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Ephesians 6:10-18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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.
There are 4 points on Spiritual Warfare in this passage which we need to understand. It become a lot clearer if we read it in the original language, the Greek:
From verse 17: And take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the (spoken) word of God through all kinds of prayer and requests, praying all times in the Spirit. And for this purpose being sleepless with all persovirings and praying for all the saints.
The Greek people like to make long sentences, they put verse 17 and 18 together. In English we like to use the word ‘and’. The translation should not be ‘and’ but ‘through’.
What are the 4 points?
1. varied your prayers
2. pray in the Spirit
3. constant in prayer
4. praying for the saints
1. How do you activate the sword of the Spirit, through all kinds of prayers and all kinds of requests.
I Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that (1)requests, (2)prayers, (3)intercession and (4)thanksgiving be made for everyone.
Here are mentioned 4 types of prayer!
2. Pray in the Spirit in all times. The Greek translation for all times is:
-praying in all circumstances or
-opportune time, pray when God gives you opportune time in the Spirit, which means pray under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for whatever issue there is to pray for. (most of the time this is warfare grounded strategy prayer)
These two things mean: that you trust the Holy Spirit that he is going to teach you how to pray and what to pray, because there are 4 different kinds of prayer.
3. Being sleepless. If you are in a spiritual Warfare you lose a little bit of sleep, because you have to discipline to stand up a little bit earlier, go to bed a little bit later and God can even wake you up in the middle of the night because there is a warfare going on and God wants you to pray.
II Timothy 1:3 …as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.
There is a Spiritual law that you recognize: it seems at the point when you having a praying break through in the Spiritual Warfare, on that point you get tired! Why? Because Satan does not like when you have a good talk with God especially when Satan is under attack.
4. For all saints, because we are one body in Christ.
II Corinthians 1:10-11 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Ephesians 6:19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Paul is saying: “Pray for me, pray that I do my job, because I am still afraid to open my mouth.
Praying for each other is very important, because we need to go forward ‘together’ that is Spiritual Warfare.
