Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints (Ephesians 6:18)
I have always heard prayer linked to the sword of the Spirit as part of the soldier’s offensive arsenal. E.M. Bounds famously wrote about the Weapon of Prayer, and I think most Christians would consider prayer a weapon. No doubt we could make a solid case for this view, and I won’t quibble with it.
However, I don’t believe Paul means to treat prayer as a weapon in his catalog of the panoply of God. Notice what Paul says between the 17th and 18th verses. He begins with a command – the only imperative in the register of armor: “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.” He follows this command with “praying always” – clearly descriptive of the way we take the helmet and sword. The grammar supports this understanding. The Greek uses a genitive prepositional phrase, literally “through all prayer.” Prayer is the way we take the helmet and sword.
The message is simple. You strap on the armor because you are going to war, so be ready. And nothing prepares us for battle like watchful prayer. So when you strap on the armor, you better be praying and watching. Be alert in prayer; be praying watchfully.
Prayer, then, is the soldier’s readiness. We want soldiers who not only arm themselves but who are poised to strike. What good is a soldier who sluffs around in his armor? For that matter, when a soldier straps on his armor, he better not sit down. Armor can be heavy: he might not get back up if he sits. Once the armor is in place (and we put it on when we receive Christ), it is time to go to war.
So then, prayer and watchfulness aren’t additional pieces of armor, nor are they weapons. Instead, they refer to the soldier’s attitude when He is armed – He is ready to fight. He prepares for battle by praying and watching. Let’s expand this into four elements of “readiness.”
First, The Christian Soldier’s Watchfulness
I want to deal with “watching” first, even though it comes after “praying” in our text. The watchful Christian knows the prayer needs. And the praying Christian will be watchful – attentive. So, I’m not changing anything in the passage, but only arguing that the Christian soldier must be vigilant. He must be on high alert.
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)
He certainly must not be sleeping.
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5:14)
Notice that our text says “watching thereunto” – that is, watching unto prayer: vigilant to pray whenever the need arises: watchful in prayer, attentive when praying, vigilant to maintain the spirit of prayer. Keep on the alert for times when prayer is needed.
Nehemiah set a great example of this while building the walls of Jerusalem.
But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. (Nehemiah 4:7-9)
Paul is mainly concerned with the wiles of the devil – his deceptions and his fiery darts and the subtle ways he attacks the Christian. We must be on high alert for those times when we are likely to be “drawn away of our own lusts and enticed.”
But notice that Paul urges the believers to pray for himself – to pray for Paul (vv. 19-20). Surely, his request tells us that we should be vigilant in prayer for one another. A husband should be watchful in prayer for his wife and a wife for her husband. Parents should be attentive in prayer for their children, and yes, children for their parents. Pastors should be alert in prayer for the church, and the church should pray vigilantly for their pastor. By vigilant prayer, we recognize the snares Satan lays for our feet. We notice when Satan seeks to draw hearts away from the Lord after destructive things. I should be vigilant for you, and you should be for me. Faithful, fervent prayer requires engagement and attentiveness, but also promotes it.
Second, The Christian Soldier’s Prayerfulness
Four times in Ephesians 6:18, Paul applies the word “all” to our praying — we might call it the “four alls” of the Christian soldier’s prayer life. We must pray at all times and on every occasion – praying always. We must pray with all kinds of prayers and requests: “All prayer and supplication.”
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (I Timothy 2:1)
We must pray with all perseverance. “Pray without ceasing.” Pray constantly and persistently. And we must pray for all saints. The Greek uses the preposition peri (think perimeter) – which gives the idea of “surrounding” each other with prayer.
Our prayer life indicates our readiness for combat. But prayer also prepares us so that we are ready. We ought to be watchful in prayer, but prayer also makes us watchful.
And we are told to pray “in the Spirit.” That is, we must pray according to God’s design for prayer. We pray to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us in our infirmities so that our prayers are not self-centered but God-centered. The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray according to the will of God. And, the Holy Spirit “ignites” our prayers in the will of God, as Warren Wiersbe explains.
Because the altar of incense pictures our prayers, and the fire on the altar pictures the Holy Spirit, “who takes our prayers and ignites them in the will of God.” [1]
In our previous articles on the armor of God, I didn’t give much attention to the fact that Paul uses the 2nd person plural throughout this passage. Now is an excellent time to remind you that we don’t arm ourselves as individual soldiers, for we are not armed in isolation, detached from the larger unit of God’s army. We arm ourselves as attached to the body of Christ, the church, the particular assembly where we are accountable. We pray as a member of that unit. Jesus taught us to say, “our Father” – not “my Father” – which art in heaven.” And just as we don’t wear the armor of God in isolation, even so, we must uphold and sustain one another in prayer.
If my prayers help another believer defeat Satan, then that victory will help me too.[2]
Third, The Christian Soldier’s Pluckiness
We must persist in prayer: “watching thereunto with all perseverance.” Paul calls for constant attention and “relentless” care.[3] We are called to keep up a constant prayer vigil for one another: no days off, no sluffing or slacking. We must persist in prayer. Be plucky.
Undeterred by contrary results or a change of fortune, not discouraged when things fall short of our hopes, we must stick with it – be tenacious – stay vigilant for all the saints. And we must do this as long as we live – when we strap on the armor, we must be ready to go to war. And quite often, the prayer closet is our war room.
We must persevere in a particular prayer; not cutting it short, when our hearts are disposed to enlarge, and there is time for it, and our occasions call for it. We must likewise persevere in particular requests, notwithstanding some present discouragements and repulses.[4]
Finally, The Christian Soldier’s Boldness
Paul expands on this theme of readiness in the following two verses (19-20). He aims to get the Ephesians to pray for himself, but he also wants them to understand what they should be praying for each other and (by extension) for themselves. If watchfulness in prayer is vital to readiness, then the things Paul asks them to seek from God must also be part of readiness.
Paul doesn’t ask the Ephesians to pray that he’ll successfully resist the devil or withstand in the evil day. We have armor for that; we must put on the whole armor. Paul asks the believers to pray for him
that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:19-20)
The word “utterance” translates logos – a “word,” an “argument,” a “reason.” Paul asks that when he opens his mouth, he will have something to say. Not that he worries that he might lack for words. But he wants to say what he ought to say, to say it with boldness. “Boldness” refers to fearless, confident freedom in speaking.” [5]
Paul asks for prayer that utterance will be given to him to this end – “that I may open my mouth boldly.” He isn’t looking for boldness to spout his opinions. He isn’t looking to gain a following. He isn’t seeking to expand his natural talents. He is looking for God to speak through him, that God would open the door to his mouth.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 1:7-8)
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 3:8-9)
Paul uses a purpose clause: (so) that God would give him utterance – that God would open his mouth. Paul wants the Ephesians to pray for this. He uses the same preposition twice, and I take it to be used in an instrumental sense. The preposition is the Greek word en, which can be used like our preposition “in,” but can also point to the means: “by means of” doing something.
That utterance may be given unto me en (by means of) opening my mouth en (by means of) boldness.
Paul asks prayer for this so he can make known the gospel because this is the battleground. Satan hurls his fiery darts at you for one big reason: so he can subvert the gospel. He wants to neutralize your witness. If possible, he wants to turn you from the gospel. If he can’t do that, he wants to turn others from the gospel because of you.
But Paul isn’t asking the Ephesians to pray that he won’t succumb or damage his testimony. Instead, he asks them to pray that he will make known the gospel, that God will give him utterance so that he can boldly proclaim the gospel. He isn’t trying to hold back an overwhelming force, fighting a defensive battle. God gives us armor so we can enter the field and confront the enemy, not so we can stand securely behind the walls and shoot at the enemy. We wear armor so we can take the battlefield and drive the enemy off it.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we recognize how much of our war is conducted in prayer. Jesus gave us a strange way to join Him in the harvest. He told us to ask Him to send forth laborers.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:2)
Even so, the way we prepare ourselves for battle, the way we join the fray, is prayer. Prayer is the battleground, and we must be ready to fight. Be vigilant, my friend! Spend sufficient time in prayer. The Christian in complete armor is very dangerous. Be dangerous!
[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 60.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 60.
[3] Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 145.
[4] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2319–2320.
[5] Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 146.
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