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In this letter written to the Community of Messianic Jews and Christians in Ephesus, the Lord’s divinely inspired representative taught them that God has blessed us with amazing spiritual blessings. With the coming of the Messiah, the Lord is doing something new. He is ending humanity’s divisions and creating one new man, a new united humanity made up of Jews and peoples from the nations. God is living in this community in a very special way. Everyone in this community shares a tremendous, multi-faceted unity with the Three-In-One God and with each other. We need to make every effort to maintain the unity of the community. We are to live a life worthy of our positions as the honorable sons and daughters of a holy and glorious God. Good character and virtuous living are essential. We are to have a high level of ethics and morality. Sexual immorality and greed are to be avoided like the plague.
As to relationships, we are to treat everyone in the right way, especially the members of the Community of Salvation. We are to humbly submit to each other, and to the God-ordained leaders of the community. Wives are to submit to and respect their husbands. Husbands are to love their wives, using Messiah’s sacrificial love for the Community as their example. Parents are to train and instruct their children, and children are to obey their parents. Masters are to treat their slaves well, and slaves are to obey their masters and work hard.
Now that we know what we are to do, it should be easy to implement, right? Rabbi Paul knew it wouldn’t be easy, because powerful forces oppose us who want to prevent these good things from happening.
Paul ends his letter to Messiah’s Community in Ephesus by reminding them that we are in a war. It is an invisible but very real war. We are engaged in spiritual warfare between God and the good angels and Satan and the fallen angels, the kingdom of God and the dominion of darkness, good and evil, life and death, Heaven and Hell.
In this battle, the sons and daughters of God are opposed by real and powerful and intelligent and malevolent enemies. On our own, we are not strong enough to defeat them. They will defeat us. But we have an Ally who is far stronger than they are! Our ally is the mighty Adonai Tz’vaot – the Lord of Armies! He and His forces are much stronger than our enemies; and He has all the resources necessary to equip us so that we can be victorious in our spiritual warfare, so that we can do what we need to do, and be what we need to be.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. When Adam and Eve joined the rebellion of the fallen angels, humanity came under the control of Satan and the demons. We became subjects of their dark kingdom. Fallen human beings share much of their dark nature. And we share their destiny in the Lake of Fire.
The fallen angels want to keep human beings under their control and want to have as many human beings as possible share their doomed destiny.
When a human being hears the Good News about the Messiah, and transfers his loyalties to the Three-In-One God, we are in the Lord, and the Lord is in us. We are no longer part of the kingdom of darkness. We are no longer under demonic control. We receive a new nature. We receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
Even though we are no longer part of the kingdom of darkness, we are still in war with the rulers of that dark kingdom, and in this battle, we need to make sure we are spiritually protected. We do that by putting on the full armor of God, all the spiritual protection that God has made available to us.
When you at war, you must know who your friends and allies are and what your resources are. Our Ally is the Lord of Hosts and the army of good angels who fight for Him. And, they have abundant resources.
To be successful in our battle against Satan and the demons, we need to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. We need to be very serious about God, and get close to Him and stay close to Him.
And, to be successful in battle, you must also know your enemies. Our enemies are invisible spirit beings, and since there are visible human beings who oppose us, it may seem like our fight is with flesh and blood, with human beings who don’t know what we know, believe what we believe, and want to hurt us – but they are not our enemies.
Human beings are made in the image of God. They are precious and they can be redeemed. That means that they are not our enemies. So, if they curse us, we bless. If they harm us, we pray for them like Messiah did: “Father forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.” We bring them the message of salvation, and some may turn to the Lord – like Saul of Tarsus did – who wrote this letter.
Human beings are not our enemies. Our battle is with entities who are much more powerful and intelligent and malevolent, enemies who cannot be redeemed. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Our enemies are not flesh and blood. They are not human beings. Our enemies are fallen angels; evil spirits; demons. They have access to this physical realm, but are not themselves physical. They are non-physical, but they are real.
Our enemies are organized: In the kingdom of darkness, fallen angels are organized into rulers and powers and authorities. The devil is their leader. Some of the fallen angels have authority over various parts of the darkened world of humanity.
Our enemies are intelligent. The devil schemes against us. Scheming involves intelligence and careful planning. Our enemies are smart and crafty. They study us. They know our strengths and our weaknesses and try to exploit those weaknesses.
Our enemies are powerful. They are rulers. They have powers. They are forces. They have authority which extends over this fallen world.
Our enemies are spiritual forces of evil. They are rebels against God and destroyers of humanity. They are morally and spiritually corrupt.
Our enemies are dark. They are the powers of this dark world. They bring darkness, chaos, confusion, error and deception to humanity that leads to misery, defeat and death. They are able to lie and to deceive. They are able to influence toward evil. They try to destroy us and keep us from Messianic salvation.
They come from heavenly realms and have access to those heavenly realms, but our battle with them doesn’t takes place in heavenly realms. The battle takes place here on Earth. And the battle primarily takes place in our minds and in our character.
Here’s how they fight us: Satan and the demons target our minds and our character to corrupt us and prevent the things that God wants us to be and to do from taking place. So, if someone is not a Christian or Messianic Jew, a born-again, new-natured child of God, Satan and the demons want to keep him in that fallen, damned condition. They want to keep him from the truth that will set him free from their control and from their destiny of doom. They want to keep him far from the Good News about salvation, far from Yeshua the Redeemer, far from God the Father who loves us, the Holy Spirit who transforms us, the Word which enlightens us, Messiah’s Community of Salvation which strengthens us.
So, they cultivate false philosophies and religions and try to keep people trapped in those false systems. If the Good News is proclaimed, they try to distract an individual from considering the Good News and acting on the truth. They try to redirect his attention and get him thinking about something else, anything else.
Using human beings who are deceived and in their power, they use them to lie to us and deceive us. They teach us to believe what is wrong and practice what is evil and ignore what is good.
They also target our character. They try to corrupt our character and ruin our morality. Fallen human nature is weak and it is already dark, demonic and corrupt. It doesn’t matter if someone is a child of God or not, Satan and the demons fight against all of us by weakening us further and corrupting us further.
If we are weak in an area – greed, lust, anger, selfishness, laziness, drinking too much, the evil spirits know it and are able to target that area, and try to amplify that weakness, so that we yield to temptation, and our weakness intensifies and harms us more and more. They want us to be more and more corrupt. They want us to be weaker and weaker; more and more dysfunctional, more and more mentally and spiritually immobilized.
They try to corrupt, not only individuals, but our relationships. They try to destroy our families, undermine our societies, ruin our communities of Messianic Jews and Christians from the nations.
Our enemies are real, smart, dark, crafty, evil, deadly. They know us and are able to influence us – to a degree. We are in a struggle with them and are not strong enough to overcome them on our own. But they can be successfully opposed! We can stand our ground! Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
We can hold the spiritual ground that the Lord has given us through our salvation experience by being united to the Lord, serious about God, and by putting on the full armor of God, all the spiritual protection the Lord has for us.
Each one of us has areas where we are weak and there will be days of evil, when we are especially vulnerable. Our enemies know this and target those weaknesses and those times of extra vulnerability. But, just as a good soldier puts on all of his armor so he can be fully protected when he is fighting, when we put on the full armor of God, all of our weak spots are protected.
Only the complete armor can protect us. If you only put on some of the armor, or most of it, but not all of it, that’s not enough. The enemy will see where you are unprotected and target that vulnerability. You need the full armor of God, all the spiritual protection the Lord has provided for us to be safe from enemy attacks.
So, let’s look at the various part of the armor. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Good News of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
First, there is the belt of truth buckled around your waist: The belt keeps the rest of the clothes and equipment attached to the body. The belt is close to that area of the body that is vulnerable to sexual temptation. God made us male and female, as sexual beings, but we must keep our sexual expression within the God-ordained boundary of marriage.
It’s the belt of truth. Truth is like a belt. Truth upholds us, truth supports us, truth protects us. The Word of God is truth. It upholds us, it supports us, it protects us. We need the truth about God’s will for sexuality, God’s purposes for sexuality, to protect us from sexual sin, which can be so harmful to us and to others. Knowing what the Word of God teaches, about keeping sexual activity within the man-woman marriage relationship, will protect us in this very important part of who we are. It will help keep us safe.
Then there is the breastplate of righteousness: The breastplate covers the chest which includes vital organs like the heart and lungs. We need righteousness to be protected. We must be in a right relationship with the Three-In-One God, which comes by transferring our loyalties to the Father, Son and Spirit. Then, we must live the right way, according to the instructions that are found in the Word of God. Not being in a right relationship with God and not doing what is right will leave a hole in our spiritual armor that exposes us to harm. Immersing ourselves in the Word of God and talking to our spiritual leaders and to our brothers and sisters will strengthen us to do what is right.
A soldier in a battle needs to have the proper footwear. He is easier to kill if he slips and falls while in combat. We need to have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Good News of peace. This armor covers our feet. We are to know the Good News, act on the Good News and go and tell the Good News to others.
We are go about our daily tasks with the goal of telling others the Good News that God has made it possible for them to have peace with Him.
It’s the Good News of peace. Knowing the Good News, and acting on the Good News is the only way to end our alienation with the Creator and create peace between God and man, and a very special peace between redeemed human beings.
Telling others the Good News is not only good for the hearer, but it is good for the proclaimer. There is a readiness that comes from the Good News. Knowing the Good News, and acting on the Good News, and telling others the Good News helps us to have a kind of spiritual readiness, to be spiritually alert, spiritual prepared. It helps us stay focused on what is important, helps us stay close to God, encourages us to live the right way.
One of the things that has benefited me the most has been the readiness that comes from bringing the Good News to others.
Roman soldiers, whom Paul was probably observing while he wrote this, carried a shield. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. The shield protected the soldier from deadly arrows that had been set on fire. Our evil enemies will attack us so that if possible, we will experience harm, pain, suffering and death.
Faith is our shield. Faith protects us. What is faith? Faith is a kind of knowledge. It’s knowing something without being able to see that something. Faith is knowing that the God of Israel exists. Faith is loyalty to the Three-In-One God and loyalty to His Word.
Our demonic enemies will attack us with temptations, seductions, deceptions to corrupt us, harm us, hurt us, make us suffer, destroy us – like arrows set on fire and shot at us. Use those shields! Have faith! Be loyal to God and to His Word and to His Community of Salvation!
The helmet protects the vital area of the head. It’s easier to kill a soldier if he isn’t wearing a helmet. Take the helmet of salvation. So many people today don’t know that there is a personal, loving God; that salvation and eternal life are possible. No wonder they commit suicide in increasing numbers or kill others with senseless acts of violence. We need our minds protected by being saved and knowing that we will live forever! Knowing that we have been reconciled to God, forgiven, saved with a great salvation provided by the sinless life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension of the Son of God; knowing that the Holy Spirit has been given to us and lives in us in a special way, now and forever; understanding that we have a new, godly nature; confident that we are going to live forever with God – these truths protect our minds from the onslaughts of the enemy.
The last part of our armor is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. When we are attacked, we must look to the divinely inspired writings. We must remind ourselves of what the Word of God teaches. Messiah showed us how to do this when He was being tempted in the desert. He responded to the Adversary’s first temptation by answering, “It is written.” He responded to the second temptation by answering, “It is written.” He responded the third time, “Begone Satan, for it is written.” We need to defend ourselves in the same way. We need to become familiar enough with the Word of God so that we can use it when we are being attacked, look to it, trust it, stand on it.
This is real spiritual warfare, not the phoney kind of spiritual warfare that is taught by some today. Real spiritual warfare is about resisting temptation and seduction and deception by knowing God and knowing and the Word of God and staying part of the Community of God.
Spiritual warfare is not the ignorant “binding and loosing” prayers; or “pleading the blood” prayers – whatever that is supposed to mean. Real spiritual warfare is not talking to demons and asking them for their names and what they specialize in, then casting out demons of nicotine or anger or lust. Real spiritual warfare is not demanding that territorial spirits leave and turn their power over to us.
Things have gotten so ridiculous that I recently head the story about a woman who was having a problem with a the light fixture. The light-bulbs kept exploding. The owner thought there must be an overload or a short and called a handyman to fix the problem. When he arrived, he started off with a prayer to bind Satan from the light fixture. Really? The problem was a demon was in the electrical system, and that’s why light bulbs were exploding – not bad wiring and power surges? That’s not spiritual warfare my friends. That binding prayer accomplished nothing and only makes Christians and Messianic Jews look ridiculous.
In addition to these great defenses, we have the tremendous help that comes from prayer. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Good News, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. “Pray in the Spirit” does not necessarily mean using a supernatural, unknown language – praying in “tongues.” It can mean that, but it may not mean that. It means that you are close to God, and therefor are able to sense what God wants in a specific situation. It means you know what the will of God is for a situation, and so you pray for things to be done according to the will of God.
We pray in the Spirit on all occasions – not just when we meet as a community. Praying – listening to God, talking to God – becomes a constant spiritual habit. We pray first thing in the morning. We talk to God throughout the day. We speak to the Creator before we go to sleep. If we are up in the middle of the night, we reach out to Him in prayer. We pray when things are going well. We pray when we are facing challenges. Praying characterizes how we live.
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Short prayers and medium prayers and long prayers. Personal prayers and prayers when the Community meets together; prayers that praise God; prayers that thank God; prayers that ask God for help; spontaneous prayers or prayers that have been written by ourselves or by others, like the prayers found in the Bible, especially the Book of Psalms; prayers spoken out loud or silent prayers; prayers that have been put to music and can be sung; prayers when we are happy; prayers when we are mourning; prayers for ourselves; prayers for others.
My brothers and sisters, when we put of the full armor of God, and we pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests – we will be safe, protected victorious! How can it be otherwise?
We are to be spiritually alert – spiritually awake, aware, educating ourselves about the spiritual and physical needs of all the Lord’s people – all of our Messianic Jewish and Christian brothers and sisters all over the world, and praying for those needs. Be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Paul then asked the Community in Ephesus to pray for him and his needs. Remember, he was writing this from prison. Did he sense that his greatest need was to be released from prison? No. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Good News, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Paul was in the Spirit and close to God. He understood that it may not be God’s will for him to be freed. Maybe the Lord wanted him to die a martyr’s death. But, he was sure that whenever he could, God wanted him to boldly and courageously proclaim the Good News; and that he wouldn’t be intimidated into a fearful, cowardly silence. So, that’s what he asked the Ephesians to pray for. Maybe we should be praying that for each other?
We’re almost at the end of this letter. Paul identified the one to whom he entrusted this precious and divinely-inspired letter that has been so beneficial to the people of God over the centuries. Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. Tychicus was to deliver this letter to the Community, and update them about Paul’s situation and those with him in Rome, and encourage them.
Paul instructed them to pray on all occasions. He started this letter with a prayer. He prayed two other times in this letter. He ends this letter with yet another prayer. Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Grace to all who love our Lord Yeshua the Messiah with an undying love.
Paul prays that his brothers and sisters experience peace: wholeness, completeness, everything they need for a successful life in this world, followed by eternal life in the World To Come.
Paul also prays that God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah would bless his brothers and sisters with love with faith; that they would experience love, beneficial care from God the Father and the Son and grow in faith and faithfulness and loyalty.
Paul also prays that those who love the Lord Yeshua with an undying love, a faithful, enduring love that will be love to the end of one’s life, and then beyond death – would be blessed with grace – the unmerited, unearned, undeserved blessings of the Almighty and All-Good God.
And, it’s my prayer that peace, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah; and grace to all who love our Lord Yeshua the Messiah with an undying love, will be yours as well!