Ephesians 6

₁Children, you belong to the Lord, and that is why you must listen to your parents. It is the right thing to do. ₂In the Old_Testament it is written:

This is the first commandment where God also promises to give us something. ₃The Lord promised us:

₄Fathers, do not be hard on your children or make them angry. But teach them what they must and must not do. Teach them what God wants.

₅Slaves, you must obey your owners here on earth and show them respect and obey them as you obey Christ. ₆Do not work hard only when your owners can see you. Do not work hard so that people can think you are good. No, you must work like slaves of Christ because you must love doing what God wants. ₇You must love doing your work. Do it as if you are working for the Lord Himself, not as if you are working for people. ₈You know that the Lord will reward you for the good things you do, if you are a slave or if you are a free man.

₉And owners, you must be good to your slaves. Do not keep on telling them that you will punish them. You must remember that you have the same Owner as your slaves, in heaven, and our Owner does not think that one person is more important than another person.

₁₀There is one more thing I want to tell you: You belong to the Lord. He is very strong and He will give you his power to make you strong. ₁₁You must use everything that God gives you to fight against the devil. The devil has many plans to deceive you. Defend your faith like a soldier with armoured clothes, so that the devil can not defeat you. ₁₂We do not fight against people. We fight against evil_spirits and their leaders. We fight against the rulers of the dark and sinful world and the powers of the spirits that are around us.

₁₃That is why you must defend your faith like soldiers who have armoured clothes and you must use the weapons which God gives you. If you do that, you will be able to fight when the war_against the devil starts and you will still be standing when the war is over. ₁₄You must stand like a strong man. You must speak the truth. The truth must be like a belt around a soldier's hips. You must always do what is right, and that will be the armour that protects you. ₁₅You must know and believe the Good_News and always be willing to tell other people the message that God gives us peace. That will be like a soldier's shoes. ₁₆You must keep on believing in Christ, like a soldier who uses a shield to protect himself from the burning arrows which Satan shoots to destroy your faith. ₁₇God has saved you and you must always believe it. It is like the helmet on a soldier's head. As a soldier fights with a sword, you must use the Word of God, which is the message that comes from the Holy_Spirit. ₁₈You must always listen to the Holy_Spirit when you pray and pray with the power that He gives you. Ask God for what you need and always be ready to pray. Don't stop. Pray for all God's people.

₁₉Pray also for me. Pray that God will give me the right words when I talk to people. Pray that I will preach the Good_News and that I will not be afraid to do it. No one knew this message before, but now God has told us what it is. ₂₀I am in jail because God chose me to tell this message to people. Please pray that I will not be afraid, but that I will tell this message in the way that God wants me to.

₂₁Tychicus is my dear friend and he works very hard for the Lord. He will also tell you everything about me so that you will know what I am doing. ₂₂I am sending him to you so that he can tell you how we are, so that you will not be discouraged.

₂₃I pray that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will give peace to all of you. This will help you to love each other and believe in the Lord. ₂₄I pray that God will give his grace to all of you who love our Lord Jesus Christ and who keep on loving Him.