In this message I would like to point out the correspondence between the vision in Revelation 12 and the book of Ephesians. In Revelation 12 we all have been impressed with the vision of the woman with her stronger part, the man-child, fighting against the enemy by means of the word. In the book of Ephesians we also have the woman. As we all know, Ephesians is a book on the church, which is the greater part of the woman in Revelation 12. In Ephesians this woman is the wife of Christ.
In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prayed that the Father would grant us, “according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” This strengthening takes place in our inner man, which is our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The more we are strengthened in our inner man, the more we become the stronger part within the woman. The key to becoming the stronger part within the woman is being strengthened in our inner man. In verse 18 Paul continues to pray that we would “be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.” Although the King James Version uses the word able, the Greek word translated able means to be strengthened with power. We must be empowered to know the dimensions of the riches of our Christ. In order to be the man-child, we must be not only strengthened in our inner man, but also nourished with all the riches of Christ. Furthermore, Ephesians 6:10 tells us to “be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength.” According to this chapter, the way to be strong is to put on the whole armor of God (vv. 11, 13), which is the all-inclusive Christ. To put on the whole armor of God is to put the all-inclusive Christ upon us. Every aspect of the all-inclusive Christ must become our covering. Thus, in Ephesians 3:16 and 18 and 6:10 and 11, we see that the way to become the stronger part within the woman is to be strengthened in our inner man, to be empowered to experience the riches of Christ, and to be strong through putting on the all-inclusive Christ as our armor. Hence, in the book of Ephesians we find the aspects of both the woman and the man-child.
In the book of Ephesians we also have the warfare against spiritual darkness, against the principalities and powers in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). These evil powers are, of course, the powers of the enemy, Satan. Therefore, in this book we see not only the woman and the man-child, but also the third party, Satan, the serpent. Ephesians reveals that a warfare is raging between the stronger part within the woman and the enemy and, furthermore, that this fighting is carried on by praying. The way the man-child fights against the enemy is by prayer. Eventually, the entire book of Ephesians brings us to one climactic point—watching and praying.
At this point we need to present a literal translation of Ephesians 6:17 and 18. “And receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit, and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.” According to these verses, the way to fight is to take the word of God by means of all prayer. We should not simply have one way of prayer, but every means of prayer, exercising our spirit to pray in various ways to take the word of God. This portion of the Bible speaks about pray-reading, about taking the word of God by means of all prayer. It is of no avail to fight against the enemy with our own thoughts and words. We cannot use our mind or utterance to do battle against him. The most effective way to war against the enemy is to pray-read the Word, and the best portion of the Word to pray-read is the book of Ephesians. If you pray-read this book in a concentrated way for a period of time, you will be strengthened. Instead of trying to understand the book of Ephesians, you should pray-read it, even covering the whole book in two weeks. If you do this, you will be able to testify that you are becoming the stronger part within the woman.
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