Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Ephesians 6 and Psalm 143

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Ephesians 6:10-20 portrays the Christian life as a spiritual battle in which our spiritual enemy, the ‘Adversary’, ‘Satan’, comes against the Kingdom Family of God on multiple fronts. He attacked the Ephesians through false teaching, temptation to sin, stoking their fears of persecution, and casting doubts into their minds. It is self-evident that deception, temptation, intimidation and confusion are still his favourite weapons today. So the apostle’s Spirit-inspired wisdom for the Ephesians remains very relevant to us.

He calls them, and us, to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” in the face of all the devil’s schemes. We know that God is Almighty and nothing is impossible for Him. When we are about His business, we can have great confidence that He will infuse us with the power to accomplish His will. Our part is to trust Him enough to step out in faith and pursue His will, knowing that all the principalities and powers of darkness can never prevail against the Lord our God! Deception cannot trip us up if we secure ourselves with His revealed truth (that’s our spiritual ‘belt’). Temptation cannot overcome us if we live out of the position of righteousness and intimacy with God given to us by Christ (that’s our spiritual ‘breastplate’). Intimidation cannot overwhelm us if we ‘shield’ ourselves with confident faith in the power of God, pull on our spiritual ‘boots’, and proclaim the Good News of Jesus at every opportunity. Doubt and confusion cannot defeat us if we will take them on with the truth of the Word of God (our ‘spiritual sword’).

Life application: Today, stand firm in the power of the Lord , and do not surrender to intimidation, confusion, temptation or deception. Meet them head on with your commitment to live out your faith, to stand for truth, to enjoy the intimacy of righteousness and to boldly proclaim the Word of the Lord in every situation. And finally … stand strong in HIS mighty power!