Our Secret Weapon

We are wrapping up our Be Prepared series where we have been looking at the armor of God outlined by Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18. If you have missed weeks of this series I would encourage you to go back and listen to them. They are all available on our website, or directly on YouTube & Facebook.

So, let’s read from Ephesians 6 and get into it this morning!

/ / A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Well, we’ve looked at almost all of that. We’ve covered all of the armor over these last few weeks:

/ / Belt of Truth

The truth has to be our foundation just like the belt in a soldiers armor was their foundation.

/ / Body Armor of God’s Righteousness

This is not about our righteousness, what we can do right, but about God’s righteousness and that we are MADE righteous through the obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

This is just so absolutely important to understand. This grace, forgiveness and righteousness is a free gift from God. I was going to put Romans 5:15, but as I was reading, Paul just keeps going with this truth and he really digs in to this reality that because of Adam’s original sin we were removed from paradise, brought into a world of separation, but that it is by the obedience of Christ that righteousness is restored. Romans 5:15-19, / / For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. and the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life to everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

By any stretch of the imagine, or trying to say it any other way, there is no doubt, we can not be made righteous in our own strength or actions, it is ONLY through the righteous and obedience of Jesus Christ that we are made righteous BECAUSE of His grace & forgiveness.

/ / Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

This is the walking out of our salvation. Remember the scripture says, so we can be prepared, or the preparation of the gospel… And that word prepared was different than any other word used for prepared in the New Testament and it means - The actual act of preparing. Salvation is a free gift, but living according to that salvation brings us into the fullness of all that Jesus did for us on the cross.

We read last week from John 8:31-32, we love when we read that Jesus said, / / “the truth will set you free!”, but we have to remember what he starts with, / / “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Now, we can look at this three different ways. First of all, you have to / / remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus. What’s that mean? It means exactly that, you need to / / LISTEN to his teaching, ACCEPT his teaching, ACT according to his teaching. That’s what it means to remain faithful, and when you do that, you’ll find that the truth of his teaching, that is leading you into a life of following his teaching, is setting you free from the life you had, and bringing you into the life he has for you BECAUSE you have changed positions. You have moved from being stuck in lies and sin to being free in truth and righteousness.

/ / The second part of this is that Jesus actually calls himself the truth. In John 14:6 he says, / / “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Same greek word that means what is true in any matter under consideration. And what had he said in John 8:31, you are truly my disciples, those who learn from me, those who follow me, when you remain faithful to my teachings… As we get close to God and follow him, HE sets us free because HE is truth itself.

Third aspect, / / Jesus also calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. John 16:13 Jesus says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth...”

If the truth sets us free, and the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, the spirit of God is leading us into truth.

So, we have these three things:

/ / Follow Jesus teaching - Listen, Accept, Act

Jesus IS truth

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth leading us into truth.

We know James 1:22 says, / / …don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says! This is the preparation, the act of preparing ourselves, the work of our salvation. Being faithful to the teaching of Jesus, spending time getting to know Him & following the Holy Spirit!

/ / Shield of Faith

Plant that shield, right? You have truth, and then you have the act of believing that truth. It’s not good enough to just have the truth available to you, you have grab it and believe it. Commit to it.

/ / Sword of the Spirit

The shield and the sword work hand in hand, you have the truth that slaps down the arrows of the enemy, those fiery darts he’s throwing at you, extinguished by the water soaked shield of faith, and then you have the sword of the spirit to push back. Declare the word. And this isn’t a “I have to attack the devil.” As much as we are simply reminding Him of God’s truth. Jesus has already won the battle on the cross, and Paul encourages us that we ARE free, but that we have to watch to NOT fall back into the former things of our lives, the former traps of the enemy. SO, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is truth that reminds us what God has done, and who He is and who we are in him. And so sometimes the devil needs to be reminded of that truth too. Just read Jesus experience with that in the wilderness in the beginning of Matthew 4...

Well, today we are looking at what I’m going to call / / the Secret Weapon.

It’s not listed as a piece of armor, it’s simply added as almost a conclusion to all of all of this:

Ephesians 6:18, / / Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

The NLT writes this as a new sentence, but the ESV and some other translations include it in the same sentence, starting back in vs 16, / / In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me...

The KJV puts a colon between vs 17 and 18, and the NKJV puts a semi-colon… Almost to say, “in conclusion”

/ / praying at all times in the spirit...

And even though this is not listed as a piece of the armor, it might just be the most important piece.

Prayer is an interesting thing. On one level it’s a mystery. You can’t necessarily, or easily define how it works, simply just that it works. Archbishop William Temple, who was an Anglican Priest in the early 1900’s said this of prayer that whatever else you could say about whether prayer worked or not, he had noticed that when he prayed, ‘coincidences’ happened; and when he stopped praying, the ‘coincidences’ stopped happening.

When accused of being lucky on the golf course a famous golfer replied, “ya, but it seems the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get...”

Maybe there’s some connection here, prayer & coincidence.

Albert Einstein said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

Paul, is encouraging us that there is plenty we CAN do, right, he’s just explained all of this armor, he’s spent time describing this whole intricate process of protecting ourselves, of being aware that the enemy is a real problem, and that when it comes to this armor, it’s about preparation, it’s about learning, it’s about what Jesus says in John 8, if you will be faithful to my teaching, you’ll know the truth and the truth will set you free. We put on the armor, we learn what the truth is, we ask God for revelation about His righteousness and His salvation, we learn so we can believe, we study so we can understand, we follow the way of Jesus in these things… and then we rely on God to do what only God can do.

This is one of the greatest conclusions for the Christian life that we can come to: We do what we can while believing and allowing God to do what we can not.

Prayer is that part - God, I am asking you, seeking you, pursuing you in what only You can do, while asking you to help me in the things I can do.

Of course William Temple didn’t ACTUALLY believe that this was all just a coincidence, just like a pro athlete doesn’t actually believe that their skill has more to do with luck than with their dedication to practice!

No, of course not, by the very statement they are saying, “LOOK at the evidence! Clearly there is a connection between what I am doing, and the results I am getting.” For the golfer, practice makes perfect. For the Christian, prayer creates breakthrough!

This is also an encouragement within his encouragement.

On one hand he’s encouraging us to pray, on the other, he’s encouraging us to stay alert in our prayer.

Mark 14:32-42 is the story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane right before he is arrested and then hung on the cross, but it says this: / / They [Jesus and his disciples] went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

This is the connection. “Sit here while I go and pray, alright, you three, come keep watch with me...”

/ / Prayer IS keeping watch!

Isaiah 62:6-7 says, / / O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord. Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

Give the Lord no rest! Be continuous in your prayers for God to do what He actually already has said he would do! And until you see it done, keep praying, keep believing, keep asking!

Don’t pray and then be like, “Ah well, I didn’t see it immediately, Guess God doesn’t want to do that...”

We can’t be a microwave consumer when it comes to prayer!

Even in teaching about prayer, Jesus tells a story in Luke 11, and says if you have a friend come in the middle of the night from out of town, and you don’t have any food, so you go to your neighbor next door to ask for some snacky snacks, and he says, “I’m in bed, sorry”

And Jesus says, and remember, he’s talking about how we should pray, / / “But I tell you this - though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.” Luke 11:8

Persistence in prayer...

So, back to the garden with Jesus, Peter, James & John. Jesus goes a bit further than the three he took with him and it says he prays by himself, but he comes back in vs 37 and it says, / / Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Prayer is bringing the physical to the spiritual. It’s the connection between what is and what is yet to be. It’s the moment we recognize that we are more than just physical beings, we are not in a battle against flesh-and-blood enemies, but we are in a spiritual world dealing with spiritual things and prayer is our connection to God in the spirit!

And then of course Paul says that it’s not just about praying, but it’s about praying all the time.

The NLT says, / / Pray at all times and on every occasion!

The ESV says, / / ...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

Two words here… Prayer / Supplication,

Prayer is the word / / proseuche and it means prayer or worship. It also mean a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer. The idea behind this when I read it is more of something we are bringing to God rather than something we are asking for.

And this makes sense because Paul adds the second word here, supplication. That word is / / deesis, and it can be translated supplication or to make a petition, a request. The definition of supplication is the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.

Before we look at this idea of praying IN the spirit, I want to take a moment to look at what this means, why two words?:

/ / 1. Not all prayer is asking

Jesus, when he teaches his disciples how to pray using what we now call the Lord’s prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13, he says this, / / Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

This is Jesus’ model for prayer, and the first four statements have NOTHING to do with us asking for anything.

/ / Our Father in heaven...

Define who you are praying to, and remind yourself of who He is, where He is and What He is.

He is your father, he is in heaven, because He is God.

/ / …may your name be kept holy...

Show reverence, honor and humility before God. Worship...

/ / May your Kingdom come soon...

We’ve talked about this before, when we talk about the Kingdom of God we’re talking about the authority of God. This is inviting the authority, the rule and reign of God to cover your life, and your situations. And although this is in a sense a request, it is more a release of our own kingdom, our own authority. It’s a decision to say, “I don’t want to be god of my life, I’m no good at it, I want you to be God of my life...”

/ / …May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

And here we have this willful self-denial - not my will, but yours. I am actively choosing the will of God, direct me, guide me, mold me, shape me, point me in Your direction.

The will of God being done in this earth and in our lives is when we make room and make way for His will by actively denying our own.

It doesn’t work to say, “Yes, God, I want your will.... but I’ll just be over here doing my own thing...” Without surrender inviting the will of God doesn’t do much because we are still saying we think our way is better. Truly inviting the will of God to be done in our lives requires us to give up our own.

So, there’s this method to this prayer that Jesus is giving as a model:

/ / God, you are God, You are holy, You have authority, And I want you to be my ruler, king and God, doing what YOU want to do, not what I want...

THEN he says, Ok, I have a few things I wanted to ask you for… I need food today, would you provide...

/ / 1. Not all prayer is asking. Prayer isn’t just going to God to get something. Prayer is our connection with God. Prayer is our communion with God. Prayer is our time spent with God our Father, Jesus our Savior, Holy Spirit our helper, counselor and friend.

/ / 2. It is IN prayer that we ask...

Just as much as not all prayer is us asking for stuff, our asking for stuff should come in prayer. God isn’t a genie in a bottle we petition for good things. And even the word that Paul uses here, supplication, it’s not just a passing, “hey, I need some things...” but even in that word it has the attitude and expression of worship and honor attached to it.

It’s a request, not a demand.

It’s a petition, not a right or feeling of privilege.

Remember, the definition of / / supplication is the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.

/ / Earnestly - with sincere and intense conviction; seriously

/ / Humbly - in a way that shows or suggests a modest or low estimate of one’s importance; unpretentious

We come to God with hearts of HONOR before we ask, and maintain that honor WHEN we ask.

We come to God with our understanding of WHO He is, more than just a God who can fix, but a God who loves us, a God who sees us, and in return we see Him, we honor Him.

The third thing we have to look at here is simply that when it comes to the armor of God, which is what we’re talking about, right, prayer becomes this secret weapon that ties it all together.

/ / We are not alone. We’re not meant to just grab a bunch of stuff and try to figure it out on our own. These christian disciplines that we’ve been talking about, these actions we can take, reading the word of God, getting as much truth as we can, understanding what Jesus did for us in righteousness, being faithful to the teachings of Jesus, our salvation, working to believe this truth in faith and applying the word to our lives, all of that means nothing if we are not connecting to God.

You aren’t meant to just be a good christian, doing the right christian things, completing the right christian tasks… Being a Christian IS the relationship.

I noticed something really interesting this past week while we were away. I was thinking about leadership, and looked up the definition of lead, and it is this… / / cause to go with one by holding them by the hand while moving forward.

See, when Jesus says in John 14:6, / / “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He then says, / / “No one can come to the Father [that is God] except through me...” What Jesus is saying is, you don’t get to heaven unless you take my hand and let me lead you there...

This is about taking the hand of Jesus far more than it is about doing the right thing, understanding the right thing, getting all the things right… It’s about relationship.

We’ve read this before as well, Romans 8:14 says, / / For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

led, greek word / / ago, take the hand of…this word means to lead by laying hold of, and this way to bring to the point of destination, to lead by accompanying to a place.

This is not God, Jesus, Holy Spirit saying, “OK, you see that place over there, it’s where the good christians are, just follow this path, read your bible, understand righteousness and salvation, and do the right things, be a good christian....”

No, Jesus in John 14 is saying, “I want to lead you, personally, by the hand, to my Father.”

Paul in Romans 8:14 is saying, “The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus, wants to lead us..” where, or why? For all who are led by the spirit of God are children of God, so where’s he leading us? to the Father.

OK, so through prayer and supplication, through honor and request, at all times and on every occasion.

Remember, we’re in a battle, there are attacks, and this is the thing that Paul is saying kinda ties it all together. Yes, there are things we must do, but it is only worth it if we truly understand that God is pursuing us in relationship, not for us to just get it right.

So, let’s look at this concept here of IN THE… Paul says / / pray IN THE Spirit. There are ways that the Spirit connects with us as we pray. If He is leading us, meaning taking us by the hand and accompanying us, going with us to where He is leading us, then we are meant to be very connected to Him in prayer.

/ / 1. The Holy Spirit HELPS us in prayer

Romans 8:26 says, / / 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.

Maybe this is when things are just too much. It’s like life has gotten to us. Maybe what feels like the attack of the enemy is so strong. We are having a hard time lifting up that shield of faith against the barrage of fiery arrows. We feel weak.

And in that moment, we don’t even know how to pray, what to pray, strong enough to pray. I know, maybe that sounds weird, but I think we’ve probably all been there. Where we are overwhelmed enough to the point where prayer isn’t even what we’re thinking of as a solution, and if we are thinking of prayer, it’s like, “How do we pray here, or what do we pray?”

Know this, the Holy Spirit is ALREADY praying on your behalf, for you, in a way that you don’t even need to understand. The word in Romans 8:26 is not proseuche, the Holy Spirit isn’t worshipping or praying to himself, but the ESV translates it better and says, / / the spirit himself intercedes for us… To / / intercede means to intervene on behalf of someone else, it means to come between so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.

When we are led by the Spirit, when we allow God to have the rule and reign in our lives, the Holy Spirit literally gets between us and the arrows…us and the problems…us and our own weaknesses.

And this is where just two verses later, a very popular verse is written. / / And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

A lot of people stop at, “It’s ok, God will work all things together for my good...”

but don’t forget, “For those who love him, and are called according to his purpose for them.”

the word love is / / agapao, which yes, means love, but it’s a welcoming love, it means to entertain, to be fond of, to welcome… So, for those who WELCOME God to be active in their lives, he will work things out… Kind of sounds like Proverbs 3:6, doesn’t it? In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your path straight.

This isn’t a passive, “God will work it all out…so I don’t need to do anything here.”

This is an active, “God, I’m believing in you, pursuing you, inviting you into my weaknesses, to lead me, guide me and help me out of this situation…lead me to where you want me according to YOUR purpose…[willful self-denial]”

So, the Holy Spirit helps us, intercedes for us, gets between us and situations and advocates for us. So, there’s a stepping in here as we welcome him in.

/ / 2. The Holy Spirit Advocates for us

Romans 8:26 said that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, or steps between us and our problems, and does so with this prayer, or groaning that we can’t even understand, and vs 27 says, / / 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.

It’s like the Holy Spirit knows what God wants for our lives, of course he does, because he himself is God, and as his own unique member of the trinity is saying continually, “Father, remember you said you wanted to bless them? Remember you said you wanted to heal them? Remember, you said you would pour out your spirit on them in abundance. Remember, you said we get do guide them, love them, care for them, lead them to life? Let’s do that!”

The ESV translates the world as intercedes again, but it’s very different from the word used in vs 26. This word means to entreat in favor of someone, which means to ask someone earnestly or anxiously to do something for their benefit...

The Holy Spirit is honestly, earnestly, continually talking to God the Father about His very will for our lives, and we know the will of God for our lives is to be filled with his love, his purpose, his comfort, his presence...

So, for us, praying IN the Spirit is also recognizing and inviting, or allowing, or giving space and place to the Holy Spirit to pray on our behalf.

Think of that. Wow, sure, we’re in a battle, it’s not always easy, but just the fact that the Holy Spirit is actually praying for us in the midst of it… That makes me want to know, what is the Holy Spirit praying for us? How is the Holy Spirit praying? And not that we need to know, or even could know, it might be groanings we don’t even understand, but that we can simply invite Him to pray on our behalf, with us and we agree with, we join in that prayer, God, let YOUR will be done for our lives, your purpose.

And because we can absolutely trust that the Holy Spirit is praying for our benefit, we can simply say, “Holy Spirit, we agree with what you are praying, whatever that is. Even in the groanings we don’t understand...”

/ / 3. The Holy Spirit makes a WAY for us in prayer

Ephesians 2:18 says, / / Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

This is the beauty of the trinity. It is BECAUSE of what Christ has done, and it is THROUGH the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to come to the place where the Father is.

Hebrews 4:16 says, / / So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Because of what Christ has done, through the Holy Spirit, we can boldly approach God and ASK FOR HELP. The Holy Spirit makes a way for us.

Philippians 4:6 tells us, / / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need...

We have a way, we are allowed to come, and if you don’t feel confident, remember, you are walking with the Holy Spirit, He is leading you. Those who are LED by the spirit are the children of God. Let him take you by the hand, as he is already praying for you in ways we don’t understand, already advocating for us and on our behalf in a far greater way than we ever could ourselves, and boldly approach God’s throne of grace and ask for mercy, compassion, help, in our time of need.

4. The Holy Spirit gives us CONFIDENCE

He not only makes a way for us, but also gives us the confidence to say what is in our hearts to say.

Romans 8:15-16, / / So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba Father.” For his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs to God’s glory.

This is the confidence to come to God as our Father. This word “abba” is like “daddy”… pappa.. this is truly saying, Be comfortable, confident enough to call God, Daddy… it’s not a formal word, it’s a super relational, connected, heart word.

Galatians 4:6 says, / / And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father”...

This is the greatest place to approach all spiritual warfare. Sure, we need armor, Yes, we need to be aware, stay alert, but first, foremost and in every and all occasions, remember, you are God’s precious child. You can run to him, in confidence, in love, in security.

I called it our secret weapon, but it’s not really a weapon at all, it’s the thing that puts it all together. Absolutely we must not underestimate the battle we are in. The enemy is roaming around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. There will be arrows, fiery darts sent toward us. But we are children of the living God. We are filled with the Spirit. We are saved by grace.

INVITE KELLEY UP

And yes, he says / / pray at all times, and maybe that seems impossible. How are we supposed to constantly be praying?

The more you purpose to be aware of God in your life, the more you will naturally be aware of God in your life.

The more you intentionally think upon Him, the more you will unintentionally think upon Him. It’s creating a habit of focus.

The more you stop and pray because you are basically forcing yourself to stop and pray, the more you will naturally begin to pray and think upon Him and call upon Him in every moment.

I want us to take just a couple minutes here this morning and try this. You know that the only way to get good at something is to practice. Like the athletes know, the more they practice it just seems like the more they get lucky during the game.

Like Archbishop William Temple said, we may not understand how prayer works, but if we’re willing to commit to it, dedicate ourselves to it, be led by the Spirit in prayer, we will begin to see these ‘coincidences’ in our lives…

So, let’s just take 2 minutes here. And I don’t want you to try and figure out the perfect prayer, or even what words you are meant to use. I simply want you to take a couple minutes and invite the Holy Spirit to pray with you, and for you, and I want you to begin to agree with what the Holy Spirit is already praying over you.

OK, pray with me here and then we are just going to wait on Him...

So, Holy Spirit, we invite you to pray with us, intercede for us, and lead us to the Father…

Alright, just close your eyes, wait on God, don’t try to think of anything important or intelligent to say or think. And if your mind begins to wander, just come back to, “Holy Spirit, I agree with your prayers”, and just say that over and over, you can just repeat that phrase, “Holy Spirit, I agree with what you are praying over me.”