God asked Noah to build an ark in preparation for the flood that He would send.  I imagine Noah’s neighbors looking over at Noah and openly criticizing him for his efforts, even calling him crazy.  I imagine those same naysayers pounding on the doors of the ark when the flood came as God promised, begging Noah to open the doors.  Regardless of what others say, we must do our best and work hard to accomplish what God has asked us to do.


Questions for further thought:
1. Who are the naysayers in your life?

2. What are they saying that could be discouraging?


Challenge: When the naysayers start in on you this week, take time to pray and ask God for the diligence to continue working hard.

In this parable, Jesus talks about 3 servants.  Two of the servants work hard and grow their master’s fortune while one of the servants merely hid the talent given to him versus trying to increase the amount.  The point of the parable is that God asks us to work hard and do our best at everything we do.  This includes school, work, and volunteer events. 


Questions for further thought:
1. What work does God have for you to do?

2. What does hard work look like for the work God wants you to complete?


Challenge: Take action and work hard giving your best to complete at least one task this week.
 

Verse 18 introduces the general character for a believer’s prayer life. 1) “all prayer and supplication” focuses on the variety; 2) “at all times” focuses on the frequency; 3) “in the Spirit” focuses on submission as we line up with the will of God; 4) “keep alert” focuses on the manner; 5) “all perseverance” focuses on the persistence; and 6) “all the saints” focuses on the objects. Moreover, Paul does not ask for prayer for his personal well-being or physical comfort in the imprisonment from which he wrote. He asks for boldness and faithfulness to continue proclaiming the gospel to the unsaved no matter what the cost. How are we doing in this regard?


Questions for further thought:
1. In what ways do I need to ask for boldness to proclaim God’s truth to an unbelieving world that desperately needs it?

2. If I have not done so, when will I confess and forsake my sin and put my trust in Christ alone as the basis for my forgiveness?


Challenge: Confess your willingness to give into prideful tendencies and ask the Holy Spirit to give you boldness to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Every true believer is engaged in a spiritual battle. Believers from every walk of life find themselves under relentless attacks from the devil as they are no longer on his side. In this section of Scripture, Paul tells us to use every piece of God’s armor to combat the devil’s attacks and to stand true to Him in the midst of those attacks. So what are these weapons? 1) Belt of Truth – We combat satan's lies by holding on to God’s truth. 2) Breastplate of Righteousness – God’s righteousness protects our heart from satans lies and deceptions and ensures His approval of His children. 3) Shoes of Peace – to share the Good News of the Gospel with an unbelieving world. We must continue to proclaim this truth of God’s peace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ no matter what the response. 4) Shield of Faith – Temptations are likened to the flaming arrows shot by the enemy and quenched by the leather shield. The believer’s continual trust in God’s Word and promise is necessary to protect him from temptations to every sort of sin. 5) Helmet of Salvation – Satan wants us to doubt God, Jesus, and our salvation through Him. The helmet protects our mind from doubting God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. 6) Sword of the Spirit (Word of God) – Interestingly, the only offensive weapon in the arsenal. We need to take the offensive against our adversary. When we are tempted, we need to trust in the truth of God’s Word!


Questions for further thought:
1. Of the pieces of armor, which most interests me and why?

2. How can I begin putting into practice God’s Word and what it says about the armor of God?


Challenge: Pray that God would place His desires within your heart so that you would read His Word regularly.

We must see that all of this instruction for spiritual battle begins with the reminder to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might”. We need to get over thinking that this is our battle. God is the one who gives us the strength to fight in boldness and He is one doing the fighting. Victory over evil is not accomplished in our own strength, but only with the spiritual resources provided by our Savior Jesus Christ! Because we live life on this earth, battles of temptation will rage against us constantly. Satan aims to take us down, but we can fight back by “putting on the whole armor of God”. To put on conveys the idea of permanence, indicating that armor should be the Christian’s sustained, life-long attire in order to stand against the schemes of the devil. The word scheme carries the idea of cleverness, craftiness, cunning, and deception. When we believe in Christ, the ideas and schemes of Satan become our enemies, and they try to turn us away from Him and back to sin. However, we have been given the ultimate weapon in the Holy Spirit! Put your trust in Him today!


Questions for further thought:
1. In what ways have I “put on the whole armor of God”? 

2. In what ways have I experienced the “schemes” of the devil? How have I responded?


Challenge: Commit to pursuing a life wrapped in God’s armor so that you can defeat the advances of your adversary, the devil.

In both Greek and Roman culture, slaves had no rights legally and were treated as commodities. There was much abuse and seldom good treatment of slaves. Slaves played a significant role in this society and Paul was describing the process of master/slave relations. Slaves may have had few rights in society, but in the church they were awarded freedoms that society denied them. The passage then touches on the attitude of work. Verse 6 talks about only working when being watched by the boss or working only to promote one’s welfare, rather than to honor the employer and the Lord. It should not be so. It then talks about how God’s credits and rewards will be appropriate to the attitude and action of our work. No good thing done for His glory will go unrewarded.  There should also be mutual honor and respect from Christian employers to their employees as the Spirit filled boss uses his authority and power with justice and grace – never threatening, never abusive, or inconsiderate. He realizes he has a Heavenly Master who is impartial. 


Questions for further thought:
1. How am I truly giving my all for my employer and my Lord at work?

2. How will I seek to remedy or continue my answer to question #1?


Challenge: Commit to working as on to the Lord as you do your job. Seek His will as you carry out your tasks day to day.

​There is a difference between obeying and honoring. Obedience is a genuine, willing adherence to a request of one in authority. Essentially, to obey means to do as one is told. It has to do with action. Honor, on the other hand, is different as it encompasses the attitude of obedience. It has to do with the attitude behind the action. More than once I have said this line to my kids when I have asked them to do something that I knew they would resist. I would say “Do what you’re told; do it immediately, and do it with a good attitude” Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn’t. Honor has to do with respect and love. This is the child’s responsibility. However, verse 4 is calling fathers to discipline those children in “the training and instruction of the Lord”. Parents should not parent from anger and frustration, but from an attitude of love just as Christ so loved us.


Questions for further thought:
1. How would I define the word “obey”?

2. In what ways have I seen this Biblical model of the parent-child relationship work? Are there some ways it has not been successful?


Challenge: Take time this week “to bring your children up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4)

While Paul writes of the tangible, earthly relationship of husbands and wives in this section, another theme is present in the text. As he writes, he continually compares the way marriage ought to be to the relationship between the church and Jesus. The church, being like the bride of Christ, submits to Him. Jesus, reflecting the husband’s nature, loves and cares for His church. He loves the church as His own body, for we are now united as one with Him. 


Questions for further thought:
1. How does your attitude as part of the church reflect that you are part of the body of Christ?

2. Why is the church often called the “bride” of Christ in scripture?


Challenge: How are you doing as part of the body of Christ? Is your relationship healthy? Are you connected? If not, assess your gifts and find ways to follow after the Lord. 

In a successful marriage, husband and wife will strive to work through life together: equal in their contributions yet different in their roles. God has set up this unique relationship in such a way that married couples are no longer considered two, but one. This duality is not only present in marriage, but also in the trinity nature of our God. It’s why the marriage bed is to be reserved strictly for marriage and why divorce is so scarring. Together, husband and wife make up two sides of one coin, something precious and sacred in God’s sight. 

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Questions for further thought:
1. How does the duality of marriage reflect God’s nature?

2. How does this definition of marriage clash with the world’s view on love, romance, and sex?  


Challenge: Find a way (it can be small) to honor a godly view of marriage. Assess your own life, or maybe your own hopes, and view it through a different lens. 

Submission is a scary word. It means letting someone else have power or authority over you, and it comes with the sizable connotative baggage of fear. Notice again how Paul adds context to the statement, though. A wife is to submit to her husband as to the Lord, modeling how the church should submit to Christ. The church is always ready to follow Christ’s lead, because Jesus loves the church with a deep, unending love. A wife’s role in the marriage relationship is not to relinquish her will out of fear, but to hold a respectful readiness to follow her husband’s lead when the time comes. In this way, the husband and wife will be unified, able to work through conflict and hold each other up through the trials of life.  


Questions for further thought:
1. Why does the concept of submission cause so much fear?

2. What do you think of God’s design for marriage? Is it different/similar to the marriages demonstrated in your life?  


Challenge: Examine the roles of both husband and wife in the scriptures.