Thank You (Ephesians 6:21-24)

Ephesians 6:24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in immortality.

Lord, thank you for fighting my every battle. Thank you for preparing me to stand against Jesus. Lord, I love you above all things, and I will not stop praying to you. I will not let the darkness of the world try to take away from joy. I will not let the lies and deceit from those who claim to be followers stop me from speaking the truth. I pray my love for you never dies and that I can walk everyday in your spiritual blessing. 

Help me remember to have love and compassion for all your children. Help me to love all and you love me, and as I should love myself. Help me to be patient with others in their search for you. Help me to encourage those who are lost. Help me to be the person I am called to be. Help me to be strong in my ministry of wife and mother. I want to be worthy of your callings that you have blessed me with. 

Are you Ready for Battle (Ephesians 6:10-20)

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.

We are being told again that we will face struggles in life. No one’s life is meant to be without some sort of struggle. Somehow, something will happen or not happen that we were hoping for. The devil has creeped into so many areas around us and is just waiting to attack us with disparity, disbelief, lies, hate, etc. But God hasn’t sent us in not ready. He has prepared us with His armor! No matter what the devil throws at us, we are equipped to stand our ground. 

Satan is very tricky. He has been sneaking into our lives from the beginning. In todays world, it seems that lots of people’s armor is failing as they turn from scripture belief and fall into the desire of flesh, but it’s actually that they forgot to put it on. With God on our side, with us diligently following his laws, we could never fail. We must take care of our armor. We must remember God’s truth and righteousness. We must continue to read the gospel. We must keep our faith in all circumstances, remembering that we were granted salvation. God’s promises never fail.

Attitudes are Contagious (Ephesians 6:5-9)

Ephesians 6:5-6 Slaves, be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, not only when being watched, as currying favor, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart

When we work a job, we need to work it diligently. We need to honor and obey our boss. We should always put our best work forward, even if others are slacking off. It’s so easy to get in the “ho-hum” of the same task every day, or get lazy because of coworkers, or get lazy because you aren’t recognized. God sees. He sees every effort we put in. He sees what our effort today will grow in the future. We should always do honest work and be sincere. Someone is always watching. And attitudes are contagious. Make sure yours is worth catching. 

Obey Your Parents (Ephesians 6:1-4)

Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents [in the Lord], for this is right. 

As is part of the Ten Commandments, children are to honor and obey their parents. BUT this also means parents are called to teach their children the way to obey. We are to teach our children how to obey us, even when they don’t want to, so that they will understand how to obey God even if they don’t understand or don’t want to. We are to teach them responsibility, time management, etc. We are also to teach them about who God is. This is not a responsibility of a school, youth program, or church organization. This is our responsibility. If our children do not see us obeying and following God’s laws, why should they? Jesus obeyed his earthly parents even though he was the son of God.

It isn’t always easy. Sometimes parents aren’t good leaders. Sometimes they aren’t good followers of God’s word. It’s far too easy to break a child than it is to raise one right. It’s far to easy to yell instead of correct. This leads for a hard childhood and turns into someone who doesn’t want to follow God, because where was he? But God was always there. Holding and protecting us, even if we didn’t realize. As an adult, it may be hard to forgive the wrongs our parents have done. But we need to understand that they may not have been taught correctly either. And it is up to us to break the cycle or wrongdoings. 

Lord, I pray that I can better prepare my children for you. I pray I can show them the right way to follow you. That it is much better to follow you than the world.