Good morning,
When
Saul, once the young sinner, wrote to the people at Ephesus as Paul the
old man of God, he knew what he was talking about when he wrote about
the grace of God. The whole letter just glowed with the excitement he
felt as a sinner saved by God’s awesome grace. For paragraph after
paragraph he kept reminding them about all the benefits and
responsibilities that come with this wonderful eternal standing with the
holy, all powerful God. At the end of the letter he brought up a
wonderful truth that applies to any of God’s kids whose hearts have been
given to God and who know what it means to depend on the Holy Spirit to
live by God’s guidelines. He called this life style putting on the
armor of God. It’s only available to those who abandon their wills to
God. He promised that anyone who lived in this dependent way would
still be standing up when the battles of life were over. Our enemies
are strong, but they are no match for God’s mighty Holy Spirit.
If we leave out the names of the armor here is what I come up with.
Verse 14 We will decide to tell the truth no matter what happens.
Verse 14 We will decide to obey God’s guidelines for living just the way he told us to live.
Verse 15 We will decide to do only what God gives us peace to do.
Verse 16 We will decide to trust God no matter what anyone else says.
Verse 17 We will decide to trust our Savior, not ourselves.
Verse 17 We will decide to trust the Bible over any other source of information.
Verse 18 We will decide to keep talking to God about our decisions during the whole process.
Verse 18 We will decide to keep praying for those around us who are facing the same set of issues that we face.
I
know that there are many other great truths in these passages that I
haven’t mentioned, but I think if we come to an understanding of the
root ideas energizing this armor, we will be men and women who will
Never Give Up.
Ephesians 6:13 Therefore, put on every
piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time
of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
Roy Wisner
