Praying Always With All Prayer

Ephesians 6:18

 

 

Praying Always With All Prayer
 

Both before, and during, military campaigns, clear and strategic communication up and down the chain of command is essential to victory. So in spiritual warfare, prayer is the way we receive guidance from our Commander-in-Chief as we engage the enemy.
 

Throughout Scripture there are illustrations of the power of prayer in battle. Moses prayed on the mountain and God gave Joshua the victory over the Amalakites. Joshua prayed and the walls of Jericho fell before him. Gideon prayed and his 300 soldiers routed the Midianite hordes. As you study the Old Testament you will see that when Israel fought in her own strength, she was defeated. But when she cast herself upon the Lord and trusted in His might, victory always followed. King Hezekiah, after conquering the Assyrians, said in 2 Chronicles 32:8, "With us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles." The Lord is with us, fighting. That is the message of Ephesians 6:18.

 

 

The Persistence of the Warrior's Prayer
 

Notice how many times the word "all" occurs in this passage:  "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.  Paul said, "Pray without ceasing." "Praying always" means that we keep a constant attitude of trust and communication with God at every moment. You are always to be available to God as He is to you.

Satan will use every device to keep you from praying. He will cause fatigue, doubt, discouragement, and depression to seep into your life to keep you from your true source of power. That is why you need to be praying regularly, not just when you feel like it. The enemy wants to keep you out of touch with God and occupied with other matters. But you must be constantly in prayer because you are constantly in danger.

 

 

The Possibilities of the Warrior's Prayer

 

What does it mean to be "praying always with all prayer"?  First, it means that we are to pray on all occasions. You can pray in public worship, in prayer groups, and in private. Second, it means that we are to pray in all places. We should be praying in the car, in the classroom, in the office, around the family table. We are to pray in both prosperity and adversity. We are to pray morning, noon, and night. Third, we are to pray for all things. Pray for personal needs, family needs, business needs, church needs, All things should be bathed in prayer. Prayer, talking with God should come as naturally as breathing. "Lord, show me what to do." "Father, help me to understand Your will at this moment." The possibilities for prayer are endless. We can pray on all occasions, in every place, at all times, for all things.

 

 

The Petition of the Warrior's Prayer

 

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication. We ought to ask God for what we need. James 4:2 says we have not because we ask not. We ask in prayer because that is the only way God is going to work on our behalf.
 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great British preacher, once said, "Asking is the rule of the kingdom. It is a rule that will never be altered...God will bless Elijah and send rain, but Elijah must pray for it.  God will deliver the Jews, but Daniel must pray for it." When the Bible tells us that we are to pray always with all prayer and supplication, it means that the things we have need of we are to ask God for.  Asking is the rule of the kingdom, and God has he resources to meet your need.

 

The Power of the Warrior's Prayer

 

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit."  The power of your prayer is the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. He determines not only the character but the content of your prayer. Have you ever wondered if what you pray is the will of God"  Well, the Spirit who wrote God's Word lives in you will direct you to the things of Spirit's power that we can pray in the will of God.

As you spend time with God, through prayer and Bible reading, the Spirit makes clear what God's will is. You come into agreement with Him and pray in the Spirit's power, and you will see mighty things happen. There is power in a warrior's prayer.

 

The Precision of the Warrior's Prayer

 

"Being watchful to this end...The warrior must be watchful of his prayer life. In other words, he must diligently pray and be vigilant, permitting nothing in his life to disrupt his prayer life. Prayer begins hours before you get on your knees. It begins in the decisions you make. The prayer warrior guards his time, plans his schedule, watches for everything that feeds his prayer life, and guards against everything that hinders it. That is what it means to be watchful.

 

Jesus reminds us to watch and pray. In Mark 13:33 He put it, "Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation."  Do you remember how Nehemiah defeated the enemy by watching and praying? In Nehemiah 4:9 he states, "We made our prayer to our God and we set a watch."  (The word "watch in Greek literally means to be awake).  Here it means to be on the alert spiritually, staying awake in prayer, vigilant for the enemy's attacks. Peter went to sleep when he was supposed to watch and pray, and he ended up getting into trouble. That is one of the reasons I (David Jeremiah) often walk and pray, because it keeps me alert and focused while I speak with God. Colossians 4:2 says, "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving."

 

The Perseverance of the Warrior's Prayer

 

"Being watchful to this end with all perseverance." We need to continue praying, for when we stop praying we are headed for trouble. Romans 12:12 puts it, "Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.  We need to hold on, not quitting or yielding to discouragement, and not being distracted by outside pressures. Prayer will never be an automatic thing but it must be a matter of personal discipline. We have to take time to be holy, to exercise ourselves unto godliness. No matter what it takes, we must persevere in prayer or we will fall out of communication with our Commander and become a casualty of war.

 

You might be discouraged about your prayer life. Satan likes to convince you that you have blown it and should no longer pray. He likes to get you to cancel your prayer time due to outside pressures. But we must learn to persevere because prayer is crucial for our survival and success on the battlefield.

 

 

The Purpose of the Warrior's Prayer

 

"Praying always...for all the saints, and for me." The purpose of our praying is that we might pray for others. We are to pray for each other corporately. Perhaps that is why the Lord's prayer begins "Our Father," and not "My Father" We are not going into battle alone, but as part of God's army, and we are to uphold one another in prayer.

 

If you study the prayers of Paul in Scripture, you'll find he always prayed for his friends. There are some examples of Paul praying and asking God to grant his friends wisdom, power, love, comfort, and the knowledge of God's will.  We ought to pray like warriors and ask God to grant each other power and strength and wisdom.  Perhaps we need to begin asking the Lord to help each believer put on the armor of God so that we will be ready for the battle with the evil one.

 

The Christian is built to run on prayer. If he doesn't pray, he won't run. You can try putting anything you want into the engine of your life, but if you are a Christian, the only thing that will work is prayer.



Taken from David Jeremiah's study guide, Spiritual Warfare, 2002

Next, The Real Holy War (where the heart, soul, and mind are the battlefields).

~Annie~