Ephesians
6:18-20 praying at
all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep
alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and
also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to
proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an
ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
We have looked at the
spiritual armor that takes us through our struggle with the enemy. These
weapons are given to us to face demonic forces that are working to bring the
church down and prevent the spread of the gospel. When we look at that
spiritual armor one thing stands out. There is no protection for the back! We
have to stand and face our enemy in order for our weapons to work.
As we look at the armor of God
given to us in order to withstand the spiritual forces of evil that rule this
world we can stand firm. Standing firm is the first step in victorious assault
on the enemy. Having taken our stand, keeping the armor of God between us and
the enemy, we see the only offensive weapon given to us appears to be the sword
of the Spirit!
The word of God is a weapon of
great power! Consequently the enemy will do everything possible to keep us away
from the Bible. Many years ago I ran across a quote that went like this: “The
Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible”. There are
probably as many excuses for NOT taking up the Bible as a weapon of warfare as
there are people and evil forces to sway them. If we are going to have the kind
of victory we really need over the forces of evil it will be because we have
chosen to know what the Bible has to teach us. We need to read the Bible enough
to be familiar with it and we need to study it carefully. If we haven’t put it
in our mind it won’t be there when we need it. Many times you may believe that
reading the Bible is boring! That is the influence of the devil in your life.
If we’re going to win the battles we face it will be because we are…
Taking
the sword of the Spirit. Look with me at Hebrews 4:12-13. For the
word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to
the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the
thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is
hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom
we must give account.
The Bible is historically
important to the growth of the church. In the book of Acts we have the story of
the early church beginning to expand across the Roman Empire. At least three
times Acts connects the growth and strength of the church to the rule of God’s
word in his people’s lives. When the first deacons were set aside by the church
Luke tells us that, “the word of God
continued to increase,” (Acts 6:7). When Herod accepted the praise of the
people of Tyre and Sidon proclaiming him to be a God he died immediately. As a
result of that experience Luke tells us that, “the word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:24). When Paul
and Barnabas, on their first missionary journey, were rejected by the Jews they
turned to the Gentiles to share the good news of Jesus with them. There, again,
Luke tells us “the word of the Lord was
spreading throughout the whole region” (Acts 13:49).
The word of God is not weak
instead it has the power of God to change the hearts and minds of people. We
are told that it is like fire and like a hammer and we know that it is sharp in
spiritual matters like a two-edged sword is in the world’s battles!
The growth and strength of the
church is always connected to the importance of the Bible in people’s lives.
The Bible is the primary means of grace given to us by God. Throughout history
true Christianity has flourished wherever the Bible is well known and read by
the people. The word of God is quick and powerful and changes the lives of
people immediately when they read it and believe it. There needs to be Bible
study groups, Sunday school classes and individual study of the word of God in
order for it to be available to change the church.
Once we are comfortable using
the Sword of the Spirit we will need to know how to use it effectively. In
order to do this we need to be…
Praying
all the time. Let’s look at Luke 18:1-3. And he told
them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither
feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that
city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
Here we have an illustration
of what prayer can do given to us in the words of Jesus himself. We should not
be discouraged when our prayers are not quickly answered instead, we should
follow the plan Jesus gives us in this passage.
He tells us that there was a
judge that did not fear God and did not respect man. Such judges seem to be
common in our day and so we should be able to understand what this poor widow
is up against.
Jesus said that she kept
coming to the judge. This implies that she would not accept the rejection but
would find new ways to bring her needs before his court. At first he simply
brushed her off. Now this in no way tells us that God is unjust or that he
ignores our prayers. As time went by the judge continued to see her in his
court he finally decided that the only way to get her to stop bothering him was
to give her what she asked for.
Jesus then said “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And
will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he
delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily” (Luke
18:6-8).
These two weapons work
together. Either one without the other will be very weak but together they are
as powerful as God is. We must take up the Sword of the Spirit and then we are
to pray continuously.
When the disciples needed
courage to preach the word against severe opposition they quoted the Bible in
their prayer. The result of that prayer meeting was that they “continued to speak the word of God with
boldness” (Acts 4:31).
Today’s
church — our church — is in need of
boldness in order to get the gospel out into our community and among our
friends and family. We should be regularly praying that God would help us to be
bold for the gospel’s sake. If we’re waiting until the people we are concerned
about to be comfortable in hearing the gospel it will never happen! We need to
take our little tract and encourage our friends to read it or, we need to read
it to them beginning with the question on the front: “Do you know for certain
that you have eternal life and that you will go to heaven when you die?” That
question really should not offend anyone. It should encourage them to consider
the possibilities that lie ahead for all of us. The Bible tells us that “it is appointed for man to die once, and
after that comes judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27). There is no way that I want my
friends to face judgment without Christ! Now, I need the boldness to tell the
gospel to them.
Paul speaks of our…
Praying
in the Spirit. Let’s look at what Jude 20 tells us. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith
and praying in the Holy Spirit.
The New Testament tells us
that there are many things that can be done in the Holy Spirit. Prayer is one
of those things. Let’s look at several of the references to doing something “in
the Spirit ”. When John received the Revelation on the Isle of Patmos we are
told that he was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s day. Luke tells us that Jesus “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke
10:21). We can decide a matter “in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 19:21). Ephesians
tells us that we have access to God “in the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18). All
of these references tell us that we should be dwelling consciously in the
presence of the Holy Spirit. That presence is characterized by the fruit of the
Spirit being manifest in our lives: “love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control;” (Galatians 5:22-23). When we are conscious of these
qualities we are “in the Spirit”! It is very important that we…
Focus
our attention. Let’s look at 2 John 8. Watch
yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a
full reward.
Someone once said that we
should “Be Alert because America needs more lerts”. One of the surest needs is
for us to “Pay Attention” and we will be much more useful to God than if we
just stumble along through life without awareness of what’s going on.
As Jesus was winding down his
earthly ministry one of the things he asked of his disciples was that they
“keep awake ”. And once again they failed him (Mark 13:33-35). In the Garden of
Gethsemane Jesus asked his disciples to “watch” and a little later he asked
them to “watch and pray” (Mark 14:34-37). We need to focus our attention as we
pray in the Spirit. A special instruction for us is that we…
Pray
for our spiritual leaders. That’s look at Hebrews 13:17. Obey your
leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as
those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with
groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Repeatedly throughout Paul’s
letters, again and again, he requests prayer for himself. Now I believe that
Paul is one of the greatest leaders the church ever had and here we see that he
is requesting prayer. He is even requesting prayer that he might be bold. As I
read the Book of Acts I think of Paul as being very courageous in carrying the
gospel. We should realize that a large part of his courage comes from the
prayers of his friends.
So I join with Paul and ask
that you “Pray for me” and that you join me as we…
Pray
for boldness. When the disciples were being arrested and
threatened, even to the point of death, we find them in Acts 4:29… 31. And now,
Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak
your word with all boldness. … And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered
together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
If you will take the time to
read the entire passage in Acts 4 you will see that the authorities were
threatening them that they should not speak or teach in the name of Jesus.
Peter had already told them “there is
salvation in no one else” the only name under heaven that grants salvation
is the name of JESUS (Acts 4:12)!
Paul, and all Christians of
all ages, need to…
Pray for
an understanding of the mystery. Let’s look at Colossians 1:27-28. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are
the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching
everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
The great mystery of the ages
is that God has a chosen people in every generation who are included in the
body of Christ — the true church! For centuries the Jewish people refused to
reach out to the Gentiles. In fact, Gentiles were not allowed into the court
area that is named for them. They seem to have forgotten that Abraham gave a
tithe to Melchizedek who quite obviously was not a descendent of Abraham
(Genesis 14:18-20). When we look at the genealogy of Jesus among those
mentioned are Tamar, a Canaanite, Rahab was a citizen of Jericho and a
Canaanite prostitute, Ruth was a Moabite, and Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon,
who had been married to a Hittite.
All of these things teach us
that God has always worked to include all people who had a faith like Abraham
even if they did not have his blood in their veins.
As we come to the end of the
book of Ephesians we have been encouraged by God to think about the mystery of
God. We have seen the unfolding riches of God’s grace in Christ. We have seen
how those who are dead in trespasses and sins are made alive by grace through
faith. We have seen how God’s grace works for the church as well as the
individual members of it. All of this brings us to the spiritual armor that
allows us to take our stand against the devil.
All
scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version.
2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society
