2016.03.06 Ephesians 6:18-24
The Final Weapon
The Weapon of all Prayer
We are nearing the end of Ephesians… This great letter
begins with the fact that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ… We also reminded that we battle a supernatural
spiritual enemy... We are reminded that our battle is spiritual…. We need to be
equipped to deal with the attacks to we are daily bombarded with… The Lord
Himself has placed us in Christ… In doing that we know that the victory is
certain… Paul exhorts us to put on the Whole
Armor of God… That has been the focus of our study these last few weeks… The
last time I spoke we looked carefully at the Sword of the Spirit…. Which is the Word of God… We will talk about it
again for just a minute… look with me at Ephesians 6… I will read v17,18….
Ephesians
6: 17,18 NKJV
slt 2000
17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
17 und nehmt auch den Helm des Heils und das Schwert des
Geistes, welches das Wort Gottes ist,
18 indem ihr zu jeder Zeit betet mit allem Gebet und
Flehen im Geist, und wacht zu diesem Zweck in aller Ausdauer und Fürbitte für
alle Heiligen,
v17…
take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God… The
idea is that the Spirit of God provides
a Sword for us… And that
Sword is the Word of God… It helps us to defend ourselves against pride and sin
and discouragement…
We
need to apply the only true weapon that the Lord has given us… on ourselves
first… We must apply the
Word of God to our own hearts and
minds…. So that we can enter into
this battle…. Remember… This battle is for the hearts and lives of our own
families and friends and neighbors…
We
Proclaim and defend the Gospel with His power and His wisdom…
We
are called to change the world… One heart at a time…
In these 2 verses we see another very important element
to our armor… it is found in verse 18… To effectively use the Word of God… The Sword of the Spirit… We also need to understand the power that we have in prayer… v18…
v18…
Use the Word of God With all prayer and petition… As
we look at the armor… The final element of the believer’s weapons is
prayer... Verse 18 contains the title
for our sermon this morning…
The
Weapon of All Prayer
How many of you have heard of John Bunyan… He was a great
man of God during the reformation in England…. He spent many years in prison
for the sake of the Gospel…. He used his time in prison very well… Hundreds of
years later we still remember one of his greatest works…. Pilgrim’s Progress….
This book is an allegory of the Christian life… It is filled with the
scriptures… The Sword of the Spirit… Charles
Spurgeon said this about John
Bunyan…. He was so filled with the Word of God that if you cut him he would
bleed Bibline… He would Bleed the scriptures…
You will remember if you’ve read Pilgrim’s Progress… that the
last piece of armor that Christian
is given in that story is the weapon of all
prayer... It is given to him because
it will stand him in good stead when all else fails… It will be his last and
most effective defense… And with this weapon
of all prayer… Christian is instructed that With prayer… he will be able to stand against all attacks in the valley of the shadow of death… In the
story… Christian discovers that When he
pours out his soul in prayer… he is invincible…
That is a perfect reflection of what Paul says in our
text today… And of what Jesus says
in Luke 18…v1… let´s look at it…
Luke
18:1 NKJV slt 2000
1
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose
heart,
1 Er sagte ihnen aber auch ein Gleichnis, um ihnen zu
zeigen, daß es nötig ist, allezeit zu beten und nicht nachlässig zu werden; ….
1…
men always ought to pray and not lose heart… Here is an All Powerful Weapon against discouragement… ALL Prayer… No matter how
difficult the challenge… no matter how powerful the enemy… no matter how impossible
the victory… men ought always to pray
and not lose heart… Here are the two options… We can pray or We can become discouraged and loose heart... The
Lord Jesus says Pray…. The Word of God
says… Pray Christians…
Prayer is absolutely necessary… It is solid ground for
our Christian walk…. It should be our first resort when we encounter hard
times… Unfortunately for most of us it is our last resort…
Ephesians gives us wonderful encouragement our Christian walk… It closes with this plea
for diligent… faithful prayer… All prayer…
Let’s go back to Ephesians
chapter 1 for a moment… This is the context in which we are to understand
prayer…
If there is any portion of the New Testament that
celebrates what we have in Christ… it is Ephesians… In chapter 1 verse 3… we learn that we are
blessed with all spiritual blessings… In v
4 we discover that we are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world…
God plan is for us to become holy and blameless… At the end of v4 and in to v5… We see that we were predestined to be adopted into His family
through the Lord Jesus Christ… In v7 we
see that He has redeemed and forgiven us all our sins… According to the richness of His grace…
In chapter 2
we start out by realizing that we were dead in trespasses and sin… we were under
control of the prince of the power of the air… the spirit that works in the
children of disobedience… We lived according
to the lust of the flesh… Our sin filled desires guided us… And we were by nature headed for divine wrath like everybody else...
But, ch 2 v 4 says… let´s take a
look…
Ephesians
2: 4,5 NKJV slt 2000
4
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
4 Aber Gott, der reich ist an Barmherzigkeit, hat in
seiner großen Liebe, mit der er uns geliebt hat,
5 auch uns, die wir tot waren in den Sünden, mit Christus
lebendig gemacht - aus Gnade seid ihr selig geworden -;
But God… He stepped into our desperate situation… intervened
because of His great love for us.… When we were dead in sin…. He made us alive in Christ… It´s all God´s
mercy and grace… That´s what we see In ch2
v7-9…. We learn that we are saved by grace through faith… It is the gift of
God…
Chapter
3
ends with Paul’s prayer that we would
understand the riches of His glory… verse 16… He
prays that we come to know the love of
Christ which surpasses knowledge… Paul
prayed for us…. That we would be able to understand the incredible
greatness of His saving love… He prayed that we would experience the fullness
of God… All of these wonderful things
are so that God can be glorified through His church…
Those are just some of the statements in the opening
three chapters that tell us who we are
in Christ… Paul is helping us understand what it means to be a Christian...
Starting in chapter
4 v1… We are encouraged to walk the worthy walk… We need to make sure, v 17 says, that we don’t live the way we used to live… we don’t walk the way we used to walk… since v20 says… we have learned to know Christ… We have been taught the
truth… We need to be continually renewed in the
spirit of our minds… We need to put on the new man…v24…
Paul continues to talk In chapter 5 about some very practical things... v1… we are to be imitators
of God, as dearly loved children…
v2… walk in love as Christ loved us…
v8 walk in light… v18…Be being kept filled with the Holy
Spirit… Then in ch 6… We learn… That
the presence and power of the Spirit in
our lives… helps us in every
relationship… marriage, family, work…
Then beginning in Ch
6… v10… we’re told to put on the Armor
of God.… On top of all the things we have already been given because we are
in Christ… We are given God´s armor… We are told to use it to defend
ourselves against the devil… Then when all is said and done… when our armor is
in place… v18 brings us to the call
to pray without ceasing… Look again with me at verse 18…
Ephesians
6: 17,18 KJV slt 2000
17
Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God.
18 Praying
all ways with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
17 und nehmt auch den Helm des Heils und das Schwert des
Geistes, welches das Wort Gottes ist,
18 indem ihr zu jeder Zeit betet mit allem Gebet und
Flehen im Geist, und wacht zu diesem Zweck in aller Ausdauer und Fürbitte für
alle Heiligen,
We could say it this way… Take all this armor and put it on… With all prayer and petition pray at all times
in the Spirit…
Here we see the Word
of God and prayer… These are the 2 keys to our Christian walk…. the keys to
standing against the enemy… The keys to the joyful Christian life that we all
want… We need to hide the Word of God in
our hearts… Psalm 119:11… And We need to pray without ceasing…1 Thess 5: 17…
Prayer for ourselves and for our families…. For the church and for the
Nation… We are all vulnerable… We can all stumble... We can all fall into sin…
We can all be defeated along the way…
We
can wound ourselves by falling into a pattern of sin and disobedience… When we
do… We destroy our personal testimony
and our opportunity for service and usefulness to the Lord…
We
can also lose our joy... Paul is warning us here… When it is all said and done… We must understand that remaining sin is so
powerful… that we need constant submission to God in prayer…
We have to depend on Him… So Paul closes the great letter… in a powerful call to all prayer…
Prayer is the roof of protection over everything… On top of all your blessings… and in addition
to all of the other armor… be praying at all times…
So let’s talk about this instruction for a minute. “Pas, the Greek word for all” is used four
times in this verse... Let´s look at
all of the elements of all
Prayer…
The
Weapon of All prayer
1 Praying
always… all ways… at all times…
2 Pray
with all prayer and petition…
3 Pray
with all perseverance…
4
Pray for all the saints…
First of all… the frequency of prayer… Pray at
all times…
Jesus
said in Luke 21:36, “Watch and pray always.” The early Apostles said in Acts 6:4, “We will give
ourselves continually to prayer…
In
Acts chapter 10 we see that Cornelius prayed to God always... Paul
in Romans 12:12 says, “Continue diligently in prayer… In Colossians 4:2, “Continue in prayer…
Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God…
And then we have that very famous verse… 1
Thessalonians 5:17… Pray without ceasing… Betet ohne Unterlaß!
Paul´s lived this example… In 2 Timothy 1:3 Paul said… “Without
ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day… The idea
here is constant non-stop… diligent and faithful prayer… If we are going to
survive in this world… We must become prayer
warriors…
We’re talking about a life saturated in prayer… An open
line of communication with the Lord…
When we see something good… Our immediate response Should
be to worship and praise the LORD… When
we see evil and sin…. We cry out to the Lord… On the one hand we ask the Lord to stop the evil…. On the
other hand we cry out for mercy for the
sinner… We pray for the sinner… We need to ask God to bring righteousness
where there is only sin and rebellion… We must be aware of the world around us
and act as watchmen… Standing in the gap…
When we see trouble or see people in distress… We pray… It
isn’t a specific prayer time that we wait for… It should be a life that we live… It’s not just having a list of requests and praying
for them… although that’s part of it… It’s not just having a specific prayer
time… although that’s certainly part of it... It´s more than a private place to
pray... On Friday night There will be a special movie night…. It is a great
movie…. It is about prayer…. Prayer closets and regular prayer times… These are all very good things… Do them… But, It’s
much more than that… It’s that every single thing in your life is something to
talk to God about…. everything... And everyone…. Maybe if we talk to the Lord
about brother so and so more…. We will be too busy to talk about brother so and
so… to sister so and so…
Sometimes our prayers are a conversation with God about
our own lives… “Lord, why did You do that? Why did that happen? Help me understand… I
can’t understand why this has happened... Sometimes he will help us to
understand…. Sometimes he will just say trust
me… Hang on to Me…
There are things that happen that we don’t understand... Often
People ask me, “Why did this happen?... The answer is that often we don’t know…
but We trust the Lord… We know that He has promised that he will never leave us
and never forsake us… Sometimes disaster strikes and all we can do is... Cry out Lord help… That´s a good prayer…
And so the prayer is always… Lord, glorify Yourself
somehow through this… I may not understand it… But I trust you… We pray and
pray… And pray some more….We look to the Lord for deliverance or healing … Whatever we need we go straight
to the source…
There is a Second aspect of prayer… #2 pray with all prayer and petition… or
the KJV… word is supplication…
What does that mean? It means all kinds of prayers... #1 You pray all the time… #2 And you pray
all kinds of prayers... public… private… planned…
spontaneous… We make requests…. We offer
prayers of thanksgiving…. We pray by confessing our sins and asking for
forgiveness… Forgiveness for ourselves
and for others… We pray standing… kneeling… lying on our faces… lifting up our
hands… We pray any way at any time… We
should pray all the time… Like Paul said
in 1 Timothy 2:8, “I will that all men
everywhere pray.”
Prayer is a necessary part of our defense… It is part of
the armor... Part of our protection… This is what allows us to defeat the
schemes of Satan… Pray in every way you can possibly pray… Pray every kind of prayer… and pray in every
circumstance which calls for prayer…
We
pray when We come together and worship… sometimes our prayers are filled with
joy…
And then there are times when we pray and our eyes are filled with tears… Christian
we can pray when we walk through the valley of the Shadow…
We need to become a faithful praying people…. A praying
church…. That is one very important way that we can bear one another’s burdens…
Galatians 6…v2…
Find someone to pray for…. Find something to pray about...
in Mark
14:38, Jesus said, “Watch and pray… In 1Peter
4:7… Peter said… Watch unto prayer…
Pray in the morning… pray at
noon… pray at night... pray
all night… pray all the time with all kinds of prayer... let´s look at the next
point…
#3 Pray
with all perseverance… The Greek word here… means intensive
commitment… perseverance… Don´t give up don´t stop…. Don´t lose heart…
Then there’s another “all” here in verse 18... Look at
the end of the verse… #4 Prayers of
supplication for all the saints… Who do we pray for?... All the saints… We
don´t just pray for ourselves…
This is how the body of Christ should function… A
Christian is not to think only of his own issues and conflicts… but that of the
whole body of Christ…
We need to understand that a big part of the proper
function of the Church… is praying for each other… The idea here is to be
consumed with praying for others... Not
just our own concerns… Praying
always for all saints...
Now, in the midst of all of this there is another
statement that we need to consider… All of this occurs in the Spirit… all our
praying needs to be in the Spirit...
If
you want to grow and be strong in the Lord… you need to pray in the Holy Spirit…
What does that mean? It means is to pray in harmony with
the Holy Spirit… It means to Pray consistently with the mind and will of the
Spirit… And a clear understanding of that is granted to us in the eighth
chapter of Romans, if you look at it for
a moment, Romans chapter 8 and verse 26…
Romans
8: 26,27 NKJV slt 2000
26
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we
should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows
what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints
according to the will of God.
26 Ebenso kommt aber auch der Geist unseren Schwachheiten
zu Hilfe. Denn wir wissen nicht, was wir beten sollen, wie sich's gebührt; aber
der Geist selbst tritt für uns ein mit unaussprechlichen Seufzern.
27 Der aber die Herzen erforscht, weiß, was das Trachten
des Geistes ist; denn er tritt so für die Heiligen ein, wie es Gott entspricht.
26…The
Spirit helps our weakness…
This is one of the most encouraging verses in all the
Bible… Here we are… we’re believers… he’s talking about us... He’s saying we
need help because we don’t even know what to pray for… We don’t really know how
to pray... There are things coming in our lives that we can’t anticipate… There
are things that are too complicated for us…. We don´t even know which direction
to direct our prayers... We don’t always know what to pray for… or even have
the strength to pray… So, “The Spirit
Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Some people think that this means speaking in tongues…
No, I don´t think that that is the focus here at all… Here the focus is the
Holy Spirit praying for us with a kind
of groaning that can’t be prayed out loud at all… look at verse 27… It
says, “He who searches the hearts…
that’s God, “knows what the mind of the Spirit is…The Holy Spirit knows how
to pray for you and me?
The
Father knows what we need… that the Holy Spirit prays in
perfect accord with the will of the
Father… Verse 27, “He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
So when you’re praying in the Spirit… it is simply
praying consistently with the mind of the Spirit and the will of God... The Holy Spirit guides us… He leads us into
the truth… Praying in the Spirit
simply means praying in perfect agreement with the mind of the Spirit and the
will of God… It’s a magnificent concept… It
is the Holy Spirit who prays for us in perfect harmony with the will of the
Father… And I think it would be a mistake
to demand that He heal us or make us rich… Maybe He doesn´t want me to be rich…
We should pray for
the things we know God wills… They are here in this book… The Word of God is filled with prayers…. Prayers for
forgiveness… prayers of intercession for others… Prayers for deliverance… We stand in the
gap for our brothers and sisters… We
need to ask God help us… To give us Godly our character… our holiness… our
spiritual maturity… our service… a deepening of our love for Christ… Those are
the things the Spirit prays for us…
Zechariah
12:10 calls the Holy Spirit... I love this...the Spirit of supplication… One
of the overlooked ministries of the Holy Spirit is… that He is the One who prays for us… You say, “I thought Christ did that
in His high priestly work?... Yes, He’s
at the right hand of the Father praying for us as our great High Priest... At
the same time… The Holy Spirit is inside of us praying and interceding for us… We need to line up our prayers with what we
know to be the will of God… Praying, for example… for the things that are
evident when we walk in the Spirit... Instead
of constantly praying for more material things… We can and should pray that God
would grant you love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
self-control…. Pray that we would walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust
of the flesh…
This
is Spirit-driven… Spirit-directed prayer…
What if our brothers and sisters who are suffering for
the sake of the Gospel today heard our prayers… What would they think of us… How
embarrassing our prayers would be to them… They are praying for their
deliverance from Isil… For milk for their babies… missing children and food for
lunch…. They are desperate… They are crying out to God in the Valley of the
shadow of death… We are praying for new
cars and fatter wallets…
We need to get serious about prayer… We need to intercede
for the lost…. We need to pray for our government… We need to place our total
trust and confidence in the LORD Jesus…
Paul closes this letter with a practical opportunity to
put these principles to work… here’s his application… v19
Ephesians
6: 19,20 NKJV slt 2000
19
and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in
chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
19 auch für mich, damit mir das Wort gegeben werde, so
oft ich meinen Mund auftue, freimütig das Geheimnis des Evangeliums
bekanntzumachen,
20 für das ich ein Botschafter in Ketten bin, damit ich
darin freimütig rede, wie ich reden soll.
v19…
and for me… Pray for me too… As long as we’re talking
about prayer, how about me? What did Paul want? Prosperity? No… Earthly
success? No… Results? No… He said… Pray for boldness to Proclaim the Good News of the gospel… Here is the man of God who
went right back into the very city that tried to stone him to death… Acts 14… And he says…. Pray that God
would give me boldness... Let´s read the last few verses…
Ephesians
6:21-24 NKJV slt 2000
21
But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved
brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you;
22 whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs,
and that he may comfort your hearts.
23
Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. Amen.
21 Damit aber auch ihr wißt, wie es mir geht und was ich
tue, wird euch Tychikus alles mitteilen, der geliebte Bruder und treue Diener
im Herrn,
22 den ich eben darum zu euch gesandt habe, daß ihr
erfahrt, wie es um uns steht, und daß er eure Herzen tröste.
23 Friede werde den Brüdern zuteil und Liebe samt Glauben
von Gott, dem Vater, und dem Herrn Jesus Christus.
24 Die Gnade sei mit allen, die unseren Herrn Jesus
Christus lieb haben mit unvergänglicher Liebe! Amen.
The
bottom line… Let´s pray… When you start
applying Ephesians this week… You can start with me… Please don´t forget to pray for the
pastor… Let´s pray…
