SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/6/2019 10:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Intro
to Eph. 6:18-24”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:18-24
Message of the verses: “18 With all prayer
and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the
alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray
on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to
make known with boldness
the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may
speak boldly, as I ought to speak. 21 But that you also may know about
my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful
minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. 22 I have sent him to
you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may
comfort your hearts. 23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ
with incorruptible love.”
We come to the last section in the
book of Ephesians, something I was wondering if we would ever get there. We have studied different letters from Paul
and there are some common threads that we can find in these letters. Paul usually has an introduction following by
prayers for those who will read his letter.
Next we see that Paul usually breaks up his letters having the first
part be theology followed by the last part as application to the theology that
he is teaching. Paul usually ends his
letters by giving his readers some prayer requests that he has for them to pray
for as seen in verse 19-20 “and pray on
my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to
make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an
ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I
ought to speak.” Many of Paul’s letters give a list of people
he wants to talk about and in the books of Romans and also Colossians these
lists are longer because he had never visited those churches before the time he
had written the letter.
So
we come to the last section of Ephesians and John MacArthur entitles his last
chapter in his commentary “Praying at all times.” We will begin today to look at the
introduction to these last verses in Ephesians.
Let
us begin with two songs that are seen in MacArthur’s commentary, the first from
the 17th century by a man named Johann Burchard Freystein:
Rise my soul to watch and pray
From they sleep awaken,
Be not by the evil day
Unawares or taken.
For foe well we know.
Oft his harvest reapeth
While the Christian sleepeth.
Watch against the devil’s snares
Lest asleep he find thee,
For indeed no pains he spares
To deceive and blind thee.
Satan’s prey oft are they
Who secure are sleeping
And no watch are keeping.
But while watching also
Pray to the Lord unceasing.
O Lord, bless in distress
And let nothing swerve me
From the will to serve Thee.
The next song was written by Charlotte
Elliot one hundred years later.
Christian, seek not yet repose,
Cast thy dreams on ease away;
Thou art in the midst of foes;
Watch and pray.
Principalities and power,
Mustering their unseen array,
Wait for thy unguarded hours;
Watch and pray.
Watch as if on that alone
Hung the issue of the day,
Pray that help may be sent down;
Watch and pray.
I
realize that at times we don’t realize that Christ has won the victory over
Satan and his hosts in this great spiritual warfare that we are involved in
every since we have accepted Jesus Christ as are Lord and Savior. The apostle Paul says that this is true as he
closes his letter to the Ephesians, as he appeals for believers to put on the
full armor of God. There is another song
that has this verse in it, and perhaps it was inspired from this section of
Scripture: “Put on the gospel armor,
each piece put on with prayer.”
John
MacArthur writes “In his Pilgrim’s
Progress John Bunyan tells of Christian’s weapon called prayer, which, when
everything else failed, would enable him to defeat the fiends in the valley of
the shadow. Prayer is the closing theme
of Ephesians, and though closely related to God’s armor, it is not mentioned as
part of it, because it is much more than that.
Prayer is not merely another godly weapon, as important as those weapons
are. All the while that we are fighting
in the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the
gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, we are to be in prayer.
Prayer is the very spiritual air that the soldier of Christ
breathes. It is the all-pervasive
strategy in which warfare is fought.”
We
will continue to look at the introduction, Lord willing, in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I can learn from this first part of this
introduction the importance of prayer, of talking to the Lord as I go through
my day, remembering that the victory has been won and that I am on the winning
side, but the battle still rages.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I began this year studying the book of
Ephesians and asking the Lord to teach me more about humility. I continue to learn much about humility, but
still have much to learn.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from David Jeremiah’s comments on Job 1:20-22.
“In one day Job lost everything. One
after another, four frightened messengers reported to Job that five hundred
yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and three thousands camels were stolen by
enemies in a raid. Seven thousand sheep
were struck by lightning and killed. And all ten of Job’s children were killed
when a tornado hit the house in which they were staying. Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his
head; and he fell to the
ground and worshipped God.”
11/6/2019 11:39 AM
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