Ephesians Chapter 6

I had not noticed that Ephesians was so short. If I had known then I would have finished off the last and short chapter yesterday. Well, I'll only have a little bit to reflect on today. At least I'll be able to go back and review what I reflected on all day yesterday along with today's.

This last chapter of Ephesians was about obeying our 'earth' authorities. Children obeying their parents and workers doing as their boss asks of them. As a daughter I've had little rebellions against my parents. Most times I would do as I'm told even if I didn't really want to. There were the few times where I was set on not doing something, but in the end I ended up doing it. Now that I am older and have thought through a lot of things I don't even see rebellion in myself. I may not necessarily agree, but luckily for me, I do have that trust and relationship with my parents to take their words for it.

As far as obeying work authority I don't know too much. The times I worked, whether it was volunteer or a job, I never questioned authority. Especially since the people who were above me knew more about the work than I did. It's my natural instinct to do as I'm told, but at those times I did not have Jesus in my mind. I wasn't thinking that I should work for my boss as if he/she were Jesus. Now, with Jesus in mind, I can honestly say that it should not be to hard to work for my boss as they were Jesus. When I hear from my parents of their experiences in work it's kind of discouraging, but my mother is a good roll model for me in that area. I'll always have to remember about authority and that Jesus is my reason.

The absolute last of this book is guarding ourselves with God's armor. There are seven of them and I know of them quite well because my talks about them often. There is the belt of truth: knowing that God is the truth. Body armor of righteousness: protect our hearts from sin. Shoes of peace: this makes me think of the disciples Jesus sent to go and spread the Good News to others. Those disciples had to walk to get those people and tell them. The shield of faith: this protects us from the things we are up against in this world that can tear us down. Helmet of salvation: protecting our mind from things that can cause us to doubt God or turn away from Him. Then there is the sword: the only weapon of offense, to use the word of God when tempted by sin. I hear followers and believers of Christ say that this is the strongest weapon we've got. That's because it's the truth.

As each day goes on I get happier and happier. I always know that even when/if I get sad or down that I can go to God. I already know that I'm in God's will and I believe it. After reading this book of Ephesians I'm just feeling happy and ready to do anything. As I go on about my day with God in my life and what I've read I know the rest of my day is going to be good. It already started off amazing.

Ephesians Chapters 1-5

"I am writing to God's holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus." Eph. 1:1 (NLT)

Everything written after this first line is for God's people. Before even going forward I made sure to highlight that and go back to it throughout my reading. This one sentence meant a lot to me. To me it's kind of a warning, not in a negative way. Meaning that if you are not a follower than what you are about to read will not make sense to you or you may be offended.

 It makes sense because I've just started really getting in to reading and understanding the Bible with the help of a book by Tim Lahaye called: How to Study the Bible for Yourself. In that book it says that the Bible was not written in order from front to back and some books are much easier to understand than others, then it went on to give books in a certain order to read. (I've already started, so Ephesians is my sixth book in the order.) I absolutely believe that there are some books that will make no sense if you haven't read a different one that ties in to it. There is also the fact that some people may not be ready to read or be aware of things in whatever level of Spiritual maturity they are in. What I'm trying to say is that I was prepared to read and understand what God is saying to me.

"So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son." Eph. 1:6 (NLT) 

I really like this verse and need to put it somewhere I can see it all the time. This is what I hear all the time from other followers of Christ in different variations and is very important. 

Throughout our days we go through many things. Some days are the absolute best while others are not so great. We (I) have to remember as often as possible that all the glory, thanks, appreciation, and whatever other great word, belongs to God. In this section Paul calls it a Spiritual blessing to belong to his Son. Belonging to his Son means we are blessed and loved by Him.

The Bible that I have has some very useful notes and extra reading (notes) as you read. There is this one note called 'Spiritual Pride' and is something else that I have heard often. In this case, Paul was writing about how Jews had this pride because they were circumcised while the Gentiles were not. It says that the Jews felt like they were above the Gentiles because of the practices they did, their ceremonies. In life today, there are still the few who have that Spiritual pride because they do certain things that others may not do. I don't see the practices that are done to be a problem. The issue is when one feels better than others because of those ceremonies/practices. (This applies to other things, in general: someone calls themselves a follower of Christ but does 'things of the world' that another Christ follower does not do.) In the end I believe that if someone is on a different Spiritual 'level'

 than someone else and sees the wrong in it then that person should help the other. I always come to the conclusion that we are all on our walk with God through Christ and are all at different points/stages in that walk. (Spiritual growth)

This next part of my reading used to really stay stuck in my head and is something that not all believers may be ready to except. Chapter 5 is 'Living in the Light', 'Living by the Spirit's Power' and 'Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands'.

That first section about living in the light says, "Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes - these are not for you." Living in this world, that is just about all we see in just about everything. Seriously. And it's very frustrating. (Some of my family and friends think I'm cut off from the world because we don't have television, but I've still got the computer and my cell phone. I still see and participate in a lot of things.) So before going on with this topic, I must say that I had to look up what obscene meant. It roughly means: against morals or virtue; impolite language. There are many things against our moral/virtue, bad language (curse words) are everywhere, as I wrote before.

(A side-note: I enjoy listening to pop music, a genre called Korean pop. I understand a little bit of the language to know what it's about but not all of it. While setting my boundaries for what I listen to I decided to look up the English lyrics and had to take a few songs out that are no good for me even though I don't understand in hearing it. Now I am aware what some songs are saying and can't listen to it even if I wanted to, conviction.)

From reading this part in the Bible and going in to the things I encounter in my life, I know that there are things you have to set boundaries with so that you won't pick up and carry 'obscene speech' and the like. *I've also noticed that some have a 'higher tolerance' with being exposed than others who are easily influenced* God and I had to talk this out quite a few times until I got it together.

My little bit of thinking (above) can easily lead me in to this next section of chapter 5: living by the Spirits power. I'm stressing the fact that it is way too easy to be sucked in to the way of the world. Completely sucked in  by every single way. Not just with entertainment, but within ourselves as well. For me, I have to remind myself all throughout my day that God is with me and my Spirit is my power. When I know that I need some Spiritual boosting then I wont listen to any of my pop music and have complete focus on God. I already have God with me every day all the time, but I'll cut out and lessen those things that can be/are distracting. 

Last in my readings for today was Spirit-guided relationships concerning married people. I'm still young and have not been married but I can apply the concept to other things and what I know will come in the marriage that God has for me. On the woman's part of this, Paul writes for wives to submit to their husbands. I'm looking forward to submitting to my husband when he comes along, but right now I am working on being available as help to others. In who God has made me I am a caring person and will do what I can for those that I love. When it comes to strangers I am polite to them but it never goes too far beyond that. There is also the factor that at this point in my life, I don't have a whole lot to offer other than my words and actions. In section of chapter 5 you can apply 'submitting' to other situations. I don't mean it in the same way as in a marriage relationship, of course. 

My Bible reading today was very good and my time well spent. A lot of what I read I heard a lot but it is always good to re-read and be reminded of these things. From those five chapters of Ephesians I reflected on so much. There is even more in those chapters that I didn't write about because the ones I wrote stood out for me and I can write/type forever on my thoughts/reflections/evaluation on what I read in the Bible. Doing this does take some time, but it's a good amount of time for me. 

My plan is to read five chapters every day and write my thoughts on it every day. Some days may be filled with more information than others.