Ephesians 4:25-32
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: forwe are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Put off, put on, put away.
We are continuing our study on the new Gentilian walk. In our previous study we were told to put off the old man, Ephesians 4:22, and to put on the new man, Ephesians 4:24. Now, in addition to that, the Apostle Paul enjoins us to put away some negative traits that belong to the old man. We have choices to make and actions to take in this process of sanctification. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish these as we exercise our free moral agency or our free will. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just zap us and remove all the uglies from our life. We must participate in the process. So let’s go ahead and examine these areas of new man upgrades that otherwise are potential pitfalls. Actually, this is a great exercise at the beginning of a new year. Makes for some realistic new year’s resolutions. Happy new you!
Don’t be a liar. 4:25
I am a member of the body of Christ as you are. Don’t injure a part of your body through deceit. You are only hurting yourself.
Don’t sin in your anger. 4:26
Keep your emotions in check and your tongue from injurious words. Settle the matter before the close of day. You’ll be glad you did. Apologizing is harder. So is going to jail.
Keep the devil out. 4:27
Do not be a satanic instrument for division or discord. Sow peace, love, and grace. Reap blessing and joy.
Thou shalt not steal. 4:28
Don’t take what does not belong to you. At the store, on the job, on your neighbor’s property, or at the bank. You are not entitled to it because of previous generational disadvantage. Work provides what you need and for the needs of others. Be a giver not a stealer.
Watch your tongue. 4:29
Don’t cuss, insult, criticize or gossip. Do not hurt others with what you think is witty sarcasm. Instead be a dispenser of grace with kind words, compliments, and encouragement.
Don’t sadden the Holy Spirit. 4:30
By your faith and conduct keep the Holy Spirit glad he indwells you and is guaranteeing your complete redemption. (Go to page 2.)
Don’t be a toxic human being. 4:31
Paul wraps up the not so nice traits of our natural pre-new creature DNA by mentioning a few attitudinal and emotional discrepancies that will make us not so friendly. These could very well lead to alienation as folks will not want to inhabit our polluted environment. For this reason some find themselves lonely and miserable.
Bitterness, Wrath, and Anger 4:31
These are deep rooted, long standing poisons that will wreak havoc in a human being. Previously, anger was mentioned in another context in 4:26. There it referred to a one-time event that could be addressed before the end of the day. Here, the triplets deal with inner anomalies that are a way of life. Hurts over a sense of being treated unfairly accumulate in the heart and become a root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15) that is difficult to exterminate. Soon one is not just angry with the perceived perpetrator of the injury but with those even distantly associated with the event, and finally there grows a feeling of paranoia where it seems everyone is out to get me and any incident triggers a lashing out of wrath. They say there is no fury like a woman scorned but it is not exclusively the domain of females. Many men rage with wrath and are capable of much destruction if not confronted and dealt with. I have ministered to men of this sort who were planning murder over the infidelity of a spouse. Thankfully the word of God, prayer, and the Holy Spirit were powerful enough to bring deliverance and healing to these and the emotion was assuaged.
With reason Paul addresses the men concerning wrath in 1 Timothy 2:8:
8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Then there are those individuals who live in a constant state of anger. They may be angry at the world, angry at God, angry at a parent. They have been maligned in their youth, feel a sense of entitlement which seemingly no one has catered to, or they were not loved or taught to love and be happy.
These triplets have engendered many a criminal. Prisons are filled with this kind of people. Some have died prematurely through self-inflicted means. Unfortunately these did not avail themselves of the work of Christ on the cross, and the healing power of the Holy Spirit. They never find the new life available by faith in Christ. They are not able to put away these destroyers.
Clamour, Evil Speaking, Malice 4:31
There remains another triad in opposition to the new Gentilian way of life. The Apostle leaves no stone unturned. The believer is made aware of these enemies of the soul not to condemn him. Light is shone on them to inform us of the possibility of their eradication.
Clamour (clamor) defined is a loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting vehemently; (of a group of people) shout loudly and insistently. This is often seen on TV news where protestors are seen doing exactly that. Usually they are clamouring concerning an evil they want legalized, accepted, or made available. You can read about situations like this even in the Book of Acts where protests were held against Paul and the Gospel message. Paul was familiar with the clamourers. Christians are not to engage in or participate in such ungodly events. It may not only be expressed by large groups. At times there are loud-mouthed argumenters that would cause a scene in order to be heard in smaller settings, such as in domestic quarrels. Give no place to these devils. And do not be one of them. Put that away.
The evil speaking addressed here is of a higher magnitude than that in verse 29. Here it refers to slander, detraction, speech injurious to another's good name. Bearing false witness, the ninth commandment, may be included here. Detraction is a significant term. The meaning of detraction is a lessening of reputation or esteem especially by envious, malicious, or petty criticism: belittling, disparagement.
Interestingly, the Greek word for evil speaking is blasphēmia from whence we get the word blasphemy. It covers interesting territory. Of course it goes higher in meaning including rants against God. It extends to impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty. That includes the third commandment.
We would be best served by putting away these things.
And finally, all malice. This is a kind of wrap for the aforementioned offenses against others. Malice here is malignity, ill-will, desire to injure. Put away all of it Paul admonishes us.
And then the antidote is given. 4:32
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Walking in verse 32 will keep us out of the very bad neighborhood described in verses 25 through 31. Amen. -PJF-
And now a word from Pastor Shirley…
I was reading through past articles and I came across these two. They have personal and spiritual significance to me, however, I hope they serve as an inspiration to you as you begin this new year. Blessings to you and your family in this new year, 2025.
Prayers of a Little Girl
February 2020
I have made it a habit to pray with Emily, our 3 year old daughter, every night since she was a newborn. As Emily learned to talk, I prayed short and simple prayers so Emily could learn to pray.
At first, she would repeat the prayer after me. Not long after, she would pray and ask, “What’s the next part?” Next thing I know, she’s praying the prayer all by herself. One night as Emily started to pray, she started praying for the snowman we saw on the lawn, the reindeer at the store, and the Christmas Tree with the lights. I opened my eyes to see if she was messing with me, but she wasn’t. I was about to tell her that we don’t pray for things — but I felt the Holy Spirit shush me.
I continued to listen to my sweet girl pray. I noticed how free she was to pray. She wasn’t hindered by anything. She asked for things, she prayed for things, she talked about things. If I had opened my mouth that night, I would have stopped the flow that she established on her own. She was in and I would have taken her out of that.
I realized that this was how the Lord wants us to talk to him daily, not hindered by anything. Not carefully wording things so it’s “proper.” He wants us to ask. He wants us to be free. Most of all He wants us to open our mouths and talk to him. -SAF-
We Choose to Go
December 2020
Mark 16:15, “ And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” - President John F. Kennedy
I hear the highlighted portion of the quote above on a weekly basis. It has become my reminder of why we, my husband and I, press forward and continue to do what we do in ministry.
We go because we “choose” to.
It is a decision we make every day. We cannot wait for something to happen. We have to move forward and things begin to happen. It is not always easy. Hard times come and go, but they will not deter us from going. We accept the challenge and we move forward to win. -SAF-
Special Thank You!
Last month we raised enough money to purchase 70 of the 100 Bibles needed for our ministry partners in Tenali, India. Thank you for giving! God bless you. |
A fresh start
It is a great time to make amends with a friend or a relative with whom you may have had some discordant interactions in the past year or the past ten years.
Send them a text message expressing your desire to start the new year off right and ask forgiveness for any previous discrepancies on your part. It is a wonderful thing to clear the air. I know.
Thank You!
We want to thank all of you, our friends and family, for sharing our vision and participating in it through your prayers and financial support. The Gospel is being propagated, orphans and widows are being cared for, the needy are being blessed, and missionaries are being encouraged by means of your gifts to Purpose! Ministries. We reach into India, Mexico, Morocco, St Lucia, the USA, and we support worldwide evangelism ministries. Your gifts are far reaching. Again, thank you.
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Pastors PJ and Shirley Flores
Purpose! Ministries
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