Stand Therefore

Ephesians 6:10-20
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against prinicipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 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.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints – and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”


Tonight I’m feeling heavy-hearted. I talked with some women that I hold dear today, and as I listened, it’s so clear to me how subtle the error that creeps in our midst can be. My heart aches for these women, who have been Christians a long time and who ought to know solid, biblical doctrine. They’ve been in church for many years, and taken part in Bible studies. They know a lot of Bible verses. But they listen to teachers that aren’t speaking biblical truth accurately. And they aren’t always discerning enough about the books they choose to use in their studies. If it comes from the Christian bookstore, it must be okay, right? If it’s on Christian TV it must be solid, right? Sadly, no, but because they haven’t heard the teachers say the big, loud, obvious error, they fall for the subtle ones. They’ve heard that this one particular teacher is a proponent of a certain known wrong teaching, but they haven’t heard her speak on that topic, so they buy into the psychological stuff she does say. And they really don’t want to hear the reasons why what’s being taught is slippery slope human wisdom. So many times in these conversations, it’s so easy to start questioning my own self – am I just too serious? I know that I am always learning and growing in my Christian walk. But I also know it is very important to hold teachers accountable and to walk away from teaching that is not solidly biblical. D and I have gotten into some almost heated discussions with one of these women before, and she always turns from what we are saying about a certain doctrine onto missions and how important that is. However, what we were discussing never denied that mission work is important, but we were pointing out that unless you accurately understand the Gospel, how can you do missions well? Yes, we’re to love our neighbors. We don’t deny that. But the issue at hand was that we need to have a firm grasp on biblical truth and not be taken in with false teaching, no matter how good it may sound or no matter what bookstore sells their books. So, I’m feeling a little discouraged tonight. But I know that it isn’t really the people we fight. It is the evil one who, from the beginning in the Garden of Eden has been a liar and a deceiver and has always worked to tempt people to question God’s Word. “Hath God said….,” has been the siren call through the ages. May we never leave the plumb line of God’s Word. May we learn to stand firm, by God’s grace.


Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for reminding me tonight that You give us what we need to STAND! There is a battle going on – but it’s not people we fight, but the rulers of the darkness of this age. Lord, grant Your people wisdom to discern truth from error. Grant us the desire to listen to sound, biblical teaching and to walk away from teaching that may sound good but ultimately leads away from truth. Oh, God, grant us the will to live righteously – it is Your righteousness that causes us to stand. Let us know and love the gospel of peace – convict us of our need to measure every single teaching we hear by Your Word. Grant us the faith to withstand in this day when heresy is presented as truth, even in churches that used to stand firm. Salvation is only by grace through faith in Christ Jesus’ righteousness and substitionary death on the Cross and resurrection. Jesus, You are the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through You. There is no other way that leads to salvation but Your narrow way. Please grant Your people the wisdom to search the scriptures diligently that we will know the truth and give us the wisdom not to question what You have made so very clear in Your Word. I pray You would preserve a remnant that will not bow the knee to felt needs and erroneous ways of approaching You. Please strengthen Your Church that we may be a pure bride, unspoiled by the lusts of the world. And, Father, I pray for the men of God who will open Your Word faithfully tomorrow. Let them boldly proclaim Your Word. Please raise up men who will unashamedly preach what the Bible says, verse by verse, precept upon precept, line upon line, so that Your people will be equipped to know the truth so that it can set them free to live lives wholly dedicated to You. May we truly be a people set apart and holy, living for Your glory. Please cause the scales to drop from our eyes where we’ve strayed from the plumb line of Your righteous way. And let us be a bright and shining light to a dark world – pointing ever and only to our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, and our only hope. Please grant us the faith to submit to Your Lordship, and to walk in newness of life, found only in You. Let our worship be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, I pray in Jesus’ name tonight. Amen.