THE ARMOR OF GOD AND PRAYER

“Praying at all times in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)

Paul’s final statement in his teaching on the armor of God is not about another piece of armor. He finishes his teaching on the sword of the Spirit, and without breaking the continuity he immediately ties in the importance of “praying at all times in the Spirit.”

I believe we must understand at least two very important things about why Paul finishes with this emphatic statement.

1. Each piece of the armor is made effective only as it is coupled with prayer. We can put on the shoes of the gospel or take up the shield of faith and say within ourselves, “Well, that’s it! I’m protected now and nothing can touch me.” Such an attitude is pride, and pride is not protection but is, in fact, a weakness that the enemy will exploit.

Those pieces of armor only become really effective when they are coupled with the humility of earnest prayer.

2. Since Paul connects the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” with “praying always in the Spirit,” I believe he was bringing to our attention the power of praying the Word. Perhaps another way to say this is that when we pray, we need to bring our prayers into alignment with the Word of God. When we begin praying the Word, we’ll be much more effective in our use of “the sword of the Spirit” and we’ll see more victory.

There are numerous examples of the New Testament church praying the Word.

Acts 4:23-31 is a powerful portrayal of the church praying the Word in a time of need. Peter and John had been arrested because they had been preaching that Jesus had risen from the dead, that He was alive, and that He was the Messiah. The rulers arrested and threatened them, saying that they must stop speaking this in public or teaching the people in the name of Jesus.

After they were released, they gathered with other believers and shared what had just happened and what the warning of the rulers had been. Immediately they all began to pray together, and as a part of their prayer, someone led them to pray Psalm 2:1-2. Then it says, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31, ESV).

That’s powerful praying!

The greatest model of using the sword of the Spirit is the example the Lord Jesus Himself gives us as He faced temptation in the wilderness. I know I referenced this in the last blog, but I believe that it’s important enough to repeat. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He countered the attack of the enemy with the Word of God. In each temptation, Jesus strikes back with, “It is written,” and then He quoted a scripture that brought defeat to the temptation (see Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13).

The model that Jesus gave us is the one we must learn to follow in order to defeat the attacks of the enemy. Jesus is showing us how to wield the “sword of the Spirit.”

Based on the example that Jesus gave us, we need to have a good working understanding of scripture and the promises that are available to us.

Here are a couple of examples of using scripture as the sword of the Spirit in prayer:

1.    When you are afraid and the circumstances of life are difficult.

Scripture — “Even thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod (the Word) and your staff (the Holy Spirit), they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, NIV).

     

Prayer — “Lord, I stand upon the truth of Your Word. Your Word says, ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,  I know You are with me and the Holy Spirit and Your Word comfort me; therefore I will not fear.’”

2.    When health issues are troubling you.

Scripture — “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11, NKJV).

Prayer — “Heavenly Father, I know that Your Spirit dwells in me. It was Your Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and is giving life to my body because Your Word declares it to be so.”

These are just examples of incorporating God’s Word into our praying. We must learn to use the sword of the Spirit more in our praying. The enemy is on the attack today as never before and the attack is not going to be stopped by anything but God’s people putting on the armor of God and using the sword of the Spirit!

This final statement by Paul, “praying always in the Spirit,” completes his teaching on the armor of God. He wasn’t just throwing this in to remind us to pray. Paul was much more intentional than to just put in a few more words. I believe he was saying that when you couple the Sword of the Spirit and prayer, you have an offensive weapon and a powerful way to use it that will devastate the enemy and his plans.

Psalm 149:6: “Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands” (ESV).