Weapons that Work

Ephesians 6 is powerful, true and deserves our attention. I recently read this great article called "Weapons that Work." Check it out: http://www.navpress.com/EPubs/PrinterFriendly/1/1.81.4.html

Why the first part of Ephesians is so important!

I am struck today by the importance of knowing the first part of Ephesians. A lot of Paul’s epistles are split in half. The first part is almost always about the Gospel and the second half is about how that should shape us. The first half will be really theological, and the second half will be really practical in almost all of his writings. I think there’s an intentionality to this. If don’t truly understand the first half of the epistle, we will be just living out a bunch of rules in the second half. Whereas, if we really understand the first part of the epistle, these commands in the second half will come really naturally. Why is the first half so important. Right beliefs lead to right actions. If I don’t truly believe that my identity is a child of God, who is redeemed, an heir to heaven, then I won’t have any reason to follow the second of the epistle. Paul is reminding the Ephesians in the first three chapters of their identity. What would it be like for us to walk around believing all these thing to be true about ourselves? I think it would be awesome. I think we’d follow these commands without a second thought. Check out all the things that Paul teaches us from the first part of his epistle:

1:4 – We have been chosen by God with the intention of being righteous.
1:7 – We are redeemed and forgiven of all of our sins.
1:8 – God has lavishly given us grace.
1:13-14 – He has given us his Holy Spirit, his mark of assurance of salvation
1:18 – Hope and an inheritance
1:19 – The power that raised Christ from the dead is in us!!
1:21 – The church (us) are Christ’s body here on earth.
2:1-10 – We were dead, but now we’re alive and we will be seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.
2:10 – God has made us for good works.
2:13 – We have been brought near to God.
2:18 – We have access to God the Father by the Spirit, through the death of Christ.
2:19 – We are in God’s household
2:22 – We are indwelled by God
3:4-5 – We have knowledge of the mystery of Christ.
3:6 – We are heirs of the Gospel.
3:10 – We, as the church get to be vessels for God to proclaim his truth to the world.
3:12 – We can approach God with freedom and confidence because of Christ.
3:18 – We have power to grasp the love of Christ
3:20 – We have God’s immeasurable power at work within us.

Believe these things to be true of you today. I’m sure there are plenty of things in the world and maybe even people that are telling you differently. Telling you, you’re not accepted by God, or that God won’t work through you. Fill you find with truth, all the defensive weapons Paul mentions in chapter 6 and use your powerful offensive weapon of the sword of the spirit, (Ephesians 1-3) to combat and kill the lies Satan is trying to put in your head.