We brought our study, Chosen: A Study in the book of Ephesians, to a close last week. It was a powerful week as we continued to look at parts of the armor which Christ has provided for us.

We began with the helmet of salvation, as found in Ephesians 6:17.

The helmet of salvation protects our heads, but more importantly our thoughts. Two sentences from the study:

• “The enemy wants to get in our heads.”
• “Our thoughts are not always true.”

Hence, we are in desperate need of our helmet every day, probably before our feet even hit the floor beside our beds!

We know we have to take our thoughts captive, but often in the midst of our situations, emotions, or our thoughts, we fail to do so quickly and actively. And I say this because I know it is true of myself.

“We do not need to be held captive by our thoughts – we need to take them captive. Our enemy will seek to strategically target our minds, so we must strategically fill our minds with God’s Word.”

(from Chosen, by The Daily Grace Co.)

As I sat reading that paragraph over and over, I wrote in the margin: We either capture or are captured. The choice is ours.

So let’s discuss this >> Why do you think that the enemy targets our minds? How is God’s Word our defense against this attack of our enemy?

*~*~*~

Prayer was the topic in Ephesians 6:18-20.

“The great concern of Satan is to keep Christians from praying. He laughs at our toil, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

(Samuel Chadwick as quoted in Chosen, by The Daily Grace Co.)

How we need to remember to pray – at all times, with all our strength, for all people, in all situations.

“We need spiritual weapons for this spiritual battle, and prayer is what gives those weapons power.”

(from Chosen, by The Daily Grace Co.)

We need to pray as we put on each piece of our armor. Pray for its effectiveness, and pray we keep it on. Without prayer we would be just lugging around an armor that has not been activated so to speak.

Let’s talk about this >>> Though prayer isn’t assigned a piece of armor, it is something that we are commanded to do through the entire battle. How does prayer impact all of the other pieces of armor in the battle?

Is there a piece of your armor that keeps slipping out of place?

Let’s be praying to be fully armed and fully empowered to go through our day!

~*~*~

I am so very grateful for this study. The book of Ephesians came alive with truth and power.

Let’s close with some final thoughts on Ephesians:

• From Chapter 1 – We learned about the hope of our calling and the riches of of our inheritance in Christ.
• From Chapter 2- We learned about the masterpiece the Lord is building through each of our lives and in the Church. We get to see God act in each life He has called to Himself. He changes each one of us by His touch.
• From Chapter 3 – We learned of the privilege and position we gain through Christ. We are accepted and beloved. It is as we yield our lives to Christ that we discover and enjoy the inexhaustible riches of His grace.
• From Chapter 4 – We learned how God dresses us in His attributes, calling us to live differently in this world.
• From Chapter 5 – We learned of the walk of the believer. We are to walk in love; walk in light; and walk carefully.
• From Chapter 6 – We were reminded our life includes a battle. We learned of the armor we have been provided. Notice there is no armor for our backs.

“The Christian is never supposed to run from enemies, but fight the good fight of faith, praying always!”

(from What the Bible is All About by Dr. Henrietta C. Mears, page 518)

~*~*~

With all of our armor in place,
and further equipped with prayer,
we will be able to fight the good fight of faith!

Image 1: by Heidi B from Pixabay
Image 2: by Joe from Pixabay
Image 3: Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay

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