WILES OF THE DEVIL – PART FOUR
Wednesday – April 12, 2017
Wednesday, hump day, already. God is so very good. Welcome back to The Three Minute Word and our Bible Study from Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:10-13 (KJV)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For 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.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Before we delve deeper into the armour of God I have been dealing with the “wiles of the devil”. The “whole armour of God” is for the purpose of our being able to stand which is to persist with our focus on the Kingdom of God and not circumstances. This does not mean that we don’t deal with circumstances to the extent we must, it means we are focused on Him and His purposes and ask for and accept His care (cast our care onto Him) in our circumstances. These wiles of the devil are his tricks, his deceptions to lure us back into sin, to ignore the conviction, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Over the last few days I discussed fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness. We are now clear that all sin starts as an idea, an idea contrary to God’s ideas. So with that backdrop let us continue.
Ephesians 5:4 (KJV)
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Filthiness or filthy talk is shameful, base, and obscene language. In the culture of our day this would include the ‘f’ word. Foolish talk is more than idle words but the ‘talk of fools’ which is foolishness and sin together” according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words. The opposite of foolish talk is pleasant speech, blessing, speaking well of, or the ascription of blessedness according to the Complete Word Study Dictionary, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament. These are to whom it is difficult to listen too, their speech is very negative and gives the righteous a very negative internal reaction. You want to stop the conversation and get away. Each of us need to listen to ourselves and see if positive affirming speech, speech that lifts the hearer, and faith filled speech is coming out of our mouths or is it foolish talk.
Now what about jesting? One might think this is the one finger wave but one finger wave really falls more under filthy and foolish talk. We sometimes have the image of a jester as a clown performing in the town square in a funny suit. According to The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament jesting is as follows: facetiousness (flippant, inappropriate), coarse wittiness, ribaldry. The turning of one’s speech for the purpose of exciting mirth or laughter. Since, however, such persons can easily manipulate circumstances, they are apt to deteriorate into mischief-makers and clowns. Therefore a witty person, is sometimes used in a bad sense meaning a scoffer, a sneerer, or a coarse joker to which Paul probably refers in Ephesians 5:4. (Edited for brevity by this author)
I think for the most part we all recognize these folks when we see them and we are not to partake or join into this coarseness. We can be a very positive influence on this type of behavior over time. I have, as I suspect you have, had many of these people in my life however it was amazing how they could moderate their conversation when they came to know they were in the presence of a man of God. I suspect many of you have had similar circumstances. Brother Paul goes on to say that this speech is not convenient (old English) meaning it is inappropriate for all peoples especially who claim Jesus as Lord. In the place of this talk should be thanksgiving to God. Okay let’s press forward.
Ephesians 5:5 (KJV)
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
As you can see this verse is at least in part a reiteration of Ephesians 5:3. He uses the word whoremonger instead of fornicator (fornication), and points out that all of this is idolatry. These inconvenient things, inappropriate things, behaviors are our god and not the Almighty God. Persons who exhibit this behavior without repentance may not be on their way to Heaven.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
I have recently published two books. First was the book titled “Temptation – The Battle for our Thoughts”. Perhaps this book will shed new light on this topic of temptation in ways you have not imagined. Second is the book titled “And God Said – The Creator’s Provision”. This book illuminates the will of God from the beginning for them and for us. These books are available at Amazon Books.
