2nd 3rd or 4th
Michaelmas (normally)
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19
What it comes to in the end is this: grasp the power that
streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful
regency of his pure spiritual strength.
Put on the power of God as one puts on full armor,
so that you may stand against the well-aimed attacks of the adversary. For our
struggle is not to fight against powers of flesh and blood, but against
 |
| Blake, Good and Evil Angels |
spirit beings mighty in the stream of time,
against spirit beings powerful in the molding of
earth substance,
against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the
present time,
against spirits who carry evil into the realms of
the spiritual world.
Therefore take up the full armor of God, that you
may be able to stand your ground on the day when evil unfolds its greatest
strength, and victoriously withstand it.
Stand firm, then, girded with the truth, like a
warrior firmly girded. Connect yourself with all in the world as is justified
in the spiritual world, and this connection with the spirit will protect you
like a strong breastplate.
And may Peace stream through you, down to your
feet, so that on your path you spread peace, as the message that comes from the
realm of the angels.
In all your deeds have trust in God. This trust
will be like a mighty shield; with it you can quench all the flaming arrows of
the evil one.
Take into your
thinking the certainty of Christ’s healing deed. It will protect your head like
a helmet.
And the spirit, which has become living in you, you
shall grasp as one grasps a sharp sword. The sword of the spirit is the working
of the Word of God.
May this armor clothe you in all your prayers and
supplications, so that in the right moment you raise yourself in prayer to the
spirit, and at the same time practice wakefulness in inner loyalty.
Feel yourself united in prayer with all other
bearers of the spirit—also with me, Paul, so that the power of the word will be
given to me when I am to courageously bring the knowledge of that holy mystery
which lives in the message of the gospel.
2nd
November Trinity
November
5, 2006
Ephesians 6: 10-19
Mankind
is at war. Paul makes it clear that this war originates in the spiritual world;
adversarial spiritual beings are attacking the core of our humanity. Paul makes
it clear that for us the battle is one of defense, of resistance, of holding
our own ground against those powers who seek to attack and destroy our inner
being. It is a battle ultimately for inner peace.
One
of the essential pieces of armor in our defense is what Paul calls the helmet
of salvation, which is our own inner certainty of Christ’s deed of healing.
This certainty we can generate in our thinking.
For
Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection have created an indestructible
bridge of love between our world of earth and the world of heaven. In the
battle, the adversaries cannot take this bridge. We can protect ourselves from
thoughts of doom and continue to make a good defense by remembering, by
thinking the thought of Christ’s healing deed. Paul so beautifully expresses
this idea of the invincible bridge of love in another of his letters. He says:
In
all these trials we are triumphant conquerors through him who offers us his
love. I know from experience: neither the forces of death, nor the forces of
life, neither angels nor Mights, neither things present nor things to come, not
the World Powers themselves, neither heights nor depths nor any other thing or
being in creation can separate us from the love of God which took on body in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39