Stay Connected

All of you more than likely don’t really know what life is like to be unconnected from the world.

The majority of you have a phone and have had one for awhile. I’ve had a phone for 12 years. I know what it’s like to always have everything at my fingertips.

The answer to everything,

communication with all of your friends and even strangers.

Being able to text or call anyone, anywhere at anytime.

As long as your phone has service you are able to communicate with those you care about as well as people you never knew existed.

How many of you have ever gone on a trip or vacation where you didn’t have any service?

You weren’t able to

text your friends,

post on your instagram or snapchat story

and you were just constantly checking for an internet connection to keep in touch and talk to the people in your life?

You are not used to being unconnected from the world like that, and I would even say that most of you probably would not deal with that well.

How many of you have snapchat streaks? Yeah that’s what I thought.

In order to have a streak with someone your interaction with them has to be frequent. Tonight that’s what we are going to be talking about.

Frequent Communication through a life of prayer.

So let me ask you. How often do you respond or talk to people on your phone?

Alright, now, when was the last time that you actually had real communication with God? I’m not talking about prayer before a meal or things like that but I am talking about real communication through connection with Him.

Was it this week? This month? Or has it just kind of... not happened, and you didn't even notice it wasn't happening?

Tonight we’re not talking about another piece of the armor but something very much connected to the armor. It’s not a piece of the armor itself, but rather the means by which you put the armor on. So open your bibles to Ephesians 6.

I promise I wasn’t lying last week when I said it would be the last time we are reading Ephesians 6:10-17 because this week we are closing out with verses 18-20.

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

So let’s look back. A lot of you just raised your hand and admitted that you have at least one snap streak right? How does a streak survive?

Let them answer.

A streak doesn’t survive on one big conversation a week right?

No it’s constant and consistent. Maybe small but frequent check-ins. There are so many people who treat prayer as this huge, exhaustive time to share as much to God as you possibly can. Pray all the things you need to pray. Give him all your wants, needs, and desires and mark prayer off as covered for the week.

Prayer is not a one time “God please help me” moment. prayer is at all times, constant and ongoing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV

pray without ceasing,

Never stop praying. Paul says in our text “with all prayer”. All prayer and supplication (continue verse 18)

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Paul uses the word ‘ALL’ regarding prayer 4 times in verse 18.

At all times in the Spirit.

Meaning as a form of worship. John 4:23-24

John 4:23–24 NLT

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

True worship is enabled by the Spirit of God and the same spirit intercedes or steps in on behalf of the person who is praying. Romans 8:26-27

Romans 8:26–27 NLT

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

In simple terms — you don't even have to have the right words. When you don't know what to pray, when you're too tired or too messed up to form a sentence, the Spirit's already praying the right thing on your behalf. You're never actually praying alone.

With all prayer.

Prayer is talking to God. Your Father. That in the same way you do not have to have the perfect words and perfect grammar when you talk to your friends or your parents God does not ask you to talk to him completely polished and all put together He just wants you to come to Him.

Talk to Him.

Pray to Him.

Prayer in church has turned into this very scary thing. That if I am gonna pray for everyone, in front of everyone, I have to have these perfect words with this perfect flow like poetry or everyone will laugh at me or because I can’t pray like that then I just can’t pray good.

If that is a thought that you have, you need to get it out of your head. Put on that helmet of salvation to protect your mind from the enemy’s lies, test that thought against God’s word, the sword of the spirit, and speak His truth over it. Because God’s word does not say that we have to come to him through prayer in perfection or not at all.

God just wants you to talk to Him in any way that you can and will.

In fact Jesus warns against trying to sound impressive in Matthew 6:7-8

Matthew 6:7–8 NLT

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

So if your father knows exactly what you need before you ask then what is the point of prayer?

The point is to be connected to God.

Have a relationship with Him.

To listen to Him.

Prayer is not about begging God to give you all that you need prayer is communication with Him. The same way you talk to and text your

friends,

parents,

and siblings.

The same way you are to talk to Him He will talk back to you and if you have connection with God you will be able to hear Him speak in that time of prayer.

The emphasis on “all times” and “all prayer” reflects the seriousness of spiritual war—it demands never ending and unceasing prayer as an essential defensive and offensive tool.

Do any of you remember what it’s like to be away from home, in a place where your phone had no connection or service?

Did you have a restless itch to reconnect back to your phone and all that was going on in that little world with your friends and followers?

Watching your phone,

refreshing the page,

waiting to hear the ding that you have finally been reconnected.

That restless itch is like that ‘keep alert’ part. That’s the posture that Paul is talking about. To always be ready to pray, aware when prayer is necessary, eyes to see that you need to stop and pray to your Father.

How many of you know exactly what I am talking about?

How many of you have had that same kind of mindset when it comes to connecting with God?

We'll refresh a page fifteen times for a signal but go weeks without checking in with Him.

We’ll sit patiently waiting for the video to load and buffer but you won’t sit still when it comes to talking with God.

You’re willing to let your phone be the first and last thing of your day but where are you giving time to God?

And this isn't the first time Paul's used fight language — he told Timothy to 'fight the good fight of the faith.' Same fight. Here, he's telling you what that fight actually looks like day to day: staying alert, staying connected, not tapping out.

Keep alert with ALL perseverance and making supplication for ALL the saints.

Paul is saying that you need to pray for other believers. There is a war going on and you can’t fight it alone. You can’t protect yourself. You need others to protect you and the best weapon, the best protection is to be covered in prayer. 2 Corinthians 10:3

2 Corinthians 10:3–4 NLT

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

God’s mighty weapons are the words that He gave us through His word and the personal connection we have to Him through prayer. Believers are to pray for one another. Not just the needs in your own life.

Think about this.

Every week you all come together,

hear about what is going on in one another's life. Struggles, hardships.

You break into small groups where you should be able to share with your family about the things that you are struggling with and be able to share requests so others can pray for you and continue to pray over that request throughout your week.

You need to be prayed over.

And if you need to be prayed over, if you recognize that, then why would you not come to the same conclusion that everyone else needs someone to be praying over them in the same way that someone is praying over you.

Paul is describing a posture that doesn't quit. Make it everyday:

a five-second prayer in the car,

praying about a text before you send it,

praying through a boring Tuesday and not just a crisis.

This isn't one more thing to be good at, put on a front for, to try to impress others by. It's something you can do unbothered because you have access to personal connection and conversation with God through prayer and He listens to His children.

You need to pray for others and you need to be prayed for, but no one is just gonna be able to automatically be able to know how to pray for you and the things you are going through and struggling with.

You have to share with your family what is going on. You have to be vulnerable with those people in your life in order for them to be able to pray over your needs and step in and intercede and pray for you.

IT IS OKAY TO ASK FOR PRAYER. Paul does it in verse 19 He says…

Ephesians 6:18–20 ESV

and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Did you hear that? Paul, the most influential person in christianity behind Jesus, asks others to keep him in their prayers. Paul who is in chains and in shackles as he is writing this letter in prison ask for prayers to have boldness.

If Paul, who can be named as one of the most faithful followers of Jesus Christ, needs people to pray for him.

If Jesus is asking people to pray for Him, like He did in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was about to be crucified,

How much more do we need to be asking people to pray for us, how much more do we need to make an effort to pray for others.

Both of these instances are evidence that you need to cover others in prayer and be covered in pray yourself. It is permission for you to be able to ask and admit that you need prayer from others.

Because of that truth, because you have been shown that it is okay and even necessary to ask that others pray for you and over you.

What is one specific thing right now that you need prayer for? (pause — let it sit) ...Now flip it. Who's one person you could start praying for this week — not vaguely, by name?

Hold both of those in your head for a second — that's what tonight's actually about.

So think about that streak again — the one you all raised your hand for earlier. Here's the thing about a streak: the second you stop showing up, it breaks. One missed day and it's gone, and you feel it. You notice.

But here's what I want you to really sit with — the streak itself should never actually be the point. Nobody should be sad about losing a number. You should be sad about what the number represented — that you were staying connected to somebody who matters to you.

Prayer works the same way.

It's not about protecting a habit or checking a box so you can say you did your quiet time today. It's about staying connected to the God who armed you for this fight in the first place.

Because the truth is — all the armor we've talked about this series means nothing if you're not actually talking to the One who gave it to you.

You can know the truth,

wear the breastplate of righteousness,

carry the shield of faith,

hold the sword of the Spirit

— and still lose ground, because you stopped checking in with Command.

So here's what I'm asking you to do.

Not a new habit you have to maintain perfectly. Just — tonight, before you fall asleep, pray about one real thing. Not a mealtime prayer. Not a memorized line.

One real thing going on in your life, said honestly, to a God who's already listening.

That's it. That's where we're ending this series. Not with one more piece of armor — with the reminder that all of it was always meant to be worn in connection with Him, not alone.