Armour of God: Prayer and supplication
Last week, we discussed the Sword of the Spirit.
This week we wrap up our series on the Armour of God by discu
ssing prayer and supplication.
Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary says, “Prayer must fasten all the other parts of our Christian armour.”
Prayer is the best weapon God equips us with. He is never too busy to listen to us.
However, prayer is also a form of worshiping God. When we approach the throne through prayer we are seeking His guidance, His will and His direction. However, one part of prayer is not just petitioning God, but praising God for who He is and for His goodness and love for us.
We are told to pray on every occasion and when we pray at all times, it is much easier to turn to God during trial and crisis as well as during good times and blessings.
Matthew Henry Concise Bible Commentary tells us, “We must pray with all kinds of prayer, public, private, and secret; social and solitary; solemn and sudden: with all the parts of prayer; confession of sin, petition for mercy, and thanksgiving for favours received. And we must do it by the grace of God the Holy Spirit, in dependence on, and according to, his teaching. We must preserve in particular requests, notwithstanding discouragements. We must pray, not for ourselves only, but for all saints. Our enemies are mighty, and we
are without strength, but our Redeemer is almighty, and in the power of his mighty we may overcome. Wherefore we must stir up ourselves. Have not we, when God has called, often neglected to answer? Let us think upon these things, and continue our prayers with patience.”
God knows that we cannot fight our battles alone. We need courage and strength to face our battles. This is why he give us prayer, so that he can prepare and strengthen us.
A Commentary on Ephesians tells us, “It is not armour or weapons which make the warrior. There must be courage and strength – and even then he often needs help. As the Christian has no resources of strength in himself, and can succeed only as helped from above, the apostle urges the duty of prayer. The believer is to avail himself of all kinds of prayer; he is to pray on every suitable occasion; he is to pray in the Spirit; he is to be alert and persevering in the discharge of this duty; and he is to pray for all the saints, and the Ephesians were urged by the apostle to pray
for him.”
Did you notice that we are told in our commentary to not only pray for our selves but to pray for others? This is called intercessory prayer.
God wants us to pray for others. Paul urges us at the end of this passage to pray for others.
Have you ever been so overwhelmed or beaten down that you could not find the strength or energy to pray for yourself? Yet, you felt empowered, strong and emboldened through the spirit of God. This was due to the prayers of others.
Sometimes we need prayers that we will be bold in our faith. This is what Paul asked for when he was in prison. A Commentary on Ephesians explains it this way, “What the apostle wishes the Ephesians to pray for was not any temporal blessing, not even his deliverance from prison so that he might be at liberty to preach the Gospel more freely, but that God would enable him to preach with the freedom and boldness with which he ought to preach. The literal translation is, ‘that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth, with boldness to make known. …’ What Paul desired was divine assistance in preaching. He begs his reader to pray that a message may be given to me, ‘that the power of speech,’ or ‘freedom of utterance,’ might be given to him, when he opened his mouth.”.
Paul ends the passage on the Armor of God by saying, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:18-20).
We all have our own temptations we fight and for each person that temptation is different. However, Matthew 26:41 says, “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation”. If we ask God for help with our temptations, He will help us.
By asking God for help, He can often help us deal with an issue in our life before it becomes a huge problem. Other times, the situation gets out of control and then we have to turn to God to help us make the changes necessary to restore us to the path we should be on. This is not easy to do, but something I’m dealing with now as I seek God’s help to get healthy and deal with my weight and the issues the extra weight causes. That is why we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:6, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober”.
Our Ephesians studies says, “Praying reminds us of the battle, reminds us of the source of our strength and defense, and reminds God that we are fully committed to following Him as obedient and faithful soldiers. Prayer and Bible study are the most powerful tools for combating Satan’s weapons.
When we put on this whole armor of God, we will be prepared for Satan’s attempts to attack us with pride, envy, lust for forbidden pleasures, itching ears, disappointment, discouragement, doubt or division—or any other tricks he may use.”
So what does it mean to pray without ceasing? That means we pray as we go throughout the day. This doesn’t mean that we spend the entire day on our knees in prayer, but that we pray as we drive, cook a meal, before we deal with a difficult situation, before we snap at our children or parent, etc. Prayer means having discipline in the fact that we turn to God with our needs, desires, wants, wishes,
joys, hurts and pains.
God calls us to stand firm and not allow the battle to diminish us. We can only stand firm through prayer.
So what does Paul mean but supplication? Supplication is defined as “the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.” So in other words, as Paul said to persevere and not give up.
Much of this comes down to attitude. Have you ever had something you really wanted or longed for but no matter how long or hard you’ve prayed it’s not happened.
I have several things in my life that I continue to pray about and seek God’s will. I don’t know what God’s will is in this and if it will ever happen, but I know God keeps saying “not now”. However, I’ve discovered that my attitude as I approach a difficult situation can make a world of difference. How is your attitude when it comes to matters you long for?
So, as we wrap up our series on the armour of God, we are told the armour is to help us stay prepared for battle. The enemy likes to surprise us. Ephesians 6:18 says, “be watchful to this end with all perseverance”.
As one commentary said, “Even the best of armor is almost useless if the soldiers are found dozing. ”
At the beginning of our passage on the Armour of God in Ephesians 6:10, Paul says “be strong in the Lord”. Through prayer and with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, we can stand strong in the Lord. Remember we are told in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
Paul tells us to “fight the good fight of faith” {1 Timothy 6:12} and three times he says to “stand” with the armor.
Are you fighting the good fight? Do you have the armour of God on?
When putting on the armour of God do you do so by being strong in the Lord, putting on the whole armour of God, gird your loins with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet in preparation for the gospel of peace, wield the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, use the sword of the spirit, and practice prayer and supplication.