God has been speaking to my heart recently about a specific aspect of prayer through this passage in Ephesians 6. (I know that there are many aspects of prayer, and I haven't disregarded those, but for the sake of this entry I will only write about one specific aspect.)
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’
Prayer is a spiritual activity which takes place in a spiritual arena. Prayer is not just a conversation with the Lord, requiring participants, but a battle requiring soldiers. Of course there is the beauty of drawing near to the Lord in prayer, sitting at His feet and being in His presence, I do not discount that, however the Lord has been showing me that in prayer we are also participating in a spiritual battle in the spiritual realm.
As the people of God, we have an enemy who never rests from his attack on the people and plans of God. The Bible says he is ‘the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night’. Our enemy never relents.
We cannot saunter nonchalantly into this arena when we have so zealous an opponent. We must enter in with passion in our hearts, knowing well that it is indeed a battle. We are given a charge in 1 Peter with regard to the enemy; ‘your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him’. Our resistance is an active, not a passive stance. We must ‘be vigilant’, alert and wise to the wiles of our enemy. We must first of all recognise that we are in a battle before we will understand the need to be prepared. We cannot afford a blasé attitude when coming to pray.
Neither can we show up in civilian dress and expect not to be wounded by the fiery darts of the enemy. Our natural clothing offers no resistance whatsoever to the arrows of the evil one.
How ridiculous the thought of turning up to the battle field in ordinary clothes and trusting in them to protect us when the opposition has flaming arrows. The natural man has no protection against this enemy.
‘For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.’
Perhaps if we were wrestling against flesh and blood we would have some hope of overcoming our enemy, but we are not. Our natural selves have no ability to do battle with these powers. We cannot resist unless that resistance is borne out of something greater than us (‘He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world’). We cannot stand in our own strength, instead we must receive a strength greater than our own, and we cannot hope to prevail unless the weapons we fight with are mightier than any natural weapons (‘For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds’).
We must be clothed in the full armour of God. We must never think that we can enter in any other way. If it were possible to prevail in our own strength, why would we be commanded to put on the full armour of God? God knows the weakness of natural man and so He has provided all the equipment we need for the battle. Only the foolish discard this provision and head in to do battle by their own strength. Our victory depends on our understanding of the strategy of the enemy and the provision of our Leader.
There will be no victory any other way. Victory in prayer is based upon the victory Christ has already attained through His defeat of the enemy by His death and resurrection. Upon no other ground can man stand against the enemy. We have no victory of ourselves, we have no power of ourselves and we have no hope of ourselves. All we are and have is of Christ. ‘In him we live and move and have our being’.
Only as we, ourselves, are clothed in Christ is there any hope for us. I am reminded of Saul’s attempt to clothe David in his armour before he fought the mighty Goliath. It did not work. Only that which David had from his own relationship with God would fit him. We cannot appropriate someone else’s faith or armour. We must each receive from God personally. David’s experiences with the lion and the bear had taught him the power and provision of God. As he walked through those trials he saw God’s faithful hand to strengthen and preserve him. David faced the enemy in the strength of the Lord and so must we.
David was indignant as he listened to the taunts of Goliath. “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” He understood the authority Israel had as the army of God to close the mouth of the enemy. We too ought to be indignant at the taunts of the enemy and enter in to the battle with the same heart and the same authority as David-knowing well that ‘the battle is the Lord’s’.
As Paul writes of the Christian’s need to be clothed in the armour of God, his military language reminds me that we are called to be part of the Lord’s army not the Lord’s social club. As such, there is a much greater sense of urgency and value with regard to prayer. Prayer is not an activity that we do purely for our benefit, to make us feel better or more spiritual. It is not purely for the benefit of man that we pray, although we do benefit greatly from praying, but also that God may be able to achieve His purposes as we yield to Him.
God has a great plan that has been set in place since before the foundation of the world. Prayer is one of the major ways that we, as children of God, partake in His plan. Prayer is much more than pouring out our burdens, it is stepping up to the mark and declaring that we will be available to our King to ‘fight the good fight of faith’. In us He has a people prepared to stand on the ground He has conquered and resist any attack from any impostor who tries to claim what does not belong to him. We are the resistance, we are the army, we are the Church.
Hi Bronagh, Steph here, 2Cor10:4 The power of the Holy Spirit is the Greek word dunamius, which is where we get the word dynamite!Essential for any demolition work!!
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