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I am a retired pastor of
the Church of God (Tennessee). My name is Isaac Livingston. I am from Neyyoor India. |
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Email: Pastor True Gospel
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If we are true Christians, we are soldiers of God. The true Christian life is warfare. But we Christians seek pleasure, safety, and comfort, in Christian life. This chapter appears to begin with common advice as to how parents and children should be in the family and in workplace; but it touches the core being of our soul, which is our eternal person. "Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Here is the promise that we will live a long life on earth. So, children, obey your parents. But at present, the new world government does not want our children to obey their parents. Even American schools teach children to be free from their parents and tell the children not to obey them. It is sad. If America goes this way, very soon communism will take over. Who suspected that Russia would become communist? God also wants the parents to raise their children in the fear of God. "4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Provoking children to wrath, is a topic in itself. Usually, fathers do not have any idea about, what admonition of the Lord is; and so, they beg children. Some fathers are cruel, and others do not care. There are many scenarios in this. But God says that the fathers are responsible to raise children in the nurture and admonition of God. We must take this as a command of God. There are two ways fathers do provoke children to wrath. One is, if you allow your children to slap you now, he may pour his wrath on you later in life, since you have become too cheap to him. Another way is, if you being a macho, training your children to be like you in wrath, but not in love. But Christian home must be a godly example to others. Fathers, you are responsible.
The basic advice here is to have a good conscience, and then we will be righteous by nature. "5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:" Here, servants refer to employees, or those who do work for others. When you do a job, do it as you are doing to the Lord. Please look at the benefit for this. "8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." 'Bond or free' does not apply to us, since we are all free, unless those who are in communist countries in their camps. Further, God will give us eternal reward according to our honest work. To study this in detail, you may refer to this link: "New Earth." He gives advice to the employers also. It applies not only in old times, but also in the present time. "9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him." They will also get similar eternal rewards as employers, if they are good in their conscience. In the world, kindhearted persons are considered weak, and; selfish crooked people are considered wise and are appreciated. But never forget, that our master is in heaven, and we all must stand before him to be judged. "10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Even though, the world will not favor us, let us stand strong and bold, knowing that all power is with our Lord, and we are his servants. So, stand strong with his power.
"12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We are going to have a war or a serious wrestling fight here. This wrestling is not physical, but it is invisible and Spiritual. It is most important one for our eternity; because if we win, we will inherit the kingdom of God; but if we lose, we will be tormented in hell and then in the lake of fire. So, better we do not lose the battle or the fight. We will fight to defeat the enemy, who is Satan himself. Before he was an archangel of God, and he is still very powerful. He has principalities, which are the army of demons, with supernatural demonic powers; and the rulers of the world, who are evil, are also with him; and he has the powers of spiritual wickedness. So, he has his army, and his ammunitions are ready to fight against us. "11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." So, be ready. Satan has the wiles of the devil. What is that? That is, he has the most devious or cunning trick or scheme employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what he wants; that is, extreme means of deception. So, we must also be very wise to escape his deception. So, God is telling us to put on the whole armor of God. What is the whole armor?
Next verse has two portions. "13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." First portion is to take the whole armor. Second portion is what to do with it. It is just to stand. "Having done all" means that we must do a few things to receive the armor; and after receiving them, put them on; and we must stand in attention with the armor. It is all we need to do. Then the armor itself will withstand in the days of trouble. So, if we stand strong, the armor will take care of the fight and will win the war. Let us look at the armor, piece by piece. "14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;" Have your loins girt up means to strength up or tighten up our core body that is the loins. It means that we are ready to work or ready to fight. We have the 'Truth', Jesus Christ is the Truth, and his words is the truth. But religion is the projection of imaginations of people, with the support of evil spirits, and they are filled with lies. The strength of godly people is the truth and strength of the people of Satan is lies. So, our core person is being girt with the "Truth". The next is, the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is also truth. So, God tells us how to inherit the kingdom of God. The next is, breast plate of righteousness. Breast plate protects our very being, the heart and such, guarding the soldiers life, which stop bullets and arrows. It is our righteousness, and our obedience to God is our righteousness. That is, if we do whatever God tells us to do, Satan's arrows cannot pierce us. "15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" That is, the gospel will bring peace with God. So, be prepared to preach the gospel that Jesus Christ preached; to anybody at any time. It is the next armor of God. "feet shod" is to tie your shoes and be ready to step out at any time to preach the truth that Jesus Christ has preached. "16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." The breast plate is our natural obedience, which is attached with us, but Shield must be taken in our hands, and we must actively protect us with it; and it is our faith in God. What are the fiery darts? "1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Satan sent two things as fiery darts; one is afflictions and persecution that we may have to go through while on earth; the second is that he will cast doubt in our minds. So, we must have faith in God that "God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." We need every armor, and this one is very important. As the world think that we are going through sufferings, we know that we are being established by God. "17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" The two things are salvation and Spirit. Salvation is the most misunderstood word among Christians. Almost all Christians think that we are saved. We all know the half-truth of salvation. It is to be saved from the punishment of God in hell and in the lake of fire. This part is correct. But why are we punished? It is because we do sins, which is disobeying God. As long as we do sin, we will be punished. So, the true salvation is in two steps. If we receive the Spirit and power from God and use them against sin; then we will overcome sin; that is, we will not sin again. So, we will not be punished for sins in hell. And so, if we are saved from sins, we are saved from hell and lake of fire. This is salvation. This is our helmet. One more weapon is the sword; and in this case, it is the word of God. We must know his true word and we must use them correctly. These are the group of armor that God gives us to be the warier or soldier for God. Then what we do? Stand strong in the guidance of God's Spirit. And that is it.
If we are soldiers of God, he has given us the holy Spirit and power. There are many soldiers with us, in the fellowship of our brethren. "18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;" So, let us pray to God always, being connected with him in our Spirit, and praying for our fellow brethren, who are saints. Please notice, the request is to pray for all saints, but not for the worldly sinners. Apostle Paul requests the believers to pray for him also. But what he need? "19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." At this time, he was in jail, but he did not ask them to pray for his release, but he asked for more power and boldness to teach mysteries to disciples and to preach repentance to sinning people. At this point let us see how our Lord Jesus Christ prayed. "John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." He purposely refused to pray for the worldly people, if they have not repented for their sins; and in the same sentence he prayed for his disciples. "16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Again, Jesus and his disciples are not of the world, and so, he prayed for those who are not of the world, and to sanctify them with the word of God, which is the truth. Now a days, there are so many prayer ministries sprouting left and right to pray for the sinning world. They do not care about repentance, instead, they will pray that God may take sinning people to heaven and give them all kinds of blessings in this world. They call for a list of prayers from sinners, as if, they are agents for them to God and will get things done from God and for them. They may receive good offerings to do that also. It is done as ministries of Jesus Christ, and they think that they are of the Lord. If they are of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will do what Jesus Christ told them to do. But they do just the opposite, and so they are of another Jesus and of the false Christ. They are fake, and they appear as the servant of Jesus Christ, but they serve their master the devil. Now, let us see the rest of the chapter of study. "Ephesians 6:21 But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things: 22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts." He says that his fellow brethren Tychicus will tell all the affairs here, and most of all he will comfort the believers in this matter. See, even from the prison, he sends comforting message to the brethren. His suffering in jail does not matter, but he cares about the hope of the ministry. "23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen." Let me also convey the same blessings to you all. But I am not in jail, and you are not in the predicament of the Ephesians, but Jesus Christ is the same.
If any
point needs explanation, OR, if you find an error according to
scripture,
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Thanks.
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Matthew 28:20, & Mark 16:15. Jesus Christ preached his commandments to obey, as his
Gospel; it is the true Gospel to inherit Eternal life. Genesis 3:1-4 & 2 Corinth 11:2-4. But Preachers, who are Serpents of Satan, preach the life of man Jesus just to believe, but not to live as a chaste virgin, as the gospel; it is another gospel, which cannot and will not give Eternal life.The true gospel will convert evil people to do good and thereby they will inherit the kingdom in heaven
. John 3:19-21 say that people are two kinds, evil and true. Evil doers will not come to the Light, who is God; but people of truth come to God for their deeds to be made manifest. We have good and evil people by our standard of our society or culture. These evil people may be converted to be doers of truth by the power of God, and they may inherit the kingdom of God in heaven.
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Email: Pastor True Gospel
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