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…