Prayer for Our Spiritual Struggle

Ephesians 6:18-20

About 80 years ago, scientists began developing what we call a spacesuit. Spacesuits were first designed for Air Force pilots who flew planes at high altitudes and speeds, then then scientists adopted them for space travel and lunar exploration as well.

These suits provide stable air pressure for the pilot or astronaut’s body and now also provide cooling, heating, and bathroom functions and when properly equipped may also include antigravity walking capability or jetpacks for maneuvering in space.

Spacesuit design has evolved over the years from bulky and uncomfortable early models to sleek and stylish models emerging today. Though spacesuits are a fascinating and sophisticated invention, they’re difficult to operate and wear. To use them requires adopting a new approach to everyday actions and movement, which is why NASA gives special training that teaches astronauts how to live and use a spacesuit successfully.

As children of God, we’re called to walk worthy of the Lord in a way that reflects all the spiritual blessings we’ve been given Christ. To do so, Paul teaches us to put on a new suit of armor that we wear not with our bodies but our minds. This armor includes truth, righteousness and integrity, a readiness to talk about the gospel, unwavering faith in God, an awareness of our sure salvation, and clear statements from the Bible.

As a spacesuit equips astronauts to complete their mission to explore outer space, this suit of spiritual armor equips us to complete our mission as a church to glorify God on earth. Yet to wear this armor successfully and to keep these truths in mind requires a new approach to our everyday lives, and this approach is prayer.

A British preacher of the 1900’s named Alan Redpath said this: “Much of our praying is just asking God to bless some folks that are ill, and to keep us plugging along. But prayer is not merely prattle, it is warfare.” Paul teaches the same thing at the close of his letter to the church at Ephesus.

Prayer is the means by which we stand strong in the Lord.

Framed another way, prayer is the means by which we wear the spiritual armor. Paul completes his description of our spiritual armor with “praying…” (Eph 6:18). He doesn’t portray prayer as a seventh piece of spiritual armor. He portrays it instead as the ongoing, underlying approach we should take to wear this spiritual armor successfully. Prayer enables us to wear this armor and remain standing in our spiritual struggle.

To make this clear, Paul shifts from actions that simply “put on” various pieces of spiritual armor to an action that “keeps on” praying as a regular practice.

He further emphasizes the importance of prayer by describing it with all four times.

• Be praying at all times
• Be praying with all kinds of prayers
• Be praying with all perseverance
• Be praying for all believers

These four “all” statements reveal to us the all-encompassing, all-important priority of prayer in the Christian life. So, let’s take a closer look at what this all means.

When should we pray? At every opportunity.

“Praying always” (Eph 6:18) reads literally as “praying at all times.” It would be pressing this guidance too far to suggest that we should be praying every second of every day, just as it’s pressing Paul’s command to pray “for all the saints” too far to suggest that we should pray for every believer in the world by name (Eph 6:18). So what does this mean?

Time here refers to an opportunity, season, or stage of life. We should conclude then that no circumstance, experience, or stage of our lives should be untouched by prayer. Prayer should permeate every aspect of our lives, not just those experience we classify as difficult or spiritual.

We tend to pray only when we face an extraordinary challenge, emergency, or trial, but we should pray at every step and stage of our lives. Satan may assault us at any time. It’s better that he finds us in a prayerful mindset. No matter what opportunity is before us and no matter what stage of our day or life comes next, it’s always appropriate to pray.

An Old Testament (OT) prayer by King David closely resembles what Paul is teaching us here. “As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice” (Psa 55:17). When David wrote these words, he was facing human enemies, but we are facing spiritual foes. If David prayed to the Lord this frequently, we should do so even more.

What should we pray? All kinds of prayers.

Here is our second all, “with all prayer and supplication” (Eph 6:18). Paul names two kinds of prayers, prayer and supplication.

• The first, prayer, is speaking to God in a general sense that includes worshiping, thanking, and speaking to him.
• The second, supplication, refers to asking particular requests about specific needs we may have.

Paul covers the full range of possible prayers, from general prayers to specific prayers. Both kinds of prayers are essential if we are going to stand strong in our spiritual struggle.

Paul adds to this guidance that we should offer our general and specific prayers “in the Spirit” (Eph 6:18). This means that our prayers should be in line and in harmony with God’s will in our lives as the Spirit has made known God’s will to us in Scripture.

We are to pray “in line with” the Spirit or “in harmony with” the Spirit. A letter like Ephesians teaches us how to pray this way. We should praying to understand our relationship with God more fully, to rely on God’s strength more firmly, to exhibit God’s love more completely, to serve in the church more faithfully, to worship God more wholeheartedly, to be more like Christ as a father, wife, child, parent, employee, or employer – to stand firm in the face of satanic assaults.

Be wary of praying based upon impressions, feelings, and other subjective impulses believing that this is the “Spirit’s leading” in your life. In fact, this is a strategy Satan uses to deceive and mislead God’s people. He steers them away from the words God in Scripture through impressions in their feelings and minds. To pray “in line with the Spirit” requires us to pray with the clear teaching of God’s Word in view.

How long should we pray? As long as necessary.

Here is our third all.“Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication” (Eph 6:18). This teaches us how long we should plan to pray.

• In Mark 13:33, Christ taught his followers to “watch and pray” until his returned to establish his kingdom at the end of this age, something we’re still waiting for today.
• In Matt 26:40, he corrected his followers because they fell asleep in the Garden before he was betrayed. Here again he said, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a Welsh medical doctor turned preacher in the 1900’s, said this about prayer: “If you have never had any difficulty in prayer, it is absolutely certain that you have never prayer.” You see, on one hand, prayer is as simple as a baby who cries for milk. On the other hand, it’s as difficult as a truck driver staying awake on all-night drive. It’s easy to start praying but it’s hard to keep going.

Like Christ, Paul wants us to stay spiritually alert at all times. “All perseverance and supplication” emphasizes this guidance even more by teaching us that prayer should not only permeate our daily routines, but it should persist for the duration of our lives. When it comes to prayer, we can’t afford to “fall asleep at the wheel.” We must continue to ask, seek, and knock until our life and mission is complete (Matt 7:7).

We should be as stubborn and relentless in prayer as a soldier in pursuit of the victory. Once we know what God’s Word teaches us to pray, in general and specific, we should pray that way indefinitely knowing that God will come through in the end. We shouldn’t become lazy and give up in our prayers or go through days and weeks without praying.

For whom should we pray? Every believer.

Here is our fourth all. “For all the saints” (Eph 6:18). This is the ninth and final time Paul uses the word saints to refer to those who’ve believed on Christ for salvation. As saints, we’ve been chosen and set apart by God for the special purpose of serving him.

• This group of people included believers in the church at Ephesus (Eph 6:1) and believers throughout the world (Eph 1:15).
• God guarantees that this special group of people will receive an abundant inheritance in eternity (Eph 1:18) and that we’re equal members in the family of God (Eph 2:19).
• Paul considered himself to be among this group (Eph 3:8) and prayed that we would comprehend the full scope of God’s love for us (Eph 3:18).
• He also taught that everyone of us should participate in ministries that build up the church (Eph 4:12) while abstaining from immoral and materialistic behavior (Eph 5:3).

To “pray for all the saints” does not require us to pray for every Christian who’s ever been alive or will ever walk the earth, nor does it obligate us to pray for every believer in the world today. It means we expand our prayers beyond ourselves to include prayers for one another, especially other believers in your church and broader circle of Christian friends.

Perhaps you’ve heard the rhythmic, memorable saying, “A family that prays together stays together.” Well, that’s kind of what Paul is teaching here about the church. “A church that prays together stays together” – or rather stands together in our spiritual struggle.

Paul not only teaches this kind of commitment to prayer, but he models it well. In Eph 1:15-23 (esp. v. 16) he explained how he prayed for the believers at Ephesus to receive wisdom and power from God to live out their calling. Then in Eph 3:14-21 he explained how he prayed for them to be able to comprehend the full scope of God’s love and the full magnitude of God’s power within their lives.

For whom should we pray? Our spiritual leaders.

Now here’s an intriguing turn. To “all believers,” Paul adds “[even] for me” (Eph 6:19). By “throwing this in” here, Paul reveals his own keen sense of a need for prayer. Not even Paul believed he could succeed at his mission without the prayers of others for him.

Just because he was the “apostle Paul,” a respected leader in the church, didn’t mean he was above the need for prayer. In fact, he had already revealed a humble mindset when he described himself as “the least of all saints” to whom God has given a big responsibility, to reveal and explain to the world God’s teaching about the church (Eph 3:8-9).

Here again Paul refers to his overwhelming assignment. “That utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph 6:19-20). These words are more than a request for God to help him be evangelistic. They refer to his special assignment from God for the church to the world.  

When Paul wrote this letter, he was serving a 2-yr. term in a prison at Rome chained to two Roman guards. He was there because Jews at Jerusalem had accused him of treason for spreading the news about God’s redemptive plan for this age. Now he was scheduled to appear before Caesar and the Roman tribunal (a panel of Roman powerful officials), with death by execution being a possible outcome.

Knowing Paul’s dilemma, pay careful attention to his request. He didn’t ask for a fast release from prison; he prayed for a successful mission. He didn’t ask to get out of jail, but he asked for confidence and courage to be successful while he was there – for God to give him the right words to say since he would have no lawyers to speak on his behalf.

Paul knew that by taking his case to the highest court in the empire he could establish a precedent for the gospel as a peaceful, reasonable message throughout the world. This would serve as a capstone, then, on his apostolic mission as an ambassador for God, opening the way for the church to advance throughout the world for centuries to come.

From Paul’s perspective, going through prison to the courtroom of Caesar was a high risk, high reward opportunity, and this was certainly one of those “times” (or “seasons”) of his life that required much prayer. He wanted to go into this moment standing for the Lord and he wanted to come out of it victorious.

Does prayer permeate our daily lives?

That’s the question this passage requires. It’s an important question because we’ve learned from this passage that prayer is the means by which we stand strong in the Lord.

Do we pray at every opportunity?

• Do we pray at all times of day or only in the morning?
• Do we pray before significant moments and events or only when we’re in trouble?
• Do we pray in private, public, or both?

Do we pray general and specific prayers?

• We should pray general prayers for love, peace, strength, understanding, and wisdom even though we may not have a specific challenge in mind.
• We should also pray specific prayers such as love for our spouse, peace in our hearts despite political chaos around us, strength to resist a particular temptation, a more complete understanding of a specific biblical truth we are learning about, or wisdom to make a good decision between the options before us at any given time.

Do we pray relentlessly?

• Do we burst into prayer mode when an emergency occurs like a runner in the 100-yd. dash, or do we pray persistently over time like a runner in a marathon?
• Did we pray for a wife then stop praying after we married?
• Did we pray for our children when they were born but pray less as they grow older?
• Did we pray for help when we faced financial hardship but fail to pray for wisdom to manage our money well once God provided for our needs?
• Do we pray for strength to resist temptation only in the initial stages of temptation but then give up when the struggle intensifies?

Do we pray for other believers?

• Our spouse
• Our children
• Our parents
• Our extended family
• Our brothers and sisters in the church
• Our missionaries
• Our spiritual leaders

Let’s renew our commitment to persevere in prayer because prayer is the means by which we stand strong in the Lord. Prayer is the means by which we wear our spiritual armor and keep God’s truth firmly focused in our minds. Let’s pray daily and throughout the day for general and specific things we need from God in our spiritual struggle and let’s do that not only for ourselves but for one another.

As Philips Brooks (a pastor in Boston in the 1800’s) observed, “If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing, it is an infinitely foolish thing.” Then as another man named David Brown observed, “What is the life of a Christian but a life of prayer?” Only through prayer will we succeed in our spiritual struggle.