Jesus’ blood sacrifice, while the
works we produce through His faith is the grace of God.
Eph 6-23
(126a) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Peace >>
God is at peace >> The peace from God
Eph 6-24
(116i) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Working the grace of God >> Working God’s
kindness
(208fa) Salvation
>>
The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >>
Being the friend of God >> Relationship with God
through obedience >> We resemble Him through faith
(243g) Kingdom of God
>>
The eternal kingdom >> The indestructible
kingdom >> The body of Christ is indestructible >>
The indestructible kingdom within us – We love the Lord Jesus with His own love, and we love one
another with the love of God. In this we are incorruptible, and one day
we will inherit a body that is incorruptible. God is asking us to remain
homogenous in our hearts and in our bodies in order that all things may point in the
same direction, that we may exhibit His character
through the fruits of the Spirit, and lead an incorruptible life that others
may be saved and God glorified.
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