Strong in the Lord

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

STRONG IN THE LORD

Eph 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NIV

Well, here we are at the final instructions of Paul as he was inspired by the Spirit. We know this is because it starts out with, “Finally”. The question which is a little puzzling, is it possible to be weak in the Lord? We think the answer may very well be, “yes”. Of course, we have to consider the mighty power of the Lord. If we are in Christ and he is in us then it would make perfect sense that we would be strong and filled with his mighty power. The purpose of our having his mighty power is explained quite clearly. If we live in the weakness of our power, we would most definitely fall prey to the devil’s schemes. But we are instructed to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. We know because we have been told the end of the devil and his demons. It is a mistake to think that God and the devil are two diametrically opposed equal forces in the world. The devil, who was once referred to as Lucifer, a beautiful angel, is a creation of God who was cast to earth due to his revolt against God. The devil will end up in that burning lake of sulfur. Yet he has a certain amount of power on the earth and his schemes are designed to entrap those who reject him, and accept Jesus. Therefore we must be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. We cannot battle the devil on our own, for this battle is not like a war we humans battle with each other, but it is against spiritual forces of evil and all the powers of this dark world. There are actually four foes numerated, but all of them are in fact opposed to God and adhere to the agenda of evil. So we have to do something other than live on our own, hoping we can stand up to all the temptations we are faced with. God does not leave us defenseless. He instructs us to put on, which is something we have to do, it does not just happen. We have to put on the full armor of God. Again we cannot just put on a portion of it, as we would be vulnerable to the devil’s attack. So we put on the full armor, complete with the mighty power of God, so we can take our stand, then we will be strong in the Lord.