6:12
The Christian battle is not against people but against the powers of darkness behind people. Satan is behind the evil people in the world. These spiritual powers of darkness use men, manipulate and deceive men, and then destroy men. People are not the enemy of the Christian. People are victims of the enemy. We pray for people that their eyes will be opened and so they may know the truth. Instead, we focus our attack on the spiritual problem behind what people do in this world.
This battle is fought through prayer. We stay in God's word, mediate on it, and put it into practice in our daily living. Praying and interceding for people is how we fight against the powers of darkness behind the lives of people.
Realize there is a spiritual battle. The Bible is filled with examples of this spiritual battle taking place. Whether we want to believe it or not this spiritual battle takes place around us every day.
The Bible teaches us that these powers of darkness are in "high places". This means at the top of the political and religious world the powers of darkness are in control. The entire world system is in darkness, and there are powers of darkness in control behind the scenes of these presidents and kings.
Do not put your hope in what man can do. I know many Christians are strong in political involvement, but this is not our primary battle. Our primary battle is in prayer, intercession, and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is easy to focus on people when there is a problem but consider that this person is not the source of our oppression. The real problem is in the spiritual world where the power of darkness works through people.
Remember to have compassion on people and realize they are victims of the enemy. Understanding this set me free from a lot of bitterness when I was a young Christian. I realized that the people who did me harm were instruments of the enemy. They were responsible for their actions but it made it easier for me to forgive when I realized they were victims of the enemy.
Men are in darkness. They do not understand that they are manipulated by evil spirits. Most of the evil that men do is in ignorance. I am reminded of how Jesus prayed on the cross. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
6:13-18
Paul exhorted us to put on the full armor of God. The reason we put on the whole armor of God is so we can withstand in the evil day and after we have done all we can then continue to stand.
The idea of standing our ground is what an army does during a war. They seize ground and then maintain what they take. They maintain that ground by standing on it. They occupy the ground which they win from the enemy. In a similar way we stand on the ground the Lord Jesus won for us.
Jesus went to the cross, died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day. We are to stand on the sacred ground of the finished work of Christ Jesus. We are to firmly reject every alternative to the gospel. The world is filled with pseudo-spiritual alternatives to the gospel. There are step programs, philosophy, and world religions. All these are weapons of the enemy to keep people blinded to the truth of the gospel. Read 2 Corinthians 4:4.
The "god of this world" is none other than the devil. The devil told Jesus that he would offer him all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him. The devil has some power over the world system. However, this world system is not what the Lord is after. The Lord Jesus is after another kingdom altogether.
What are the pieces of armor Paul listed for us? The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.
We need to be people of truth. We need to speak the truth, walk in the truth, and live in the truth. We need the Holy Spirit every day to expose darkness or lies in our life and enable us to live in the truth. The truth will endure, but lies will pass away.
All of our righteousness is filthy rags. Read Isaiah 64:6. The righteousness that we need is the righteousness of God. Through what Christ accomplished the Lord imputes to us his righteousness. In order to receive God's righteousness we must surrender our righteousness. This means total surrender of our personal rights. We no longer hold our personal rights. This means we no longer defend ourselves. We trust in God's protection. We trust in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus to defend us from the slander of Satan.
The gospel of peace should guide our footsteps always. We need to walk in the gospel every day. The gospel of peace is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day. This is our peace. There is no peace outside the gospel of Jesus Christ. People have a false peace which the enemy gives people to keep them in bondage to sin. But the peace that God gives cannot be taken away by the world. God's peace surpasses all understanding. Read Philippians 4:7.
Without faith it is impossible to please God because the one who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Faith is how we are saved. We have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have faith in what the Lord Jesus accomplished for us. We have faith in the invisible God. We walk by faith and not be sight. This is the life of a Christian. Our life is faith from beginning to end. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. We must look to him every day and keep on looking to him. This faith is a shield around us. It protects us from the attack of the enemy. When the enemy attacks us with flaming arrows then we can lift up this shield of faith. We can stand on God's promises in his word and extinguish the missiles of the devil.
Finally we have God's word. This is the sword of the Spirit. We need to learn God's word. We must hide God's word in our heart. We need to meditate on God's word day and night. Along with staying in the word, we must also stay in prayer. We must persevere in prayer and stay in the word. These go together. Word and prayer. Prayer and word.
Finally, after we have done all we can then continue to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The battle belongs to the Lord. He gives us the victory. He made us more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us. Nothing can separate us from God's love.
6:19-24
I think it is interesting that the apostle the Lord used to write the majority of the letters in the New Testament requested prayer for himself that he could be bold in his proclamation of the gospel.
Paul prayed "that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly".
I think this is amazing that such a man of God would feel his own weakness in preaching the gospel. This helps me realize that no matter how weak I feel God can still use me if I pray. If we pray and ask God to open the door to serve him and preach the gospel then he will do this.
These are Paul's concluding remarks in his letter to the Ephesians. He closed this letter the same way he usually did by extending grace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember to pray for those who proclaim the gospel.
Let's remember to lift up our pastor, and teachers, and evangelists, and prophets, and apostles. Let us pray for those who proclaim God's word. There are missionaries who have given their lives to further the gospel in foreign countries. Let's not forget to pray for them. Pray for opportunities in your life to share the gospel.
The Lord can deliver us from the fear of man and give us boldness to share the gospel with people we come in contact with.
6/25