Submitting! Very hard to do. The human ego is so filled with pride and self; it just refuses to submit. Only through the power of God are we able to submit to God’s plan for our lives. We have been so brainwashed by the world we truly have no idea of the extent to which we have fallen in our human natures. I am studying in order to learn how to submit each day to God’s plan.
Too often we substitute societal norms for the will of God. For most of history wives and children were expected to be in submission to the husband and father. This was God’s original plan after sin. This was for the good of humanity. Even grown, adult children, respected, submitted and gave reverence to the father in the Old Testament. This is very plainly set forth in God’s Word.
Yet, in today’s world, the devil has so turned the tables on God’s plan that it is actually against societal and “woke” norms for children to be under the control of parents. The devil wants your children. He wants to destroy the family so he can better destroy society and the world. He loves to see people suffer. Under the banner of “equity”, “integrity”, and “a better world”, he is destroying everything God has created and commanded for our good.
Few will be saved because few are willing to stand up against evil and submit to the righteousness of God’s plan for our lives. A plan that will only bring us joy, peace and happiness.
Ephesians 5:22 to Ephesians 6:24
Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord.
If you want to know how wives submit to the Lord, just look and see how wives submit to their husbands. People disrespect the Lord just as they do their husbands. Children disrespect the Lord just as they do their parents. Marriages today are all about “me” and “my rights” and “I want”.
For the husband is the head of his wife as the Messiah is the head of the church. It is he who is the Savior of the body.
However, husbands are to love and support their wives as Jesus loves and supports us. Jesus gave His life for the church. Are you, as the husband, giving your life for your wife? Or are you demanding, controlling and exacting in your management of your family? Are you the “savior” of your family? Or the destroyer of your family? Inmates have told me how much they love their children and wives. Well, if that were the case, they would not be sitting in prison. They would be out acting as the “savior” of their family by working hard to support them. No time for drugs, alcohol, women and gangs.
Indeed, just as the church is submissive to the Messiah, so wives must be submissive to their husbands in everything.
“In everything”. That is a tough one. Easy when everyone is doing their part. When husbands are loving their wives, wives will love their husbands, and children will be willing and delighted to obey the wishes of the father and mother.
It all falls apart when selfishness is introduced into the equation. When everyone thinks they have “rights”, there is no peace, joy or happiness. This is where our society has fallen down. The state has taken over as “daddy”. Now women can have children without learning submission and obedience. Children are raised without any examples of submission, obedience or love.
And then there is that “as the church is submissive to the Messiah”. Not much of that going on in our churches. Since the churches refuse to live in submission to Jesus by living the sinless, perfect and Commandment keeping life, why should the members live in submission as the Bible commands?
Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah loved the church and gave himself for it, . . .
Do we love as Jesus loved us? Is our attitude what it should be? Are we willing to live in obedience to the plan of God no matter what those around us do? No matter what the “wife” of Jesus, the church, did to Him, He still loved her. He gave His life for her. Are you husband, doing the same for your wife? Or is your “love” predicated on what you get from your wife?
. . so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word, . . .
Husbands are to cleans and wash their families with the water of Jesus and His Word. The Word of God is to be made the center of our family’s lives. But for that to happen, it must be the center of the husband’s life. He must be in humble submission to the Word of God. Morning by morning he must kneel before the Lord, quietly submitting every part of his life to the Word of God. Then, he will be able to bring the cleansing water of Jesus into His family.
The first understanding for this to happen is, we have no rights. The devil wants you to believe you have rights. You don’t. You are a created being. You exist at the pleasure of the Creator. When you recognize that fact you will live in humble obedience to the Creator. The wonderful aspect of this arrangement is, the Creator is loving, kind, powerful and giving. He wants us to be like Him. The power He offers us is to be used as He uses it, to benefit us as we are to benefit others. Love! To lay down your life, your opinions, your beliefs, your pride, your ego and your wants and wishes for the good of the family.
I would like to inject here a concept. Throughout the ages, because the husband and father had responsibility for his wife and children, it created within the father a sense of justice and right. Today, since wives and children can do as they please, husbands and fathers lack that sense of responsibility, justice and right. Think how quickly that would change if the father was financially and legally responsible for the actions of the family.
. . and might present the church to himself in all its glory, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and without fault.
Our families are to be without spot, wrinkle or anything of the kind. That means we throw out everything that contaminates our lives and families with worldliness. We are to live holy and without fault. The less of the world we have, the less temptations. Instead of spending hours with “friends” who do not care about developing holy, sinless and perfect lives, we should spend that time with Jesus removing every wrinkle and spot from our characters.
In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.
I have yet to see a man deliberately make himself cry. I’ve never seen a man deliberately berate himself to tears. Or physically abuse himself to tears. Are we really loving our wives as we do ourselves?
For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah does the church.
“Tenderly cares for it”. Not a lot of that going on between wives and husbands. Most care for themselves. And another thing, sex has nothing to do with love. Jesus loves us, but He has never had sex with us. You can love without sex. Love has to do with character. How you use sex will determine whether or not you have love.
For we are parts of his body—of his flesh and of his bones.
When a stream is dry it is easy to reroute it. Very difficult if it is raging. There comes a time when God can no longer change the character. The “raging” is too strong. How quickly we forget that we are the parts of His body. How we treat each other is how we treat Jesus. No wonder few will be in Heaven.
“That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
Years before the “uniting”, both are to be trained in Christian principles that will facilitate a wonderful “uniting”. If they marry without those Christian principles, uniting will be very difficult. Not much of becoming “one flesh” going on in our marriages. It has become more like two worlds cohabitating. Not much peace or happiness going on. It’s more like worlds colliding.
That leaving part: leaving mother and father. There is also the part of leaving friends, acquaintances, old flames and anything else that might come between the union. Most marriages today try to bring with them everything from their past. That baggage is bound to cut the knot that unites them.
This is a great secret, but I am talking about the Messiah and the church.
Uniting a man and wife is “a great secret”. It is a bond that few experience. Only through Christ can the “secret” be revealed and experienced. And it is no different than the uniting of the Messiah with each of us, His church. It is a secret that few experience. Why? Because few are willing to let go of the baggage of the past, friends, family and possessions and go to Jesus as a bride to her husband.
But each individual man among you must love his wife as he loves himself; and may the wife fear her husband.
“Must!” Bringing flowers or a box of chocolate every now and then is not “love”. It may be a kindness or sweet gesture, but “love”? Not many husbands love their wives. Not many wives “fear” their husbands. What a sad state we are in. Inmates with children will tell you how much they love their children. No, they don’t. If they did, they would not be in prison. They would take responsibility, holding down a job and supporting the children.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.
“Obey your parents in the Lord”. The key? “In the Lord”. Without the Spirit of God in the heart there is no peace. Without peace in the heart there is chaos. Where there is chaos there is destruction and murder. Everything that is “right” and good comes from God. The devil is working hard to introduce laws taking the disciplining of children out of the hands of parents. Children are not taught to “obey”.
“Honor your father and mother…” (This is a very important commandment with a promise.)
The devil knows how “very important” it is. He is working very hard against it. Yet, the world and even “Christian” parents don’t see how very important it is.
In this ministry I work with inmates who are the product of Satan’s efforts to destroy the family order. They come from families where the father did not love the mother or children. Or, there was no father and the street became the child’s education.
“…so that it may go well for you, and that you may have a long life on the earth.”
Only when it ceases to “go well” with us and our children do we wake up to the fact that we have been negligent in our duties as parents. To look upon a dead child is not pleasant.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up by training and instructing them about the Lord.
We need more of that. Training and instruction through personal example. Jesus is our example. We are to be examples to our children. Jesus does not provoke us to anger. He loves us. It all comes about through the instruction “about the Lord”. Awesome concept.
On the other hand, being provoked to anger because you don’t like the truth, that is another matter. The teachings of Jesus provoked the leaders of the church to murder Him. But Jesus didn’t do the provoking. As a matter of fact, it was the church that did the provoking and stirring up trouble.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear, trembling, and sincerity, as when you obey the Messiah.
Let us not be “woke”. Slaves were a part of life back then. But the principle is the same today, “Employees, obey your bosses with fear, trembling and sincerity”. The only “right” we have is the right to love, care and live in obedience to everyone, as long as it doesn’t break the Ten Commandments. That’s it!
Do not do this only while you’re being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God’s will.
That is the problem today. We have not be taught how to be “slaves of the Messiah”. Therefore, we don’t know how to live in obedience to “God’s will”. So few will be saved. It is all about “me”, “mine”, “I”, “what I want” and “my rights”. Aren’t we a wasted bunch of humanity? I don’t see many in our churches being “determined to obey God’s will”. That word, “determined” is missing from most churches. Most Christians are just plan wishy-washy.
Serve willingly, as if you were serving the Lord and not merely people, . . .
We really need to study the Bible to learn how to “serve willingly”. I think that if more attention was placed on studying the life of Christ we would learn how to serve as Jesus served His Father: unto death!
. . . because you know that everyone will receive a reward from the Lord for whatever good he has done, whether he is a slave or free.
When I share with people that our eternal life is “earned”, they just can’t wrap their minds around that concept. Why? Because the churches are not of God. They are not teaching their members “that everyone will receive a reward from the Lord for whatever good he has done. . .”. That sounds like “earned” to me. Your thoughts?
Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
A lot of “threatening” goes on in our families and marriages today. The Love of Jesus is very rare. I’m still learning how to love as Jesus loved. I look at my life and weep because I am not worthy of the Love of Jesus. And yet, His grace, mercy and love has provided me a wonderful life I don’t deserve.
In the world today, DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) is very important. The “Woke” mob thinks that by dividing people and spreading hate between the races, sexes and nationalities that the world will become more loving. Jesus had the right idea, “there is no favoritism with Him”.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, relying on his mighty strength.
“Relying on His mighty strength.” I think too many are trying to be strong in their own human power. Like a boy trying to pull a locomotive. The engineer is standing in the cab shaking his head hoping the boy will get out of the way so he can turn on the steam and move the train. We really do need to get out of the way and just hop on board. We may have to shovel coal into the fire, but let God do the driving.
Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the devil’s strategies.
Not much of that going on. I have this feeling that most Christians don’t like being encumbered by the “armor of God”. I think most feel it keeps them from having a “good” time in this world. They only want to pick up bits and pieces of it as it suits their wants. We really need to “put on the whole armor of God”. Then again, I suppose that is why we are not able to “stand firm against the devil’s strategies”. The churches are not teaching their people how to live with the whole armor of God. The armor has been laid down and the devil has walked right in.
For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm.
This is most difficult for us humans to understand. Without a very close connection with Heaven, it is easy for us to get caught up in politics. I peruse the news and commentaries to see the prophecies of the Bible coming into focus. However, it can be hypnotizing and destructive. On the one hand, I want to know what is going on so I can share with people how prophecy and worldly events are marching side by side in today’s world. On the other hand, I have to be very carefully that I don’t get caught up in the emotion of politics. Fine line.
The physical politics taking place is simply the outworking of the “rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in darkness around us evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm”. All Heaven and the forces of evil are in a battle. The devil wants to control the world. We see that taking place with the Democratic party in the USA, the Communist dictatorships and the Socialist countries. Since America was set up by God in order for God’s truths to be disseminated around the world, the devil is fighting hard to destroy the freedoms of the United States of America; especially our freedom to speak.
For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm.
We are to stand on two fronts. The first is spiritually. We must make sure we are living the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life. By doing so, our influence will hold back much of the tide of evil. The second is to actually “take a stand whenever evil comes”. That means doing what we need to do physically to take a stand against laws that would take away our freedoms to disseminate God’s truth. This is not a physical fight, but a spiritual fight. Who do you associate with? Who do you agree with? Where are your priorities?
Stand firm, therefore, having fastened the belt of truth around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and being firm-footed in the gospel of peace.
Standing firm takes guts. Few Christians have guts. “Being firm-footed in the gospel of peace” is not something most church-going people want to do. Standing firm in peace is an oxymoron. Jesus stood firm, but never hurt anyone. His character was firmly set to live in obedience to God’s law. But He never used that firmness to hurt a single person.
In addition to having clothed yourselves with these things, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one, . . .
1. Shield of faith. Faith has to do with action, like being faithful. If we are faithful in living the perfect, sinless and commandment keeping life we will put out all the flaming arrows that come against us. As the flaming arrows come against us, we douse them with the Water of Truth.
. also take the helmet of salvation . . .
2. Helmet of salvation. That has to do with our heads. What do we have in our heads? Eyes, mouth, ears and a brain. That “helmet” is to keep out of our eyes, mouth, ears and brain anything that would hinder our salvation growth. Or, it is only to allow in that which will enhance our salvation growth.
. . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
3. Sword of the Spirit. In battle, the most important tool is the “sword”. In modern day understanding, a weapon such as a gun of some kind. Having a helmet or shield will not do you much good if you are not able to fight. And yet, that most important piece of military weaponry is seldom used by Christians.
In the military, hours, days and weeks are spent training to use the weapons of war. A helmet can be slapped on at a moment’s notice, not much training needed for that. A shield or body army can also be put on quickly without much training. But weapons must be used with an expertise which only hours and hours of training can provide. Yet how few Christians spend hours and hours reading and studying their Bibles from cover to cover. Some churches, denominations and pastors believe that only a portion of the Bible is necessary. That would be the same as saying only a portion of a weapon is needed. Real difficult shooting a rifle without a trigger mechanism, etc. I think you get the point.
Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request.
Having spent three years in the military, I can assure you that our objective would be very difficult to achieve without requests going back to headquarters for what we needed to carry out our mission. As we come up against the enemy, we need to pray for what we need to defeat the enemy. Maybe few know who the enemy is or don’t want to fight the enemy. We need to know what side we are on and what we need to fight a winning war.
Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints.
If you were caught sleeping on your post of duty, or not paying attention, you could be court-martialed and shot. We must be diligent in our war efforts and encourage all the saints in their war efforts. Encouragement goes a long way in winning wars.
Pray also for me, so that, when I begin to speak, the right words will come to me. Then I will boldly make known the secret of the gospel, . . .
Pray for me! I need your prayers. I need your prayers so that when I begin to write and put information up online that the right words will come to me. I want to boldly make known the secret of the gospel. What was that secret? The gospel started in the Garden of Eden just after Adam and Eve sinned. They were promised a Savior. Paul was now making known that secret, Jesus was the long, looked-for Messiah. He was the greatest secret ever made known.
. . . for whose sake I am an ambassador in chains, desiring to declare the gospel as boldly as I should.
Yes he was. We are all to be “ambassadors” for Jesus. We must declare the gospel boldly. Jesus declared the gospel boldly. No, it wasn’t about Himself? No! “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.” Matthew 9:35. And what did Jesus teach?
1) Stop sinning. John 8:11
2) Be perfect. Matthew 5:48
3) Keep the Ten Commandments to get your eternal life. Matthew 19:17
So that you may know what has happened to me and how I am doing, Tychicus, our dear brother and a faithful minister in service to the Lord, will tell you everything. I am sending him to you for this very reason, so that you may know how we are doing and that he may encourage your hearts.
Paul never thought of himself. He didn’t send Tychicus to give a pooh-hooh story about himself. He was sent to “encourage your hearts”. I’m trying very hard to follow his example. After all, He was simply following the example of Jesus. How selfish the world has become today?
May peace and love, with faith, be with the brothers, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah!
May grace be with all who sincerely love the Lord Jesus, the Messiah!
That is my prayer for each of you. I love all of you. I pray for each of you throughout the day. The battle is hard and close in. We cannot give up.