Ephesians 6:18-20 says...
Today's verses are Ephesians 6:18-20, which read,
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Yesterday Paul gave us the armor of God that we are to put on continually and to make sure that we put on all the pieces of the armor of God. We are to be living a life based on the truth; we are to be living a life of righteousness and holy acts; we are to be living a life standing on and giving out the gospel of the Great Commission; we are to be living a life of faith in God; we are to be living a life based upon the salvation that we have received; and we are to be living a life that puts forth out of us the Word of God.
As we are living this way, as we have put on and continue to put the armor of God, we are to pray. How are we to pray? Here are many phrases that help us.
"...at all times..." - Prayer is not to be limited to times and places.
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Yesterday Paul gave us the armor of God that we are to put on continually and to make sure that we put on all the pieces of the armor of God. We are to be living a life based on the truth; we are to be living a life of righteousness and holy acts; we are to be living a life standing on and giving out the gospel of the Great Commission; we are to be living a life of faith in God; we are to be living a life based upon the salvation that we have received; and we are to be living a life that puts forth out of us the Word of God.
As we are living this way, as we have put on and continue to put the armor of God, we are to pray. How are we to pray? Here are many phrases that help us.
"...at all times..." - Prayer is not to be limited to times and places.
"...in the Spirit..." - Prayer is to have focus on the Spirit rather than ourselves.
"...with this in view..." - Prayer comes out of the armor of God type of life.
"...be on the alert with all perseverance..." - Prayer needs to be a priority and prayer needs to be kept up.
"...and petition for all the saints..." - Prayer is given to advance the gospel through the lives of armor wearing Christians.
Paul then asks these armor of God bearing Christians to pray for him who is in prison but he doesn't ask to be released from prison which I would assume he would want. He asks them to pray for something greater than the release from prison and that is for him to speak even more boldly about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He asks for prayer that he would proclaim even more about His Savior, Jesus Christ. The proclaiming of the gospel was bigger than the present situation he was in and Paul displays that fact by not stopping to proclaim it even though he was in prison. Many of the guards that we assigned to guard him, heard him speaking of Jesus and became Christians. The present physical situation did not stop the power of the gospel to be proclaimed but I am sure it brought Paul down some that he requests for more prayer to not stop but all the more speak for Christ.
If we are wearing the full armor of God, I think that our prayers would change. Our prayers would be bigger than they are right now. Our prayers would focus on the spiritual things rather than just the physical things. As an example, Jesus said to the paralytic man, "You sins are forgiven" before He said "Rise up, take up your mat and walk." What was the bigger need? The bigger need was that the man's sins were forgiven meaning a right relationship with God which leads to eternity in heaven. Could we make it a practice to ask ourselves, "What is the spiritual situation that I need to pray about here in the midst of this physical situation?"
I think we also need to be praying for ourselves the prayer request that Paul asks the Christians in Ephesus to pray for him. We need to be praying to God for more boldness to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to others. We need to be praying for the opportunities to actually say something for Him and about Him and have His boldness to walk through that opportunity when given by Him. We may help others with something physically and pray for their physical need but we need to take it another step and be praying for their greater spiritual need and then speaking of it when given the opportunity from God. Let's pray.
"Lord, Paul forgoes his physical need to ask for prayer for a spiritual need. I pray that we would follow suit with him. Help us to spend more time praying for people spiritually than physically. May we have the eyes of You as we have put on Your armor to now speak of the One whose armor we are wearing and with boldness to do so. Amen."
Pastor Adam
Paul then asks these armor of God bearing Christians to pray for him who is in prison but he doesn't ask to be released from prison which I would assume he would want. He asks them to pray for something greater than the release from prison and that is for him to speak even more boldly about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He asks for prayer that he would proclaim even more about His Savior, Jesus Christ. The proclaiming of the gospel was bigger than the present situation he was in and Paul displays that fact by not stopping to proclaim it even though he was in prison. Many of the guards that we assigned to guard him, heard him speaking of Jesus and became Christians. The present physical situation did not stop the power of the gospel to be proclaimed but I am sure it brought Paul down some that he requests for more prayer to not stop but all the more speak for Christ.
If we are wearing the full armor of God, I think that our prayers would change. Our prayers would be bigger than they are right now. Our prayers would focus on the spiritual things rather than just the physical things. As an example, Jesus said to the paralytic man, "You sins are forgiven" before He said "Rise up, take up your mat and walk." What was the bigger need? The bigger need was that the man's sins were forgiven meaning a right relationship with God which leads to eternity in heaven. Could we make it a practice to ask ourselves, "What is the spiritual situation that I need to pray about here in the midst of this physical situation?"
I think we also need to be praying for ourselves the prayer request that Paul asks the Christians in Ephesus to pray for him. We need to be praying to God for more boldness to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to others. We need to be praying for the opportunities to actually say something for Him and about Him and have His boldness to walk through that opportunity when given by Him. We may help others with something physically and pray for their physical need but we need to take it another step and be praying for their greater spiritual need and then speaking of it when given the opportunity from God. Let's pray.
"Lord, Paul forgoes his physical need to ask for prayer for a spiritual need. I pray that we would follow suit with him. Help us to spend more time praying for people spiritually than physically. May we have the eyes of You as we have put on Your armor to now speak of the One whose armor we are wearing and with boldness to do so. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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