Ephesians 1:1-14, In Christ

Verse 3 of the first chapter of Ephesians talks about us being blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  I found this interesting, these are not just blessings that we are given, we are given them in Christ.  Through verse 14 Paul talks about a handful of things that are ours in Christ.  So I decided to go through the verses and take notes on these things:

In Christ (Ephesians 1:1-14)

1. We have been given every spiritual blessing in heaven.
2. He chose us before the world was made
3. God made us His own children
4. God freely gave His grace to us
5. We are set free from sin by His blood, we are given grace
6. God let us know His secret purpose for us (see also 1 Corinthians 2:7)
7. God joined all things in heaven and earth together
8. We were chosen to be His people
9. God put His seal, His special mark on us (Holy Spirit)

Ephesians 1 - Blessings & Prayers

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms, with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ~ Ephesians 1:3

As I read the first chapter in Ephesians, verse 3 stands out to me.  We are blessed in the heavenly realm with spiritual blessings.  I began to dig further - what are these blessings?  As I continued to read I jotted these down:

BLESSINGS:

• He chose us to be holy & blameless in His sight.
• He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ
• He freely gives us His glorious grace (because He loves us!)
• We have redemption through His blood
• We have forgiveness of our sins
• He lavishes us with all wisdom and understanding
• He marked us in Him with a seal, the Holy Spirit.  This is our deposit, our guarantee of our inheritance!

In addition, Paul writes about prayers that he has for the Church of Ephesus.  Prayers that I truly believe the Lord has for us, even now in this day and age.

PRAYERS FOR US:

• Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding: This is God's desire, that we have revelation of Him so we may know Him better.
• Eyes of our hearts enlightended:  As we receive more wisdom and revelation of God and who He is, our hearts will begin to understand the hope that He has called us to.
• Riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints
• Incomparably great power for us who believe
• Power:  Incomparably great power - I love this.  He has a mighty power that He wants to give each of us access to through Him.  This is the exact same power that -
• raised Christ from the dead
• seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly realms - far above all rule, all authority, all power and dominion, far above every and any title ever given or which will ever be given!  It is the power that puts all things under Christ's feet and makes Christ head over everything for the Church/His Body.

As I read over this chapter, looked over my notes and prayed, a few things came to mind for me.

• God has spiritual blessings for each of us, but we must draw them out by pursuing God through prayer.
• Everyone needs prayer, even the best of Christians.  When we hear of the needs of other Christians, we should pray for them, lift them up to the Lord in prayer.  Paul continually prayed for other Christians and he continually asked for the prayers of others.  None of us is above the need for prayer and none of us is above the requirement to lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Paul prayed for other Believers while he was in prison and being abused.  None of us are ever in such need ourselves to where we should think only of ourselves and not take the time to pray for others.
• We can only get to know the Lord more through His mighty power.  Jesus is the One who supplies us with everything we need, so the more we pursue Him, the more spiritual blessings we receive.
• No matter who powerful those around us or the circumstances around us may seem, we need to remember that when we pursue God we have access to His power which is greater than any other.

Ephesians 1: God chose Me!

While studying the Armor of God, I recently dug up some old notes I took a few years ago when I studied Ephesians with my home church.  In with these notes I have quite a bit regarding Ephesians 1 which I want to share with you over the next week or so.  I was greatly encouraged while re-reading these notes and pray that you are as well.

v. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Reading this verse it struck me that the blessings we receive are not just physical, as in material blessings of this world which we often think of in regards to blessings.  This verse is telling us we are not only blessed here on earth, but we are already blessed in the heavely realms - with spiritual blessings - which we have because of Christ and who we are in Christ.

v. 4-6 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

God choosing me has absolutely nothing to do with me.  He chose me not only before I was born, but also before the world was created.  He did it for His glory and He took pleasure in doing this for me.  I am NOT a burden to Him.

v. 7-9  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.

God does not make mistakes.  He chose me to redeem and show His grace to, even though He had full knowledge and insight of what that would mean and how I would react (how unfaithful I could be).  Once again it speaks of the pleasure He takes in revealing Himself to me and His plan for the future.

God takes pleasure in Me, just the way I am.  He takes pleasure in watching me grow in Him.

v. 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Remember God's final plan in everything - to bring everything under His Son, Jesus.  Through everything God wins, there is no question regarding this.

v. 11 - 14  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are in God's possession - to the praise of his glory.

We have been chosen not only to be redeemed, but also to have an inheritance.  We were given a seal to mark us as God's - the Holy Spirit!  "A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance" until Jesus returns when we will come into our inheritance and we will bring God glory.

v 17 - 19  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of his mighty strength.

This is beautiful and this is the cry of my heart - to be given the Spirit of Wisdom so I can know the Lord better, so I can grow in my relationship with Him.  To shine a light on the eyes of my heart so I know the Hope He has for me, the inheritance He has set for me.  There is great power working in us.  The same power that raised Christ from the dead and placed Him higher than anything in this world or anything to come.
Stay tuned - more to come...

Armor of God (Ephsians 6:10-18) Establishment of Armor

Now that we've looked at the different pieces of armor and what they mean to us, it is helpful to understand exactly how do we put on this armor.  Knowledge alone does not do us much good.  Throughout these verses we are called to be active

v. 10:  be strong,
v. 11:  put on...take your stand
v. 13:  put on...be able to stand...to stand
v. 14:  stand firm
v.16:   take up the shield
v. 17:  take the helmet...
v. 18:  and pray in the Spirit, be alert...always keep praying

As Believers there are three of the pieces of armor that we already have on.  These are established by our position in Christ.  These are referenced in past tense within the verses.

1. having girded - belt - Truth
2. having put on - breastplate - Righteousness
3. having shod - shoes - Readiness/Peace

The protection of these pieces is made possible when we receive Christ.  We are being commanded in these verses to stand firm in these areas/items.

The last three items - shield, helmet and sword - we are told to take up (as in we don't necessarily already have them).  These three items help us to continue to win the battle.

A few additional items that may help in understanding each of these pieces of armor and how to don and wield them.

Breastplate - God justifies us with His Righteousness.  The enemy will often tell us, "You are not good enough to be a Christian."  My answer is, "That does not matter." 

Romans 8:33 - Who will bring a charge against God's elect?"  - I am God's elect!

We are in Christ, so we are already forgiven.  We are the righteousness of God in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:21 - God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

To confess (homologeo) means to acknowledge or agree.  As Believers we don't confess to be forgiven, we are already forgiven.  We confess in order to clear the way for the fruitful expression of righteousness in our daily lives.

Shoes - Peace/Unity
In the Body of Christ, common doctrine is not the basis for fellowship; common heritage is.  We are all children of God.  I've found some of the brothers and sisters in Christ who I've come to depend on and trust the most are the ones who I see eye to eye with the least in regards to doctrine.  That is okay, we are still part of the same body and love one another.

Helmet - Salvation
I am a child of God, and nothing can separate me from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35)

People experiencing spiritual conflict tend to question their salvation or doubt their identity in Christ.  I know, I for one have struggled with this alot in the past.  I've often thought of myself as being a "fake Christian" and thought fellow Believers were able to see right through me and see me for the fraud I was.  This was a lie from the enemy to keep me from being effective for the Lord.  As long as I was worried about whether I was truly saved and concerned with how other Believers saw me, I was not able to focus on God and the battle at hand.

Sword - Word/Spirit
In this verse Paul uses rhema instead of logos for word.  "Spoken Word" is what this means.  Why is this important?  Satan is a created being and does not know exactly what we are thinking.  He can make some pretty good guesses at times, but he can not read our thoughts as God can.  This is important for two reasons:

1. When rebuking the enemy, especially when using Scripture as Jesus did, do so out loud.  The enemy can't hear your thoughts, so you need to speak the Word of God against him out loud, just as Jesus did when he was tempted.
2. Your unspoken communion with God is your private sanctuary.  The enemy can not eavesdrop on you.

We are in a battle, Beloved and the enemy would like nothing better than for us to be unprepared.  In order to fully understand the battle we are in and the protection we have through God's armor, we must first learn to run to God and lean on Him.  The more we pursue Him, the more we will understand and be able to stand in His Power to defeat the enemy. 

I recommend reading all of Ephesians to better understand who God is and who you are in Him.  I'll be adding more from the previous chapters in Ephesians soon.  I believe this is critical because without understanding who you are in Christ, the armor does not fit correctly.  Incorrectly fitting armor leaves gaps for the enemy to sneak in and deal some devastating blows.

Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) - The Armor

At the time when the letter to the Ephesian church was written, they would have been very familar with Roman soldiers and the armor they wore.  Below are notes on each piece of armor and how important they were to the Roman soldier wearing them and how this relates to us in our battle.

One note before I start though - don't only individualize the armor.  As a church body we need to do this together and cover one another when needed.  Paul wrote this to the church, not just the individuals in the church.  We are Christ's body.

There are six pieces of armor mentioned in these verses:

• Two Offensive weapons: shoes and sword
• Three Defensive weapons: breastplate, shield and helmet
• One neutral weapon: belt

Let's talk about each piece now:

Belt (Truth)
The first thing put on by a soldier was his belt.  It held all the solidier's necessities (swords, arrows, rations, etc).  It was held/tied on in many places to keep it on straight no matter what the soldier did (run, climb, fall, etc).  If this was not put on correctly the soldier would not be efficient in battle and could loose his life.  In Roman times a tight belt menat the soldier was ready for battle.

The Truth of God's Word is what "holds" us all together while we fight.  It must be the first thing we put on every day.  We have no foundation on which to stand in our warfare with the enemy without God's Truth. 

I'm currently going to the Truth Project and the question came up the first session - What is Truth?  The answer:  God's perception of reality.  This is because our perception is always tainted.  God is Truth!

Breastplate (Righteousness)
This piece as attached to the soldier's belt, anchored to the belt by leather passed through rings on the bottom.  It was located above the belt and anchored by the belt.  This protected the soldier's heart which is the organ responsible for sending blood through the soldier to keep him alive.

If our hearts are not right with God, our spiritual lives will begin to die.  If we walk in the righteousness of God we have a defensive weapon to use against the slanderous accusations and outrageous strategies of the enemy.  Righteousness is right thinking and doing right.  We are able to do this only through God's strength, by His Truth (the belt).

Shoes (Readiness/Peace)
A soldier's shoes had spikes on the soles which provided them a strong stance and balance when fighting, especially on uneven ground.  (In martial arts the stance is one of the most important things and is what is practiced first.)  Many historians believe these shoes are one of the greatest reasons why the Roman army was so victorious.

The Peace of God will enable us to stand firm with our feet planted firmly on the Word of God.  We will be unmoved by the devil's threats, even when we are in the rough places of life.

Shield (Faith)
Roman soldiers had long, rectangular shields that reached from their knees to their chins.  It protected them from arrows and spears and could be knelt behind when the enemy shot arrows.  Groups of soldiers could get close together to make a huge circle to protect the group from fiery arrows.

The shield represents the faith in the believer in the promises of God.  The value of faith is not in the believer, but in the person whom the faith is in (God).  This faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).  God is the one who fights for us and protects us.  The more we know Him and His Word the greater our faith and therefore the larger our shield (protection)!

Helmet (Salvation)
Romand had the best helmet in the ancient world.  Other nations used cloth, animal hides, bones or hooves.  The Romans had a chin strap, a visor and covered the back and sides of the neck.  They had a leather lining to be comfortable and so they would fit well.  The soldier's helmets were made of bronze cast and the officers had helmets made of iron alloy.  A well designed helmet will protect you from various angles of attack.

The greatest battefield with the enemy is in our minds.  One key area is our assurance of our salvation.  The enemy wants us to doubt this.

Philippians 4:8:  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

We need to guard or minds, the thoughts we dwell on, because this is where we can start to walk away from God.  We must have a clear mind to be discerning in all situations.  We can only do this by immersing ourselves in God's Word and in prayer.

Sword (Spirit/God's Word)
This was a two-edged sword which could inflict more damage than any other sword.  It only had to penetrate 2 to 3 inches to be fatal.  Because of the two edges it was considered to be a very deadly and powerful weapon.

The Word of God is like a deadly sword blow to the enemy.  When we speak God's Word according to His Will, there is no power in the universe that can withstand it.  When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness he quoted His Father's Words with authority.

In the book The Final Quest by Rick Joyner, he speaks of climbing the mountain of God while fighting the enemy.  He no longer needs the sword because the enemy is too far away and he is fighting with arrows now.  But he knows he does not want to get rid of it.  He knows this would not be wise.  So he drives the sword into the ground and tied himself to it to anchor himself to the mountainside.  God's Word should also be used to anchor ourselves to God.

Armor of God (Eph 6:10-18) - Introduction

We have begun to discuss spiritual warfare at 1Peter3 and of course these verses have popped up as part of our conversations.  A few years back my house church went through the book of Ephesians together and we spent a good deal of time on these verses.  I've dug up my notes from my studies on the verses back then and thought I would share them in a series of three posts.

Introduction  - my prelminary notes regarding things that stood out while reading the verses

The Armor - when this example was given to the Ephesian Church they would have been very familar with the Roman soldiers of the day and the armor that they wore.  There is a lot to learn and understand about the Armor of God when we better understand the different pieces of the Roman soldiers armor and the reasons behind each piece.

The Establishment of the Armor - not only is it important to understand the purpose of the armor, it is important to understand how we obtain each of these pieces of armor.

Armor of God - Introduction

Ephesians 6:10-18

The first verse regarding the armor of God says "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power".  We are being told that we are not strong on our own, we are to take action (be strong), but we are not to do it ourselves.  Our strength comes from God and His power, not ours.

Verse 11 continues by telling us to "put on the full armor".  We need to put it ALL on, not just certain items.  The words "full armor" are repeated again in verse 13.

We need to remember through all of this that people are NOT our enemies.  This is very easy to forget.  Verse 12 tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces.  We've heard this many times, but we often loose sight of this as we go about our daily lives.  This is exactly what the enemy wants.  If we are busy fighting other people, hating them and becoming bitter towards them, we won't be able to effectively use God's strength and power to fight him and his forces.

Ephesians 6:10-18

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  12For 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.  13Therefore, 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.  14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  16In addition, to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  17Take 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 praying for all the saints.

Spiritual Foundations

Ephesians 2:19-22

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

Too often we forget Jesus as the chief cornerstone of our spiritual foundation. The one who joins us all together to be a holy temple for the Lord. If we leave out that chief cornerstone and put our focus on anything else (no matter how "good" it may be), we are building on perishable, unstable materials. No matter how beautiful it may look on the outside, the inside is unstable and condemned. It will not last, it will fall and crumble into ashes.

More times than I can count the Lord has revealed to me that I am once again building upon the wrong foundation. I need to keep my focus on Jesus. Doctrine, the church I attend, rules I follow, good works I do - none of them mean anything if my focus and motivation is not Jesus.

Source of our Good Works

Everyone (or at least every "good" Christian) knows the verses Ephesians 2:8-9, but last night as I read through Ephesians 2 it struck me how that is like cutting off a thought midway. While those verses are good, I really think we do an injusticce by leaving out verse 10.

8 For it is by grace you have been samve, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God - 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
~Ephesians 2:8-10

I read this and realize not only is my salvation the work of God and not something for me to take pride in - but the good works that I do for God as a result of my salvation are also His doing - "which God prepared in advance for us to do". Therefore, I can't boast of them either because without Him they would be nothing, worthless, non-existent.

Predestined before the World Began

For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.
~ Ephesians 1:4-5

Once again I find myself pondering this verse in amazement. My mind grapples with the idea that He chose me to be holy and blameless even before He created the world! The whole idea of free will and an all-knowing God blows my mind. I am in wonder. And then to know that He chose me!

He adopted me - even knowing what a mess I would make of my life, knowing how many times I would fail Him, turn my back on Him - He chose to adopt me! Why?? Because it pleased Him. He takes pleasure in me - mess and all!

WOW!!!!