Jeremy Myers's Blog: The Blog of Jeremy Myers, page 9

Taking Up the Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)

This study looks at the shield of faith in Ephesians 6:16, which is another part of the armor of God.

As with all the other pieces of spiritual armor, we will first consider how the shield worked for the Roman soldier, then how the shield works for the Christian, and finally, how we can take up and use the shield of faith in our daily lives.

The Shield for the Soldier

The Greek word Paul uses for shield in Ephesians 6:16 is thureon, which is the generic word for shield, but there were two kinds of shields us...

Putting on the Sandals of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:15)

In Ephesians 6:15, Paul instructs Christians to “shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” This is another piece of the armor of God, even though Paul doesn’t specifically mention a piece of armor. Since he writes about having something on our feet, he is clearly referring to the sandals that Roman soldiers wore into battle.

So Ephesians 6:15 is referring to the Sandals of the Gospel. And as we did with the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness, we will consider the sandals in three ways.

First,...

Good Questions About the Death of Jesus that Make no Sense

A reader sent an email today with these questions:

If Jesus died in the place of others, why does everyone else also die? If the penalty for sin is hell forever, and if Jesus paid the penalty for all the sins of the world, why is Jesus not the only one in hell forever? Did God punish Jesus by making him die and go to hell, or did God reward Jesus by raising him up from death and lifting him up to heaven? If Jesus died on a Friday afternoon and rose from the dead by the next Sunday morning, w...

Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)

As we continue to look at the spiritual armor God has given us for our spiritual battle, we look at the breastplate. Specifically in Ephesians 6:14, Paul calls it the breastplate of righteousness.

And just as with the belt of truth, we will look at this second piece of the armor in three ways. First, how it was used on the soldier, second, how it is to be used for us as Christians in spiritual battle, and then finally, how we can put it on for battle.

Let us begin with what the breastplate d...

Putting on the Belt of Truth (Ephesians 6:14a)

It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction. This is definitively the case with the following true facts:

Most animals don’t eat moss because it’s hard to digest and has little nutritional value. But reindeer fill up with lots of moss because it contains a special chemical which helps keep reindeer warm in the icy arctic temperatures. Moss, for the reindeer, acts like antifreeze in a car.

A lightning bolt generates a temperature five times hotter than the sun.

One cup of neutron star...

Who is Our Enemy in Spiritual Warfare? (Ephesians 6:12)

When Paul embarked on his third missionary journey, Ephesus was the first city he visited. He had briefly visited Ephesus during his second missionary journey and had started a church there (Acts 18:19-20), but he now wanted to return and spend plenty of time teaching and training the Christians in Ephesus what it meant to follow Jesus and be the church in their community.

Acts 19:10 records that he spent about two years teaching them about Jesus. During this time, many miracles were performe...

The Battle Plan (Ephesians 6:11,13)

Paul turns from the battle cry in Ephesians 6:10 to the battle plan in Ephesians 6:11, 13. We must not only prepare ourselves for battle by becoming strong, we must also protect ourselves in battle by having a plan.

The battle plan has three parts. We must put on the armor of God, stand our ground, and watch out for traps laid by the devil.

Let us consider each part of the plan.

Put on Your Armor (Ephesians 6:11a, 13a)

The first part of the battle plan is to put on the whole armor of God. Pau...

The Battle Cry (Ephesians 6:10)

Living the Christian life is one of the hardest things you will ever attempt to do. Of course, this is only true if you really attempt to live as a Christian. Far too many Christians think that it is enough to slap a fish bumper sticker on their car, wear Christian t-shirts, and attend a weekly worship service at the church building on the corner.

Truly living the Christian life does not consist of such things, and those who live the Christian life in such insignificant ways will face little...

Think you know what humility is? Think again. (An Interview with Dan Kent, author of Confident Humility)

I had the privilege of interviewing Dan Kent this week about his book, Confident Humility.

I’ll be honest. When I first heard that he had written a book about humility, I thought “Booooring … we all know everything there is to know about humility.”

But then I read the book.

Mind. Blown.

It turns out I have been thinking and teaching about humility entirely wrong. Dan Kent’s book opened my eyes to what truly humility is, how humility works, and how to attain humility in my life.

If you want to...

Do the warning passages of Hebrews 6:7-8 and Hebrews 10:27 refer to Christians going to hell?

My book, What is Hell? is now available on Amazon. I am doing a series of podcast studies that focus on some of the content from the book. The studies look at the eight key terms that are often equated with hell, and about a dozen key passages that are thought to teach about hell.

If you want to learn the truth about hell and what the Bible actually teaches about hell, make sure you get a copy of my book, What is Hell?

Also, if you are part of my discipleship group, there will be an online co...