Standing Firm, Empowered by Prayer

STANDING FIRM, EMPOWERED BY PRAYER Spring Valley Mennonite; September 12, 2021; Ephesians 6:18-23 We have come to the last message in the book of Ephesians. There is no book in the New Testament which presents a more complete description of the victorious Christian life. Not only do we have stated the blessings which are ours in Christ, but in addition, we are given the resources which enable us to enjoy those blessings. Ephesians expands on the truth Paul briefly mentioned in Colossians "that in Him we have been made complete" and that Peter touched on in his second epistle that "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness" 1 A comprehensive summary of all these blessings has been given: "Paul begins Ephesians with the comprehensive declaration that "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (1:3). He then proceeds to tell us that we are chosen, predestined, and adopted as God's children (1:4-5); lavished with His grace (1:6, 8; 2:7); redeemed and forgiven (1:7; 4:32); given the mystery of His will (1:9; 3:4-6); receivers of an inheritance (1:11); have been sealed with the Holy Spirit (1:13-14; 4:30); greatly loved by God (2:4; 5:25); made alive with new life (2:5-6); the workmanship of Christ, created by Him for doing good works (2:10); given God's own peace (2:14); made one with Christ and with every other believer as His own Body (2:13-19; 3:4-6); made citizens of God's kingdom and members of His family (2:19); built into God's own temple and the dwelling place of His Spirit (2:20-22); given boldness and confident access to God (3:12); made powerful beyond our imagination (3:20); given the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (4:3); individually and uniquely gifted by Christ (4:7); blessed with specially gifted leaders to equip us in the work of ministry (4:11-12); taught by Jesus Christ Himself (4:20-21); given a new self in God's holy likeness (4:24); made light (5:8); offered the fullness of the Holy Spirit (5:18); given the instructions and resources to make all relationships with others what God intends them to be (5:21-6:9); and given God's full armor to make us invincible against Satan and his demonic forces (6:10-17).2 It is with significant purpose that Paul concludes the description of our battle armor with related instructions on prayer. Having put on the armor, we are to stand firm and pray. In its most fundamental sense, prayer is communication with God. As we are involved in a cosmic struggle with the evil forces of Satan, and as we are clearly described as soldiers in this battle it is vital that we remain closely in contact with our divine Commander. No matter how well equipped a soldier might be, he realizes that he cannot take on the whole enemy army on his own. He must follow the orders of his Commander. Continuing this biblical analogy of soldiers and battles, prayer is the communication link with God in our battles. All the spiritual armor will be ineffective without its link with prayer. Look at these final verses of chapter 6, beginning at verse 18 (read). Let's consider how... I. PRAYER AND ARMOR STAND TOGETHER It is not that prayer is another piece of armor. The armor is complete. Yet prayer and armor belong together, in fact, one cannot succeed without the other! One grows out of the other; in other words, we cannot stand against evil with the armor alone; we cannot pray successfully unless we have our armor on. Perhaps you have never considered this relationship but examine for a moment what the armor really is: putting on the armor of God is a mental exercise which leads us to take hold of who we are in Christ, and what Christ is to us (Repeat). Putting on the armor is thinking through and claiming the reality of our standing in Christ-truly all the positional truths of the first three chapters of Ephesians. Putting on the armor is essentially something we do in our thought life. "Armoring up" is the adjustment of the attitude of our heart to the reality of things as they truly are, of who we truly are in Christ. Now Satan is a master of deception; he does not want us to see ourselves as God sees us. Satan tries to blind us to the facts that we have been saved by grace; that we have been raised up from death to newness of life; that because we have been placed in Christ that we are secure and safe, seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Satan wants us to see ourselves as weak, vulnerable, and condemned by our mistakes. He wants us to define ourselves by what we have done, rather than who we are in Christ. He wants us to think that we'll never overcome our sinful tendencies. He wants us to live in fear, frustration, and fruitlessness. He lies! God's truth cuts through his illusion, and each piece of the armor tells us the absolute truth about ourselves and how to deal with life. Think about the armor: We first have the absolute truth which acts like a belt holding the armor together. We are covered and protected by the righteousness of Christ, not our own. We can move forward or stand firmly in the contrary winds of life for we have on the shoes of the peace of God. We choose to respond to Satan's arrows of temptations, accusations, and deception by raising the shield of believing faith; our mind is protected by the assurance of our salvation and the certain hope of a glorious future, and we wield the sword of the Spirit-inspired Word of God. With our attitude aligned with God's truth, we can pray with confidence. For prayer to be effective, we must have our armor in place. Prayer is simply communicating with God. Now, as we relate prayer to spiritual battles, II. WE MUST BE IN COMMUNICATION WITH OUR COMMANDER Prayer is what makes the battle strategy work. Imagine an army where every individual decides when and where and how he is going to fight, every soldier running around doing whatever he thinks is best. Not much would be accomplished. Through prayer we get our Commander God's perspective on the battle, and as we follow His leading, He coordinates all our effort into His overall battle plan. Prayer enables us to find out the particulars of the plan. Now we do have His Word which gives us the principles of fighting the enemy; each soldier has had his basic training, and has studies about fighting, but he still needs the specific orders about how to use the things he has learned. We communicate with God through prayer. In these verses, we are given... III. SPECIFIC ORDERS RELATING TO PRAYER * "With all prayer and petition" This speaks of the frequency of prayer, at all times. Satan lies about prayer, telling us prayer is dreary or burdensome, or insignificant: he says, "You'd be better off 'doing something.' What a shame that we often look on prayer in the same category as "cleaning the bathroom": necessary, but not enjoyable! We've been duped by the devil! Think of it: God Almighty, the One who determined the number of the stars, and calls them all by name; Who merely spoke and everything came into being; the all- powerful, all glorious, Omnipotent God says, "talk to Me." God wants me to speak with Him! And He has promised-the One Who cannot lie! He has promised me that He will hear and answer me! And it gets better: God wants me to talk to Him at all times. I Thessalonians 5:17 says we are to "pray without ceasing." Obviously, this does not mean that we are to spend 24 hours a day in prayer, but that we have the communication lines open so that we can talk with God anytime a need arises, or to send up a word of praise, or whenever we are moved to tell Him "Thank you." It is like working all day with your best friend; you aren't constantly in conversation, but as things come up, you talk about them. This is praying "at all times." * We are to pray "in the Spirit." Cell phones have become a part of our lives. Yet if you have the phone turned off, or if the battery is dead, or you have it on "mute" (like I do during this service) the phone is pretty useless for communication. Praying in the Spirit is like having your phone fully charged, fully powered up. Praying in the Spirit means at least two things: first, it means praying in accord with the mind and will of the indwelling Spirit of God. It is praying in such a way that we are in agreement with the Holy Spirit. Do you realize that there are some things we pray for which God has no intention of giving to us? Why? Because they are contrary to His will for us. This is why it is crucial that we know God's Word, for He will always answer when we ask according to His will. I John 5:14-14 tells us "This is the confidence we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." Our Lord led the way when He prayed, "Not My will, but Your will be done." Secondly, praying in the Spirit means that God answers prayer on the basis of His promises. The concept that God is obligated to answer any prayer I pray, no matter what it is, is not biblical. Any idea that praying long and hard will always produce a "Yes" answer, no matter what I am asking for leads only to frustration in prayer and feeds the widespread belief that prayer is at best a haphazard thing that usually doesn't work. No good parent gives his child everything he asks for. But, on the other hand, we do obligate ourselves as good parents to furnish everything our children need. God is the perfect parent. God answers every prayer, but often He say "No" or "Wait." Power in prayer comes from praying in the Spirit, according to God's will and in line with His promises. * Our text goes on, telling us that our prayer-battle requires watchfulness and perseverance. A soldier on the field of battle must be in a state of constant vigilance, for he is aware of the danger of letting down his guard. The opposite of watchfulness is sleeping. Remember the disciples with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? The Lord told them to "keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." Instead of watching, they closed their eyes, and when the temptation came to flee from the battle and turn their backs on Jesus, they yielded. A number of years ago Alice and I visited a Bible Camp in Alaska. It was late summer, and the salmon were running in the river by the camp. Salmon attract bears, and we observed bear tracks by the river. We made a couple of trips upriver, and our host always carried a firearm. Danger was present, so we were watchful and prepared. We are involved in spiritual warfare. Satan and his forces are continually attacking. Be watchful and aware of the danger-watch and pray. We don't have to look very far to see casualties among our brothers and sisters. We never have to live in fear or to be anxious, but we do realize the danger and how to avoid it. IV. WE ARE IN THIS BATTLE TOGETHER We pray not only for ourselves, but for those around us, for "all the saints." We all stand in need of prayer; we are in this battle together. Just as the soldier's shields fitted together and offered protection to one another, so Christians are to pray for others with perseverance. This is the fruitful and exciting ministry of intercessory prayer. The word "petition" in verse 18 emphasizes that type of prayer that addresses a specific need. The fits in with the idea of "watchfulness" and speaks of noticing needs and bringing them before the Lord on the behalf of others. At times we are made aware of specific needs of others, and we make lists, such as those in our weekly bulletins. I would encourage you to use that list in your ministry of intercession. But in addition, there are many general needs seen in the prayers of scripture, like in the first chapter of this book, where Paul prayers for the eyes of our hearts to be opened. Andrew Murrey describes intercession as "drawing down the blessings of God's grace upon others." We are promised that the "Effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." This is a holy ministry, and it is a ministry which perhaps produces more results that any other ministry of the church. When we get to heaven, I am sure that we will discover that more kingdom work was done quietly behind the scenes by prayer intercessors that was done in the more visible ministries of the church. We all are invited to join in this ministry of prayer. Paul asked for some specific requests: (Read vv. 19-20) He prayed for clarity of mind and speech in presenting the claims of Christ and he prayed for boldness in speaking. Remember Paul was chained to a Roman guard who was there for a six-hour stretch, we surmise that he saw these guards as his audience. Were these prayers answered? Listen to Philippians 1:12-13: Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else... What a battle Paul was fighting while imprisoned, freedom removed, shackled. Yet he was free in his spirit, free in Christ, and he responded in faith and trusting that God had him right in the center of His will. Paul witnessed to the soldiers of Caesar's household, and many were converted. He also took advantage of the time to write the encouraging Prison Epistles, including this wonderful book of Ephesians-all because of the prayers of the saints on his behalf. He was given opportunity. He was given courage. And we are still benefitting from his faithfulness today. V. IN CONCLUSION Read vv. 21-24. Apparently, Tychicus was the messenger who carried this letter to Ephesus, along with personal details regarding Paul's situation and welfare. The concern of the church was met by his words, and they were comforted and encouraged that Paul's difficulties were being used by God for the advancement of the Gospel. He ends the letter with words of peace, love, faith and grace. Each of these words calls forth praise to Almighty God for His goodness, regardless of circumstances. We thank God for His wonderful, practical, life-changing message in this letter to the church in Ephesus. 1 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians (p. 377). Chicago: Moody Press. 2 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians (p. 377). Chicago: Moody Press. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2