November, 2000

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:18

Immediately following his description of the full armor of God, Paul now turns to his favorite subject—prayer. Many Bible teachers treat prayers as part of Christian’s armor (it may be so from other texts), but from this context, Paul didn’t propose prayer to be any piece of the soldier’s defensive or offensive equipment. Therefore, we should read this as two separate units, both vital for being "strong" in the Lord (v.10). Having put on the full armor of God, Christians should also be praying in the Spirit on all occasions.

"Pray in the Spirit on all occasions" emphasizes the importance of prayer in the lives of Christians. Far too often, we take our difficulties to our friends rather than to God. In order to be "strong" in the Lord, we need to build a healthy prayer life. "Pray in the Spirit" refers to having the Holy Spirit on our side who intercedes while we pray. We won’t be able to pray effectively if we do so in our strength and under the guidance of our wisdom and verbiage. It is God who enables us to pray powerfully by giving us the Spirit, and this is an important part of the Christian life. Prayer should also be consistent. In order to be "strong" in the Lord, we cannot consider prayer as an occasional activity (whenever need arrives), but it should be done constantly. We are also instructed to "be alert and always keep on," which means not drifting into prayer by accident. There is no such thing as seasonal prayer life!

Now that we know the channel (in the Spirit) and the timing (on all occasion), we also want to learn that there is no specific way to pray. Whether it’s a "prayer" or a "request," God will receive and accept. Throughout this epistle, Paul had demonstrated his prayer life. Careful study of this book will allow us to see the kind of prayer warrior that was in Paul. One final instruction about prayer in this verse is that healthy prayer life is "others" focus. Be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Christians are bound together in unity by intercession for one another. One Bible commentator wrote, "No soldier entering battle prays for himself alone, but for all his fellow-soldiers also. They form one army, and the success of one is the success of all." How true it is!

We have gone through the entire epistle of Ephesians in the past eleven months. I hope this has been beneficial to you.