Spiritual War Praying

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians 6:18 is our text today and I'd love to speak to you on the subject of spiritual war praying. Spiritual war praying. And I have a particular point that I'll deduce from the text that I'd like to emphasize today. And as we read in Ephesians chapter six, verse 18, we're transitioning from the metaphorical armor of God into actual praying. And Paul does this mid-sentence. And so praying is the means by which you will enact your armor. It is the conveyor belt of the blessings of God for your life and for others that you're praying for. So think of prayer today as a supply line. Heaven is where all the riches are stored and somehow, some way, God works through prayer. And we believe that prayer works because the Bible says to pray and it is an act of faith. But we need to know exactly how to pray today in regards to spiritual war praying.

And look with me in the text in Ephesians chapter six and verse 18. The Bible says, "Praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit and to this end being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for the saints."

Pause with me for just a moment and let's pray. Lord, thank You for this text and thank You for showing us that we're not just to simply fight with the armor, but we're to start the battles with prayer. I pray that You would help us to see exactly Paul's way of praying here and apply it to our life today. In Christ's name, amen.

And so these points encapsulate Paul's means of prayer. This is how Paul prays and this is obviously underneath the divine inspiration of Scripture. And so I'd like to take a quick look at this verse with you. And so look again at the frequency of prayer in verse 18. And verse 18 is talking about praying at all times. And this word "all" is mentioned three times in this one verse. And this is to indicate that Paul is all in and he's got all kinds of prayers. This is not a half-hearted prayer, but this is he being fully engaged all the time. And so he is praying all the time. This is a lifestyle of living before the presence of God.

John Calvin called it "Coram Deo," which is in the presence of God. So he lived with the notion that God is with him, that he is aware of the Godness — if you want to say it that way — of His omnipresence. He was always aware of God. And so this is in communion with God. This is prayer with God. This is communing with Him and knowing His presence. And then when you do that, you are actively engaged in praying at all times.

But it also says "with all prayer." And so not only do you see the frequency from Paul's prayer life, but you also see the scope of his prayer life because of it being "all prayer." Verse 18 is saying, "Praying at all times with all prayer." And so when you think of all prayer, well, there are a lot of prayers in the Bible. I dare say, if you try to read all of the prayers today, if you go home on this Lord's day and continue with the Lord on this notion, you'll spend the rest of the day just reading the prayers that are in the Bible. And it's absolutely fascinating to see all kinds of prayers that are in the Bible. You have silent prayers, singing prayers. You have reciting, memorized prayers. You have intercessory prayers, fasting and prayer, pleading prayers, crying prayers, petitioning prayers, meditative prayers, precatory prayers, humble prayers, confident prayers, bestial and noble prayers, prayers of adoration, prayers of gratitude, prayers of repentance, prayers of honor, prayers of request, prayers from Scripture, prayers for provisions, prayers for forgiving our enemies, and prayers of blessing our enemies, prayers for authorities and kings, prayers for the lost, prayers for spiritual revival, prayers for comfort, prayers for peace, and prayers for healing and restoration, prayers to win spiritual battles, prayers to ease pain, prayers to protect missionaries, prayers to open doors for evangelism, prayers to keep the church unified, prayers to mature the saints, prayers to humble God's foes, prayers to keep our mouths shut, and prayers to open our mouths, prayers to purify our hearts, and prayers to strengthen our marriages, prayers for fathers to lead, prayers for mothers to teach, prayers for children to obey, prayers for newlyweds to be established in Christ, prayers for widows to serve humbly without gossiping, prayers for the elderly to have their needs met, prayers for our youth and young ones not to love the world, prayers for cults to shrink and Christianity to grow, prayers for true Israel to be saved, prayers for barbarians to be saved, and prayers for new churches, prayers for our people, and prayers for people who are not my people to become my people.

And if you believe in Philippians 4:6, that everything is by prayer, then you'll drop to your knees when you think about a need. We are in the presence of God every day all day, and every day all day gives us opportunities to pray in every single way.

And so "with all prayers" — it's such a large subject here when it comes to opening up the subject of praying. But Paul is praying at all times with all prayer, and then it goes into a petition. And a petition is simply a request, but the petition is in the Spirit. This is fascinating. And so now you have moved from the frequency of prayer to the scope of prayer now to the enablement of prayer. And this is an absolutely — it is enabled.

Let me try as I can to explain this, and I'll dive more into it in a future sermon. But when it comes to being enabled by the Spirit, it basically is being filled by the Holy Spirit to the fullness of God, and He is bringing to your remembrance the things that need to be said. And so it's almost like getting the wheels rolling slowly when you first start praying. And then as you pray some more, you get a little bit deeper, a little bit more extensive. And as you get going and as you study prayer, and you develop your prayer life, you deepen it, and you widen it to all kinds of things. You move from perhaps your small circle within your own household to your church family and to your county and to your country and to your world. And so we end up praying in such a wide and broad and wonderful way because God cares about all of these things.

And it is an enablement of the Spirit to actually care, because we in and of ourselves don't care. We only care about ourselves. But the Holy Spirit through us, through the fruit of the Holy Spirit, enables us to remember the needs of others, and we care enough to pray about those. In John 14:26, the role of the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance certain things which He has already said. Hebrews chapter one, verses one and two, is talking about how He will bring to your remembrance the Scriptures. And then in Matthew 10:19–20, the Spirit speaks to you. And so this Spirit here, this word, implies help from the Holy Spirit in remembering, and in doing that we have a variety of prayer and a vibrance in prayer, and it moves us to adoring God and interceding for others.

And so the enablement here is something that Paul speaks to. Look at verse 18 again. "So praying at all times with all prayer and with petition in the Spirit." And so our requests that we are asking from God are enabled by the Spirit. It's more than just a spirited prayer — the spirit of a man. It is by the Holy Spirit.

Now, more so, look at the protective prayer that Paul transitions into. "And to this end" — being on alert. Now, this word "alert" helps us to see that he is being watchful and vigilant in guarding the flock. You can think of Pastor Paul here — not just a missionary, not just an evangelist, not just a church planter, not just one who is preaching the word of God, but he is pastorally protective over his flock, the ones whom he's led to Christ, the ones whom he's been nurturing. And so this word "alert" means to keep alert. It's a word that indicates shepherdly alertness, that they're watching over their sheep because they know that wolves are just right around the corner. It is also a military term in that Paul knows that he's living in a war zone. And so he must pray. If there's going to be any type of protection, the protective wall is by prayer.

And so he is praying as he is on the alert. He is protecting his flock by prayer. And you can't protect even yourself or your spouse all the time in person. But you can be protecting your spouse and your children and your flock and your people by prayer. You can be praying for them every day, all day. And as you are shepherdly and protectively praying for people, you know that you've been part of the solution. You have not neglected the very necessity of what it is to be part of a local church, to be part of a family, to be a prayer warrior. This is spiritual war fighting at its best. This is how you actually win battles. The ones who are praying are actually engaged at the very tip of the spear.

How do you engage all of the aspects of the armor except by prayer? So this is where the battleground of victory starts. This is your first step of victory. This is the step in the right direction. This is engaging the armor. It's not just having it. This is how you start to use it. This is the supply line of victory resources through prayer. And as you have this end in mind, you are part of protecting the flock. You are part of praying for one another. Your prayers can keep one of our youth from being eaten up by Satan, being chewed up by temptation. Your prayers can keep them alert and aware as they interact in life. You can keep your own children from suffering unnecessary sufferings by prayer. Prayer is effective. It's the most effective tool that we have. And yet we use it the least sometimes.

And so Paul uses the word "all" three times here and now it's coming up on another "all." And this is moving from protective prayer to determined prayer — with all perseverance. Look in the text again: "Praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit and to this end being on the alert with all perseverance." This in Paul's mind is communicating to the Ephesian church that they are to pray with a resolute determination. They've got an end in mind that they're praying for.

Do you know what Paul was praying for the Ephesians? Well, obviously look in the text and he is praying for them in all kinds of wonderful ways. In fact he is overwhelmed by the Spirit of God in Ephesians chapter three and verse 14, to the point where he has to bow down and start praying on the spot. It's like as if you are overwhelmed with a need that you know of in somebody's life that you're close to, as you're driving down the road, and you're just overwhelmed by the goodness of God and His Holy Spirit, to the point where you just have to pull over and pray. Look at Ephesians chapter three and verse 14, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father." Whatever Paul was doing, he stopped at this point. Obviously he was getting this letter penned down and he pauses right in the middle of citing it, and he bows down his knees and he says, "From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would give you according to the riches of His glory." He recognizes that God has riches — right where the riches are, they're in heaven — and now he is going to take these riches, which he's going to describe in this prayer, and like a conveyor belt bring them to the Ephesians.

And then the first point for which he is praying for is that the Ephesians would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. And if there's anything that I believe we must be praying for one another for, it is holy boldness. We don't need Christians who act like chameleons who blend in with the world — we need holy boldness. We need Christians who are going to stand upon the word of God and say what the word of God says in regards to ungodliness and worldliness. We need to have a stark difference between what the world espouses as right and true as compared to what God says is right and true. And in order to be able to do that we need to have the inner stability and strength to know who we are in Christ, because the first thing that evil comes against is our identity in Christ — to shake you and trouble you and get you off of your spiritual walk with Christ. So we should pray for one another to be spiritually strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.

And so think of this conveyor belt of prayer as bringing the riches of God's strength and character, bringing these attributes right to the people who are evangelizing and right to the people who are making disciples and right to the people who are parenting and right to the children who need to be obeying and right to the preachers who are preaching and right to the Bible study teachers who are teaching. We need holy boldness in this day to be able to continue in Christ.

And so Paul has a burden here with an end in mind. He knows what he wants the Ephesian church to be and he's praying for that. He's part of the solution. He's not sitting back and pointing his fingers and saying, "They should," or "They ought to," or "Why aren't you?" He's actually part of the solution. And so this is a cultural change in many people's day where you stop pouncing and complaining and pointing but you actually start praying. So stop complaining and start praying. Be a part of the solution, because prayer actually works, and if you believe that prayer works then you're praying for one another, not complaining about each other. This is so vital to true Christianity. It keeps the unity in the church.

Whenever you perceive a need in someone's life — perhaps a shortcoming in someone's character — then pray. That works. Pray that God would strengthen them inwardly, to be energized by the Holy Spirit in the inner man, to be able to do that. So that in verse 17, Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith, in that being firmly rooted and grounded in love. Isn't this a great need for us to be praying for one another — to be rooted deeply in Christ, to know our strong doctrines of the faith, to know the doctrines of grace, to know who we are in Christ, to be grounded in Him?

It's so important. That means we're rooted. And in Psalm chapter 92 and verse 12 it talks about a righteous man like a palm tree — rooted and able to withstand droughts. He's able to stand through a storm because he's rooted. That taproot is going down deep enough to where it's sourced in water and it does not need rain. It can go through a drought. It can go through storms and go through trials of life. All of the winds and such ones are not going to inwardly shake him because he is righteously rooted in Christ. And we need men and women and young men and young women and youth and children of solid, grounded faith that's deeply rooted in Christ, that has an answer and is able to give a reason for their faith. How does that happen except by you praying for them?

There's all kinds of obstacles in between us getting rooted in Christ. Remove obstacles by prayer and pray for them to be rooted in Christ. And then as well in verse 18, it says you may be able to comprehend with all the saints. So this is now you praying for one another to be in alignment with Abraham, our father of faith, all the saints — to be in alignment with Moses in the law, to be in alignment with the prophets pointing to Christ, but to be in alignment with Christ and His disciples, to be in alignment with the New Testament, to be in alignment with all of the saints, to comprehend with all of the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ.

This is the answer — if people know Christ, truly know Him and His word, this is the answer: the depth and the breadth and the height and the love of Christ. And so as we, like Paul, pray for one another to obtain these things, then it surpasses all kinds of knowledge, and then we will be filled up to the fullness of God, as verse 19 says — "that you may be filled up to the fullness of God." We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need more of God than anything else in this world. In fact, we need to displace worldliness with godliness, and that happens when we pray for one another.

And so this determined prayer with all perseverance is a resolute determination to pray for the saints and to have spiritual goals for the saints. Now let me tell you some of the prayers that this measly little old pastor has been praying, as we train men in righteousness — which is what the word of God is for, 2 Timothy 2:2 and 2 Timothy 3:16, that the word of God is for training in righteousness. As we are training up righteousness, I think of where our men are in their spiritual walk with Christ and I pray for their next step in Christ. And don't you see men on display daily, making progress in their spiritual walk in this wonderful church? Do you see men standing up and now teaching the word of God in Bible studies? Do you see men now baptizing? Do you see now men evangelizing? Do you see men making disciples? And praying as well for our parents, that all of our parents would be engaged in making little disciples and making their home little churches and making of their little ones Christians. This making of disciples starts in the home. And praying for the next step in Christ, and the spiritual fruit that is on display for everybody to see — it is so wonderful.

You are a part of the progress that's being made in this church, through your participation, through your worship, through your teaching, through your learning, and through your prayers especially. This is really true joy, when you are part of the victories in people's lives. And you can be part of the victories in life. You know, so many people get older and they wish they could do more, but they find that there's more joy now. Once they have been restricted and are not able physically, they find more joy in praying seriously. Once older people cross that threshold of struggle, like, "I can't do what I used to do physically anymore. I wish I could do all of these things. I wish, I wish, I wish. But I'm bound to a wheelchair or I can't drive anymore," whatever — but all I can do is pray. And I can find out that that's actually the tip of the spear, that that's where the joy really is. And this is where meaningful — this is where it's at. If I could say anything to you: spiritual warfare is won by prayer, and you can help other people win in these battles against Satan by prayer. Prayers are heard, and what God hears from you in secret He loves to make happen.

And so Paul is determined to intercede for the Ephesian church with an end goal in mind — to see them growing in Christ. And so this petition, this intercessory prayer, back in Ephesians chapter six and verse 18 again, "Praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit and to this end being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for the saints." Okay, this is for the saints, for the church. And Paul has already prayed for them to be strengthened, for Christ to dwell in them richly, for them to be rooted and grounded in love, for them to comprehend the love of Christ, for them to be filled up with the fullness of God. Essentially this is praying for them not to be weakened, and praying for them not to take for granted the love of Christ, and praying for them not to be inwardly unstable, and praying for them not to lack comprehension of how Christ loved us, and he's praying for them not to live empty and void of the fullness of God in their heart and their soul and in their mind.

He's praying for them and he's lifting them up. And if you can envision and visualize this — you going through everyone whom you can possibly remember and lifting them up in the areas for which you think that they're struggling and striving and lifting them up and praying for them — you have access to the riches in heaven of all these spiritual blessings. Look with me — you can bring these spiritual blessings by prayer to their life — in Ephesians chapter one. It talks about these spiritual blessings in verse three. Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." These spiritual blessings in the heavenly places we have access to. We have them, and now prayer is what God uses to energize them. And so Paul is engaged in spiritual war praying, spiritual war praying. He fights by prayer.

And so I'd like to draw out a point and capitalize on it with you today. In Ephesians chapter six, look with me not only in verse 18 but above — you'll see that there are arrows that are always coming, in verse 16. "In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." Now we do not fight perfectly. Nobody's perfect at spiritual war fighting. There are arrows that slip by our shields. We don't have perfect aim, perfect alertness. We don't have the ability to fight against a seasoned professional — Satan, who is watching for a weakness — and then he draws back that bow and sends a ton of arrows at the moment that you have a weakness. And so arrows slip by and we get stuck by these painful arrows that are actually on fire. They're in there. It's more than inflammation. I mean, it's like causing a forest fire of emotional turmoil inside of your heart, causing you to believe a perversion, causing you all of this agony — emotional and spiritual pain which is also physical.

And so knowing that we do not have the ability to block all the painful arrows, then what do you do with pain? Except for the fact that most of the time pain drops us to our knees in prayer. Most of the time when we are in severe pain it drops us to our knees in prayer. A lot of times we pray the best prayers as a result of pain.

And what I want you to know today is that there are two sources of this kind of arrow-like pain. Two sources — both cause severe pain — and we should pray like crazy when we go through these painful, arrow-like piercings. But one source pierces the heart to save our lives. Another source pierces our heart to end lives. One source intends the pain to produce repentance and another source intends the pain to produce rebellion. One source of this arrow-like pain is driving the person to prayer. Another source is driving the person away from prayer. One source is helping. Another source is harming. One source is aiming the arrow at the heart to remove sin, and one source is aiming the arrow at the heart to ignite — in Ephesians 6:16, you see arrows of the evil one. That's only one type of arrow that you see in Scripture.

But there is a whole different source than evil arrows. Turn if you would to Psalm 38 and I want you to see verse two, because there are holy arrows that cause severe pain. Arrows from God. Arrows that pierce the heart. Arrows that press so deep within you it causes you severe agony. And in Psalm 38:2 it says — for you, if you have a wonderful Bible that capitalizes the pronouns, "Your" is capitalized because it's referencing the personal pronoun of God. "For Your arrows have pressed deep into me and Your hand has pressed down upon me." And in verse four, "For my iniquities grow over my head, as a heavy burden they weigh down too much for me." And then in verse 18, "For I confess my iniquity."

And so now as you observe this text you can see that we have arrows from God that pierce the heart for an intentional purpose — of causing a weighty iniquity to press down so that you confess your sin. And so there are two kinds of pain. Now in general we know that pain causes us to pull down into prayer. And we've dealt with evil arrows already in the spiritual war series. Today I also want to deal with the arrows from the Holy Spirit and with the danger of us pressing on through pain when we should have been kneeling and repenting.

We need to rightly discern the source of the pain inside of our hearts and souls. We need to press on sometimes and we need to pull back sometimes. Sometimes if we press on when we should be kneeling it'll make things worse rather than better. And sometimes a wound needs stretching. Sometimes a wound needs resting. If you have sore muscles then it's best to stretch. If you have torn muscles it's best to rest. You have to discern the pain. And then as well, if you have chronic pain, how do you treat that? With heat — it's better to put heat on chronic pain, but an injury needs ice. Okay, how do you know what to do except if you discern the pain? Where is the source of the pain? Similarly, we need to discern the arrows in order to know how to pray. Do we stand tall or do we submit low? It depends on the arrow. And so spiritual, emotional pain needs discerning.

In James chapter one, turn if you would — verses one through five tell us of trials of perfection. And then as well in James you see trials of correction. In James chapter one, verses one through five, it says, "James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are in the dispersion, greetings. Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith brings perseverance." So here you see that you are encouraged to press on, to persevere through these trials. "And let perseverance have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing." Okay, this is for you. This pain is intended for you to continue persevering and press on because God is refining who you are.

And in James chapter one, verse 13 to 16, you'll see a whole different type of trial. "Let no one say when he is tempted that I'm being tempted by God." And so now you're dealing with temptation from within. "For God cannot be tempted by evil, for He Himself does not tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust." So do you keep on pressing on in the state of lustfulness, or should you pull back and repent? Should you recognize, "Perhaps this trial of my faith is something that God is allowing pain in my life to correct me in, and rather than being stubborn and pressing on I need to pull back and repent"? In verse 15 there it says, "Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured it brings forth death." Do you see the destructive path of continuing without discerning the pain?

Sometimes stubborn, sinful ones will even cover up their sin, and they end up experiencing such tragedies in their life that never should have happened. And the wisest one in the Bible portrays this in Proverbs chapter 28 and verse 13, "He who conceals his sins will not prosper." You're not going to prosper. God is not going to bless a mess. If you're going to repent, then He is going to give you compassion. Look in Proverbs 28:13 — if you would write it down and go back to it later today — "He who conceals his transgressions." If you hide, if you conceal your sin, you will not prosper. If you hide it — children, look at me for just a moment — hiding is self-harm. Hiding sin is self-harm. You are inflicting upon yourself punishment, and believe me, God is just and He works through your parents oftentimes. And believe me, the sin that children try to hide will be found out because God makes sure of it. It's for your betterment. A lot of the children are like, "Uh-huh. I have had it encouraged out of me in a few different ways." And that's good. Don't conceal a transgression or a sin. You won't prosper.

In verse 13 it says, "But he who confesses and forsakes them" — so many are sorry they got caught, and they're not truly repentant. But do you see where you must confess and forsake? If you're going to repent, you're going to turn from your wicked ways. You're going to figure out how you're not going to make the same mistake. You're going to pray and say, "Lord, I'm sorry." The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, "If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness." If you want the forgiveness and the cleansing, then you're going to realign your thinking — whatever got you into that mess to begin with. You're going to realign your heart motives with the word of God, and you're going to pursue Christ at the expense of your flesh.

And so, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper." But he who confesses — this word in the Hebrew, yada, it's a verb. It means to throw off. And it even means throwing off arrows, to take these things out of you, to throw off the sin, to throw it off and forsake them. And then you will receive compassion. And compassion means mercy and love and tenderness.

To be caught brings consequences. But to confess, the Scriptures say, brings compassion. And so if you're stubborn and you hide your sin, you'll get caught, that's for sure, and there are consequences. But if you forsake them, you confess them, there's mercy and there's love. There are still consequences, but they're a whole lot less than if you were to get caught.

And so don't hide your sin. Confess them. And the pain that sin brings in your life was itself inflicted from sin. Well then confess it and receive the compassion and mercy and love of God and those from around you. But if you conceal it, it's only going to spread like cancer and get worse. It's only going to make a small problem into a bigger problem. It's only going to become huge. It's only going to affect more and more people as we continue in a stubborn way.

Hey, the best way to be children of Christ is to confess first. If you want the first-place prize with God, confess your sins as you do them. If you confess them as you do them and not bunch them, then you're going to be walking with the Lord. Confess your sins as you do them. All prayer, all the time — praying all the time means you're always in communion with the Lord. In the moment that you sidestep away from the goodness of God, the Holy Spirit is going to check your spirit. And it's at that point you can just simply bounce back into alignment with the Lord. If you confess when you're under conviction, that is the essence of resisting the evil arrows. If you confess when you're under conviction, then you're going to stand against evil opposition. The arrows want to tempt you and pull you away from Christ and they want to ignite sin in your life and ignite the flesh. Simply confess when you're under conviction. Confess your transgressions, confess your sins as you do them.

And on the other flip side of things, you will simply watch other people suffer because of being stubborn. And that is unfortunately more of what we see — people suffering because they're not confessing.

And so you see that there are trials of perfection and trials of correction. I recommend that you park and pray. It's not worth it to keep driving yourself when you know that you're not right with the Lord. Rather, realign and resist. Realign and resist. In James chapter four, verses seven and eight, is a really good picture of realigning and resisting. It says to "be subject to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and cry and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you." And so if you take care of your inner business with the Lord, He will exalt you, but you have to be transparent in this area.

So there are two kinds of pain, and if you would do this then I'm telling you, you're going to walk rightly with the Lord.

I know this is a long introduction, but point number one is: prayerfully resist evil arrows. Prayerfully resist evil arrows. Prayer is the activating ingredient for all of this armor. Think of prayer as the primary hardening agent in concrete, which is cement. Think of prayer as like cement — and the cement undergoes a chemical change in reaction and it binds the components together, and then heat — which we have a lot of here in central Florida — concrete workers have to work fast because of the heat. Heat accelerates that process of hardening. And so prayer is the cement. Think of your prayers as cementing people in Christ and in yourself. And so the cement that binds Christians together with Christ is prayer. Prayer truly is cementing. Prayer is a hardening agent. Prayer is one that grounds you and your loved ones in the Lord. Prayer utilizes the armor of truth and righteousness in the gospel and the faith in the word of God. Prayer equips and causes people to stand firm — and again, "stand firm therefore" in Ephesians 6:14.

So this is important to know — that prayer is effective. And one way to visualize your prayers as a means and a manner of actually working in your life and people's lives is like as if it is a conveyor belt from heaven to another person. Pray for people from the riches of heaven, which you cannot exhaust. It's like going to the ocean with a teaspoon. You can't even hardly dent the riches of God. You can't exhaust them, and so pray for the riches of heaven to be for one another. And the same thing — visualize your prayers as cementing that person in Christ and helping them hold the line, making them strong in the Lord and in the power of His strength.

In Ephesians 6:18, it doesn't ask if you have time to pray. "Time" in Ephesians 6:18 — back to Ephesians 6:18 if you would — is a word that means "opportunity" in the Greek. And so "time" is preceded by the word "all," and so at all times you have the opportunity to pray — that is when you should be praying, which is all times. We all have an opportunity to pray every single day, and so therefore we pray at all times, at all opportunities. And so there is time every day to pray, and every day is an opportunity to pray, and if you're not praying then you're not praying at all times. In verse 18, "all" means all.

It took me a while to dig this out, but to the maximum amount — so all the time that you have, to the maximum amount of opportunity that you have, that's when we pray. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray without ceasing. Oh, how in the world do we do this? Well, I've asked some, "When do you pray?" And so "when I'm driving, that's my prayer time." Oh, really? Well, let's look at this exegetically. Is that the only time that the Scriptures encourage us to pray — a little segment of driving time? Rather it should be at all times — whether driving, whether eating, working, walking, studying, resting. Have you ever woken up praying, started praying? Pray while you're talking, pray while you're waiting, pray while you're calculating, pray while you're teaching, pray while you're reading, pray while you're vacationing. Whoever thought you'd do spiritual things on vacation? Yes. Pray at all times. "And in every way give thanks, for this is the will of God, do not quench the Spirit" — Ephesians — I'm sorry, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 18, and 19. Theologians differ as to whether or not "do not quench the Spirit" belongs with the preceding verses or the verses next. I just lump it all together. Don't quench the Spirit by not praying.

And so we can walk around praying or we can walk around complaining. We can walk around rejoicing or we can walk around sinning. We can walk around praying and believing or doubting. I don't know about you, but I want to be part of the winning team who's praying, who's part of the solution. And so we are spiritually winning at this church. I'm so proud to be a part of it.

Listen to this. We're fighting by prayer, just like John Calvin wrote hundreds of years ago when he wrote down in his writings, "Fight by prayer." And so as he gets through with the armor of God and he lumps it all together — how do you fight? What's the manner in which you win? You fight by prayer. That's where you win the battles. And he goes on to expound upon the fact that the surest way to victory is by persistent prayer. Every tendency then to weariness and laziness must be removed. You see his perseverance in prayer. And you see prayer — he says — is the supply line from which God delivers relief from burdens and truth to minds and hope to hearts and willpower to souls. Prayer is a supply line from heaven to those whom you love.

And so we should then be of good cheer. We should be ones who are not walking around in drudgery. It's a duty for us to pray, but it should not be drudgery. We should portray to our children the opportunity to pray. We should portray to one another, to our spouses, "It's time to pray." We get to be part of the solution. We get to fire back at Satan. I love doing that. Perseverance — it's also earnestness. And so this in the text in Ephesians chapter six is talking about always, and that indicates the need for praying at all times and not just when we have a need. Oftentimes pain pushes us to prayer, granted, but we ought not to be a people who only pray when there's a need.

Need pushes us to prayer, granted. But the text is talking about prayer at all times and always, and especially knowing that prayer for all the saints is caring — truly caring for one another. How do you care except by prayer? We have a care team and we meet needs and share Christ. We do all that we can to meet physical needs, whether it's food, whether it's encouragement, whether it's a text, email, visit, whatever the case might be. We have a prayer team, but it is also undergirded and supported by prayer. Our prayer team is our care team. Our care team is our prayer team. And that's the reason why it's so effective. Praying is caring, because in verse 18 here in Ephesians chapter six it says, "For all the saints." So we are to pray then with empathy and sympathy and consideration in all prayer. Is there ever a day when one of our saints is not in distress? The answer is no. There's always one of our own in our flock in distress at one point. Very few days go by where there's not a distressful need happening. And so there's an opportunity to pray every day.

Point number two is to prayerfully submit to holy arrows. Prayerfully submit to holy arrows. And so now we're moving from point number one — prayerfully resist the evil arrows — now to submitting to holy arrows.

The Holy Spirit will fire first of all some soft little blunted points to kind of tap you in the heart, to kind of maybe grab your attention before there's a piercing arrow. But here in Psalm 38:2, if you want to turn back to it, you'll see that these arrows are figurative for a severe wound to the heart. And these things according to the original word — "pressed deep into me" — means that these arrows have penetrated and have caused pain and separation and brokenness in the inner being.

For those who continue in sin who are Christians, and they are continuing to be stubborn, the Holy Spirit of God will send these painful, figurative arrows to bring them under conviction. And that's painful because you are now recognizing that sin has consequences. It's going to affect my life, it's going to affect others, and I've sinned and transgressed against the Lord.

Those who continue in sin — Jeremiah 21:13 has a word for those who continue in sin. It is "behold," which is a call to attention. So those who are stubborn and continue in sin: "Behold, I am against thee." It's Jeremiah 21:13 speaking to rebellious ones. "Behold" — a call to attention. "I am" — the great I Am — "is against" — "against" denotes motion. This is God's posture towards wickedness, in motion. God's corrective motion is pressing in, and the pain and the revelation of the sin will only increase and the punishments will only increase. Jeremiah 21:13, "Behold, I am against thee." And in verse 14, "I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds." And we know God is just.

And we know if we continue to make a mess of things and continue in the wrong ways, God is going to reward us for our deeds rightly. He's a just God. Oh, praise God — before the punishment, before the pain, God brings us under conviction, and the Holy Spirit will pierce us if we do not yield to these indicators. And so the heart becomes very heavy and the transgressions are heavy on the mind and you are restless in your sin. And God is bringing you to your knees to a point to where you confess. You can't get it off of your mind — every single day is distress. Your prayers are bouncing off of the ceiling. You don't even want to go to church. You could care less about your Bible. Things just get worse and worse and worse for those who continue in sin.

But if you would confess — Proverbs 28:13 — if you confess your transgressions, you're going to get mercy and compassion and love.

Hebrews chapter 12, verses five through 17, paints the whole picture when it comes to this kind of pain that God will discipline us in. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse four, "You have not resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin." Here's the encouragement to strive against sin even if it costs you bloodshed. In verse five, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons." So these are Christians. This is pain that the Holy Spirit will put upon Christians. He will discipline His own people. "And so, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord." This is the correction that I'm talking about, the correction by way of even piercing you with an arrow of conviction. "So my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure, and God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? And if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons."

You see how important it is to discern the pain? It's the difference between being a son or not. And in verse nine, "Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them, shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them. But He disciplines us, God disciplines us for our benefit, that we may share in His holiness." These painful arrows from the Holy Spirit are for you to share in His holiness, to be more holy, to remove the sin from your life.

And in verse 11, "And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful" — right? — "but sorrowful, sometimes deep sorrow and pain, but to those who have been trained by it." This is how God trains us. This is like what I was talking about in James chapter one — trials of perfection. He's perfecting and refining you. I don't care how godly you are. We have some of the most beautiful saints at this congregation and I would never, ever, ever think in a million years that you'd sin against God. But I know human nature — there will be a day to where even our most beautiful and cutest, most innocent little girls will sin. And this will be a part of their life. Right here you're going to be trained by this pain. You'll be trained by this, and your gain will be holiness. Afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. After the pain comes the peace. But God can rob you of your peace and allow turmoil inside of your heart. It's your job to discern whether or not you're walking in sin against Him.

And if you are stubborn and do not confess your sins as you do them — I'm telling you, when I get in pain, I confess everything I could possibly think of back to when I was born. I just confess and confess and make sure that I'm overly right and walking with the Lord. And I'm really checking and examining myself closely to make sure that this is a trial of perfection and not of correction. Not going to be stubborn.

In verse 12, "Therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint." Ouch. Don't be stubborn. "But rather be healed and pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." In verse 16 it gives the example of Esau, and he is even labeled as godless. And so this undisciplined wild man thought he could get God's blessings without repenting. And he found that there was no place of repentance in his heart, in verse 17. This is an example of a man in the Bible, of one who was stubborn and did not repent, and he therefore did not have any place of repentance.

And so God's arrows will bring you under conviction so that you can confess and cry out to God, and so that God will not forsake you.

Two take-home truths. Very simple in today's message. Number one: stand strong and fight against Satan's arrows. As you are spiritual war fighting and you have your armor on, the way that you start standing strong is by prayer. This is activating the armor, and your prayers are through these pieces. So stand strong and fight against Satan's arrows. And then point number two is: kneel down and submit to God's arrows.

And those who walk closely with the Lord — you read in your Bible every single day, you're praying every single day — the gentle, Holy Spirit of God is not going to harpoon you right up front. The closer you walk with Christ, the least amount of discipline you incur from Him, seriously. And so I want to read to know God. I want to study to be in alignment with the Lord. How do I want to cause my Father to have to discipline me? It grieves me deeply when I cause my Father to the point where He has to discipline me. I don't want to do that.

And so on the bright side, we know that we can kneel down and submit right away to God's arrows before they are so painful. Do you remember King Saul of Israel in the Old Testament and how rebellious he was — when he was praying to the Lord and didn't get any responses? In 1 Samuel 31, he continued in his rebellion even to the point of seeking out a medium.

The prophet Samuel had already passed and he needed to get in touch with him in order to know God's will. And rather than praying to God and accepting what the Lord was working out in his life, in his pride he tried to do it himself and seek out a medium to get in touch with Samuel. He was praying to the dead through some — this is so available around here. I've driven up and down our streets and wondered how in the world can this little psychic building stay in business? They have a road-front business. They've got electric, they've got taxes, they've got all these things they've got to pay. They've got staff, they've got payroll, insurance, upkeep on the buildings. How in the world is there that much revenue in seeking mediums and psychics and all of these different alternatives to prayer? I guess so. But don't be like that.

Don't be like King Saul in 1 Samuel 31 and verse three — he was pierced by an arrow. The archers got him. And if you believe in the complete sovereignty of God and you know that there are no maverick molecules, you'd know that everything is guided by the hand of the Lord. In 1 Samuel 31:3, "And the battle became heavy against Saul, and the archers hit him." And so he was hit by a literal arrow and he was badly wounded. And verse four, "And then Saul said to his armor bearer, 'Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and pierce me through and abuse me.' But his armor bearer was not willing, so Saul took his own life. He fell on the sword." But even that is accredited to God. In 1 Chronicles chapter 10 and verse 14, God put Saul to death.

Don't be stubborn — that is a real important lesson when you observe the life of King Saul. Saul experienced great pain and a severe amount of anxiety because he was rebelling instead of repenting. But if you would live a regular life of prayer — prayer at all times and in all ways, at all opportunities — regularly repenting, regularly praying, then you will be able to walk right with the Lord.

I wish that it would have been different for Saul, because James 4:17 says, "To the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." And so what is spiritual war praying? Well, essentially you can deduce it to this: you are saving yourself and others from Saul-like mistakes. Spiritual war praying is winning wars and winning spiritual battles, and you are saving yourselves, saving your family, and you're saving others from Saul-like mistakes.

Ephesians 6:18 says, "Praying at all times with all prayer and being on alert with perseverance for all the saints." And so my encouragement to us today is to be a spiritual war prayer warrior.

Let's pray together. Father, thank You for helping us to understand that there are different types of pain, and that that old evil one will fire a myriad of arrows at us and cause severe pain. And is that pain something that is a trial of perfection or a trial of correction? It's up to us to discern and walk with You, and we are either going to repent and confess or we're going to stand strong and continue in Your word. I pray that You give us discernment, I pray that You give us clarity, I pray that You help us in our everyday walk with You as we are spiritual war fighters. And now as we have opened up this wonderful subject of prayer, that You would continue to help us to understand in the weeks upcoming what it is to pray effectively, to pray biblically. And as Paul requests prayer from the Ephesian church, and then the next verse is upcoming, I pray that You would help us to understand that, Lord.

If there was anyone here who was not a prayer warrior, who was not one who even prays at all — God, I pray that You would encourage the saints today to open up a whole new realm of life, a whole new atmosphere, and see that the reality as a Christian is that we live in the atmosphere of prayer, and that we pray without ceasing and we walk and we talk with You, we sing to You, we adore You, we honor You, we ask You for help, we ask You to guide us, we ask You to convict us where we can do better, we ask You, Lord, we continue to petition You and ask You to help us. We also ask for help for others, for the saints. We thank You for the availability to pray and ask You for Your abundant resources that which we cannot exhaust.

Lord, if anyone here hasn't the desire to pray, perhaps that is an indication that they have not been truly saved, because the Holy Spirit within us certainly draws us to a more sanctified life and the Holy Spirit within us convicts us of our sin. If there's anyone here, Lord, who doesn't fall under conviction when they do things that the Bible says is wrong and evil and unholy and ungodly and worldly, and can continue in that sin — perhaps they have never been truly saved. I pray, dear Jesus, that You would grant that lost soul sorrowfulness for their sin that has been transgressed against You. I pray that You would grant that soul the faith to be able to confess that they are a sinner in need of being saved, and the only solution to that is Your substitutionary death on the cross which paid for our penalty. I pray, God, You grant them the ability to truly draw closer to You because Your Holy Spirit is drawing them closer. God, I pray that they would confess and cry out to You and be saved, and not only saved — they would continue in the wonderful work of being sanctified and baptized and belonging to a local church, to the point to where they would become a flaming evangelist and disciple maker. Radically transformed lives, Lord, we ask. We ask You this in Jesus' capable and wonderful name. Amen.