"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore ..."
Ephesians 6:11, 13, 14a (NKJV)
Sometimes if we are not careful we read over things in the Bible and we miss the significance of what is being said. A good example of this is in Ephesians 6:11-14 where Paul begins talking about the armor of God. In these verses Paul uses the word "stand" three times and the word "withstand" once, I think this is very important. We might focus on the armor and the different pieces, or we may think about how we have an enemy who will attack us, but I believe it is extremely vital for us to realize that Paul mentioned standing, in some way, four times.
Paul said to take up, to put on, the whole armor of God and stand. Paul did not say to put on the armor and hide or put on the armor and run away, Paul said we must stand. Christians need to recognize that we have an enemy, we need to put on the whole armor of God, know who we are in Christ and understand the authority we have in Christ. But, once we take our stand in faith and resist the devil, we stand, stand, and keep on standing! We need to know how to stand so we can keep on standing no matter what.
The Bible tells us that we stand by grace (Romans 5:2; 1 Peter 5:12), we stand by faith (Romans 11:20; 1 Corinthians 16:13), and that we need to stand firm in the Lord (Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:8). When we put all of this together we get a complete picture of what it means to stand: we stand by the grace of God (His ability working in us), by faith (on His Word), and in the Lord (who we are in Christ and not who we are in ourselves). No matter what situation you may find yourself in, take a stand in faith and allow the grace of God to empower you to remain in your place in Christ. Then, keep on standing triumphantly in Christ and you will win!
Ephesians 6:11, 13, 14a (NKJV)
Sometimes if we are not careful we read over things in the Bible and we miss the significance of what is being said. A good example of this is in Ephesians 6:11-14 where Paul begins talking about the armor of God. In these verses Paul uses the word "stand" three times and the word "withstand" once, I think this is very important. We might focus on the armor and the different pieces, or we may think about how we have an enemy who will attack us, but I believe it is extremely vital for us to realize that Paul mentioned standing, in some way, four times.
Paul said to take up, to put on, the whole armor of God and stand. Paul did not say to put on the armor and hide or put on the armor and run away, Paul said we must stand. Christians need to recognize that we have an enemy, we need to put on the whole armor of God, know who we are in Christ and understand the authority we have in Christ. But, once we take our stand in faith and resist the devil, we stand, stand, and keep on standing! We need to know how to stand so we can keep on standing no matter what.
The Bible tells us that we stand by grace (Romans 5:2; 1 Peter 5:12), we stand by faith (Romans 11:20; 1 Corinthians 16:13), and that we need to stand firm in the Lord (Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:8). When we put all of this together we get a complete picture of what it means to stand: we stand by the grace of God (His ability working in us), by faith (on His Word), and in the Lord (who we are in Christ and not who we are in ourselves). No matter what situation you may find yourself in, take a stand in faith and allow the grace of God to empower you to remain in your place in Christ. Then, keep on standing triumphantly in Christ and you will win!
1 comment:
Good Morning, Jim! This is a great post! I'm sure you have had many occassions to stand and see the Salvation of our Lord! God bless you!
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