Praying at All Times with All Prayer
At the Wednesday (2nd Aug) prayer meeting, Rev.Kenny I. MacLeod continued his study on the Whole Armour of God (Ephesians 6:10 -20). He focused particularly on verses 18 – 20, where the believer is urged to pray ‘at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.’
The Word of God and prayer are inseparable for the believer. There can be no spiritual growth for a Christian who does not pray, read the Word and meditate upon it. Mr MacLeod said, ‘true prayer begins in Heaven and ends in Heaven’, which is to say that it is motivated by the Spirit, it takes place in the Spirit and is heard, finally, in Heaven.
Saul of Tarsus would have been frequently heard to pray, but it would have been formal and legalistic. Such was his reputation as a persecutor of Christians that, when Ananias was sent to him by the Lord, he feared. The Lord’s reassurance to Ananias came in these simple words, ‘Behold, he prays’. In other words, Saul was now truly praying because he had the Holy Spirit. He did not cease praying from then on.
Prayer is mentioned here in Ephesians 6, alongside the armour of God, because those who pray are under constant onslaught from Satan. He even makes us restrained in what we ask God for, making us fear that we may be put through a trial, or given something to do that we don’t want. The result is decreased boldness in our prayers.
However, Paul urges that we should come in boldness and humility, secure in the knowledge that the Lord will do anything rather than lose us. Mr MacLeod alluded to a prayer in which it was said that we are no less secure in our salvation than the saints in glory.
Christians worry about praying according to God’s will – how can we know His will? The answer to that, again, lies in the Word. Being acquainted with what God has said in His scripture, and meditating prayerfully upon it, will make us much more attuned to His will.
Paul also urges us to be watchful. He means this in the sense of the adage, ‘Watching sights the enemy; prayer fights the enemy.’
This watchfulness is linked to perseverance – we must keep on praying and not lose hope. God does not always answer our prayers in the way that we would expect, or want. He did not remove Paul’s thorn, after all, or permit Moses to enter the Promised Land, but He does work these things for good according to His own purpose.
Christians are urged to pray here for the whole body of Christ, including those that they don’t personally know. Through this kind of prayer, many people have been upheld through difficulties and challenges.
Paul, in this passage, is chained in prison and probably in great pain. He is not, however, asking the church to pray for his release. His great desire is that he would receive the wisdom needed to go on proclaiming Jesus. It is a lesson to us regarding opportunities to witness verbally for Christ. We should pray for the wisdom to recognise the opportunities which the Lord gives us to speak to other people about Him.
