Ephesians 6:18-19

Here prayer is seen in a different context than we have looked at up to this time. It is one that we tend to ignore when we are studying through this section. When we are in this section, the tendency is very strong to focus on the armor of God. We look at faith. We look at the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, shoeing our feet with the Gospel.

Where in the world does prayer fit into this? It has a very interesting position, I believe. When Paul says that we are to pray always, he is talking here about all kinds of occasions. He does not mean that we are to be praying constantly. But we are to be praying in all kinds of occasions.

There are public prayers, private prayers, family prayers, verbalized prayer, whispered prayers. There is meditating in prayer. All of these are covered in various places in the Bible.

The word "Spirit" here has the sense of the word "esprit." In French, we talk about esprit de corps, in the sense of "spiritedly, or fervency, or with energy and feeling." However, this esprit de corps thing is important in this regard. The French use it in the sense of having a common spirit because they are part of a group that they hold to be special and dear.

That is exactly what Paul is talking about here because he says, "with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." It is an esprit de corps in regard to our fellowship with the saints, a special feeling of regard, of care, of concern—that they have special meaning for us, different from what other people have to us. This spirit, Paul intimates, arises from our fellowship.

He also talks here about being watchful. This begins to fit it right back into the context that preceded it. It means being vigilant. Is that not the way a soldier is supposed to be, one who is prepared with all the armor of God? A soldier is always on guard. He is always alert. He is always attentive to what is going on. He is the opposite of everything that is listless. Shall I say Laodicean, apathetic? All of this is in the context of prayer and in the context of taking on all the armor of God.

Is the apostle Paul saying that prayer is a weapon? No, he is not. He separates prayer away from the weapons part. He separates it away from being part of that by which we fight the battle. Yet it is still in the same context and there is a connection. I think that it is a very vital connection—one that needs to be explored a little bit.

What is this warfare he is talking about here? It is a warfare against wicked spirits in high places: demons, Satan. Think of a group, let us say a whole army, or if we want to cut it down to size, a division or a battalion, a squad, that is in war. They are well-equipped to fight the battle. In order to wage war though, at least for any period of time, does not that group have to be constantly supplied with provisions in order to keep the fight up? If this group is not constantly supplied what it needs to fight the battle, very shortly the food is going to be gone, the ammunition is going to be gone.

I think Paul is using prayer here as a modern army would use its communication system with headquarters. It is through prayer that we are constantly supplied and re-supplied to fight the war. It is like the telephone in modern war. It is like the radio in modern war. They used to make signals with flags and with Morse code, with telegraphs and things like that.

In order for us to successfully fight the battle against Satan and his demons, God is telling us, we have to be constantly in touch with headquarters in order to be re-supplied with the spiritual strength to fight the battle.

Without prayer then, we would be like a group of men in a battle situation where we have the equipment to fight the battle but we do not use the communication equipment to receive support from headquarters. Thus we weaken ourselves considerably. Ultimately, we will cut ourselves off from the source … . . .

Ephesians 6:18-19

And then in Ephesians chapter 6, he just got done speaking about the different pieces of the armor of God, and Paul adds another important part to our spiritual battle here, and that is prayer. This is not one of the pieces of the spiritual armor listed here, but it is essential in winning our spiritual battles.