Moments With God

Ephesians 6:10-20

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Ephesians 6:10-11

We live in a society which emphasizes self-worth and self-effort. Our passage today, however, says that we need to live not in self-reliance but in God-reliance. We need to live our lives not in our own perceived strength but in the Lord’s strength. We need to "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." (Ephesians 6:10) Our self-effort is inadequate and will fail; but the Lord’s strength will never fail us!

In Ephesians 6:11a we are told to "put on the full armor of God." Roman soldiers in Biblical times put on a full armor before they went out to battle. They wore belts to hold up their long flowing robes, so their robes would not get in their way in fighting their battles. They also wore breastplates and helmets. Soldiers had their feet protected with supportive and proper footgear. They also held shields and carried swords. We as children of God are to be soldiers in God’s army. We are to put on God’s armor of protection, so we can take our "stand against the devil's schemes." (Ephesians 6:11b)

The Christian life is a warfare. God promises us His unlimited resources of power in the battle, however! The Lord desires for you and me to be strong and empowered by Him! Only in the Lord is there strength to meet the demands of the Christian life! You and I do not have sufficient strength in ourselves. We need to be strong in the Lord alone. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we are not just fighting against human strength but against the devil himself and his schemes! We are inadequate to do that in our own puny strength. We need the Lord’s strength and power! We need His armor of protection, and then we need to stand against the devil and his schemes. We need to be prayerfully dependent on the Lord alone. We must listen to the Lord’s battle plan and go forth in His strength alone. We must put on His full armor so that we can stand our ground against the devil. If we truly do this we will live in freedom and joy instead of apprehension, guilt, and doubt; because we are living our lives in the Lord’s strength!

The first piece of armor we must put on is the Lord’s "belt of truth," so that we are prepared for action. (Ephesians 6:14a) We must at all times be prepared for what the Lord wants us to do and for where He wants us to be. Next, we need the Lord’s "breastplate of righteousness in place." (Ephesians 6:14b) As His child we have Christ’s righteousness given to us because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We must also seek to show practical righteousness in our day to day lives. Then we must have our feet ready for anything necessary for the cause of the Lord and for fighting the devil. We can do this because of our confidence in the Lord’s love for us. The Lord grants you and me His peace! The Lord also desires that His children take "the shield of faith" with which we can "extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16) We need practical day to day trust and faith in the Lord. We need faith to fight against Satan’s "flaming arrows," the temptations in our lives. Next, we must take "the helmet" of His salvation. (Ephesians 6:17a) Satan wants to attack our minds and thoughts, so we become discouraged and want to give up. Therefore, we need the Lord’s "helmet" for the assurance of our salvation! We need a mind truly controlled by the Lord. Finally, we must not neglect "the sword of the Spirit, which is Word of God." (Ephesians 6:17b) This is so important, because we are fighting a spiritual battle. This spiritual battle must be fought in the Lord’s strength and not in our own strength. We must depend on prayer and on the Lord’s promises and commands in His Holy Word. In our own strength we will fail. In Christ’s strength we are victorious!

Ephesians 4-5

In the Lord Jesus we have full forgiveness of our sins through His precious blood! Our forgiveness and salvation has been fully attained for us on the cross. There is nothing we can and need do to earn our salvation. It is all of grace! Praise His name! If we are His children, however, we will show evidence of it in our lives. This is because Christ sends His Holy Spirit into our lives to give us the power and desire to live for the Lord. God chose us from all eternity to be His child! As His children we were chosen for a purpose, however. That purpose was that we "might be for the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:12b) We were put on this earth to bring glory and praise to the Lord. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Christ redeemed us and washed away our sins. The Lord then recreated us and is shaping us to become more like Him. This is so we can serve Him and bring glory and honor to Him in our lives. This is His purpose and goal for our lives.

The Lord's love for us is infinite and unmeasurable. He seeks to live and work in our lives. The Lord wants us to grow in our passion for serving Him and in bringing glory to His name. Ephesians 4:1b tells us that the Lord desires that we "live a life worthy of the calling" which we have received as His children. Our lives must be filled with humility, patience, gentleness, and love. Our characters must be maturing to be more like the character of Christ. We must "become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13b) We need to live as children of the light. Ephesians chapter four verses twenty-two through twenty-four tells us "to put off your old self" of sin and self-absorption and "to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." With the Holy Spirit's help we need to eradicate anything in our lives that is not pleasing to the Lord. Instead we need "to put on the new self." We need to act like children of the Lord instead of children of the world and of the devil. We need to "be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children." (Ephesians 5:1) Our lives and speech should be filled with thanksgiving for His grace to us. We need to "live as children of light; for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth." ( Ephesians 5:8b-9) We need to show we are the Lord's children by our kindness, compassion, love, and forgiveness for each other. We must also show we are the Lord's children by our righteous living and by our personal integrity. Our lives need to show that we are children of God!

Our salvation is all of grace. We can not add or contribute to our salvation. We were not saved, however, to go on with our empty, selfish lives of sin as if nothing was changed in our lives. We are to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in His work to conform us to become more like Jesus. We are to seek the Holy Spirit's power to always live our lives for the Lord's glory. This is the purpose for which we were placed on this earth. It must become our passion and joy to serve the Lord with all of our hearts!

Ephesians 2:1-10

In our natural state we are dead in our "transgressions and sins," (Ephesians 2:1b) but now we who are God’s children are spiritually alive in Christ Jesus! Praise His holy name! Praise His name that we have been redeemed from sin, the devil, and "the ways of this world! (Ephesians 2:2) The ways of this world involve "gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts." (Ephesians 2:3) The ways of this world involve ignoring the Lord and His will for our lives. The ways of the world involve a "my rights" mentality. The ways of the world involve a philosophy of self-effort and self improvement instead of turning to the Lord in total dependence for the forgiveness of our sins and the meeting of all our needs. We have been redeemed from "the ways of this world." We need to make sure that this shows in our lives in our everyday walk on this earth. We must be passionate in our love and obedience to the Lord. We must live our lives in gratitude for His love and salvation to us. Our lives and ways of thinking must be totally different from those who do not know and love the Lord.

Ephesians 2:4-5 reminds us, "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." Because of God’s great love and mercy for us we are no longer condemned for our sins! Because of His great love and mercy for us we are now spiritually alive in Christ! We are saved by grace, and we are His chosen children! Salvation is a gift to us and involves no effort or merit on our part. We are spiritually alive because of our union with Christ! Our spiritual standing with God is secure because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Ephesians 2:6 says, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." This verse is speaking about an eternity with Christ. Notice it is speaking in the present tense. An eternity with Christ is so certain a future reality for us that we already can claim the promise of eternal joys! God redeems us from our sins and is preparing a place for us in eternity, so "He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7b) This gift of salvation to us which is totally undeserved brings glory to God.

You and I are totally "God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10) We have been recreated through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. He is forming us into His work of art, and He is working out His sovereign plan in our lives. He is recreating us to do the good works which He planned and predestined for us from all eternity. The Lord has the blueprint for our lives. Our whole purpose in this world must be different from those who do not know the Lord. We are His chosen people who were created to serve the Lord and bring praise to Him by our lives. I Peter 2:9 sums it up beautifully, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." May it be our passion to live our lives for His glory!

Isaiah 51:1-16

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn." (Isaiah 51:1)

There are many things going on in this world which could cause us to succumb to fear. This Scripture passage in Isaiah 51 offers comfort when we feel we are becoming entangled in the tentacles of fear. A child of God need not and must not be controlled by fear. When we begin to fear anything or anyone, we must quickly run to the Lord for comfort and protection. The Lord in His sovereignty already has our lives all planned, so we need not fear.

When we begin to sink into despair or fear for any reason; the Lord says to us, "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut." (Isaiah 51:1a) We, who are the Lord's children and are seeking to live for Him, can look to Jesus, our rock and foundation. Jesus Christ is "the rock" from which you and I "were cut." Jesus is the rock which we need to turn to in times of great fear. The Lord Jesus gives our lives a sure foundation even in times of uncertainty and fear.

Verse two of Isaiah 51 also suggests that we can follow the examples of the Biblical heroes of faith for inspiration in our own walk of faith. Hebrews 11 gives a wonderful account of many of these Biblical heroes of faith. Furthermore, we can emulate the examples of people in our current life who are walking in faith without fear and with a sure confidence in their Lord. These people are all links in the chain of faith, and they can be an inspiration to us.

Isaiah 51:3a says that "the Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord." Zion was a name for God's people in Isaiah's day. The Lord will comfort His people when they go through fearful or difficult situations. He will turn the "ruins" and "deserts" of our lives into blessings. A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will proceed from victory to victory. No ultimate spiritual harm can ever come to a child of God. Even if we die we will immediately go to be with the Lord. What have we to fear? Therefore, Isaiah 51:3b goes on to say, "Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing." Among God's people there need not be crippling fear, but rather joy, thanksgiving, and singing!

As children of God we need not fear, because the Lord is a just and righteous God. God says in Isaiah 51:6 that the heavens and earth will vanish someday. But then in that same verse the Lord goes on to say, "But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail." We need to fear nothing, because our righteous and faithful God is always with us to comfort and protect us. The Lord says to us, "I, even I, am He who comforts you." (Isaiah 51:12a) With the Lord on our side we need to never retreat or cower in fear. The Lord can diffuse any situation that we consider to be potentially dangerous or fearful! The great God of the universe says to us, His children, "For I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar-the Lord Almighty is His name." (Isaiah 51:15) The great Lord of the universe personally cares about and loves us! He knows us by name. He knows everything about us. He has our entire futures planned out moment by moment! He will always give comfort and strength enough for every difficult and fearful situation in our lives! Praise His name! Let's rest our lives in Him in joy and thanksgiving and not in fear! "If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)