Ephesians 3:10 God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
I have never understood the whole evil spirits in heavenly places stuff, but I accept it. The thing that gets me excited here is that if you put these verses together, you instantly get a complete package.
Many people are famaliar to some degree with Ephesians 6:12 but I would imagine Ephesians 3:10 is not very well known. Thoughout the Bible God is constantly telling us to get our eyes off the physical circumstances and physical obstacles and to look at things from a spiritual view point. For example, a person involved in adultery has a spirit problem and the physical actions are only because of the spiritual problem. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. So therefore any disobedience to God, or any insecurity or selfishness problem or pride is not just a person's character, but the person's character is a reflection of their spiritual condition.
Well maybe it will be easier to fight off these evil powers and authorities if we recognize our high calling as the body of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 says that the purpose of the Church (followers of Jesus Christ worldwide) is to show off God, His wisdom, His power. What an awesome privilege to be the object that God points to, in order to show the devil why the evil powers and authorities are the losers. God has designed and appointed believers to be powerful people of faith, who walk and live in a manner that shames the devil.
To me that is a reminder of the high calling and responsiblity God has given, and also a reminder of the power He has given to those who believe, to cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, and most importantly convict those who don't know Him and bring them to repentance. Let's walk in that power today. Let's honor Him as a people He can point to and tell the evil power and authorities "look at what I jus
t did."
Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
I have never understood the whole evil spirits in heavenly places stuff, but I accept it. The thing that gets me excited here is that if you put these verses together, you instantly get a complete package.
Many people are famaliar to some degree with Ephesians 6:12 but I would imagine Ephesians 3:10 is not very well known. Thoughout the Bible God is constantly telling us to get our eyes off the physical circumstances and physical obstacles and to look at things from a spiritual view point. For example, a person involved in adultery has a spirit problem and the physical actions are only because of the spiritual problem. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. So therefore any disobedience to God, or any insecurity or selfishness problem or pride is not just a person's character, but the person's character is a reflection of their spiritual condition.
Well maybe it will be easier to fight off these evil powers and authorities if we recognize our high calling as the body of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 says that the purpose of the Church (followers of Jesus Christ worldwide) is to show off God, His wisdom, His power. What an awesome privilege to be the object that God points to, in order to show the devil why the evil powers and authorities are the losers. God has designed and appointed believers to be powerful people of faith, who walk and live in a manner that shames the devil.
To me that is a reminder of the high calling and responsiblity God has given, and also a reminder of the power He has given to those who believe, to cast out devils, heal the sick, raise the dead, and most importantly convict those who don't know Him and bring them to repentance. Let's walk in that power today. Let's honor Him as a people He can point to and tell the evil power and authorities "look at what I jus
t did."
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