Tucked away in the arraignment of the “Full Armour of God
verses of Ephesians 6 we find the Stealth fighter of spiritual warfare. It’s a
verse often read over and not included in the lists of weapons. The weapons are
listed as the belt of truth, breast plate of righteousness, boots of the gospel
of peace, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the
word of God. Many end the list there, but it doesn’t end…it continues by
explaining the means of attack:
“praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this
end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints“ Eph. 6:18
Prayer is a very powerful weapon of spiritual warfare. With
it we can quench the fiery attacks of the enemy, not just against ourselves,
but against the entire church at large. It’s like having an armada of stealth
fighters in the spiritual skies over the enemy camps. The reason for this power
is because it knows no boundaries, has no conditions, and is not limited by
social morays despite attempts to do so. It’s like the expression, “as long as
there are tests there will always be prayer in schools”. In a way, prayer is
carpet bombing the enemy territory.
The first integral part of understanding this weapon is
comprehending where the power comes from. When the disciples asked Jesus to
teach them to pray He began with the words, “Our
Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in
heaven.” Matt.6:9-10 His words were the words of a Son to His Father,
but also as one who understood His dependent position. The position of prayer
is one of dependency. We understand the moment we begin our prayer and call
upon God for help, or to ask, or to praise, or for anything outside of
ourselves--that we are limited, and He is limitless and deserving of our
attention. We are admitting that we don’t control everything, but He does, or
we wouldn’t be turning to Him for anything. Understanding our own limitations
is AMAZINGLY powerful, because it’s humbling. Humility comes with a promise
from the Lord: Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10
As believers we are called to prayer, to “pray
without ceasing” 1 Thes.5:17. But how do we do that? How
do we keep in constant prayer with God? That’s an easy answer. We simply live
with the understanding that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and therefore
omnipotent. It stands to reason that since He has all those attributes we should
be in constant contact with Him, and that we are in communion, whether we are
aware of it or not by His will. In other words, He knows us regardless of our
awareness of knowing Him. Speaking for myself, I do know Him, so since I do
know Him I know that He loves me. I know that God loves me so much that He did
die for me. If he loves me that much how could I not want to be in constant
communion with Him? I love my husband of 31 years a whole lot, and I want to
spend as much time as possible with him. When he sends me an email when I’m at
work to let me know he’s thinking of me, it makes my day. A heart emoticon can
make me smile, and a kissy face emoticon can give me such joy. My husband is
human, and not perfect, and he hasn’t died for me, though I think he would if
it came down to it. That is, I’m sure he’d wrestle a gun away from someone
holding one on me, but let’s pray we never find out. God loves me so much more
than my husband! He loves me more than my parents ever did, more than anyone
ever did. So, yes, I want to be constantly aware He’s there with me. That’s
being in prayer. It’s not just saying things; prayer is a condition of the
heart. It’s being in constant communion with the Lord so if I do say something
I know He can hear me, because I know He’s right there. We have His word on
that. Matt. 28:20b “and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age. Amen.”
Prayer doesn’t mean we have to be talking constantly to God.
Jesus said the Father knows what we need before we ask, “Therefore do not be like them.
For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
Matt. 6:8 God knows us so well that He knows all that we need before we ask. So why do we ask? Because
God loves us, and just like anyone who loves another, He loves the sound of our
voice. When my best friend, Catalina, died I called her cell phone for as long
as I could just to hear her voice. I missed her so much, and I wanted to tell
her about…well, losing her. Her voice was so comforting to me. When I’m sick I
still call my mom because it’s comforting to me, and I’m a grandmother already.
When I want to cheer myself up I like to hear the laughter of my children, no
matter how old they get. God loves to hear our voice. He loves us that much. I
think His favorite thing to hear is when we say, “I love you, Lord.” I bet He
likes hearing that more than a bunch of flowery words that don’t really say
much about what’s really between us. I think God wants us to be real. So
sometimes, when we don’t want to talk, but just want to hang out, He’s good
with that. That’s prayer too.
Of course, there is when we must use our words and do some
real knees to the floor warfare, not just for ourselves, but for others. It is
when you can hear the battlement gearing up as the prayer warriors enter the
arena en masse. Intercessory prayer is earthshattering for the enemy. James
5:6 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The
effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
We have to call out for those who have to call out to God and need strength.
There is strength in numbers. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am
there in the midst of them.” Matt. 18:20 If God is there then where is
the enemy? On the run! Darkness cannot exist in fellowship with light. It only
makes the darkness flee. “This is the message which we have heard from
Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”1 Jn.
1:5 Praying for each other is
like flying wing tip to wing tip with no chance of being shot down and
releasing a payload of destruction upon the enemy’s munitions depots. In
employing this weapon we stand invincible with God, because He loves us.
That’s what prayer does when we wage war on our knees, with
heads bowed, and hearts humbled. We can pray anywhere, anytime, in any
situation and the only one who needs to know is our Lord God. He is always
there, always listening, and always wants to hear what you think, what you
feel, and to know how loved you are by Him. So let Him hear you. Pray!
“I cried out to God with
my voice— To God with
my voice; And He gave ear to me.”
Ps.
77:1
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