Be Strong in the Lord

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor 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 armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:10-13 King James Version
Sunday, February 14, 2021
This is African American History Month.  We celebrate the legacy of the past with its impetus for our involvement in the present to give us a vision for the future.  Our country and our world are experiencing challenges which require conviction and courage, faith and fortitude, and resolve and resistance. We have been here before as history reminds us. I need not recant the sacrifices, struggles, and sufferings we experienced and overcame over our 400-year sojourn since 1619.

Last week, the scripture of the first Sunday of African American history month was about “Life’s Perpetual Struggle.” The scriptural message reminded us that God is with us in life’s struggle, God preserves us through the struggles of life and clinging to the Lord at all cost we are blessed to be a people of God who fulfill the purposes of God through our lives. The decision after engaging in life’s perennial struggle is whether “you walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” 
 
This is the second Sunday of African American History month. Our four hundred year history reminds us that we have endured the worst the nation has offered. We have also contributed immeasurably to the best of what the nation has achieved.  We remain courageously loyal to the ethics of our faith, the integrity of our personhood and the values of the Judeo-Christian Heritage that have been woven into the warp and woof of the fabric of our nation. 
 
Consider a few of your experiences that required that you continue in the perpetual struggle to walk in the creative altruism of possibility and potential instead of succumbing to the darkness of disappointment.  
Monday, February 15, 2021
10 Finally, my brethren, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Ephesians 6:10 KJV 
  
The Judeo-Christian heritage speaks about the issues we face today: poverty and justice, bias and bigotry, inequity and inequality, prejudice and privilege. The Bible is clear that the church is to advocate for the abandoned, dehumanized, demoralized, disenfranchised, the marginalized, the neglected, and the poor in the world. We are to pursue justice on their behalf, becoming hope for the helpless, and a voice for the voiceless. We do not neglect the spiritual for the social or social for spiritual, but recognize that both reflect the other; they are opposite sides of the same coin. Spirituality finds expression in the way we structure society and society is a reflection of our spirituality. These two areas are not in opposition but in contraposition to each other, complimenting one another. Christ demonstrated care for the whole person, body and spirit. As His followers, we must demonstrate the same, not allowing excuses for whatever reason to keep us from addressing the social needs of our world. We cannot be blind to human oppression and ignore the ordinances of God as they relate to the social arrangements that leave people in captivity, enslaved by the bias of bigotry, demonization of diversity, and the prejudice of privilege.
 
The struggle continues. Each achievement, any progress, and every victory, personally and politically must be reinforced with resilience, resistance, and resolve in order to be maintained and sustained.  We are still steadfast in our commitment to move forward, believing that it does not yet appear what we shall be. However, we are still a work in process, fractured and unfinished, as Amanda Gorman so poetically reminded us at the inauguration. 
 
Consider what it means that we are still struggling to maintain and sustain what has been accomplished, while we are pushing forward toward the creative altruism of our ideologies and ideals that we have not yet achieved.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
How do we continue the struggle? I share the words of Paul to the church at Ephesus.  10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor 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 armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13 King James Version

Paul did not tell us why he wrote this epistle to the congregation at Ephesus. We have to read the book itself and then deduce the purpose of the writer. This is the case with Ephesians as with most of the other books. Nowhere in this letter does Paul tell us explicitly why he wrote it. However, when we read the letter, his reasons for writing becomes clear. There are a few main themes that emerge from this epistle. (1) Christ has reconciled all creation to himself and to God; (2) Christ has united people from all nations to himself and to one another in his church; and (3) Christians must live as new people who are reconciled to God and one another. 
 
Paul’s writings break down into three main segments. (1.) Chapters one through three introduce principles with respect to God’s accomplishment. (2.) Chapters four and five put forth principles regarding our present existence. (3.) Chapter six presents principles concerning our daily struggle.
 
The purpose of Ephesians is to offer general instructions in the truths of God’s redemptive work in Christ; the unity of the church among diverse people; and proper conduct in the church, the home, and the world.

Needless to say, we all have our seemingly own brand of interpreting the way our faith finds expression in our lives. This does not mean that anything goes, based on what a person perceives. Faith is always understood by the practice of those who profess to be adherents. We must admit that the practice of faith has perpetrated some of the most heinous, horrific atrocities in human history, under the guise of doing the will of God. Yet we can see that the practice of faith has demonstrated that there are those who walk in the light of the creative altruism in the life and legacy of Christ. 

Consider what it means that you are reconciled to God; you are united in fellowship with others who embraced Jesus and living as one who is reconciled to God and others in fellowship.  
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
10 Finally, my brethren, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Ephesians 6:10 KJV 
 
You cannot do right if you are not strong. Unless you have the backbone of principle — unless you have spiritual muscle and sinew of righteousness by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in you, you cannot continue to do that which is right. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord.”

Strength of principle finds practice that reinforces and perseveres with consistency; practicing reconciliation in Christ, united in our diversity, to come together and live in relationship mimicking the life and love of Jesus. Your strength is in the Lord as scriptures indicated in the lives of people who strengthened themselves in the Lord. (I Samuel 30:6). 
 
Not only are we to be strong in the Lord but also in the power of the Lord’s might.  Ephesians 6:10-11. We must put on the whole armor of God. 
You must be strong first, and not trust in your strength alone, but in the power of God’s might. The power of God as discovered in the experiences in the bible, illustrates being strong in the power of the Lord’s might. You can also reflect on the power of the Lord on which you have relied throughout your whole life. Africans Americans of another day would say, “He woke me up this morning and started me on my way and let me see the sunshine of a brand new day.”

When you consider the power of the Lord that has fueled the faith and fortitude of your fight in life’s continuing struggle, how have you been able to do what you have done? It was in the power and might of the Lord that you have overcome what would have destroyed you. This is what our history suggests. Gayraud Wilmore in his seminal book, “Black Religion and Black Radicalism,” shares an interpretation of the religious history of African Americans. Our history reminds us in the words of the song,

If it had not been for the Lord on my side, / Where would I be? Where would I be?
If it had not been for the Lord on my side / Where would I be? Where would I be?

He kept my enemies away / He let the sun shine through a cloudy day / Oh, he wrapped me in the cradle of his arms / When he knew I'd been battered and torn.

He never left me all alone / He gave me peace and joy I've never known / He answered when I knelt down to pray / And in victory, the Lord showed me the way.

Consider what it means to strengthen yourself in the Lord when you consider the struggle for equality, fairness and justice, past, present and future. 
Thursday, February 18, 2021
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:11 KJV

It is only with God’s strength and power that you can withstand the wiles of the deceitful one. Listen to the way Paul describes why you need to stand strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put another way, the strength of the Lord and the Lord’s power is what helps you withstand being misled by strategic, tactical deception and distraction in order to hide malevolent intent.   

Dietrich Bonheoffer’s book entitled, “Creation, the Fall and Temptation,” provides some insight here. He states that the Bible tells essentially two temptation stories, the temptation of Adam and the temptation of Christ. All other temptations in human history have to do with these two stories. We are tempted in Adam or we are tempted in Christ. Either the Adam in us is tempted, in which cases we fail and fall or the Christ in us in tempted, in which case Satan fails and falls. 

The first temptation story about Adam has its own interesting details. Firstly, the tempter attacks the innocent for where there is guilt he has already gained power. Secondly, the tempter’s origin is completely concealed. He appears suddenly and begins speaking. Thirdly, the tempter disguises his intent by engaging his prey in a conversation about God.

Wiles of the devil are those clever schemes used by Satan to ensnare us through temptation, threat, or intimidation. Ephesians 6:11 warns us to “put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (KJV).
Other Bible versions speak of the “devil’s schemes,” “strategies,” or “evil tricks” rather than “wiles.” Scripture gives us insight into our enemy’s tactics: “We are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11), and we are wise to heed its warnings.

In terms of the wiles of the devil, he did not say you defeat or eradicate them but you withstand them. Withstand means that you endure despite what the deceiver tries to do. You resist the temptation to be distracted in the deception of falsehoods that you are told. You survive regardless of the ruin of trust that deception and detraction cause. 

Consider what it means to withstand the wiles of the devil; withstand the onslaught of schemes that are designed to disadvantage you with deception, detraction, and deceit. 
Friday, February 19, 2021
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. Ephesians 6:12 KJV

 “Principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Now that is a mouthful. How do you describe principalities, powers, ruler of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places? Principles that perpetuate the practices and policies that put people in captivity, demean their humanity, deny their right to exist. Laws that disenfranchise the many and enfranchise the few. The rulers of darkness would be what Martin Luther King Jr. refers to as “the darkness of selfishness which expresses itself in entitlement and privilege.” The systemic structures that sustain systems of inequality, inequity and injustice.  

I must say something here about toxic churchianity and authentic Christianity. Toxic churchianity reduces the Christian faith to a sectarian cult (biased, bigoted, intolerant, partisan prejudicial in ways that promote division and discord.  Toxic churchianity epitomizes and embodies entitlement, privilege and superiority, making alternative options of expressions of faith as heretical, false and inauthentic misrepresentation of the legitimate expressions of the Judeo-Christian heritage.

Authentic Christianity promotes the grace we have received to be reconciled to God and one another, the unity in our diversity in Christ, and how we continue the struggle to be true to our Lord and Savior, who is the author of our faith by grace. Authentic Christianity exemplifies the love of God in Christ that reconciles through forgiveness, encourages us to be faithful to what we have received by grace through faith in Christ. 

The difference between toxic churchianity and authentic Christianity is clear.  Practice the principles of our faith to (1) Love one another as God has loved us in Christ, (a new commandment I give to you (John 13:34): (2) Care for one another as God has cared for us in Christ (I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd cares for the sheep / John 10:18) and (3) Relate to one another as God has related to us in Christ (Psalm 103:4 / In loving kindness and tender mercies).

Isn’t that what our history and the courage of our ancestors’ stories relate to us. We endured the worst, contributed to the best achievements and continue in our allegiance, commitment and loyalty to the practice of our faith in what God has done in Christ. 

Chris Hedges, a Presbyterian minister and journalist, wrote a book entitled "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America." Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.  Sounds like toxic churchianity parading as Christianity. 

Consider what it means that toxic churchianity parades as authentic Christianity through the history of the Judeo-Christian heritage.  

Saturday, February 20, 2021
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  Ephesians 6:13 KJV

 The desired outcome is to withstand the evil day and having done all you can do to stand. You just want to withstand, endure, resist and survive. You get to continue to fight, struggle and wrestle beyond the withstanding. You don’t give in, give up, or give out. No, you hold on to God’s unchanging hand and withstand the onslaught of the enemy, the evil, the deceiver, and deception. Withstand the ambush of deception that would diminish your determination. Withstand the assault on your humanity. Withstand the attack on your personhood.   

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor 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 armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ephesians 6:10-13 KJV

Consider what it means for you to withstand what threatens to deceive, demean, distract, and destroy your faith in Jesus Christ.  
Conclusion
What do you do when you've done all you can / And it seems like it's never enough?
And what do you say when your friends turn away / And you're all alone, alone?
Tell me, what do you give when you've given your all / And it seems like you can't make it through? / Well you just stand when there's nothing left to do / You just stand, watch the Lord see you through / Yes, after you done all you can, you just stand.

Tell me, how do you handle the guilt of your past? / Tell me, how do you deal with the shame?
And how can you smile while your heart has been broken / And filled with pain, filled with pain?
Tell me what do you give when you've given your all / Seems like you can't make it through.

Child, you just stand when there's nothing left to do / You just stand, watch the Lord see you through.  Yes, after you've done all you can, you just stand.

Stand and be sure / Be not entangled in that bondage again
You just stand, and endure / God has a purpose, yes, God has a plan.

Tell me what do you do when you've done all you can / And it seems like you can't make it through?

Child, you just stand, you just stand, stand / Don't you dare give up through the storm, stand through the rain / Through the hurt, yeah, through the pain / Don't you bow, and don't bend don't give up, no, don't give in / Hold on, just be strong, God will step in and it won't be long. 

After you done all you can, after you done all you can. You just stand.
After you done all you can, you just stand in the power of the Lord’s might.  

-Donnie McClurkin
2412 Griffith Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90011 
Phone: (213) 748-0318