PT-2 "The Preparation: Strength in the Lord" (Eph. 6:10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2019 9:31 PM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  PT-2 “The Preparation: Strength in the Lord”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:10

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.”

 

            Paul writes about the spiritual armor and it is to be used by believers, but the specifics that we will get into as we begin to look at the different pieces of the armor.  The point that I want to make here is that the churches battle with Satan has already been won, and this happened at the cross of Jesus Christ as He won the victory over the world the flesh and the Devil.  Jesus destroyed Satan and his power of sin and death as seen in Romans 5:18-21; 1 Corinthians 15:56-57; and Hebrews 2:14.  So we should trust in Jesus Christ as He initiates a victory over the worst that Satan has to offer and this is guaranteed.  John MacArthur writes “We are in a war—a fierce and terrible war—but we have no reason to be afraid if we are on the Lord’s side.  Appropriation of that ‘strength’ comes through the means of grace—prayer, knowledge of and obedience to the Word, and faith in the promises of God.”

 

            I want to quote what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-8; 2:1 in a moment but the reason that Paul wrote this to Timothy is because he became fearful and timid as he faced stronger temptations than he had expected and considerably more opposition.  “6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”  “1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  In this last verse (2:1) Paul is telling Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and this goes along with our verse that we are looking at from Ephesians.  Let me look ahead to the spiritual armor for a moment and what I want to say is that there is only one offensive weapon in all of the spiritual armor and in the end we are asked to pray, but I don’t believe that this is a part of the armor.  My point is that all we as believers are to do is to put on these defensive weapons of the Spiritual and trust that the Lord will do as He promises to do, and that is to protect us from the onslaughts of the devil and his hordes. 

 

            Don’t forget that we are only talking about in these last two SD’s is the preparation and not in the pieces of the armor which as stated we will get to later.  John MacArthur has 50 rather small print comments on the rest of the book of Ephesians and most of it is about the spiritual armor.  I have to say that I am looking forward to this study. 

 

            I want to say one more thing and that is that we have been talking a great deal about being filled with the Holy Spirit before we began to study about the spiritual armor and I believe that we must be filled with the Holy Spirit all of the time and as we begin to think about the battles that we go through from time to time being filled with the Spirit of God is most important, even in the preparation which consist of “Strength in the Lord.” 

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” is comments on our verse from yesterday’s SD.

 

“God has called His people to practice friend therapy.  The New Testament tells us to instruct and teach one another, admonish one another, stimulate one another, build up one another, pray for one another, carry burdens for one another, confess our sins to one another, submit to one another, help one another physically and materially, and encourage one another.  These commands have been given to all of us.  We need one another for encouragement.”

 

9/29/2019 10:05 PM

PT-1 "The Preparation: Strength In The Lord" (Eph. 6:10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2019 11:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  PT-1 “The Preparation:  Strength In The Lord”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:10

 

            Message of the verse:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.”

 

            In our last SD, at the end of it we saw the outline to which we will be looking at verses 10-13, and today we finally began to look at these verses in a way that we hope will be helpful to our walk with the Lord.

 

            One of the things that I do not always do well is preparation, something that my wife and her family members are experts in, and this is something that I need to focus on in a better way.  Why?  Well the effective Christian life is preparation.  John MacArthur states “The unprepared believer becomes the defeated believer who seeks to serve the Lord in his own wisdom and power.  The strength of the Christian life is dependence on God, being ‘strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.’  Any other strength proves to be impotent.”  I have highlighted a part of MacArthur’s quote and one of the things that I think about that goes along with this part of His quote is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that I will not be a defeated believer trying to figure out things on my own.

 

            We have learned many things from the book of Ephesians, things that as believers we need to be reminded of.  We learned that as believers we are in Christ, and are one with Him.  We learned this towards the beginning of the book.  We learned that His life is our life, and that His power is our power, and then we learned that His truth is our truth.  We also learned that His way is our way, and then Paul goes on to say in this section that His strength is our strength.

 

            Now because today is Saturday and my SD’s are usually shorter on both Saturday and Sunday I will close with a quotation from John MacArthur that we all need to think about and then, Lord willing, in our next SD I will finish this section.

 

            “The Lord’s strength is always more than sufficient for the battle.  When Jesus told the church at Philadelphia, ‘I have put before you and open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name’ (Rev. 3:8), He was affirming that even a little power was enough to preserve them, because it was the Lord’s supernatural power.  Our own strength is never strong enough to oppose Satan, but when we are ‘strong in the Lord,’ even a little of His strength I sufficient to win any battle.  ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,’ Paul said (Phil. 4:13).  It is not the amount of the strength we have that is important—only its source.”

 

            In our last SD we began a new section in “Love in Action,” called “Changing Lives by Encouraging Your Friends,” and the first Scripture verses from that section we will look at today:

 

Two are better than one….For if they fall,

one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls,

for he has no one to help him up.

Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10

 

9/28/2019 12:23 PM 

 

           

 

           

PT-5 "Intro into "The Believer's Warfare" (Eph. 6:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2019 8:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  PT-5 Intro into “The Believers Warfare”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 6:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may 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. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

 

            We begin by looking at the third church that the Lord sent a letter of warning to, and that church was Thyatira, and the problem that this church had was sin.  We read that the Lord said to this church “I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.  But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (Rev. 2:19-20).  There were many good things about this church, but the sinful thing that they did was becoming the victim of a false teacher who masqueraded as a teacher of God.  “Jezebel” led many of the believers into idol-worship and the sexual immorality associated with it, and the church and its leaders tolerated her and her doctrine.

 

            Not a lot has changed in today’s churches as believers like unbelievers frequently are idolized by the things of the world.  John MacArthur writes “When a person longs to be like the world and insists on aping, he soon will be thinking and acting like it.

 

            “The Lord does not tolerate sin in His church, and righteousness is not a matter of balancing good things with bad.  Thyatira’s good list was longer than her bad, but that did not protect her from judgment.  The Lord had given her ample time to repent, and when she refused, He said, ‘Behold, I will cast her upon a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.  And I will kill her children with pestilence; and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds” (Rev. 2:22-23).  The bed of vice would be turned into a bed of death for all who remained in the sin, and other churches would be warned by the judgment of those believers.”

 

            One of the problems with many churches today is that they do not deal with sin, perhaps they think that it is old-fashioned to do so.  Tough love is what is needed as seen in 1 Cor. 13:6 “love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.”

 

            I have mentioned many times in different SD’s about the downfall of the sinfulness of the churches in the 2^nd and 3^rd chapters of Revelation and so when we look at the next church, Sardis it was worse than the ones before it.  The members of this church were spiritually dead, and perhaps this was true because of the wealth in that city. 

            John MacArthur writes “When a church substitutes programs, activities, ceremonies, and human issues for the Lord and His work, it becomes a spiritual corpse, despite its appearance of vitality.  It has no spiritual life because God is not there.”

 

            Now we mentioned this fifth church already, which is Laodicea and this is the last church and if you believe that these churches are in prophetic order for the dominant church in the world, then you have to believe as you look around the world today that we are and have been in this type of church at this time, and the only good news is that if all of this is true, and I believe it is, is that we are near the coming of the Lord to take His church out of this world and into heaven with Him.  Laodicea was a phony church, the Lord said that it was lukewarm and He wanted to vomit it out of His mouth, whishing it was either hot or cold. 

 

            We will conclude this introduction with quotes from the last two paragraphs of MacArthur’s commentary in order to see the direction we will be heading in as we look more intently at the verses, Eph. 6:10-13. 

 

            “The pattern of regression in the five churches is clear: from loss of first love for Christ, to compromise with the world, to tolerance of sin, to contentment with programs and activities, to satisfaction with possessions and self.  The adversary attacks the whole church in this fashion by tempting individuals in the church to fall into such sins.  There is no attack on the purity and holiness of the church that is not a personal attack on the people within that congregation.  The attack can be seen in the experience of Peter (Luke 22:31-32; 1 Peter 5:8) and of Paul (2 Cor. 12:7; 1 Thess. 2:18).  No believer is exempt.

 

            “Recognizing Satan’s schemes, Paul closes his letter to Ephesus by giving his brothers and sisters there both encouragement and warning, much as Jesus did in His letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor over 30 years later.  In 6:10-13 the apostle outlines the necessary information in regard to the preparation, the armor, the enemy, the battle, and the victory of the believer’s warfare.”

 

            Lord willing we will look at “The Preparation: Strength in the Lord” in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I need to know the strategies of Satan as seen in the entire Bible at different places and be filled with the Holy Spirit along with putting on the Spiritual Armor so I don’t fall into those traps that are set for me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to keep me spiritually safe, filled with the Holy Spirit, and humble today.

 

We begin a new section, number 2 in “Love in Action” and I will give the quotation for this new chapter or section in today’s SD.

 

II. Changing Lives…

By Encouraging Your Friends

 

“He climbs highest who helps another up”

Zig Ziglar  9/27/2019 8:47 AM

PT-4 "Intro into The Believer's Warfare" (Eph. 6:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2019 11:15 AM

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-4 “Intro into The Believer’s Warfare”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 6:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may 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. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

 

            In our last SD we ended by talking about how we end up with Spiritual defection, and stated that we need to remember how things were whenever we first became believers.  I remember that I was like a dry sponge that needed to soak up the things from the Word of God, but really did not know where to start.  I wanted to know about the end times right after I got saved, and so I read the book of Revelation which was the first book that read.  I have to say that I don’t recommend this for anyone to do, but God was and still is patient with me.

 

            One of the problems that is in the church today is that we become loveless, we do things in an orthodox manner, and not do things in loving service.  This is what the Pharisees did, and we know what Jesus though of the Pharisees.  I will quote what Jesus said to the church of Pergamum from the book of Revelations as this is an example of what we are talking about.  “12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: 13 ’I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 ’But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. 15 ’So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 ’Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’”

 

            John MacArthur writes “Being a Christian in Pergamum was difficult, and the Lord’s people there were basically faithful.  But they compromised in some important areas.  The ‘teaching of Balaam,’ which some of them held, was probably the practice of intermarriage with unbelievers, the sin by which Balak and Balaam managed to lead the Israelites astray (Rev. 2:14; cf. Num. 24:10-25:3).  They also were eating things sacrificed to idols and committing acts of immorality by engaging in the orgiastic (orgies) idolatry of the unregenerate pagans (Rev. 2:14).  In short, they were aping the world, falling into sinful habits and practices contrary to God’s standards while attempting to maintain the church (cf. 1 Cor 10:20-22).”  “imitate the behavior or manner of (someone or something), especially in an absurd or unthinking way.

"new architecture can respect the old without aping its style" (Meaning of aping.)

 

 

            “This is one of the greatest dangers in the church today.  Many believers are inclined to accommodate to nearly every worldly practice.  Under the pretense of relevance, they copy the world’s materialistic and immoral ways.  When the world becomes with material things, so has the church.  When the world lowers its sexual standards, so has the church.  When the world becomes entertainment crazed, so has the church.  When the world glorifies self-worth and self-fulfillment, so has the church.”

 

            I have mentioned that if you take out Smyrna and Philadelphia in the seven churches you will find a direct line downward in the spirituality in the church.  Another thing that I believe we can find in these churches as far as the order they are in is that they are in prophetic order, in other words the dominate church in the world is seen in the order of the churches of Revelation.  That would make us in the era of Laodicea which is the church in Revelation where Christ is knocking on the door of the church to get in.  Another thing I want to mention is that in the world almost since the church began there has been each type of church found.  The prophetic meaning is that of the dominant church.

 

            We will continue, Lord willing, to look at some warnings from these churches as we continue looking at this intro to “The Believers Warfare.” 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Looking again at the different churches from the book of Revelation has caused me to better understand the problems that we have in the churches today, which can cause believers to be conformed to the world’s system, therefore needing the spiritual armor that we will be looking at as we conclude the last main section of Ephesians.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to remember that being filled with the Holy Spirit will help me to live a humble life.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action” completes the thoughts from yesterday’s verse from Romans 5:5. 

 

What our world needs most is to see love in action—in our homes, in our churches, in our cities, in our streets.  God wants to love this world through us by His Spirit.  But remember, His love demands action and we must take those first steps.  We must put ourselves in situations where God can love through us.”

 

9/26/2019 11:51 AM

PT-3 "Intro to The Believer's Warfare" (Eph. 6:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2019 10:17 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                   Focus: PT-3 “Intro to The Believers Warfare”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 6:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may 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. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

 

            Paul wrote about this battle to the church at Thessalonica “For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan thwarted us” (1 Thess. 2:18).  John MacArthur writes “Believers are attacked personally and corporately.”

 

            Let us look at a couple more examples from the Scriptures “29  "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).  We see in this section from Acts that the church would be attacked from both the inside and the outside.  As believers we know that Satan is on the prowl, and the biblically-taught Christian is “not ignorant of his schemes” as seen in 2 Cor. 2:11.

 

            We have looked a lot at the book of Revelation over the years of me doing these Spiritual Diaries and one of the sad sections comes from the second chapter as we see what the Lord Jesus Christ said about the church in Ephesus that they had left their first love, and so what Paul states in Acts 20 came to be true some sixty or so years later.  Leaving your first love is the first step in the downward spiral as described in the other churches in Revelation with the exception of the two churches that Christ had nothing bad to say about ending up with the church at Laodicea where we find Christ on the outside looking in.  9/25/2019 10:32 AM  9/25/2019 11:41 AM

 

            The two churches that did not fit into the downward spiral were Smyrna and Philadelphia, as the others continued to decline in spirituality and it all started with their loss for the love of the Lord and trying to do things on their own without the filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Orthodox, fundamental believers are inclined to believe that they love God because they have such a high regard for and obedience to His Word.  Peter was shocked and offended when Jesus three times questioned whether he really love Him (John 21:15-17).  Peter’s theology and morality were sound, but his heart was not yet fully devoted to Christ.  As important as right doctrine and right living are, they are no substitute for love and, in fact, become cold and sterile apart from love.  Lovelessness not only grieves the Lord but gives Satan a foothold in a believer’s life.  When a believer, or a body of believers, loses its deep sense of love for the Lord, that believer or that church is on the brink of spiritual disaster.”  It is nice when John MacArthur agrees with what I had just written!

 

            How does all of this spiritual defection usually begin?  I remember listening to a few messages soon after I was saved from a man named Robert Ball who headed up a group called “Churches Alive.”  He would go into churches that had lost their love for the Lord and try and bring them back to when they were first saved when the believer has a great devotion to the Lord and did things like having a thrill of Bible study, prayer, worship and just the sense of belonging to the Lord Jesus.  I have to admit that there are times when I certainly lack the thrill of Bible study and prayer, but I realize that this is one of the best ways to stay close to the Lord.  Jesus said the following to the church at Ephesus, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen” (Rev. 2:5a).  Jesus wanted them to remember where they were before they became cold.  Next spiritual defection always involves sin, and the Lord told the Ephesian church next to repent as seen in verse 5b.  Perhaps they needed to hear what John wrote in 1 John 1:9.  Next we see that spiritual defection always involves a decrease in quality, if not the quantity, of Christian service, and the Lord tells them next “do the deeds you did at first” as seen in verse 5c.

 

            There is more to learn from the letters to the seven churches which Lord willing, we will look at tomorrow.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I think of how Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians, especially the last part that we have been looking at, the part where he writes about being filled with the Holy Spirit which is certainly needed in the family life, including husband and wife, and then children and parents, and then into the work force with employees and employers.  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we will come under attack from Satan and so Paul writes about putting on the spiritual armor, and the importance of that which I look forward to learn more about.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Spirit of God will fill me to cause me to have good relationships with my wife, and to humbly learn to love my wife like Christ loves His Church.

 

Today’s verse quotation from “Love in Action:”

 

The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by

the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.

Romans 5:5

 

9/25/2019 12:07 PM

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

PT-2 "Intro to The Believer's Warfare" (Eph. 6:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/24/2019 9:50 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to The Believer’s Warfare”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 6:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may 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. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

 

            We continue looking at this long introduction to what will eventually be the “Spiritual Armor” once we finish looking at these three verses.  The introduction is very important for us to look at so that we can understand what we will be looking at when we get to the Spiritual Armor.

 

            We stated that we would begin this SD by talking about Jesus’ ministry as it began in a great battle with Satan that lasted for forty days as seen in three of the four Gospels.  I have talked about my opinion on fasting which is what Jesus was doing for forty days before Satan came to tempt and attack Him.  I have fasted a couple of times, once for two weeks and once for 22 days and what I have learned is in fasting is that my mind was very clear when I fasted, and also I was pretty weak.  Another thing that I learned is that I was never hungry when I fasted because after three days you are not hungry and then will not be hungry again until your body tells you that you are hungry, and if you don’t eat then you will be on a starvation diet and if you don’t eventually eat you will die.  We read that Jesus came to this point as the Scriptures states that after the forty days He became hungry.  Another thing that I believe is that Jesus drank water which is very normal when a person fasts as you have to have water.  When Moses fasted for forty days he came down the mountain to find the sin that was going on, and then he went back up the mountain and continued his fast for another 40 days.  I have read of people fasting for 90 days as they were very big men and had the body fat to burn for that long of a fast, but it is my belief that the Lord sustained Moses for him to fast 80 days, but in the case of Jesus I believe that He drank water during those forty days and so when He was done He became hungry and that is when Satan attacked and tempted Him.  Another time Satan attacked Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane just before He was going to the cross and He sweat great drops of blood.  John MacArthur ends his discussion on Jesus by talking about believers and “as believers grow stronger, so will Satan’s attacks.”

 

            If a believer has a great heart to grow in the Lord then the attacks will come harder and harder from Satan.  I was posting a blog on the other blog about how Peter was attacked by Satan and I believe that he wanted to end his ministry after that but Jesus came to him as seen in John’s gospel and restored him in order for him to do what Jesus had prepared for him to do in his ministry to the church and it was Peter who preached the first message in the church age as seen in Acts chapter two at the birth of the church.  Peter, unlike Judas was a true believer and eventually after Satan’s attack became very useful to the Lord.

 

            Paul led many people to Christ when he first came to Ephesus beginning with some who had only heard of John the Baptist’s ministry.  He stayed there two years and then the attacks came and he was run out of town.  Paul was working in the place where Satan reigned and Satan did not like it so the attacks came, but only when the Lord allowed them to come.

 

            The greater the spiritual challenge the greater the attacks from Satan will come.  This happened with the men in Ecuador during the 1950’s as a number of them died for the cause of Christ, but later on the gospel was taught to those who murdered them and many became believers.

 

            I will conclude this SD with a quotation from John MacArthur:  “Even God’s holy angels face opposition when they minister for Him.  The angel sent to Daniel was opposed by a demon for twenty-one days and had to be assisted by the archangel Michael (Dan. 10:13), and Michael even had a battle with Satan himself over the body of Moses (Jude 9).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have mentioned in almost every SD this year about how the Lord is working in my heart about humility and then in our study of Ephesians, which I was very reluctant to do, the Lord convicted me to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to be humble, and not only humble but other things too.  I have been in a battle much of the last few months because of what I have learned.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be filled with the Spirit of God in order to accomplish what He wants me to accomplish for Him, of which humility is one of them I believe.

 

Quotation from “Love in Action” that goes along with our verses from yesterday’s quote:  “One of the primary motivations for the ministry of encouragement in the body has to do with its size.  Paul mentions the church’s immensity.  Twice he refers to the “many” who are in the body.  The body of Christ is made up of every believer in every place in this world.  Everyone who has ever put their faith in Christ is baptized into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).”

 

9/24/2019 10:23 AM

 

 

PT-1 "Intro into The Believer's Warfare" (Eph. 6:10-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2019 10:01 AM

 

My Worship Time                                              Focus:  PT-1 “Intro into The Believer’s Warfare”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 6:10-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may 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. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

 

            Notice the first word in the text, “finally,” and this means that Paul is about to end his letter to the Ephesians, a letter that we have been considering for almost a year as we began on the 13^th of October, 2018.  I have to say that I finally realized that the book of Ephesians was the book that the Lord wanted me to study, especially since the beginning of this year that humility was the one thing that the Lord wanted to teach me about and the answer to the teaching of humility came once we got to the fifth chapter of Ephesians teaching that in order to be humble one has to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit.  I also have to say that I have had many struggles as I studied this book, as the enemy of our souls desires believers to fall and not do the things that the Lord has in mind for us to do.  The struggles have been intense at times and now as we get to the believers warfare my prayer is that the Lord will use the remaining section of Ephesians to help me get the victory that is needed to win over the struggles that I have been going through.

 

            I have mentioned that in my almost 27 years of life before the Lord graciously saved me that in most of those years I developed the very bad habit of swearing even though in my unconverted life I knew that this was wrong.  I also mentioned that the day that the Lord saved me in 1974 that He took swearing out of my vocabulary and replaced it with a desire to study His Word, a desire that I continue to have.  I liken the taking away of my bad choice of words to the victory that Joshua gave to Israel as they entered the Promise Land.  Joshua told the Israelites that after these battles were complete that the different tribes had to take care of the battles in their land to complete the victory.  I, like those different tribes am still fighting the battles even though my salvation is complete.  I think a lot about Caleb who was 80 years old when he entered the Promised Land, as he and Joshua were the only ones from the first generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt as the others all died who were 20 years and older.  Caleb took care of the land that was given to him by the Lord and fought off the remaining Canaanites who were in his land, and this is a picture of everyone’s struggles after they become believers as they are saved, but there are still battles to engage in, this is what I know that I am going through at this time as there are still some Canaanites to deal with, and so with great joy I begin this section of Ephesians to gain help from the Lord to defeat those Canaanites just like Caleb defeated them so many years ago.

 

            We will end our SD for today by quoting the very first two paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary on this 26^th chapter of his commentary:  “The true Christian described in Ephesians 1-3 who lives the faithful life described in 4:1-6:9 can be sure that he will be involved in the spiritual warfare described in 6:10-20.  The faithful Christian life is a battle; it is warfare on a grand scale—because when God begins to bless, Satan begins to attack.

 

            “If we are walking worthy of our calling, in humility rather than pride, in unity rather than divisiveness, in the new self rather than the old, in love rather than lust, in light rather than darkness, in wisdom rather than foolishness, in the fullness of the Spirit rather than the drunkenness of wine, and in mutual submission rather than self-serving independence, then we can be absolutely certain we will have opposition and conflict.”

 

            In our next SD, Lord willing, we will look at how the ministry of Jesus began, and if you have followed these SD’s over the years, especially from the book of Mark you may remember how His ministry began.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Live my life being filled with the Spirit so that I can win the struggles that go along with walking with the Lord, including humility rather than pride, and all the other things written above.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord, through His Spirit will help me as I study this last section of Ephesians, and especially help me to live a humble life.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:”

 

Far as the body is one and has many members, but all the

members of that one body, being many, are one

body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit

we were all baptized into one body.

1 Corinthians 12:12, 13a

 

9/23/2019 10:43 AM

 

 

The Submission of Employers (Eph. 6:9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2019 11:05 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  “The Submission of Employers”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:9

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.”

 

            We have come to the last main-section that has to do with what Paul began in Ephesians 5:18 which talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and so the last situation that Paul is writing about here is that Employers should be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Now at the time that Paul writes this he is speaking of “masters,” those who owned slaves, but since there is no actual slavery now as seen in many countries around the world, we look at employers now instead of slave owners.

 

            We see in the first part of verse nine the words “do the same thing to them.”  John MacArthur writes about this in saying “The antecedent of ‘the same things’ most likely is the command at the end of verse 6, ‘doing the will of God from the heart,’ on which verses 7-8 are a commentary.  A Christian employer’s relationship to his employees should have the same motivation and goal as a Christian worker’s relationship to his employer: the desire to obey and please the Lord.  An employer is to use his authority ‘as to the Lord,’ just as workers are to submit to authority ‘as to the Lord.’  That is and expression of their mutual submission in being ‘subject to one another in the fear of Christ’ (5:21).”

 

            I have to say that the place that I worked at for 35 years, partly as an hourly worker and partly as a supervisor had some draw backs to what Paul is writing here and that is because of a strong union that was there.  I had believers working for me who on certain times did not do what was right “in the Lord” because they chose to follow what the union wanted them to do, which in my opinion was wrong.  When the union began there was a great need of it because the owners and the supervisors were taking advantage of the work force.  When I was there the pendulum had sung the other way.  Many, many operations were shut down because of union demands and the jobs were sent overseas.  Just imagine if both the owners and workers were all believers following what Paul writes about here and what a difference that would have made, and could still make.  We see Paul writes that the Spirit-filled employer is careful to give up threatening, and this term is used to suggest the idea of loosening up, or releasing.  The employer uses his authority and power as little as possible and does not throw his weight around or does not lord it over those under him.  This is the way that things should run, but because not everyone is a believer, and even believers may not follow this then this causes many problems.  The faithful Christian employer knows that he is a fellow servant of Jesus Christ with his employees, and is accountable to the same “Master.”  This is the way it should operate.

 

            God is not a God of partiality and so the employer knows before God he is no more important or worthy in himself than the least of his employees.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:”  “In his letter to the Romans, Paul outlined the dynamic ministry of the church “body.”  While the body is the whole Church made up of all believers everywhere, in everyday practical operation, the body is the local church.  The local assembly of believers is the place where the principles of body-life will be displayed and experienced.  The invisible Church, as the universal body is sometimes called, does not provide a very good venue for practicing encouragement.  We need to be connected with real people who can understand us and love us and minister to us as we minster to them.”

 

9/22/2019 11:29 PM

 

           

           

The Right Diligence (Eph. 6:5-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/21/2019 11:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  “The Right Diligence”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:5-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 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. 7 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.”

 

            We begin the last sub-section, “The Right Diligence” in our SD for today; this comes under the main section of “The Submission of Employees” that we have been looking at since the 14^th of September.

 

            We have been mentioning that since Ephesians 5:18 where we are told that believers are to be filled with the Holy Spirit that we have been looking at subjects that believers should be filled with the Holy Spirit, subjects, in my opinion, where it is the most important to be filled with the Holy Spirit like in marriage, and dealing with children and not being an employee, and then to be an employer which is the next main section we are to look at.

 

            As believers who are employees we are not to work “by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”  We know as believers that we are to do everything in our lives to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that includes being a Spirit filled employee.

 

            Paul writes in verse seven “with good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men” and this repeats and reinforces what Paul has just said.  “With good will’ express the attitude of the worker who does not need prompting or compelling.  When a Christian is where God wants him to be and is obedient to ‘render service, as to the Lord,’ that is the most challenging, productive, and rewarding place to be.” (MacArthur)

 

            I will close this section with another quote from MacArthur and this one tells a story. 

“The story is told of an elderly missionary couple who were returning home on a ship after many years of sacrificial service in Africa.  On the same ship was Theodore Roosevelt, who had just completed a highly successful big game hunt.  As the ship docked in New Your harbor, thousands of well-wishers and dozens of reporters lined the pier to welcome Roosevelt home.  But not a single person was there to welcome the missionaries.  As the couple rode to a hotel in a taxi, the man complained to his wife, ‘It just doesn’t seem right.  We give forty years of our lives to Jesus Christ to win souls in Africa, and nobody knows or cares when we return.  Yet the president goes over there for a few weeks to kill some animals and the whole world takes notice.’  But as they prayed together that night before retiring, the Lord seemed to say to them, ‘Do you know why you haven’t received your reward yet, My children?  It is because you are not home yet.”  I have to say that this story is similar to another story that MacArthur told in this commentary or perhaps I heard it someplace else, but the difference was that it was not the President on the ship, but an ambassador, and it was the wife who was complaining to which the husband replied that they weren’t home yet.

 

Quotation from “Love in Action:”

 

For I say, through the grace given to me,

to everyone who is among you, not to think of

himself more highly than he ought to think, but

to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure

of faith.  For as we have many members in one body, but all

the members do not have the same function, so we, being many,

are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.  Having

then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us

use them:  if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our

faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering;

he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts,

 in exhortation; he who give, with liberally;

he who leads, with diligence; he who

shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:3-8

 

9/21/2019 11:43 AM