WEDNESDAY 2nd
Ephesians 6:10-20
NIV (v10) – ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.’
ESV (v10) – ‘Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.’
Yesterday (ten days ago by the time this devotion goes out) we went for a walk to Thornley Woods in the Derwent valley and followed a route we have taken before as I love to go down by the weir and take some photos or video, watching out for wildlife, birds, happy that we saw a beaver and a dipper, (among other birds as well) but what captured my attention was the water cascading what is only a couple of feet over the weir, and the leaves that had fallen off the trees further up stream were being washed down over the weir to continue the journey to wherever the water took them, except that at certain points along the length of the weir there are stones or rocks and despite the force of the water some of the leaves had somehow become attached to the rocks and were holding on firmly, and I watched for ages as they remained firm despite the torrent of water cascading over them. It reminded me of these verses in our thoughts today, as I knew I would be preparing this devotion the next day. As Paul was encouraging the believers to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, the leaves clinging to the rocks reminded me that we are living in a hostile world, we are faced everyday with so many things that would try to unsettle us or cause us alarm but we like the leaves are clinging onto, clinging firmly, holding tightly onto our Rock, who is Jesus Christ the Lord and he is a firm unmoveable rock, a sure and a steady foundation.
Here in Ephesians 6 Paul is showing us an another way, not an alternative way, but a further way in which we can stand firm, and it is by being clothed with the armour of God. We stand firm, hold on tightly while at the same time being clothed in this armour of protection. I hold tight so that I remain steadfast, I put on the armour so that I will be protected.
In the Old Testament we have the well known story of David and Goliath, Saul attempted to get David to dress up in his armour, but David refused saying he was going to fight the battle in the name of the Lord, his faith, trust and confidence was in the true and living God whom he served, he had a spiritual armour, a spiritual Protector and spiritual protection and we are called into battle, ‘for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,’ (Ephesians 6:12) and we don’t put on a metal armour, a literal armour but the spiritual armour that God has provided for us to enable our faith, trust and confidence to be in him and in him alone.
Paul tells us what this armour is, a belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, for shoes, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, helmet of salvation, the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God AND of equal importance to the armour is the command, to pray at all times in the Spirit.
Each morning when we get up, the first thing we do is get dressed, we get ready for the day ahead, likewise we should get dressed in the spiritual armour to be ready for whatever lies ahead, ready to do battle knowing we are standing strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
In Romans, Paul also encourages us to put the armour on, calling it the armour of light and in the verses following he also says, ‘put on Christ’, ‘The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarrelling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.’
This morning I put on a slightly thicker jumper than what I have been doing up to now, it is getting colder! Spiritually things seem to be getting colder in society all around us and we need to be putting on all that God has made available for us to be able to stand firm. The armour of God, the armour of light, and put on Christ.
See also Luke 24:49, Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10.
Tomorrow to wrap up Ephesians we will look at some Scriptures that help us to understand the armour.