(I’m so sorry for the delay, I was out of state the last two weeks. I’m just now realizing that I never sent the email with the Bible studies while I was out of town. We will do Ephesians Chapter 5 now and on Sunday, the 18th we will continue on Ephesians chapter 6. So sorry for the delay and confusion.)

            This chapter begins by Paul telling us that we need to be imitators of God. To be a christian means to be like Christ. Therefore, we need to always be mindful of what does God want us to do, and is everything that we are saying and doing bringing Him glory? All that we do should be something He would be proud of, we shouldn’t waste our moments on things that wouldn’t make God proud of us. If God wouldn’t do or say something, we shouldn’t either.

            How does one achieve this? By seeking God out, that simple. The more we seek Him and get to know Him the more He will transform us to who He created us to be and the more our actions will reflect Him and His goodness. To stay spiritually sharp and close to Him we need to stay in His word.

            We shouldn’t be involved with sexual immorality or any type of obscene and vulgar joking. If you can’t imagine God telling a certain joke, then you shouldn’t be saying it either. We should ask God to give us His sense of humor and personality, we should reject that of the worlds. What we do in private reflects who we are in public, we need an internal change to have our external change reflect our hearts. This can only be done in surrendering to God.

            We shouldn’t be greedy or immoral, we shouldn’t put anything before God. If we are wanting something more than we are wanting to commune with God, we are dancing with greed and need to put ourselves in check spiritually. He should be all that we want and seek and everything else needs to be an afterthought to Him and what He wants for us.

            Paul tells us not to let anyone deceive us by conniving us that any sin, but especially these sins, are ok. We need to know better and staying in His word keeps us prepared and aware of His truth verses a lie. The more we seek God the more we will learn what is pleasing to Him and the more we will grow into the person He created us to be.

            We should live reflecting honor, purpose and courage to others. We shouldn’t represent the world, tangled in fear and hopelessness. People should look to you and see Christ within you; they should see boldness, grace, faith and fearlessness. What do you reflect to others? Do you like more like Christ or more like the world?

            Verse 18 tells us not to get drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit and constantly be guided by Him. This tells us that when one is drunk they are currently not being guided by the Holy Spirit and are spiritually operating under evilness. This alone should be encouragement not to get drunk, we should never want something to get in the way of us and the Holy Spirit.

            We need to speak to one another in psalms and hams and praise God singing with all our hearts. We need to be worshiping God, when we worship Him our soul communes with Him and we grow closer in Him. We need to worship Him and the more we do the more His presence will consume us.

            Wives need to subject themselves to their husbands, they need to be accepting of their husbands and abide in him for when you get married you two become one and as one you both need to be bound and abiding in Christ. Always stay in submission to him and God, never fall astray or fall into ones own ways. Wives need to stay in Christ, honor Him and their husbands, delight in them, love them, treasure them. Wives need to be encouraging and motivating to their husbands, they need to show love and admiration for them.

            Husbands need to love their wives like Jesus loves the church, He gave His life for her. Husbands need to love their wives like their own bodies, for man left his parents to become one with his wife and for that reason are now one. When man makes this covenant before God; the husband and wife are now forming a covenant with God and they are now one in Christ. The husband needs to love his wife, care and provide for her; the wife needs to subject herself and abide in him through Christ. Marriage is a serious thing and the covenants formed are not something to take lightly, because its a covenant being made with God. However, when a married couple chooses to make this covenant in Christ they now have God as the foundation of their marriage