And Having Done All, Stand [a study of Ephesians 6:10-20] part 4

A hammer is of no use to a carpenter if he doesn't remove it from his tool box. Neither is a textbook of help to a student if it is left of the shelf. In the same way, although God has graciously provided the believer with armor for protection against the spiritual forces of evil, that armor does no good until the believer puts it on. But what does "put on" the armor of God mean... and how is it done? This teaching addresses the importance of putting on the belt of truth.

[listen to MP3] [watch video] [download notes as pdf]

This passage has one primary objective:

Eph 6:13, NIV

…that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

The passage offers three keys for reaching the objective:

• Recognizing the reality that we are in a real battle against unseen forces of evil
• Being strengthened by the Lord and the power of his might
• Utilizing the full armor provided to us by God

The first two weeks of the study, we looked at the importance of recognizing the reality that we are in a battle against spiritual forces of evil as well as some aspects of that battle.  Last week considered being strengthened by the Lord and the power of his might.

In this study, we will talk about putting on and utilizing the armor of God... in particular the belt of truth.

Put on....

Eph 6:11,13-14a ESV

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes 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 firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth....

ENDUSASTHE-from ENDUO, to put on, to enter into, to get into, to put on clothes

Speaking of the use of ENDUO in this passage, Rick Renner writes:

"Paul uses the imperative tense in this text. This means he is not making a suggestion; rather, he is issuing the very strongest kind of command that can be given. In the strongest tone of voice available, Paul is commanding us with great urgency to take a particular kind of immediate action."

What is Renner saying?  That though the armor is the Lord's, without our active engagement it will remain dormant... available but dormant.

The Belt of Truth

Hos 4:6a, ESV

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge....

The knowledge referred to in this verse is knowledge of God's eternal truth, which is the only antidote to Satan's stratagems.

2 Tim 2:24-26, ESV

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

God's Word is Truth

John 17:15-17, ESV

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; you word is truth.

God's word, His truth, has been eternally established and is applicable to every culture and people group... past, present and future.

Psalm 119:160, NKJV

The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. 

Love for God's truth is essential if one is going to successfully stand against the deception of the evil one. Paul gives us a glimpse into this principle when he addresses the deceptive power of 'the man of lawlessness' in his second letter to the Thessalonians.

2 Thess 2:9-11, ESV

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

What do the following Scriptures reveal about the essential nature of Satan and his engagement with humanity?

• John 8:44
• 2 Cor 11:3
• Eph 6:11

As stated above, truth is the only antidote to Satan's deception. Read and meditate on the following passages to reinforce this reality in your understanding.

• John 8:31-32
• 2 Tim 2:24-26

The real goal of the enemy's warfare is to establish (or strengthen) strongholds of deception and sin patterns in individuals, families, churches, etc. Read and meditate on the following passages. What do they reveal about strongholds and the power of God's truth/word to destroy them?

• 2 Cor 10:3-5
• John 8:31-36
• Heb 4:12-13

What do the following Scriptures reveal about the role of the Holy Spirit in relationship to God's truth?

• John 14:16
• John 14:26
• John 16:13

Is the Holy Spirit stirring you to make any changes with regard to how you will incorporate the Scriptures into your daily life?

Awakening

[listen to mp3] [watch video] [download notes as pdf]

The revelation and power of firstfruits.

What was happening?

• God was reminding us.
• God was speaking and making a point.
• He is asking us to make a shift in the spiritual atmosphere of our lives.
• He is asking us to connect the dots in His Word.

• To be in the Spirit is to be a person who gives.

Giving: a portal of entrance into the spiritual world.

• God established a principle in His Word for blessing and increase for his people and that principle was the giving of ‘firstfruits’.
• Firstfruits are the first and best portion and they are set aside and given to the Lord as a sign that the remaining harvest, yet to come, is holy and blessed of the Lord.
•  Firstfruits are a sacrificial faith offering of the first and best fruit of any increase given by the Lord. It was a promise of a future harvest.

The revelation and power of firstfruits:

•  A new attitude.

What is happening to us now?

• As a church, we are being awakened.

Awakening:

• Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Eph. 5:14

How do we awaken out of our sleep?

• Remember your story.
• Remember, your story is who you were and who you are.
• Remember your dreams for they are who you are going to become.
• Remember that just because you can not see something does not mean it is not real.

You were created to remember.

• Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created man and woman “in His own image”.
• In this passage, the word man is translated from the Hebrew word zakar, which means “the remembering one”.
• When we die we take our memories with us. Jesus died to redeem our memories.

Why were we created to remember?

• 1^st, we have something important to remember.
• 2^nd,we have reason to remember.
• Remembering is a repeated theme throughout the Bible.
• Men are called to remember God by faithfully telling others who He is and what He has done.

We are to remember and tell our children.

• Deuteronomy 4:9: Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

A typical old testament meeting:

• Worship, prayer, and remembering what God had done.
• God gave Israel feasts to help them remember each year what He had done for them.

God gave Israel feasts to remember.

• Leviticus 23:1-3: The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.

Remember your story.

• Just believe in your story and in His stories.
• Psalm 77:11: I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
• Your life is a story being written.

The dark side wants you to forget your story…

• And only remember when you fall and not when you are redeemed.
• Revelation 12:11: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (story), and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!

Your Testimony (story) is Prophecy.

• Revelation 19:10: And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Testimony (story): spiritual crossroad

• Exodus 25:22: There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you….
• Exodus 30:6 Put the altar in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the atonement cover that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you.

Remember that just because you can’t see something…

• does not mean it is not real.
• Remember, we are what makes it real.
• Remember Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
• Faith is: creating future memories.

What is happening to us now?

• As a church we are being awakened.

The Revelation and Power of Firstfruits

[listen to mp3] [watch video] [download notes as pdf]

Deuteronomy 26:1-11:

And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;

² That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there.

³ And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us.

⁴ And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.

⁵ And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

⁶ And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:

⁷ And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:

⁸ And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:

⁹ And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.

¹⁰ And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God:

¹¹ And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

What was happening last Sunday?

God was speaking and making a point.

He is asking us to make a shift in the spiritual atmosphere of our lives.

He is asking us to connect the dots in His Word.

To be in the Spirit is to be a person who gives.

Let’s read 1 Kings 17:8-24: Giving unlocks the supernatural.

Giving: a portal of entrance into the spiritual world

God established a principle in His Word for blessing and increase for his people and that principle was the giving of ‘firstfruits’.

Firstfruits are the first and best portion and they are set aside and given to the Lord as a sign that the remaining harvest, yet to come, is holy and blessed of the Lord.

Firstfruits are a sacrificial faith offering of the first and best fruit of any increase given by the Lord. It was a promise of a future harvest.

To give is the greater.

Acts 20:35: I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Acts 6:4: But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

The revelation and power of firstfruits: A new attitude.

Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

And Having Done All, Stand [a study of Ephesians 6:10-20] part 3

To be 'strengthened by the Lord' is an often overlooked aspect of successfully standing in the day of evil. Yet it is absolutely essential. When David faced the loss of his family and possible stoning by his friends, the Bible says that he 'strengthened himself in the Lord his God.' When Paul stood before the emperor after being deserted by those closest to him, the Lord stood with him and 'strengthened' him. But what exactly does it mean to be strengthened by the Lord? What do we do to be strengthened? This teaching addresses these questions. 

[listen to MP3] [watch video] [download notes as pdf]

This passage has one primary objective:

Eph 6:13, NIV
…that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

The passage offers three keys for reaching the objective:

• Recognizing the reality that we are in a real battle against unseen forces of evil
• Being strengthened by the Lord and the power of his might
• Utilizing the full armor provided to us by God

The first two weeks of the study, we looked at the importance of recognizing the reality that we are in a battle against spiritual forces of evil as well as some aspects of that battle. In this study, we’ll talk about the second key, which is found in verse 10.

Eph 6:10, HCSB
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. 

What does Paul mean by “be strengthened by the Lord”?

ENDUNAMOO—from en, ‘in’ and dunamis, ‘power’; inwardly empowered; to be supernaturally empowered or strengthened

The word endunamoo (‘strong’) was frequently used by classical Greek writers to describe individuals who had been very carefully handpicked by the gods to perform extra-special, superhuman tasks…. The apostle Paul was an exceptionally brilliant and educated man. From his own studies in classical Greek, he undoubtedly knew this historical usage of the word endunamoo. So when discussing the supernatural power that the Holy Spirit gives us to withstand the work of the adversary, Paul deliberately chose this word that had unmistakable connotations—denoting a power that turns mere men into champions who possess superhuman, supernatural strength. – Rick Renner, from Dressed to Kill

• ENDUNAMOO would have been used to describe Hercules.

• ENDUNAMOO could be used to describe Popeye.

• ENDUNAMOO is an inner empowering or strengthening that enables a believer to victoriously stand against an enemy that, from a purely human perspective, is stronger and smarter—rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.

Where does this empowering come from?

• Where does Popeye’s empowering come from?

• Where does Paul say our empowering come from?

Eph 6:10, HCSB
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. 

For Paul this is not some vague spiritual concept with no practical application, he is referring to an actual encounter with the Lord during which DUNAMIS is imparted and received—2 Tim. 4:16-18.

2 Tim 4:17, NKJV
But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

David’s life provides perhaps the best Biblical example of what it looks like to be strengthened by the Lord in adverse circumstances—1 Sam. 30:1-8.

1 Sam 30:6, ESV
And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

CHAZAQ (khaw-zak’)-Hebrew root for the underlined phrase; the basic meaning of this word is take hold of or fasten upon, become strong, make strong or strengthen

How do we engage the Lord in order to be empowered by His vast strength?

How does Popeye engage spinach in order to receive power?  Knowing that spinach is the key to his strength is not enough.  Having spinach in the cabinet (or in Popeye’s case mysteriously tucked in his shirt) is not enough.  Popeye is strengthened or empowered only when he eats spinach.

Psalm 27, which could easily have been written by David during the Ziklag crisis, provides an important clue into what he actually did to strengthen himself in the Lord.

Ps 27:14,ESV
Wait for the LORD; be strong [CHAZAQ], and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

QAVAH (kaw-vaw’)—root for the underlined means to bind together, perhaps by twisting

QAVAH suggests a purposed, intimate, unrushed engaging with the Lord by stilling ourself in His presence.

QAVAH was David’s secret, the key to strengthening himself in the Lord… an idea borne out in one of the most important promises in the Bible.

Isa 40:29-31, NKJV
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

QAVAH suggests a purposed, intimate, unrushed engaging with the Lord by stilling ourself in His presence... through worship, meditating on Scripture or simply turning our focus toward him.

• Read and meditate on Psalm 27, particularly verses 4-6, 7-8 and 11-14.
• Read and meditate on Psalm 62, particularly verses 1-2 and 5-7.
• Read and meditate on Psalm 37:1-8, particularly verses 7-8.

Learning how to quiet our thoughts and emotions so that we can enter into an intimate, unrushed time with the Lord is a challenge we all face. David addresses this in Ps. 131.

Ps 131:1-2, NIV
My heart is not proud, O Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
² But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

DAMAN (daw-man’)—to be silent; to be still; to stop; to wait; used in Josh. 10:12-13 when Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun ‘stand still’ and the moon ‘stop’ so he could pursue the Amorites

Ruth Haley Barton, in her book Invitation to Solitude and Silence, relates how someone once told her, “Ruth, you are like a jar of river water all shaken up. What you need is to still long enough that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear.” 

Ron Ross says this about getting quiet before the Lord: “Lower your energy level (getting off the carousel of the mind and allowing the mental and emotional ‘gyros’ to slow to a halt) by being quiet and present to the Lord. That requires scheduling adequate time to be alone in his presence.”

There is no formula for quieting ourselves so we can engage with the Lord in a purposed, intimate, unrushed way. Different people seem to quiet and settle in different ways:

• some through worship;
• others by reading and meditating on Scripture
• others by simply sitting in a quiet place and turning their attention and affection toward the Lord;
• and still others using a combination of all three.

The two things that do seem to be common—and critical—are setting aside a reasonable amount of time and finding a place that is as free as possible of distractions.

It is important to note that once the skill of QAVAH has been developed in the private, quiet place, it can be accessed quickly in a moment of crisis… no matter how much noise is going on around us.  Like Paul, though we might be in the trial of our life, we are able to turn our attention to our ever-present Lord and allow Him to ‘ENDUNAMOO’ us in the moment.