Outer Banks Community Church

Worthy Walk Series – Ephesians 6:18

Intro: Prayer is air, without it you suffocate! To many Christians are gagging in their spiritual walk. Not enough pr-ayer. Because of my exposure to a lot of sick people in the church, I find myself sick more than I care to admit. I really can’t do much more than I already am with washing my hands and praying that I don’t get it! When I do get sick the coughing stage is always the worst. When I couch it weakens my whole body and I find myself gasping for air. The lack of air in my system becomes a physical stress. The Christian can have their whole armor of God on and try to walk the worthy walk, but without prayer you can find yourself gasping and struggling with a spiritual stress! The supernatural provision of the Christian soldier is the importance of a constant spirit of prayer. Like the air our bodies require to function physically. Spiritually after you have the full Armor of God on, prayer is required to function spiritually!

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Text: Ephesians 6:18 (ASV)

“With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

Application: “Pray without ceasing!” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

The soldier enters the conflict fully dressed and armed, but something else is essential: great confidence and assurance and courage. Such comes from a spirit of prayer. This is the air you breathe! In the American Standard Translation that I read to you dealing with Ephesians 6:18, there are four “all’s” The four all’s introduce the five emphases Paul makes regarding the general character of the believer’s prayer life: the variety, the frequency, the power, the manner, and the objects of prayer.

1.    The Variety of Prayer:

This refers to general requests, while petition refers to those that are specific. The use of both words points to the idea that we are to be involved in all kinds of prayer, every form of prayer that is appropriate. Scriptural precept and allowance suggest we may pray publicly or privately. The New Testament, like the Old, mentions many forms, circumstances, and postures for prayer but prescribes none. Jesus prayed while standing, while sitting, while kneeling, and quite probably in other positions as well. We can pray wherever we are and in whatever situation we are in. “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” 1 Timothy 2:8 Paul said. For the faithful, Spirit–filled Christian, every place becomes a place of prayer.

2.    The Frequency of Prayer: Without ceasing!

“But be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36 (HCSB)

"Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, For there were many against me.” Psalm 55:17-18

There is no time when we do not need to pray and no time when God will not hear our prayers. In many ways prayer is even more important than knowledge about God. In fact, only through a regular and sincere prayer life can God’s Holy Spirit add spiritual wisdom to our knowledge.

To pray at all times - obviously does not mean we are to pray in formal or noticeable ways every waking moment of our lives.

To pray at all times - is to live in continual God consciousness, where everything we see and experience becomes a kind of prayer, lived in deep awareness of and surrender to our heavenly Father.

To pray at all times - is to constantly: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2

The ultimate purpose of our salvation is to glorify God and to bring us into intimate, rich fellowship with Him; and to fail to come to God in prayer is to deny that purpose. Our fellowship with God is not meant to wait until we are in heaven. God’s greatest desire, and our greatest need, is to be in constant fellowship with Him now, and there is no greater expression or experience of fellowship than prayer.

3.    The Power of Prayer:

The most important and pervasive thought Paul gives about prayer is that it should be in the Spirit: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

To be “filled with the Spirit” and to walk in His leading and power is to be made able to pray in the Spirit, because our prayer will then be in harmony with His. As we submit to the Holy Spirit, obeying His Word and relying on His leading and strength, we will be drawn into close and deep fellowship with the Father and the Son.

4.    The Manner of Prayer:

Whenever he prays, the believer should be on the alert with all perseverance and petition. Jesus told His disciples to watch and pray. To be devoted to prayer is to earnestly, courageously, and persistently bring everything in our lives before God.

To pray in the right manner also involves praying specifically. “Whatever you ask in My name,” Jesus promised, “that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” John 14:13.

God answers prayer in order to put His power on display, and when we do not pray specifically, He cannot answer specifically and thereby clearly display His power and His love for His children. To pray, as young children often do, “God bless the whole world:” is really not to pray at all. We must think about particular people, particular problems, particular needs, and then pray about those things specifically and earnestly, so that we can see God’s answer and offer Him our thankful praise.

Most Christians never get serious about prayer until a problem arises in their own life or in the life of someone they love. Then they are inclined to pray intently, specifically, and persistently. Yet that is the way Christians should always pray. Sensitivity to the problems and needs of others, especially other believers who are facing trials or hardships, will lead us to pray for them “night and day.”

Because the greatest problems are always spiritual, our greatest prayer concern and concentration—whether for ourselves or for others—should be for spiritual protection, strength, and healing. It is certainly appropriate to bring physical needs before our heavenly Father, but our greatest focus should be for spiritual needs—for victory over temptation, for forgiveness and cleansing of sins already committed, for unbelievers to trust in Christ for salvation, and for believers to have greater dependence on Him. The context of Paul’s call to prayer is that of spiritual warfare, and the Christian’s prayer should, above all, be about that warfare. Our greatest concern for ourselves and for other believers should be for victory in the battle against the enemy of our souls. Our deepest prayers for our spouse, our children, our brothers and sisters, our fellow church members, our pastor, our missionaries, and all others would be that they win the spiritual battle against Satan.

5.    The Objects of Prayer:

Elsewhere Paul commands us to pray for unbelievers, for government leaders, and for others, but here the focus is on all the saints. It is only saints, Christian believers, who are involved in the spiritual warfare for which God provides the armor Paul has just been describing and who are able to pray in the Spirit.

It is not inappropriate to pray for ourselves any more than it is inappropriate to pray for physical needs. But just as the Bible primarily calls us to pray about spiritual needs rather than physical, it primarily calls us to pray for others rather than ourselves. Even when he was concerned about his own needs, Paul does not mention that he prayed for himself but that he asked other believers to pray on his behalf, as he does in the next two verses (Eph. 6:19–20). The greatest thing we can do for another believer, or that he can do for us, is to pray. That is the way the Body of Christ grows spiritually as well as in love. When one member of the Body is weak, wounded, or cannot function, the other members compensate by supporting and helping strengthen it. Samuel said to the people of Israel, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you” 1 Sam. 12:23. With God’s own Holy Spirit to indwell us and help us even when we do not know how to pray, how much more do we as Christians sin against God when we fail to pray for fellow saints?

The spiritually healthy person is devoted to the welfare of others, especially fellow believers. On the other hand, the root of both psychological and spiritual sickness is preoccupation with self. Ironically, the believer who is consumed with his own problems—even his own spiritual problems—to the exclusion of concern for other believers, suffers from a destructive self–centeredness that not only is the cause of, but is the supreme barrier to the solution of, his own problems. Usually such selfishness isolates him from the other believers, who if they were intimately involved in fellowship with him, would be regularly praying for his spiritual welfare.

Praying for others with sincerity and perseverance is, in God’s immeasurable grace, a great blessing and strength to our own souls.

Conclusion: I have always found it interesting in the scary movie scenes that the minute the person who has watch falls asleep and when that person does something bad happens… The Christian soldiers and their need to stay awake (alert) isn’t a movies or some fictional story, it is real and the devil preys on the weakness of the believer. WE CAN DO ALL THINGS THRU CHRIST!

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1

1. He must pray—always pray.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" Matthew 7:7.

2. He must pray "in the Spirit," that is, in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the only living and true.

3. He must be sleepless in prayer.

4. He must pray unselfishly.

5. He must pray for leaders in particular.

Prayer is the AIR you breathe Soldier!