Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18 KJV)

This verse is the capstone to the paragraph on spiritual armour. (Ephesians 6:10-17)  Praying ties all the pieces together. It could be argued that, without prayer, the pieces of armour are of little use.

Praying Always
We are to always pray.  There is never a time or circumstance that we should not be praying. (Praying is not always out loud! C.H. Spurgeon said: “…the use of the voice is not an essential element in prayer…it is clear that audible language is not essential to prayer.” It is impossible for us to continue praying unceasingly in an audible way). To always pray is a command. It is not optional.

All Prayer
We are to pray with all prayer. Some commentary writers and other Bible versions say, all kinds of prayer.  All kinds, that is, “in public, in the family, in the closet, in business, on the way, in the heart without a voice, and with the voice from the heart”1, and using all the parts of prayer, “confession of sin, petition for mercy, and thanksgiving for favours received.”

In The Spirit
We are to pray in the Spirit, that is, “with the heart, soul and spirit engaged in it…without hypocrisy, in a spiritual way, and with fervency, and under the influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit of God.”

For All Saints
One specific object of our prayers should be for all the saints. Not just some of the saints. Not just for the lost. Not just for our own problems, our own families, our own churches, etc., but for all saints, “of every nation, age, sex, and condition, in all places, and of every denomination.”                         (CHERYL COPE)

It was the first day of soccer practice and the coach handed a ball to each player. “Boys,” he said, “I want you to practice shooting on the goal from the spots you might expect to be in during the game.” One of the boys who was pretty much there as a substitute, in fact he was player twelve, immediately sat down on the bench and began shooting the ball toward the goal.

You might say that boy didn’t expect to play much. And I suppose he was just trying to get a laugh out of his teammates. But, there are some people who sit on the bench, because that’s where they’ve gotten used to being. They never strive to be much more than that, because they don’t believe in themselves enough to put in the extra effort and practice to change their status. And because of that they’re always going to sit on the bench.

The same can be said for Christianity, it seems we have made it into a spectator sport as well. We just sit in the church building, listen to the songs, listen to the sermons and never really get involved in the game. Christians today need to realize that, like it or not, they are in the game. A battle is being fought and you are on the front lines. If you are not up and ready for battle then you are in danger of being overcome. We need to put our faith into action and get involved in the spiritual battle that is taking place around us.

It takes the FULL ARMOR OF GOD to battle with Satan. We must be active in this battle and pursue the way God has provided to defend ourselves.

The ENEMY? Well, there’s a 3-fold assault going on against us.
• The WORLD, the FLESH, and the DEVIL.
• We have our own FLESH wanting our old life back.
• We have the WORLD trying to drag us back.
• And we have the DEVIL making sure it all goes according to plan

Christians need to realize that it’s a BATTLE not a Playground. In Fuzzy Memories, the author Jack Handey writes: “There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons, but the instructor wanted $5 a lesson. That was a lot of money. I found that it was cheaper to pay the bully, so I gave up karate.”

Too many Christians believe it’s easier to pay the bully than learn how to defeat him. Might I add that many Christians, don’t realize they are living on a BATTLEFIELD and not a PLAYGROUND. It takes the FULL ARMOR OF GOD to battle with Satan. We must be active in this battle and pursue the way God has provided to defend ourselves.                              (RODNEY FRY)

Not all parents have the same success in rearing godly children. Indeed, some godly parents have children who turn out to be rebellious and disobedient to God. They have done their jobs as parents but the children, sometime under peer influence or something else, choose to live a different lifestyle.

There are some occasions when parents’ mistakes are obvious and result in “provoking children to wrath” (Eph. 6:4) or otherwise making the children unprepared for life. Here are some mistakes which parents make:

1. Too much guidance. Some parents smother their children with too much guidance. Their children are never able to make a decision of their own; they are never allowed to make a mistake and learn from their mistake by suffering its consequences. These children will be immature.

2. Threatening. Some parents take a dictatorial attitude toward child-rearing (“So long as you are under my roof . . .” ). The parents have the right to manage their home according to their best judgment and the children need to recognize this; however, when this becomes the primary means of controlling behavior, the child decides that he will live like he pleases when he turns eighteen. I have seen several families whose children attended worship faithfully until they turned eighteen and then the children left home and became wild.

3. Teaching children to put other things before Christ. I have witnessed parents inadvertently teaching their children that school work, ball games, recreational activities and jobs takes precedence over the demands of Christ on one’s life. This is done by parents who allow their children to miss worship in order to attend these events. Children are brought up believing that they should attend worship if nothing else is scheduled for that day.

4. Unfair comparisons. Some children are driven to despair and deep-seated anger by constant comparisons with others. Not all children have the same abilities. When one with little math ability is compared to a sibling who excels in math, he may work to his best potential and never achieve the same level of excellence. As parents, we need to give children room to be themselves, encouraging them to reach their own potential, not someone else’s potential.

There are many other ways that we fail as parents. Our children cannot expect perfect parents anymore than parents can expect perfect children. Where affection and love predominate, our failures can be forgiven and heal (1 Pet. 4:8).

The impact of a Christian’s life is enhanced by faithful children. Our efforts to teach the world will carry greater weight when our families demonstrate by their lives the truths which we affirm. May God help every parent among us to rear God-fearing children.                                                    (MIKE WILLIS)

Christ’s love for me is a giving love. It is a sacrificing and selfless love. It is a love that shows itself in action.

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus loves us, not because we are attractive or share some interest with Him, but simply because He loves us. So, He made the ultimate sacrifice, giving us everything – all His glory, His life – to serve us.

The Greek word for this sacrificial love is agape. I like this definition of agape love:

“Unconditional love that is always giving and impossible to take or be a taker. It devotes total commitment to seek your highest best no matter how anyone may respond. This form of love is totally selfless and does not change whether the love given is returned or not.”

Jesus doesn’t expect anything in return. He loves me when I speak to Him daily, spend time in His Word and help an elderly person cross the street. But, He also loves me when I respond with a harsh tone to my kids, yell at the person who cut me off and don’t feel like going to church on Sunday morning. His love is unconditional and is there even when I screw up.

Unfortunately, we live with a “Keeping Score” mentality in our marriage every day.
“I did the dishes, so you should bathe the kids.”
“You got to go out with your friends last weekend, so tonight is my turn.”
“Since you bought that outfit, I went ahead and got the tickets to the game.”

Sacrificial, unconditional, agape love doesn’t keep score. It doesn’t matter how your spouse responds; if you want to love like Jesus loves, you have to put yourself aside. In a sermon entitled “What is Christian Marriage,” Coty Pinckney said, “Agape is a love that gives, a love that does not demand or hold onto rights, but has the good of the other at heart. This is the love we need to work on in our marriage in order for our spouse to feel like he or she is married to Jesus.”                                                 (MATTHEW J. WHITE)

The answer to solving injustice and poverty is for us to mend our relationship with God. The only way we can mend our relationship with God is through faith in the Gospel  message. The Gospel tells us that God provided a means for our relationship with Him to be made right through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. When we believe that Jesus is our Savior, who paid the price for our sins in His once for all sacrifice, our relationship with God is mended, and we receive a new heart. A heart that abhors injustice and poverty. A heart that does not desire to assert its own selfish desire for success and power over others. If one truly follows the commands of Scripture as put forth in Philippians 2:3-11, injustice and poverty will be eradicated.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ”  (Philippians 2:3-11)

Here is the catch though, men are not going to serve others, counting others more important than themselves and take up the self-sacrificial attitude and actions of Jesus, unless their hearts are changed and sin no longer has dominion over them. Imposing a system or ideology on society without any regard for the corrupting effects of sin will always lead to failure, but exposing a man’s heart to the Gospel will lead him to be humble and self-sacrificial, even to the point of death.

So then, the answer to solving the world’s problems of injustice and poverty should not begin with an argument for Communism or Free Market Capitalism because both systems, to their detriment, neglect the corrupting affects of original sin; rather, it should begin with the proclamation of the Gospel. For the Gospel alone is the only thing that can deal with the real problem behind injustice and poverty, which is the problem of sin – “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23)
.                                                                                                 (CASEY LEWIS)

It is interesting that Paul puts these two things in contrast, one against the other. Don’t get drunk with wine, he says. This recognizes there are things in life that tend to drive you to drink. There are pressures in life, there are demands made upon you so severe that you will feel the need of some stimulation, something that will undergird you a bit, give you some confidence and add help and strength. But don’t let it be wine or any other artificial stimulant, because, he says, the trouble with that is, it so easily leads to lack of control. The word here translated debauchery is the Greek word that means without any limits, with reckless abandonment. It refers to escapism and the tendency to throw all restraints overboard and live without control.

But in contrast to that he says to satisfy that need for something to stimulate and strengthen you by being filled with the Spirit, for that is God’s provision for this need in human life. There is no need to feel ashamed over the sense of need. We were not made to be self-sufficient, independent creatures. Because you feel like you need something to help you, to strengthen you, to make you feel adequate to face life, do not be troubled by that. You do need something. But let it be the right thing. Be filled with the Spirit.

Here he touches the great secret of real Christianity, the possibility of being filled with the Spirit. When you became a Christian, when you believed in Jesus Christ and received Him as your Lord, the Holy Spirit came to live in you. You have the Spirit, but the interesting paradox is that, though all Christians have the Holy Spirit, we constantly need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the momentary taking from Him of the resources you need for the situation in which you are. It has nothing to do with an experience or a feeling or a crisis; it is a quiet drinking again and again of an inner supply of strength.

This is a truth that many Christians seem to miss. They think that Christianity means coming to church, getting a blessing, and then going away to try to live in the light and warmth of the blessing until it leaks away, and then they must come back and get filled up again. But that is not Christianity. When Jesus said of the person who drinks of Him, “Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water”, John says, “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7:39a). That is the strengthening that comes from within, and there is plenty there for any situation.

How do we react to the severe demands and pressures of life? Are we learning to acknowledge the Spirit of Christ within, and to be overflowing with His Presence?                                                                  (RAY STEDMAN)

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

This verse speaks to each of us individually, calling us to kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Yet, we must remember that this verse is not addressed to a single individual, but rather to a community, to the members of the body of Christ, to brothers and sisters in the family of God. You can see this corporate context in the phrases “to one another” and “each other.” Ephesians 4:32 envisions, not just a bunch of separate Christians who forgive, but also a community of forgiveness.

Wherever the people of God gather as the church, that fellowship should be characterized by forgiveness. This doesn’t mean minimizing sin. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Forgiveness is needed only when a wrong has been done. So, a community of forgiveness isn’t the same as a “make nice” fellowship that overlooks wrongdoing so as to “live and let live.” Rather, in a forgiving community, sin is taken seriously as a precursor to true forgiveness and reconciliation.

Yet, a forgiving community doesn’t focus on sin as an opportunity to judge, to condemn, or to ostracize those who have done wrong. A forgiving community doesn’t reward the proud who see themselves as less in need of forgiveness than others. Instead, a forgiving community is one in which all members are aware of their failures, in which all realize that they are lost apart from God’s grace, and in which all who have been forgiven by God extend that forgiveness to others who have wronged them.

Ephesians 4:32 holds up to us a vision of a forgiving community, where people fail as people always do, and where failure is not dismissed, but where failure is always a prelude to forgiveness.

As we seek to live out the biblical vision of a forgiving community, you and I have the opportunity to shape, not only our churches, but also our other communities. In our marriages and families, in our neighborhoods and friendships, in our workplaces and cities, we can choose to forgive as God has forgiven us in Christ, thus creating in miniature what God intends for all of his people.

Have you ever been part of a forgiving community? When? What did you experience? How might you help the communities of which you are a member become more forgiving? What could you do in your family, workplace, classroom, and church so as to live out the vision of Ephesians 4:32?                                                                                        (MARK ROBERTS)

Transformation    (change)    does    not   happen
by addition. Adding wings to a caterpillar will not make it a butterfly. Adding a good habit will not cancel out a bad one.

During metamorphosis, the caterpillar sheds part of itself before it can become a butterfly. The old has got to go before you can be transformed by the new.

It’s difficult to change. Even if our habits are bad, we are comfortable. It’s like the toddler who doesn’t want her diaper changed. It may be soiled, but it’s warm and it’s hers!

And, for one more example, you have to empty your garage  before you can fill it with something else.

The Bible has plenty to say about transformation. See what Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
—Ephesians 4:22-24 (emphasis added)

I like the words Paul uses. I imagine taking off layers of dirty clothing so I can then put on new, fresh, clean clothes.

Paul is one to talk about change. His own life transformed dramatically when God got his attention in a  powerful way  and  he  immediately  repented  (turned
around). He was so different that his name was changed from Saul to Paul.

You know you want to change. You want to quit your bad habit.

But you don’t want to put off your old self first. And without doing that, you will never be able to put on the new self.

Why is it so hard to put off your old self?               (W. ALBERT JAMESON IV)