April 29 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Ephesians 6:1-12:

¹Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
²Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
³That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
⁴And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
⁵Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
⁶Not with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
⁷With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
⁸Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
⁹And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
¹⁰Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Devotional

Sunday should be a day of peace and joy for God's children. And so it is. But nevertheless, it is true that on this day of days fierce battles are fought, battles between the powers of darkness and the forces of light. When God's heralds proclaim God's truth, we may be sure that Satan is not inactive. But at all times do we have need of the whole armour of God. We must have, and be able to use, every weapon — the shield of faith, the hel­met of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, etc. Without this armour we are lost. But this armour is prepared for us. We do not have to forge our own weapons. They are all ready for use. But we must take them, up, relying not on our own strength, but on God who furnishes this armour. When we are weak, then we are strong.

Did we in our own strength confide
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing.

He must and will win the battle. And through him we are more than conquerors. "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength." "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee."

Prayer

O Lord, help us in our weakness to rely on Thy strength. Endue us with power from on high to fight the fight of faith. Grant that in our spiritual warfare we may not succumb; but be Thou pleased to preserve and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may make firm stand against our spiritual enemies, the devil, the world and our own flesh, until finally complete victory is ours. We ask it in Jesus' name, and for his sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Eph. 6:11-17; 2 Cor. 12:10; Rom. 8:37; Isa. 40:29; Ps. 84:5.

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