Everything To Stand – Part 1
January 21, 2010Pastoral Counsel – Jen Miller
Crisis: 309.712.5149
Appointment: jen@sara-ministry.com
Jen is a…
Is it just me, or have you also somehow missed this daring and dramatic directive through decades of sermons and studies on ‘the armor of God’? These ten warrior-words are found smack in the middle of a one of the most popular and power-packed passages every preached or taught; yet, somehow, it wasn’t until recently (the past year), that I really saw or truly read these ten words for (what felt like), the first time. They suddenly JUMPED OFF THE PAGE AND PIERCED MY HEARING, MY UNDERSTANDING. The depth and implications of this Ephesians 6:13-14 ‘instruction’ blew me away like only the LIVING WORD of God can, and has since been an ever-present, pounding pulse in my mind and spirit:
“…after YOU have done everything, to stand. Stand then…”
Years of life and death, fight or flight survival has necessitated that I learn how, from birth, to keep pulling myself up to ‘stand’ in the face of blatant evil and great adversity. This was learned through the LIVING principles and promises of God’s Word – the manual for life and living, the strategic warfare manual, the survival manual, the recovery and healing manual, the becoming ALL God created me to be manual… and more.
As critical and favored is the study of the amour of God applied in our daily lives, there’s SO much in this over-looked ten-word directive that makes me want to isolate it for awhile in order to take a deep look. That’s exactly how God has been probing my mind with this single phrase, and with single words of His Word for the past year.
These ten words are found at the tail end of verse 13 into the beginning of verse 14. It will read a little differently from a KJV or other version, but the directive and implications are the same. Take a look in your Bible. The book of Ephesians is found in the middle of the New Testament. Ephesians is my favorite book of the Bible, so it’s even more mind-blowing to me that I would – just this past year – really SEE and HEAR this verse, based on the kigillion times (my word, meaning ‘countless’), I’ve read and even studied Ephesians 6. Talk about a LIGHT BULB moment…
What does this specific mandate mean exactly – both in context to the armor of God spelled out in this chapter, as well as all the implications of how we might apply this ‘transforming’ scripture in our daily lives, in our real-life circumstances?
We’ve been honing in on Romans 12:2 as a directive from God: “Betransformed by the renewing of YOUR mind.” Both Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 6:13 indicate clearly that we, as individuals, are to be pro-active – not God. He does not say to us in either of these scriptures that He will ‘renew’ our minds for us, or that He will do ‘everything’ for us to ‘stand’. Wehave a choice to “be transformed” and a choice to “do everything” to be equipped and able to stand in the most difficult of times: marriage trials, family illnesses or diseases, deaths, loss of jobs, other financial trials, misunderstandings and misgivings, disgruntlements and discouragements… not to mention the down-right arrows of evil shot at us straight from the pit of hell.
The ‘renewing’ of our mind from Romans 12:2 is to look deep into single words and phrases of The Word in light of the context of the whole passage and that ancient time, AND in light of how we might practice walking out The Word in our daily lives TODAY.
“Change is a choice.”
What is this word ‘everything’ in Ephesians 6:13? What does ‘everything’ mean in the here and now, to each of us in our varying life circumstances and situations across the board, ‘to stand’?
Consider all these thoughts and questions for a few days, in particular these riveting ten words from the tail end of Ephesians 6:13 into 14, and ask God to reveal to you the deeper implications and bring to further light and life what this directive looks like if you were to apply it in your daily life, hour by hour, minute by minute… Then, we’ll look at these ten words together.
Joy Copyright 2010 Jen Miller – All Rights Reserved
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