Redeeming Theology Archives - Page 9 of 74

What is the “Flesh” in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4?

The Flesh in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another says, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? (1 Corinthians 3:1-4)

The primary theme of 1 Corinthians concerns the actions, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of spiritual (Gk., pneumatikois) people versus the fleshly or carnal (Gk., sarkinois) people. Paul seeks to correct the Corinthian understanding of both ways of living. On the one hand, spiritual living does not mean that a person rejects the material world and engages in practices that makes one appear more spiritual to others. Instead, the spiritual person is a mature Christian who knows that all things in life are good, pleasing, and holy if accepted with thanks, and that true spirituality is shown through love and service toward others rather than through ecstatic experiences.

The carnal person, then, is the opposite of the spiritual person. The carnal person may appear to be quite “spiritual” and religious, but they are unable to grasp, understand, or practice the greater truths of Christianity which lead us lay down our lives for others in love and service to them. The carnal, or fleshly person is not necessarily one who gives in to the passions and lusts of the flesh, but is rather one who thinks that the chills and thrills of ecstatic religion makes them superior to others.

This is the truth Paul emphasizes in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. Paul indicates that the Corinthian Christians are carnal, fleshly, and therefore, were not able to receive some of the more important truths about following Jesus that he would have liked to teach them. As indications of their carnality, Paul points to the “envy, strife, and divisions” among them. While such behaviors certainly are sinful, the context reveals what precisely was leading to these divisions within the Corinthian church.

The Corinthian church was dividing over who was a better teacher, Paul or Apollos, and who were better Christians based on whether they followed Paul or Apollos. Paul says that these sorts of religious arguments are sure indicators of a carnal mind. The spiritual person is one who overlooks such differences and works to live in love and unity with one another, as we all grow together into the church that God wants, built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:5-17).

It is indeed true that some of the Corinthian Christians were engaging in sinful sensuality (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:9-10). But when Paul uses a word to describe this sort of behavior, he does not use the word “flesh” to describe this behavior, but the word “unrighteous” (1 Corinthians 6:9). Yes, fleshly, carnal thinking leads to unrighteous behavior, which is why Paul instructs the Corinthians to hand a man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh (1 Corinthians 5:5; see Satan for a discussion of what this means).

Fleshly thinking is not identical to unrighteous living, but is rather a cause of it. When a person puffs themselves up through religious pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness, this mentality eventually leads them into various forms of unrighteousness.

So even here in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, the flesh is not described as sensual living, or any sort of “sin nature,” but is instead the religious mindset that causes people to condemn and accuse others in God’s name. It is a religious sense of superiority based on external behaviors such as ecstatic utterances and fervent conformity to religious laws. It is this same idea that Paul expands upon in more detail in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, where he writes about the resurrection.

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What is the “Flesh” in Romans 6:19?

By Jeremy Myers

The Flesh in Romans 6:19

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh …

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

… So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

The concept of flesh is prominent in the Pauline epistles. In general, when Paul refers to the flesh, he is referring to “the whole of man’s physical existence” (TDNT, VII:125). This not only includes the tissue that makes up the body, but also a person’s mental capacities, inner anxieties, and physical strength. For Paul, the term flesh “describes earthly life in its totality” (TDNT, VII:126).

As a result of this way of thinking, Paul frequently differentiates between the earthly life of the flesh and the heavenly life of the Spirit. The earthly life is not inherently evil or hostile to God; it is simply limited in its scope and understanding. The early life of the flesh lacks all of the information needed to make proper decisions about what is important in life and how to understand the events of life.

So, for example, when Paul writes in Romans 6:19 about speaking in human terms because of the weakness of the flesh, he is simply saying that he is describing how life works from physical, earthly, and human perspective. When humans sin, we do not think we are giving up our freedom to the sin. To the contrary, sin often seems quite liberating. But Paul point out that this is only because of the weakness of our flesh (or mind, in this case), to understand what is really happening.

We only gain proper perspective about slavery to sin and freedom in the Spirit through the regeneration that comes as a result of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 6:1-14). The spiritual awakening and understanding that comes through Spirit baptism helps us see the world, ourselves, and our slavery to sin in a whole new light. Prior to this awakening, the flesh is unable to fully comprehend or grasp the danger of giving ourselves over to sin. But the way of slavery to sin is the way that leads to death (Romans 6:21-23).

This concept of ignorant flesh leading to sin and death is further explained in Romans 7.

The Flesh in Romans 7:5, 25

In Romans 7, Paul also shows how the law works together with the flesh to bring about sin and death. The flesh, being ignorant of the ways of the Spirit, loves to focus on externals as a way to determine what is right and wrong. The law is only concerned with external actions and behaviors. One can keep the whole law, and yet still not have the true, inner change of heart that is wanted and desired by God. This is why God did not want or desire to give the law to the people of Israel. He wanted a relationship based on love, rather than a religion based on law.

But when the law is followed in the blindness of the flesh, it leads a person to think that they are doing what God wants, and are therefore, “in the right” with God. It further allows people to judge, accuse, and condemn other people for not obeying the law. Such condemnation and accusation leads them into a life of death. They themselves do not accomplish what God actually wants in life, but instead die to His purposes and plans for them.

Furthermore, as a result of their judgment of law-breakers, they feel justified in their zeal to call for the condemnation and killing of people whom they view as the enemies of God. The law and flesh work together to create a religion based on death. The “sinful passions” that Paul speaks of in Romans 7:5, therefore, are not primarily the passions of lust and sensuality, but the zealous passions of religion which lead people to kill and condemn in God’s name.

In Romans 7:25, Paul contrasts the law of God with the law of sin. His mind, that is, his spiritual mind, serves the law of God, but his flesh serves the law of sin. Paul has already pointed out that the law of sin is the religious Mosaic Law that is based on externals. This means that the law of God cannot be the same as the religious law. Rather, the law of God is a spiritual law written upon the heart of the regenerate person. It is not based on a list of things to do, but on a relationship of love for God and others.

The Flesh in Romans 8:6-7

As a result of living according to the law of God, all condemnation and accusation is done away with. We are not condemned; nor do we condemn (Romans 8:1-8). It is only the fleshly, carnal mind that is still focused on the externals of the religious law of sin that condemns and accuses others. This way of life, as Paul already stated, leads only to death for all involved.

But true life and liberty is found by allowing the Spirit to work with our mind and show us what God really wants for us in life (Romans 8:6-7). We live our best life when we do not allow our fleshly mind with its limited perspective to rule and dominate, but instead allow the illuminating Spirit to guide our thoughts and actions so that we love, accept, and forgive others, just as God loves, accepts, and forgives us (Romans 8:16-17, 26-39).

The carnal mind therefore, is not evil. It is not the “sin nature.” It is simply ignorant. It does not have all the information about God and His true will for lives. The carnally minded person sees only externals, and bases its life and actions toward others on the external commands of religious law.

But this way of living results only in death. It is death for the person because they are not “alive” as God intended or desired, and it is death for others because living according to the law of sin leads a person to condemn and kill others in the name of God. They think this is what God wants, but it is actually the opposite.

The spiritually minded person sees the whole truth, and knows that living like God means loving like God.

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Speaking with God in Spiritual Warfare (Ephesians 6:18-20)

By Jeremy Myers

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Although we have already learned about the six pieces of spiritual armor which Paul mentions in Ephesians 6, there is still one vitally important element left. It is not exactly a piece of the armor, but it is nevertheless, still essential for victory on the field of battle.

It is the ability we have to call in “air support” from heaven. It is prayer. Prayer is the messaging system between God and ourselves.

In Ephesians 6:18-20, Paul writes about prayer. He writes about the importance of communicating with God and allowing God to communicate with us.

As we look at this final element of the spiritual warfare, we will consider it as we have the six pieces of armor. We will look at how messaging worked for the Roman military, how it works for us as soldiers of Jesus Christ, and then finally, how we can start communicating better with God and allowing Him to communicate with us.

Messaging for the Soldier

Communication is key on the field of battle. Commanders need to send instructions to their solders, and the different commanders of different units need to communicate with each other to coordinate their attacks and to help each other out as needed.

To achieve these goals, the Roman military used a variety of methods for sending messages. When they needed to send a message over a short distance, they would use runners. Roman officers always had a team of runners whose job it was to carry messages from one part of the battlefield to another. They would deliver these messages either verbally or with waxed tablets.

But sending a runner was not always the best option. Runners could not be used when the distance was too far, when the message was too urgent, or when enemy forces were in the way. So the Roman military devised an ingenious solution for such situations. They developed a system of communication which could quickly send short messages over long distances and even to other units that were separated from the main force.

The Romans developed an early form of text messaging using two sets of five flags. The flags were bright red with the numbers 1-5 painted on them, and were fixed to poles about 12 feet in length. The military then arranged the Latin alphabet into a grid of five columns and five rows, assigning each letter to one box on the grid.

So the “A” was in the first box which had a numerical value of 1-1 (Row 1, Column 1), the “B” in the second box with a numerical value of 1-2 (Row 1, Column 2), the “C” in the third box with a numerical column of 1-3 (Row 1, Column 3), and so on. Then they would send letter-by-letter messages using the numerical values of the alphabet. At night, they used torches instead of flags to accomplish the same goal, raising one to five torches to indicate the rows and columns.

To send a message, the sending side simply had to spell it out using the flags and alphabetical grid. The receiving side would write the message down on a wax tablet and pass it on to the commander.

With such methods, the Roman army was able to communicate back and forth. Commanders could send messages to each other and to their soldiers, and in so doing, all the parts could work together as a unified whole. This was one of the things that helped the Roman military gain victory on the field of battle.

The downside to this sort of messaging was that it was time consuming and could only be used to send short messages. Rather than send a message which said, “The enemy is in full retreat with our legions in pursuit,” they would instead say, “Enemy retreat.”

Even that short message would take a minute or two to send. But it was better than no messaging at all.

However, in Ephesians 6:18-20, if Paul is indeed hinting at another tool that is at our disposal for spiritual warfare, then the method of messaging that is available to us is not time consuming, is not slow, and is not for short messages only. Let us look at what this form of messaging is for the Christian.

Messaging for the Christian

In Ephesians 6:18-20, Paul invites his readers to pray. Prayer is the Christian form of messaging. It is how we receive messages from God, and send our messages to Him. Prayer is how we ask for help, make our needs known, and seek help for other people around us.

This is the third time Paul has written about prayer in his letter to the Ephesians. He previously asked for prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23 and then again in Ephesians 3:14-21. So Paul mentions prayer at the beginning, middle, and end of his letter.

For Paul, prayer is the beginning, middle, and end of life and ministry. And in all three of these section, Paul writes that one of the main things he prays for, and one of the main things the Ephesian Christians should pray for, is power. Power from God. Power for our lives. Power to live. Power to defeat the enemy.

Why power? Because are engaged in spiritual warfare, and if we are going to stay on our feet against the enemy forces arrayed against us, we are going to need power. And one of the best ways to receive power is to pray for it. Prayer is what enables us to fight back against the enemy.

In his book (#AmazonAdLink) Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote that this world is enemy-occupied territory and that Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. And it is primarily through prayer that much of this sabotage takes place.

But many Christians don’t think of prayer as warfare activity in which we sabotage the enemy’s plans and goals. This is seen in where and how most Christians pray. The attitude of many Christians is that prayer should be a peaceful, soothing practice.

I have been in churches where there are prayer closets. Some people’s homes have prayer corners, or prayer nooks. Usually, these areas have the dim lighting, cushioned seats, and padded kneelers. There is soft music playing above, some stained glass windows, a little counter for your Bible and pencils, and a cup holder for your latte.

But prayer is warfare activity. A prayer closet should be a foxhole, with sandbags and bullet shells. Why? Because prayer is not a leisure-time activity; it is a wartime activity. Prayer is not chatting on the phone with God as we stroll through a bed of tulips; it is the frantic radio calls of a platoon under heavy fire calling for air support: “God! Send help! We need your intervention, and we need it now, or we are not going to survive!”

It is often helpful to band together with other Christians in this sort of prayer. When the pioneers headed west, they would always situate their wagons into a circle to provide better protection. We should do that as well in prayer.

When we pray, it is wise and helpful to pray with others. This doesn’t make our prayers more powerful or effective, but it is helpful to know that we are not alone in calling to God for help. We are in a war and we need to pray like it.

So prayer the Christian form of military messaging. Through prayer, we communicate with our commander, calling for help and aid, and we also receive instructions and directions from Him, for how to proceed and what to do in battle. In Ephesians 6:18-20, Paul provides several instructions about what to pray for and how to pray. So let us to see how to engage in messaging with God.

Messaging with God

(#AmazonAdLink) The greatest problem with prayer is that many Christians don’t know how to pray or what to pray for. Quite often, they have picked up some seriously bad habits about prayer from their parents, their pastor, or their church. In my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Prayer?, I write about a lot of these habits, and also explain why prayer should not be mysterious or difficult.

Prayer is not a magic incantation, where if you say the right words in the right way, God is required to act on your behalf. As I reveal in my book, prayer is nothing more (and nothing less!) than simply talking to God as you would talk to any other person.

And if prayer is simply a form of communication with God, then this means that prayer not only involves talking to God, but also involves allowing Him to talk to us. Prayer is not a monologue, but is a conversation with God.

So it is not surprising that in Ephesians 6:18-20, Paul writes about both aspects of prayer. Ephesians 6:18 provides instructions about talking to God in prayer, and Ephesians 6:19-20 gives instructions about how to hear from God. We will begin by looking at Ephesians 6:18, and how to communicate with God.

What is interesting about Ephesians 6:18 is that just as the Roman military used five numbered flags to help communicate with other parts of the military, Paul lists five things in Ephesians 6:18 about how to use prayer in spiritual warfare. Just as there were five flags in the Roman military, Paul lists five elements to praying as God wants. Let us consider them one at a time.

Perpetual Prayer (Ephesians 6:18a)

The first two words of verse 18 are praying always. The first aspect to warfare prayer is that it should be perpetual. We must constantly be in communication with God.

This is similar to what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that we should “pray without ceasing.” This does not mean that we should always be on our knees praying, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But you can communicate with God about anything, at any time, and in any place.

You don’t kneel, close your eyes, and fold your hands when you talk to anyone else, so you don’t need to do this with God either. But you can talk to anyone else as you go for a walk, drive your car, work out, eat your meals, and go about your day. So also with God.

As we go about our day, we are to maintain a constant and perpetual sense of God’s presence and say in communication with Him always.

This is the truth that Brother Lawrence writes about in his book, (#AmazonAdLink) The Practice of the Presence of God. Since God is invisible, it does indeed take some practice to keep your mind and thoughts focused on the presence of God throughout your day. But it can be done.

As you begin to develop the recognition that God is always be your side, and you can always be in communication with Him, you will come to realize that He wants to have an ongoing dialogue with you. As this happens, you will find that all of your thoughts can be transformed into prayers.

As you drive to work, you can thank him for the job you have, and the car to get there. As you walk your dog, you can thank him for the companionship of animals, the beauty of the clouds in the sky and the birds in the trees. As you eat your lunch, you can thank him for the food and the wonder of taste. And whenever you face struggles, fears, questions, doubts, or temptations, you can cry out to God for help, strength, courage, and the power to resist.

Another key to aid you in praying without ceasing is to do away with the set times and places for prayer. I personally recommend doing away with prayer closets and prayer meetings. Such places and times subconsciously train us to hold off on praying until we are in one of those places and at one of those times.

When we become aware of a need in the life of a friend of family member, rather than pray about it right then and there, we tend to think to ourselves, “I must remember to bring this up at the prayer meeting on Wednesday night.” But why wait? When a need is made known to you, pray about it right then and there! Since God is always with us, we can always talk to Him about anything. Recognizing this truth is the key to perpetual prayer.

So the first step to warfare praying is to pray always. As we go about our lives, seeking to live for Jesus and stand against the devil, we must be in a perpetual state of prayer with God so that we can communicate with Him about our needs and struggles, and also so that He can communicate with us.

But what sorts of things should we pray for? Paul gets into this next. The second aspect to prayer is that it should be petitionary.

Petitionary Prayer (Ephesians 6:18b)

In the second part of Ephesians 6:18, Paul tells us to pray with all prayer and supplication. The first term, prayer, refers to general requests, whereas the second term, supplication (some translations have petitions or requests), is a word for specific prayer needs.

So Paul is just calling us to pray for all different types of requests and needs—general and specific. Most Christians automatically make requests to God in prayer, and we often naturally transition between general and specific needs. For example, someone might pray generally for all missionaries around the world, but then also pray specifically for a certain missionary family and a specific need that they have.

Since it is obvious and natural for Christians to pray for general and specific needs, why does Paul even bring it up? I think it because our prayers are often too “physical.” Christian prayer is often limited to the physical needs of ourselves and other people. If you listen to most prayer requests of most Christians, they primarily ask for prayer about sicknesses and money. They want their spouse to recover from the flue, their mother to have a successful surgery, and for themselves to find a job so they can pay their bills.

There is nothing wrong with such prayers, for all of our needs can be expressed to God, but such prayers only scratch the surface of what God wants us to pray for. In the context of spiritual warfare, God wants us to move past such prayers for physical needs, and start praying for greater power, influence, and courage to stand up against darkness, defeat temptation, and spread the light of God’s love to those around us.

As you look at what Jesus prayed for, what Peter prayed for, and what Paul prayed for, you see that they focused their prayers on the issues, needs, and requests that would break down the walls of the enemy, give spiritual sight to those who were blinded by Satan, and set free those who were enslaved to sin and the devil.

Warfare prayer is not primarily prayer about sick family members and unpaid bills, but is about the kingdom of God overtaking the kingdom of darkness on this earth.

Sometimes, I think that we only pray for health and financial needs because these are the needs that are foremost on our minds. If you are unsure what else you can be praying for, there are a couple things you can do.

The first is to draw your prayer requests from Scripture. You can do this by praying the biblical prayers of Jesus (cf. John 17), Paul (cf. Eph 1:15-23; 3:14-21), or other biblical characters (cf. Dan 9:3-19), but you can also simply pray Scripture itself. As you read through one of the prophetic books, or any of the letters of Paul, Peter, or John, you can take the teachings and ideas in those texts and change the wording around into prayers. This is a wonderful and easy way to pray according to the will of God.

But secondly, we can also learn to listen to what the Holy Spirit is speaking to our hearts so that we can pray according to the Spirit. This is the third flag in Ephesians 6:18 about how to pray to God. As we pray in the Spirit, our prayers will be powerful.

Powerful Prayer (Ephesians 6:18c)

When we pray, and whatever it is we pray for, the true effectiveness, the true answers to prayer, come when we are praying in the Spirit. This is not a reference to praying in tongues. Instead, the context reveals that praying in the Spirit refers to something else entirely. We see this in two ways.

First, by going back to Ephesians 5:18, we remember that being filled with the Spirit means to be controlled by the Spirit. In the context of Ephesians 5:18, one of the things the Spirit does is helps us sing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Songs, hymns, and spiritual songs are nothing more than prayerful words put to music. So Spirit-filled prayer is when the Holy Spirit guides and informs the words that come out of our mouth when we pray and sing.

But secondly, and in the more immediate context, we learned from Ephesians 6:17 that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. This means that when the Holy Spirit guides the words the come out of our mouth, these words will be based upon the truths and ideas of Scripture.

Spirit-filled prayer is Scripture-filled prayer. When we pray in the Spirit this way, we can know that we are praying according to the will of God. Prayers from Colossians 1 for our families, Romans 12 for fellow Christians, and Ephesians 4 for the church will always be powerful and effective prayers because such prayers are led by the Spirit, informed by Scripture, and in accordance to the will of God.

When we pray according to the will of God as it is recorded in Scripture, this helps us learn to pray according to the will of God for things that are not specifically mentioned in Scripture. As we following the guidance of the Holy Spirit in praying Scripture, we learn what God wants and doesn’t want, and discover the way God thinks about various subjects and ideas.

This growing intimacy with the heart of God allows us to pray with better passion and certainty for other areas in our life, such as where we live, what kind of job we hold, what God thinks of current events, and how He wants us to get involved in our community.

As we go about our day, the Spirit helps inform us about how we should pray and what we should pray for. As we see a need in our community, or hear about an issue that a friend is facing, the Spirit gives us wisdom to know what words to use as we bring these needs and issues before God in prayer.

Even when we are unsure in our own human wisdom about what to say, the Spirit gives us the words to pray according to the will of God (Rom 8:26-27), so that God will respond with power to bring answers to our prayers. All of this brings great power and efficacy to our prayers, for if we are praying according to the will of God, then we know that our prayers will be answered.

After all, Jesus promised in John 16:23 that if we ask for anything in His name, it will be given to us. This doesn’t mean that if we tack on the magical words “In Jesus name we pray” to the end of our prayers that we will receive what we pray for.

No, to pray in the name of Jesus means to pray for the things Jesus Himself would pray for. It means to pray as if Jesus Himself was praying through us. When we pray in Jesus’ name, it means that we should only pray for the things Jesus Himself would pray for, which means we should only pray for things that are according to the will of God.

A similar truth is taught in 1 John 5:14-15, which says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray according to the will of God. And when we pray according to God’s will, we will receive the things we ask for. This makes Spirit-guided prayer extremely powerful!

John Wesley boldly stated that God does nothing but in answer to prayer. Wesley statement is a bit of an exaggeration, for it appears from Scripture that much of what God does, He does without anyone praying for it, but John Wesley has hit on something that few Christians really grasp. Prayer is an aspect of omnipotence that God has granted to us.

The more we pray in the spirit, or according to the will of God, the more is accomplished. There truly are some things God will not do unless we pray. When God works in human history, and in our lives, prayer is one of the central variables God takes into consideration.

Spirit-guided prayer is powerful prayer. Such prayer is the pipe-line to the power of God. Such prayer is the power that moves the world, changes history, and accomplished God’s will on earth. There truly is power in this sort of prayer.

So when we pray, it must be in the Spirit, according to the will of God. Such powerful prayer becomes exponentially more effective when we persevere in prayer, which is the fourth flag to messaging God.

Perseverant Prayer (Ephesians 6:18d)

Ephesians 6:18 goes on to say that we must be watchful to this end with all perseverance. This means that we must continue to pray and keep on praying until we have received what we have asked for in prayer.

Persevering in prayer may be one of the more difficult aspects of prayer because it sometimes seems that we repeat the same prayer requests over and over to God, with little indication that He hears or is doing anything to grant our requests.

Furthermore, if God is all-powerful, then why would asking Him for something ten times (or a hundred) be more effective than asking Him only once? Is prayer a game with God by which He sees if we really want something before He responds and grants what we ask?

Some believe that Luke 18:1-8 teaches the importance of persevering in prayer. In this text, Jesus tells a parable about a widow who is trying to get justice from an unjust judge. According to this story, though the judge tried to ignore her, the widow finally received from him the judgment that she wanted. How? She was grated her request only because she constantly badgered the judge until he gave her what she wanted so that he could get some peace and be left alone.

This is a confusing parable because it appears to teach that God is an unjust judge who ignores the needs of His people until they annoy Him with their constant requests. But we know this understanding of the parable must be wrong, for God is not an unjust judge. He is the exact opposite.

The proper understanding of this parable emerges when we realize that Jesus is not comparing God to the unjust judge, but is rather contrasting God with the judge. Unlike the judge, God is as a loving Father, a kind and gracious God, who loves to hear and answer our prayers and do what is right for us. God does not give us a stone when we ask for bread, or a serpent when we ask for fish (Luke 11:11). Instead, God loves to give good gifts to His children. So although Luke 18 is sometimes used as a parable to teach about the importance of persevering in prayer, it actually teaches the opposite.

So then why should we persevere in prayer? If we are praying according to the will of God, why doesn’t God immediately and quickly grant the requests we present to Him. There are three possible reasons.

First, it is possible that God did immediately answer our request, but various aspects of spiritual warfare are keeping God’s answer from getting to us. This, after all, is what the angel tells Daniel in Daniel 10. Daniel prayed for 21 days, and God sent the answer to his prayer immediately, but the fallen angel of Persia stood against the angel bringing the message to Daniel (Dan 10:12-13).

So although Daniel’s prayer was answered on the first day, the angel could not get through for three weeks. Daniel’s perseverance in prayer enabled the angelic realm to be victorious over the forced arrayed against them, and bring the message through to Daniel.

Daniel 10 seems to teach that what goes on in the spiritual realm may significantly affect how, when, and even whether or not God can answer any given prayer. Due to spiritual warfare, perseverance is required to receive answers to some prayers.

Second, it is possible that some requests are not granted by God because they do not fully line up with God’s will or God’s timing. In such situations, God might want us to wait until He grants our request, or to change our heart so that we don’t make the request at all.

Either way, perseverance in prayer will maintain the lines of communication with God which will eventually allow us to see God’s perfect timing for our request, or will allow us to change our heart so that it is more in alignment with the heart of God.

This bring up the third reason some prayers require perseverance. Sometimes, God does not immediately answer our requests because He wants us to remain in communication with Him. God is not playing games with us by making us wait for some of the things we request, but at the same time, God doesn’t want us to play games with Him.

God does not want us to treat Him as a giant genie in the sky who grants all our wishes the moment we rub His magic bottle. God is not as interested in giving us what we want as He is in giving us what we need. And what we need more than having our prayers immediately answered is to grow in our relationship with Him, learning to trust and rely upon Him, His wisdom, and His timing as we remain in communication with Him about His plans for our life and this world.

So when you pray and do not see God immediately answer your requests, keep praying! Don’t give up. Continue to bring your requests to God, until He either answers the request or changes your heart to see why the request does not fit His will.

God is working to bring about the answers to the prayers of many Christians, but sometimes, we give up too soon, before He can fully bring about the solution we seek. Spiritual warfare prayer requires persevere. This is the fourth flag to proper communication with God.

Purposeful Prayer (Ephesians 6:18e)

The fifth and final flag to sending our messages to God is that we must pray with purpose. At the end of Ephesians 6:18, Paul instructs his readers to make supplication for all the saints. The word for supplication is the same one that was used previously, referring to specific prayer requests, and here, we are to make such requests for other Christians. We are to intercede on behalf of other believers.

Paul mentions this because quite often, Christian prayers are self-centered prayers. When praying, we tend to focus on our own sickness, injury, job, finances, marriage, children, struggles, temptations, and problems. There is nothing wrong with praying for our needs and our concerns, but Paul wants his readers to expand their prayer horizon and pray for the needs and concerns of others as well.

We are, after all, a band of brothers on the field of battle (cf. Eph 6:10), and none of us are Lone Rangers in this battle. We need the people on either side of us to remain strong and healthy so that they can defend and help us in our times of need, just as we help and defend them in theirs.

But what should we pray? Victor L. Walter performed a study of all the prayers, prayer instructions, and prayer promises in the Bible and discovered some shocking insights about what biblical prayer looks like. For example, he noticed that many prayers were initiated by God instead of by a human.

Victor Walter also found that most prayers were for groups of people, rather than for individuals. If a prophet or apostle had an issue with a person or a solution for a problem they faced, they spoke directly to that person about it, rather than praying to God for it.

He also noted that the Bible doesn’t contain any prayers for the unredeemed. All prayers are only for the people of God. This doesn’t mean that the unredeemed should be ignored. Rather, while people pray for the redeemed, they witness to and evangelize the unredeemed.

Finally, prophetic and apostolic prayers seemed to focus primarily on strengthening and supporting what was already working, rather than fixing or correcting what wasn’t. So if a church was known for its faith, Paul would pray that their faith would increase even more (cf. Col 1:4, 6).

All such prayers make sense in light of spiritual warfare. On the field of battle, our primary concern is the health and well-being of our fellow soldiers, rather than the prisoners we are trying to free and rescue. If the solders are wounded, we cannot rescue anybody.

Furthermore, rather than send communication to God about the soldiers to our right or left, it is much easier to simply talk to the soldiers on our right and left. And of course, on the field of battle, we want those who have special skills and abilities to grow in the power and effectiveness of those abilities.

In modern warfare, snipers are commanded to spend time practicing as a sniper. The same is true in spiritual warfare. Gifts are given so that we practice and use them. These are the sorts of things we can pray for when we pray for the saints. We should pray that teachers become better at teaching, that servants become better at serving, that givers become better at giving. We do not focus on praying to fix people’s weaknesses, but pray that they become more effective in their areas of strength.

Ephesians 6:18 has revealed the five flags of sending our messages to God. But what about receiving His messages to us? Victory on the battlefield requires two-way communication. It is essential that we not only send our messages to God, but also perceive His messages to us. Thankfully, there are many ways God communicates His will and commands to us. One of these methods of messaging us is discussed by Paul in Ephesians 6:19-20.

Perceiving the Messages of God (Ephesians 6:19-20)

In the last two verses of this section on the spiritual armor, Paul has invited his readers to pray for him so that he can properly communicate to them the words of God. Why does Paul give such an instruction? Because it is through the preaching and teaching of Scripture that we hear back from God.

Just as the Roman military had people who were tasked to receive the flagged messages from other units and commanders and then pass these messages on to their own commanders, so also, there are those within the church who are tasked to receive the messages from God and pass these messages on to the people. Paul was one such person, and so he asks the Ephesians to pray for him so that He can accurately and boldly proclaim God’s message to them.

When it comes to messaging with God, it is not a monologue in which we do all the talking. No, God communicates back to us. There are numerous ways He can do this. He can do it through the inner, whispered guidance of the Holy Spirit. He can do it through angels, dreams, and visions. He can do it through Scripture itself as we read and study. And God can communicate to us through those people who are specially gifted to preach and teach the Word of God.

Though many Christians say they never hear God hear God speak to them, every Christian receives direction from God by reading the written Word of God and by hearing it preached and explained to them. Paul wanted to boldly and clearly proclaim the messages from God to the people of God, and so he asked his reader to pray for him so that he might do so with boldness.

There a few noteworthy things about Paul’s statements in Ephesians 6:19-20. First, he wants utterance to be given to him. The Greek word he uses here is logos¸ which is the Greek word for “word.” In Ephesians 6:17, in speaking about the sword of the Spirit as the word of God, Paul used the Greek word rhema, but here he goes back to the normal term for Scripture, which is logos. This means that Paul wants to provide direct and clear revelation from God to those who hear him preach and teach.

And what is it that Paul wants to proclaim? He says that his message is about the mystery of the gospel. The gospel, of course, is the good news about Jesus as proclaimed in the pages of Scripture. The mystery of the gospel is a particular truth of the gospel that was hidden for ages and generations, but which had been made clear in the days of Jesus and the apostles (Col 1:26).

This mystery was that in Jesus, there were no longer any “insiders” or “outsiders” before God, for all were now insiders. Jews and Gentiles alike were now invited to become one family, one group, in Jesus Christ, thereby forming the church. This is the truth that Paul wanted to proclaim.

Why does he want to proclaim this truth? Because this is a central truth for spiritual warfare. The lies and deceptions of the devil lead humans to war against each other. But when we realize that we are all one in Jesus Christ, that our enemy is not flesh and blood, we can then work to make peace with other human beings, regardless of their race, religion, or culture.

The mystery of the gospel is a warfare truth, breaking down dividing walls of hostility (cf. Eph 2:11-22), and the human rivalries that lead to accusation, blame, and violence. The truth of the gospel is a rallying cry about how Jesus has defeated sin, death, and the devil so that we humans, who formerly hated one another, can now live at peace with one another, presenting a united front against our true enemy.

This is why preaching the gospel is warfare activity. It is how we advance the front line against our defeated foe. As the gospel is preached, the Kingdom of God advances, overtaking the enemy fortress of deception, death, and darkness.

Indeed, Paul has firsthand knowledge and experience of this front line warfare, and he indicates this by describing himself as an ambassador in chains. Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians from prison, likely while being chained between two Roman guards. And he was in prison because he had declared the gospel, and was facing a death sentence for the same reason.

Yet Paul wanted to boldly proclaim and live the gospel, regardless of the consequences that came upon him. So he likely preached the gospel to his captors, the Roman guards, and he prepared to preach the gospel to Caesar as well.

In this way, Paul reveals the gospel truth that neither the Roman guards nor the Roman emperor were his enemies. Rather, they too were his brothers, but they had been trapped by the deceptive lies of evil spiritual forces. Paul recognizes this, and sought to proclaim the gospel to them in hopes of liberating them from the prison they themselves are in.

Paul was not the prisoner, but was an ambassador to those who were in prison. Though he might have been sent to prison by the Roman government, he knew that he had actually been sent there by God, to boldly proclaim liberty and freedom to the people who were truly in prison. And so he asked for boldness to keep proclaiming the message of God to them.

There is power is the proclamation of the gospel, for it is through the truth of the gospel that lives are changed and the kingdom of God is unveiled upon this earth. For reason, Paul asked that others pray for him to boldly proclaim the gospel.

Conclusion

On the field of spiritual warfare, we must communicate with God, and God must communicate with us. Ephesians 6:18-20 has shown the five elements to our messages to God, and one of the primary ways that God sends messages to us. Without such back-and-forth messaging, the battle would be chaotic, many lives would be lost, and God’s rule and reign would not advance upon the earth.

The way we communicate with God and allow Him to communicate to us is through prayer. Prayer is a powerful warfare activity.

Through prayer, we make our needs known to God, and call down fire power from heaven to defeat the forces of darkness arrayed against us.

Through prayer, we listen for the leading and guidance of God, as He speaks to us through the Spirit and the power of biblical teaching.

Through prayer, we coordinate our attacks against enemy strongholds with the command and goals of God, so that enemy strongholds are destroyed, deceptions are laid bare, and people are freed.

If you want to be victorious on the field of battle, do not neglect the power of messaging God through prayer.

Do you want to learn about spiritual warfare and how to put on the full armor of God? If you want to defeat sin and gain victory in your life over temptation so you can better follow Jesus, take my course on the Armor of God as it is explained in Ephesians 6:10-20. This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

Taking Up the Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)

By Jeremy Myers

The Shield for the Soldier

The Greek word Paul uses for shield in Ephesians 6:16 is thureon, which is the generic word for shield, but there were two kinds of shields used by soldiers in Paul’s day.

The first, called a parma shield, was smaller and round and could be used by moving the arm to defend a certain part of the body which was being threatened. It was about 3 feet in diameter, and was the lighter of the two shields. However, while this is generally the type of shield we think about when we imagine a soldier carrying a shield, it was not the shield of choice for the Roman legions.

The shield of choice was the scutum shield. It was somewhat larger in size, nearly four feet tall and about 2.5 feet wide, and weighed over 20 pounds. The shield was made by gluing several layers of wood together, similar to how plywood is made today, and was then covered with leather for extra protection and durability.

It was not a flat shield, but was somewhat curved so that the soldier could hide behind it if needed. This curve also allowed for rocks and arrows to be deflected from the shield, rather than hitting it directly. If the shield was flat, a rock or sword hitting the shield would cause more blunt force, requiring the soldier to expend more energy in absorbing the blow. But the curve of the shield allowed a large percentage of that power to be deflected off to the side, thereby conserving the soldier’s strength.

Due to its size and weight, the soldier was not able to move this shield around very well, and so once a soldier was in position, he would typically plant it on the ground and crouch behind it for protection while darting out with his right hand to attack enemies with his sword.

Remember, the strength and genius of the Roman military was their ability to stand firm and stay in once place on the field of battle, defending their small piece of land from any and all attackers. The shield served a significant role in this strategy.

Due to the nature of this shield, it was sometimes referred to as a “door.” To would a Roman soldier, the enemy first had to get past the door, that is, past the shield. These shields could also be interlocked by a line of soldiers to create a nearly impenetrable wall against attacking forces. Sometimes the front line of soldiers would create this shield wall, allowing a second line of soldiers to thrust with their spears over the top of the shields at the enemies on the other side. The shields could also be raised overhead to create a barrier against arrows and rocks from above.

Often, when seeking to advance on the field of battle, a number of soldiers would create a formation called a testudo, or “tortoise,” in which the soldiers would gather close together in a tight, square group, with the soldiers on all four sides creating a wall of shields, and the soldiers on the inside raising their shields above to protect from arrows and rocks.

In this way, they could advance onto almost any area of the battlefield with minimal damage, or even up to the gates of a city to set it on fire or to start tearing them down with a battering ram.

In this way, the shield also helped the Roman soldiers work together as a unit. The shields not only protected the soldier himself, but also the soldier on either side of them. The soldiers, remember worked as a band of brothers, as a unified whole, and the shields were one of the primary methods of defense for the soldiers on the shield of battle.

When a soldier fell, the two soldiers on either side would close ranks, protecting their fallen comrade from further damage, while the soldiers behind would drag the fallen soldier backward into safety and protection. So the shields were extremely effective in helping maintain unity and mutual protection among the soldiers.

Finally, the center of these shields often had a raised mound of bronze or iron that could be used as a weapon. The shield could be raised and bashed into the chest or face of an enemy soldier, causing blunt force trauma, possibly disabling the other soldier.

In light of all this, Paul’s choice of words in Ephesians 6:16 is interesting. He introduces the shield in a way that is unique from the other pieces of armor. He says, above all, taking the shield of faith. Some Bible translation say, “in addition,” which loses some of the force of what Paul appears to be saying. When Paul talks about the shield, he is not just writing about another piece of armor we are to take up and put on. He wants this one to be above all.

This doesn’t mean the shield is the most important piece of armor, for all of the pieces are critically important. Instead, Paul means that the shield is above all, over all, before all, or in front of all. The shield is the first line of defense for the Roman soldier. It was “the door.” You can’t get to the soldier unless you first all get past the door.

To get to any other piece of the armor, or to get to the soldier himself, the enemy had to get past the shield first. The shield not only protected the body of the soldier, but the other pieces of armor as well. Since the shield was over all, in front of all, and above all, the shield protected everything.

Specifically, Paul says in Ephesians 6:16 that the shield is the primary form of defense against the fiery darts of the wicked one. These fiery darts Paul writes about were the most advanced weapons in Paul’s day.

Archaeologists have discovered that some arrows and spears had tips made of a combustible material which was then lit on fire and shot or thrown into the enemy forces where it would ignite or even explode. Military forces also used some arrows and spears with hollow tips which were then packed with this combustible material. When it struck a soldier or a shield, it would splatter and burn.

This was before the days of gunpowder, so these weapons were ingenious and effective at decimating enemy forces. These fiery darts came in quickly so they were hard to see, and when they hit, they would burn or explode.

But Paul says that the shield is effective at quenching the most dreaded and cunning weapons of his day. They come in too quickly to react, but if the soldier has his shield in place, then he doesn’t need to see the flaming darts, for the shield will stop them.

In this way, the shield protected the Roman soldier from all sorts of attacks; the swords and spear attacks he could see, the rock and arrow attacks from above, and the flaming dart attacks that came in too quickly to see. The shield was above all and over all, protecting the soldier himself as well as the soldiers on either side.

So that how the shield worked and functioned for the Roman soldier in Paul’s day. Let us now consider what the shield is for the Christian.

The Shield for the Christian

(#AmazonAdLink) Paul states in Ephesians 6:16 that the shield is faith. He instructs us to take up the shield of faith. So what is faith? How do we get faith? And how do we know that we have faith? For example, since Scripture tells you to believe in Jesus for eternal life, how do you know that you have really believed? I have written a book on (#AmazonAdLink) the topic of faith, which answers these sorts of questions in much more detail, but let me summarize the content of that book for you here.

Many people are confused about what faith is, how faith works, and how to know if they have really believed something. Part of this confusion is because there are numerous popular illustrations used to describe faith which really only just obscure the reality of faith.

There is the illustration of the man pushing a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls, saying that unless people get into the wheelbarrow with him, they don’t really believe he can do it. There is the illustration of faith as a deck of cards so that if you pull one out, the entire deck comes tumbling down. There is an illustration about faith being one wing on an airplane, with good works being the other wing, so that you need both to properly fly. All of these illustrations mislead and confuse people about the true nature of faith.

Then there are adjectives used to describe faith, such as head faith, heart faith, temporary faith, spurious faith, false faith, small faith, great faith, and numerous others which usually only create confusion about the nature and character of faith. Curiously, only two of those—small faith and great faith—are biblical and even these two are widely misunderstood and misapplied.

So what is faith?

Faith, as taught in the Bible, can be defined as a reasonable certainty about any truth claim or statement of fact.

In other words, if you know that something is true, then you believe it. We believe, or have faith, when we agree or give assent to a factual statement.

If you know that the earth is round, then you believe the earth is round. If you know that 2+2=4, then you believe that 2+2=4. If you know that the sky is blue, then you believe that the sky is blue.

So we have faith about something when we know it to be true. I know this explanation might raise more questions than it answers, and if so, I direct you to my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith? Let us turn now to see how to get faith, grow our faith, and know that we have faith so that, as Paul writes, we can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And what are these fiery darts of the wicked one? While looking at how the shield worked for the Roman solider we also briefly considered how the fiery darts and flaming arrows functioned on the field of battle, so what are these fiery darts for Christians in spiritual warfare?

Since the wicked one is a reference to Satan and the wicked forces that Paul mentioned in Ephesians 6:12, the fiery darts are the weapons that Satan uses to trick and deceive us.

We previously discussed the one tactic and the three types of temptations the devil uses in sending these temptations. The wicked forces arrayed against us always questions the promises of God in an attempt to get us to fall prey to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Yet even though we know what sort of weapons these wicked forces use, it doesn’t mean that we are always ready for them when they come. They are fiery darts that come in quickly and without warning.

Sometimes they come one at a time, like sniper fire from afar, while other times they fall in a heavy barrage, as a storm of arrows falling from the sky. When the hit, they are painful and destructive, causing great devastation in our lives.

Thankfully, the shield of faith causes the flaming darts to lose their fire and their force. The shield is able to protect us from each and every one of the trick, traps, and temptations that the devil sends our way. Not just some of them, but all of them.

And the shield doesn’t just stop the arrows; it is able to quench them. It snuffs out the flame of the fiery darts so that when they strike the shield, the shield does not burn, but remains intact and able to defend us on the field of battle.

But, just as with all the other pieces of armor, this protection is not automatic. Just as we have to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the sandals of the gospel, so also we have to take up the shield of faith.

Taking up the Shield

Before we look at how to take up the shield of faith, it is important to be reminded that, just like all the other pieces of armor, this piece also is from God’s armory. The image of faith as a shield is everywhere in Scripture, but with a small twist.

For example, when we read that Abram believes God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness, we are told in Genesis 15:1 that God Himself will be Abram’s shield. God will protect Abram as Abram places faith in God.

We find this same idea throughout the entire Old Testament. The concept of God being our shield when we place faith in Him is found at least twenty times in the book of Psalms alone. Over and over again, God is described as our shield and fortress, the One who protects us from the enemy. In Psalm 91:4, God’s faithfulness itself is described as a shield, and in Psalm 76:3 we read that God breaks the arrows of our enemies. In Proverbs 30:5, we read that God is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

So the little twist or surprise in Ephesians 6:16 is that when Paul tells us to take up the shield of faith, we learn from the Old Testament that the shield is actually God Himself. When we believe in Him and His promises, it is He Himself that protects us.

Think about what this means.

Remember that the shield Paul has in mind was like a wall, or a door, behind which the Roman soldier hid. The shield was considered to be the first line of defense. For an enemy to get to the soldier, the enemy first had to get past the shield.

But with God as our shield, what have we to fear? Nothing! There is nothing that is large enough, powerful enough, or strong enough to get past God when He has set Himself to protect us from harm.

Therefore, as Christians, we have nothing to fear from Satan, or wicked men, or future events. God is on our side. To get through to the other pieces of armor, the enemy has to get past God first.

As Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39, nothing in death or life, among the angels, principalities, or powers, in the present or the future, in heaven above or the depths below, nor any created thing, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He shields us and protects us from all such things.

Like the shepherd protecting the sheep in the pen by laying himself down as the door so wolves have to go through the shepherd to get to the sheep (cf. John 10:11-18), so also any fiery dart of temptation that comes our way has to first go through God, because He is our shield; He is our door.

When temptations do get through, and when we get wounded by the fiery darts of the devil, it is because we have dropped our shield. The only way the fiery darts of temptation get past the protective shield of God is when we have not properly taken up the shield of faith, as Paul instructions in Ephesians 6:16. When the shield drops, when we let down our guard, it is then that the fiery darts are able to get through and wound us.

So how do we take up the shield, and how do we keep it up? Since this is the shield of faith, we take it up by believing in what God has said. The more we believe, the more effective our shield becomes at protecting us from the fiery darts of the wicked one.

As we believe in God’s Word, God’s promises, and the truth revealed by God in Scripture, we are taking up the shield of faith and gaining the protection God provides.

But this is where the problem begins, because some people think that faith has to be “all or nothing.” I have talked with numerous people throughout the years who want to believe the Bible and what God has said, but there are some things in the Bible that they just cannot believe, such as the idea in Genesis 5:27 that Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, or that the world was created in six days (Gen 1), or that an ax head could actually float on water (2 Kings 6:1-7).

Some people don’t believe in God or some of the various truths of Scripture because they cannot believe that God would allow bad things happen in this world, or that God wants blood sacrifice and commanded the genocide of the Canaanites (I don’t believe God wanted the genocide of the Canaanites either … but I do believe God wanted the historical record of Canaanite genocide in the Bible… I will explain why in a future book).

And since they cannot believe some of these more difficult truth claims of Scripture, they decide they cannot believe any of it. They stop believing in God, in Scripture, and in what Jesus has showed us through His life, death, and resurrection. As a result, they drop their shield of faith entirely, and leave themselves open to the attacks of the devil.

But thankfully, faith does not work like this.

Biblical faith is not an “all or nothing” house of cards. It is completely possible to believe some, or many, of the things taught in the Bible, while being unsure about, or even not believing, many other ideas and concepts of the Bible.

Nobody becomes a Christian by knowing and believing everything in the Bible.

We become a Christian by knowing and believing a few simple facts about God, ourselves, and Jesus. We become a Christian by believing in Jesus for eternal life. Our shield of faith strengthens as we build upon these facts over time and as we come to learn and believe more truths from Scripture.

In other words, our set of beliefs grow over time as we follow Jesus on the path of discipleship and as believe more of what God has revealed in the Bible.

So to grow our faith, to walk by faith, to live by faith, and to take up the shield of faith, we must begin with the facts and truths we know to be true, and then build upon these ideas with more truths and ideas from Scripture.

Building our faith in this way allows our faith to act as a shield against the tricks, traps, and fiery darts of the devil. Our enemy tries to get us to doubt God’s promises and fall into the pitfalls of sin.

When we begin to think that God cannot love us because of what we have done, we can remember the promise of God in Romans 8:38-39 that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God.

When we are tempted to think that God cannot forgive some sort of sin we have committed, we can remember the truth of Scripture that God has already forgiven us for all sins we have committed, past, present, and future (Col 2:13).

If you ever begin to wonder if you matter to God, all you need to do is believe the promises that God knows your name (Isa 43:1), knows every detail about you, even to the point of numbering the hairs on your head (Luke 12:7), has specifically gifted you with special talents and abilities so that you can serve a significant role in His plan for the world (1 Cor 12; Rom 12; Eph 4; 1 Pet 4), and wants nothing but the best for you and your life and He works nonstop to bring these good plans to fruition in your life (Prov 3:5-6; Heb 13:20-21; Jas 1:5).

When temptations to sin come our way, we can believe the promises of God that sin only leads to destruction (Matt 7:13-14; Rom 6:23; Jas 1:15).

When we face doubts about whether or not we have eternal life, we can remember the numerous promises of Jesus that anyone who believes in Him has everlasting life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).

Do you see? As we come to learn and believe these promises of God, they become a shield and a barrier protecting us from all the lies of the devil.

Faith in the promises of God keeps us bold and strong in the face of sin, temptation, and doubt. This is why faith is so important to our life as a Christian.

Believing what God has said is the shield that protects us from the darts of the devil which question and challenge what God has said.

So where are you at with your faith? What is it that you believe? Start with the basics, and then go from there.

For example, do you believe that God exists? This is a basic biblical belief, but many people are not sure that there is a God. But a person cannot move on to believe much of anything in the Bible until they first believe that God exists. Thankfully, there are ways to learn that God does indeed exist, such as (#AmazonAdLink) books on apologetics and various evidences for the existence of God.

And once you come to believe that God exists, you can move on from that belief and add further beliefs to your system of beliefs. You will come to believe that God wants to communicate with humans, as He has done in various ways, such as through Jesus and the revelation of Scripture.

You will come to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, and that Jesus explains how to receive eternal life and live this present life in the best way possible. You will learn how to treat other people with love, grace, and forgiveness.

As you learn all these things, you come to believe them, because you see that they are true. And as you develop this ever-widening system of beliefs that are based on the truth reveled in Scripture and through Jesus Christ, your shield of faith becomes ever-more effective at protecting you from the fiery darts of the wicked one.

The temptations and doubts he shoots at you are quenched before they can reach your mind and heart.

God, as our shield, protects us from all harm. Living by faith in the promises of God eventually allows you to walk by faith in what God has said He will do, for you know that God is on your side and God will do what He has said.

So take up the shield of faith. Believe in what God has said. Then go forth with the certain knowledge that victory is at hand.

Putting on the Sandals of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:15)

By Jeremy Myers

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In Ephesians 6:15, Paul instructs Christians to “shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” This is another piece of the armor of God, even though Paul doesn’t specifically mention a piece of armor. Since he writes about having something on our feet, he is clearly referring to the sandals that Roman soldiers wore into battle.

So Ephesians 6:15 is referring to the Sandals of the Gospel. And as we did with the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness, we will consider the sandals in three ways.

First, we will look at how the sandals were used by the Roman soldiers in battle. Second, we will consider how Christians are to use them in spiritual battle. Finally, we will learn how Christians can put on the sandals of the gospel as we fight alongside Jesus in spiritual warfare.

The Sandals for the Soldier

The sandals of the Roman soldier were very similar to some sandals you might see today. They were made primarily from leather and were fastened to the feet with leather cords that went around the ankle and partway up the calf.

Upon initial inspection, the sandals appear to be quite flimsy, providing little protection or stability to the soldier. But such was not the case.

The sandals were light and airy, which allowed the feet to breathe and stay cool and dry, even when the soldier marched, worked, or stood guard all day long.

While a soldier might have sore feet after marching 25 miles, they would not have blisters, and they would quickly and easily dry after marching through a stream or river. The leather strips were designed in such a way so that they did not rub or cause sores on the feet, ankles, or calves.

One aspect of the sandals, however, made them essential pieces of armor for the Roman soldier, and this aspect to the sandal set these sandals apart from those that the average Roman citizen might wear around town or in the marketplace.

The Roman soldier sandals were fitted with metal spikes on the bottom of the sole. These spikes helped them maintain their footing. The spikes allowed them to—in the words repeated four times in Ephesians 6:10-14—stand firm in the battle.

Often, the soldiers would be fighting in slick or muddy terrain. The grass and soil might get trampled and become slippery with dew, rain, or blood. The spikes on the bottom of the sandals helped the soldier maintain his footing in battle. It helped the soldier stand firm.

It is similar to the shoes that many athletes wear today. Track, soccer, football, and baseball shoes all have some sort of spikes or plastic knobs on the bottom to help the athlete maintain their speed and footing while playing on the field.

The sandals of the Roman solider provided similar stability. While they sandals did not provide much in the way of protection, they certainly helped soldiers stay on their feet in the midst of battle. After all, a soldier flat on his back because he tripped or slipped is at a great disadvantage to an enemy solider who is still on his feet.

So these sandals had one purpose: to keep the soldier on his feet.

The spikes and studs on the bottom of the sandals were also used as weapons. When enemy soldiers fell before an advancing Roman legion, the Roman soldiers would stomp on the fallen combatants, thereby inflicting greater harm and damage on the soldier, making it much less likely for them to rise up and fight again.

What then are the sandals for the Christian?

The Sandals for the Christian

In Ephesians 6:15, Paul states that the sandals are the preparation of the gospel of peace.

There are three key terms in this phrase that must be considered before we can know what the sandals are for the Christian: preparation, the gospel, and peace. Let us consider the central term first, the gospel.

The word gospel means “good news,” and when it is used on Scripture, it refers to all the good news about Jesus.

The gospel is not just the good news about everlasting life and how to spend eternity with God. The gospel is also about how to live this life now, in friendship and fellowship with God and with each other, and also in fulfillment of who God made us to be. The teachings and example of Jesus show us the truth about all such things.

So the biblical gospel is every truth related to the person, work, and teachings of Jesus Christ, not just about how to gain eternal life, but also how to live our lives now as God wants and desires.

Lots of people get confused about what the gospel is and how to share it with others. That is why there is so much confusion in Christianity today about the nature and message of the gospel.

And while it is true that the gospel is centered on the person, work, and teachings of Jesus Christ, it is essential to recognize that there is one central truth of the gospel which forms the foundation for all other gospel truths.

The one central gospel truth is this: Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.

This truth can be stated in various ways. For example, we could say, as Paul does, that justification is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, or as we read numerous times in the Gospel of John, eternal life is by faith alone through Jesus Christ alone.

The gospel is good news and this is the best news there is. But you must get this central truth firmly set in your mind before the rest of the gospel makes any sense. If this central gospel truth is not firmly planted in your life and theology, the gospel of good news quickly becomes bad news.

You see, there are lots of Christians who think that in order to gain eternal life, or keep eternal life, they have to perform a set of good works.

Some Christians think they have to get baptized, or attend church, or read their Bible and pray every day. Others believe that they have to live a good life and try to obey the Ten Commandments in order to keep their eternal life or prove that they have it.

But as soon as they start to add these sorts of good works to the central promise of the gospel, eternal life is no longer free, but becomes something we have to work for in order to gain or keep.

And when eternal life is something we have to work for, it is no longer attainable, because we can never be good enough, or work hard enough to gain, keep, or prove that we have eternal life.

Eternal life is based solely and completely on the promise of God that He gives eternal life to anyone and everyone who simply and only believes in Jesus for it (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47). Only by recognizing the freeness of the gospel are we then able to live our lives with assurance, stability, and peace.

This is why Paul calls refers to the gospel as the gospel of peace.

Once we know that we have eternal life through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, peace enters into our lives because we no longer have to worry about where we stand with God.

We no longer have to strive to perform enough good works.

We can know with complete certainty and assurance that we are part of the family of God, that He has accepted us and welcomed us into His family, and that there is nothing we can do to separate ourselves from His love (Rom 8:38-39).

There is great peace in knowing that we are safe and secure in the arms of God.

When you do not know that you are safe, your life becomes filled with doubt and fear, which causes you to stumble and fall into the mud and muck of life. You also become fearful of stepping out in faith to follow Jesus into dark and dangerous places on the battlefield of life.

If you don’t know for sure that you have eternal life, or if you are afraid that there is something you can do which will cause you to lose your eternal life, then you will become immobilized with fear.

But when you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are safe, then you can step out in faith to follow Jesus wherever He leads, because you know that He will never let you fall, that you are safe and secure with Him.

Such knowledge will also allow you to interact with other people in ways that bring peace to their lives also.

Paul calls these sandals the gospel of peace, and this is not just peace with God, and personal peace in your life, but also peace with other people.

Ephesians 2 is all about how Jesus created peace on the cross, not just between God and ourselves, but also between ourselves and all other people on earth. Jesus broke down the religious dividing walls of hostility that exist between various groups of people.

Jesus showed us, through His sacrificial death on the cross, how to die to ourselves and create peace with other people.

So the gospel truly is a gospel of peace. It brings peace to our own lives, and it also creates peace between ourselves and other people.

So the gospel of peace is the good news about Jesus that leads to peace in all areas of our lives.

The third key term, then, is preparation.

Paul writes that we are to shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The sandals are not precisely the gospel itself. Rather, the sandals are the preparation of the gospel.

The preparation of the gospel is accomplished in two ways. We become prepared in the gospel by first knowing what the gospel message is, and then secondly, by preparing and planning to share it with others through our words and our actions.

Just as the sandals helped keep the soldier on his feet in battle, being prepared to share the gospel with others will help you stay on your feet as a Christian.

If you are not really clear what the gospel is, and if you don’t really know how to share the gospel with others, then you don’t really know if you yourself have believed the gospel or if you have believed the right thing, or believed enough.

We must, as Peter writes, always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks to give the reason for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15).

Just like with the other pieces of spiritual armor, it is not enough to own the sandals, you have to put them on. In order to get firm footing on the slippery ground of life in this world, you need to put on your sandals.

You need to get those steel-studded soldier sandals so that you can have firm footing and not slip around in fear and uncertainty while on the field of battle. And Paul says we put on the sandals by being prepared with the gospel of peace.

You must be prepared by knowing how the gospel impacts your own life, and you must be prepared in knowing how to share and live the gospel with others. This is what we learn in the final section: how to strap the sandals of the gospel on your feet.

Putting on the Sandals

We already know from the previous section what the gospel is, but it is important to elaborate on the gospel a little bit further in order to properly prepare ourselves with the gospel.

The gospel is every truth and concept related to the person, work, teaching, and ministry of Jesus Christ.

This means that there are thousands and thousands of gospel truths. After all, since the entire Bible is somehow related to the person and work of Jesus Christ, this means that every biblical truth is a gospel truth.

Since there are so many gospel truths, this is why the gospel presentations of Christians becomes so garbled. Some Christians prefer to share one set of truths, while other Christians prefer to share a different set of truths.

For example, many Christians like to talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus. And these are good things to talk about, for they are gospel truths (cf. 1 Cor 15:1-8). But other Christians like to get into prophecies about Jesus, or how all people are sinners in need of grace. These too are gospel truths and can be mentioned.

But you can see how it gets confusing for Christians and non-Christians alike. One person shares one set of gospel truths and another person shares a different set, and both claim that they are sharing the gospel.

But if we can focus on one central idea, this helps bring every gospel explanation into proper focus. There is one central gospel truth to which all other gospel truths point, and it is this: Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who believes in Him for it.

Or to state it another way, eternal life is received by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

This is the central truth of the gospel which must always be kept in mind, and which must always be our focus. Once we keep this truth in the center, all other gospel truths flow from it and support it.

So is it true that Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead? Yes. And you can share these gospel truths with people if you want. These truths helps support and defend the idea that the promise of Jesus can be trusted. If Jesus was just any other person, then when He died, He would have stayed dead.

But the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead, proves that Jesus was who He said He was, and is able to offer what He offered, namely, eternal life. The death and resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus can give eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.

Can we talk about prophecy and human sinfulness? Sure! Prophecy about Jesus helps show that God was planning and preparing the world for the truth that would come through Jesus, which is that we don’t need good works and religion to earn our way back into God’s good graces.

From the very beginning, God predicted and promised that He would send a Messiah who would show the world the one true way back to Him, which is through faith alone in Jesus. Due to our sinfulness, we can never be good enough to work our way into God’s family, so He freely welcomes us into His family when we believe in Jesus.

Do you see how the one central truth of the gospel helps bring clarity to every other truth of the gospel? The truth of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is the central, unifying truth of the gospel which pulls all of the rest of the gospel truths together into a coherent whole.

When you keep this central truth in mind, you can share a lot of other gospel truths with others without sounding like you are speaking gibberish. You can share a lot of truths, or a few truths. You can answer questions and objections they might have. The gospel becomes simple to share with others, because you no longer have to worry if you have shared enough truth or the right truth. You have one simple truth to share, and everything else flows from that.

When you share the gospel with others, keep it simple and keep it scriptural. Share the central gospel truth with others the same way Jesus did. Whenever Jesus told someone about how to receive eternal life, He told them to believe in Him for it. If this was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us. We do not need to try to change these words or improve upon them. For example, I hear many Christians invite others to do one of the following things:

Believe and ___________ (Repent, confess, be baptized, etc.).
Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Repent of your sins.
Confess your sins.
Be sorry for your sins.
Be willing to give up your sins.
Confess Christ.
Follow Christ.
Accept Jesus as your personal savior.
Commit/submit/surrender your life to Christ.
Put Christ on the throne of your life.
Turn your life over to Christ.
Give your heart/life to Christ.
Let go and let God.
Believe in God.
Have faith.
Believe that Jesus died on the cross.
Ask/invite Christ into your heart/life.
Pray this prayer.
Walk an aisle.
Come forward.
Raise your hand.
Sign this card.

Some of those things are good things to do. Some of them are even biblical things to do. But not a single one of those is stated anywhere in the Bible, or ever used by Jesus, Paul, or any other biblical author, as a way to receive eternal life.

In fact, a person can do or believe every single one of the items on that list, and still not believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Some of the items on that list are good works, so when we use them, we are telling people to perform good works in order to receive eternal life.

So when Christians start to use practices and phrases like these as a way to share the gospel, it gets confusing for them and for those who hear us.

Rather than use such muddled messages, let us use the words that Jesus used and simply invite people to believe in Jesus for eternal life. It’s simple; it’s clear; and it’s biblical.

Now, this central gospel truth about eternal life also helps us in our own life. As indicated earlier, it helps keep us on our feet as followers of Jesus. If you don’t know that you have eternal life, then you will be uncertain about what you need to do, or how good you need to be, in order to gain eternal life.

This uncertainty creates much fear and instability in your life.

But once you believe in Jesus, and you know that you have eternal life as a result, you no longer have to worry about whether you are doing enough, or obeying enough, or performing enough good works.

Instead, you can step out in faith to follow Jesus without fear because you know that He will keep you safe and secure, no matter what.

Once we know we have eternal life in Jesus, we can begin to practice all the rest of the gospel truths that are contained in Scripture. After all, if the gospel contains every truth related to the person and work of Jesus Christ, and since many truths related to Jesus are about how to live our life here and now, then this means that the gospel contains many truths about how we are to live.

The gospel is not just about what we believe or what we say, but also about what we do.

But again, if we think that we need to live a certain way in order to gain or keep eternal life, then we will live in constant fear and will never be surefooted on the field of spiritual battle.

But maintaining a hold on the central truth of the gospel, that eternal life is the free gift of God to anyone who believes in Jesus for it, helps us then maintain a proper perspective on the purpose of every other gospel truth. Many of the other gospel truths are given to help us live in this life the way God wants and desires.

When we live out the truths of the gospel, we will get rid of sin in our lives, because sin trips us up and causes us to stumble into the muddy ground at our feet. When we live out the truths of the gospel, we will love our enemies, forgive others, and serve those who mistreat us and abuse us.

In other words, we will be creating pockets of peace in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We will be standing on our feet in the field of battle, living out the truths of the gospel of peace with those who surround us. We will have our feet firmly planted on the ground.

So do you have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace?

You must first know that you have eternal life by faith in Christ.

This will then allow you to know how to simply and clearly share this message with others.

And finally, the clear and central gospel message will enable you to live out the rest of the gospel in your life right now.

This is how you shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Knowing the central truths of the gospel, knowing how to share it with others, and knowing how to live in light of the gospel will greatly aid you in staying on your feet during spiritual battle. It will keep you from becoming muddled and unclear as you bring good news of peace to a world that needs to hear.

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What is the “Flesh” in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4?

The Flesh in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

What is the “Flesh” in Romans 6:19?

The Flesh in Romans 6:19

The Flesh in Romans 7:5, 25

The Flesh in Romans 8:6-7

Speaking with God in Spiritual Warfare (Ephesians 6:18-20)

Messaging for the Soldier

Messaging for the Christian

Messaging with God

Perpetual Prayer (Ephesians 6:18a)

Petitionary Prayer (Ephesians 6:18b)

Powerful Prayer (Ephesians 6:18c)

Perseverant Prayer (Ephesians 6:18d)

Purposeful Prayer (Ephesians 6:18e)

Perceiving the Messages of God (Ephesians 6:19-20)

Conclusion

Taking Up the Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)

The Shield for the Soldier

The Shield for the Christian

Taking up the Shield

Putting on the Sandals of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:15)

The Sandals for the Soldier

The Sandals for the Christian

Putting on the Sandals

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