Ephesians 6:17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 through all prayer and petition praying at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. 21 But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts. 23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.
We are a Christ-centered Acts 1:8 family, and we so want to be a blessing to our community, to our neighbors, to the nations. But let’s be perfectly clear - following Jesus means there are a whole lot of people who will find us offensive. Jesus tells us point blank: “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. And you will be hated by everyone because of My Name." So even tho today we are not talking about being offensive, we are talking about going on the offensive spiritually, there is every likelihood that going on the offensive will be offensive. But we talked about this back in v. 13: take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against in the evil day. It means to oppose, go on the offensive. That time has come. [17-24]
We looked at the helmet of salvation last time, and so the last piece of armor we take up is the Sword of the Spirit. Which is the Word of God. Till now everything we've talked about has been defensive. This SWord is our one offensive weapon in the unseen immaterial battle. It cuts down the enemy. Remember who that is - diabolos. The accuser, the father of lies. The Word of God cuts down his false accusations, his flaming arrows. And it cuts down pride, which is what makes us flammable.
Now our armor [google "scutum"] again is that of a typical greco-roman hoplite, one of the foot soldiers which comprised the ancient battle unit known as the [phalanx]. Their effectiveness derived largely from their solidarity as a unit, standing and advancing side-by-side in tight formation, shields up and spears leveled forward. A formidable force, this. And if by chance a foe was able to break their ranks and/or somehow break a hoplite’s spear, that warrior would turn to his backup weapon, a two-edged sword known as a xiphos [aka
scutum]. It’s a piercing sword, cuz if you have an armored opponent, you want to try and pierce thru a gap in their armor. It is interesting to note, then, that Paul here says the sword we are to take up is actually a machaira, which was a single edged blade designed to be used in a striking, hacking manor, more like a [machete]. The machaira was primarily used by cavalry soldiers, a more effective weapon for mounted militia, where from above one could reign down powerful blows on more relatively defenseless infantry. Which perhaps gives us an idea as to why Paul would tell Christ’s foot soldiers to take up such a weapon. Could it be that the enemy we face is not a heavily armored hoplite, that our enemy is rather more unprotected and defenseless against our divine weapon, this sWord of God?
James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Granted, diabolos does have a bow and some flaming arrows, so we are not to take him too lightly, but once we are fully clad in our heavenly armor we become impervious to his pesky darts. We’re able to mow him down with ease using the mighty sWord of Heaven. Many have heard of “The Bible”, yet it is way underappreciated and underutilized, even by God’s people, not really perceived as any kind of weapon. Too often it sits on a shelf. Or is dismissed as irrelevant. Unreliable. Yet there is no weapon more powerful (or real) than this, the one we wield in battle (or should - rather, must!) each and every day.
We see Jesus using it in Lk 4…when the pesky accuser tries to tempt Him. And Jesus just mows him down with the sWord of God.
And so we (ought!) follow His lead. We take up this magnificent weapon, this Sword of heaven, God’s Word, and we cut down our enemy. We cut down his lies, his half-truths, his false accusations. And with it we take our stand for what is true and right and good, and for the glory of our King. The Word of God.
2Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
Be diligent. Make every effort. It means practice. Practice, practice, practice. What does it look like to make every effort? Our family has been watching the video blogs posted on YouTube by Cody Miller. He is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer, getting ready for the Olympics. What does it look like for him to make every effort to handle the breaststroke accurately? He’s up at 4.30am. He’s in the pool twice a day most days. He lifts weights. He watches his diet. He is making every effort.
How are we doing at learning to handle God’s Word? You know, it doesn’t hurt that Cody Miller loves to swim. I’ve said it before, God’s Word is surely an acquired taste.
Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart…
OK, so now we’re all armored up, we have our sword, learning to use it - now what? How exactly do we fight with it? Next verse… [With all prayer praying] Paul is telling us that the army of God marches forward on its knees. The single most important thing we do as believers and as a church? The lowly prayer meeting. The battle we fight is waged... more in secret. Jesus said when you pray, don’t stand on the corner so that everyone can see you being all holy and all. Go into a closet - in other words, do this because we’re not focusing on how we look or sound or how those around us look or sound. We’re focusing on the Lord. We are talking to Him. And since we can’t see Him, and normally don’t hear Him audibly, find ways to minimize distractions. A closet can work. Jesus found quiet places of solitude. No distractions.
Luke 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
At all times
1Thessalonians 5:17 …pray without ceasing.
Most of us, we’re just too busy. Too busy for one another. Too busy to pray. Too busy even to slow down long enough to dive into God’s Word and feast on it, to learn to accurately handle it well enough to wield as our offensive weapon in prayer. What are some verses from God’s Word that we can use in prayer? Here are two of my faves:
2Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. Colossians. 1:9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Teach us to pray, the disciples asked. How about that for something to pray? Lord, teach me to pray. What would that entail, do you think? How did Jesus respond? He gave them what we call, The Lord’s Prayer. Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
But is what we need to learn some rote prayer, as if it were some kind of a formula or a magic spell? If you are there with the disciples, and you’ve been watching the prayer life of Jesus, and you are asking Him “teach me to pray”, you are not asking Him to provide you with some flowery phrases, as if you were in a class at Hogwarts. We’re not trying to learn magical words which somehow unlock the powers of heaven. "Teach me to pray" means I learn that I need to pray, at all times, every day, and that prayer for the believer is both the highest privilege and the deepest most desperate need. Teach me to pray means we know this One we’re talking to, that He is our heavenly Father. And what develops (or should) is a relationship. Prayer is first and foremost about relationship. Too often we think, prayer is boring. Prayer is difficult. But it should be neither. I think we forget - or fail to realize - with Whom we are talking. Prayer is simply talking to God. It can and should come as naturally as taking our next breath. Prayer is a conversation. Talk to God. Listen to Him.
I love in 1Samuel when God is calling out in the middle of the night to young Samuel, who doesn’t know the Lord yet, and he keeps thinking it is his master, Eli, and so he goes into his master’s room and wakes him up, saying “here I am, you called me”, and Eli keeps saying, “I didn’t call you, go back to bed” and after this happens a few times Eli realizes what is happening and teaches Samuel a very powerful prayer: “Speak Lord, Your servant is listening.” Speak, Lord - Your servant is listening. Do you ever pray that? Do I? I am learning to. Do we give the Lord both the time AND the permission to speak?
Prayer is a lifestyle, an ongoing relationship and conversation of gratitude and adoration, of dependence. And bold asking - because through Christ we have direct and immediate access to God’s throne of grace! It’s how we fight and win the battle! And we have some amazing promises! What did Jesus say? If you ask what in My Name? Anything. Whatever you ask. I will what? I will do it. Limitless potential. Untapped resources. But that is precisely why for too many Christians our prayer life is so weak…
In the Spirit
Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
We don’t know how to pray. So yes, we need Jesus to teach us. And guess what - He gives us His Spirit to help us! Right here we’re reminded of one of the most fundamental lessons of the Christian life. Jesus said, apart from Me, you can do what? Nothing. And I think we do a decent job of asking Him to help us do a lot of things. Help me to love my spouse. Help me to love my kids. Love my neighbor. Help me feel better, find daily bread, find a job. Help me to work hard and know what to do. Help me to overcome this temptation. But do we ask Him to help us pray? Do we ever ask Him to help us pray? Help us know what to pray? To give us the strength to pray? Be on the alert with all perseverance. We keep going. We stay at it. And the Holy Spirit is our Helper! Because here’s what ratchets up the difficulty of prayer….
[For all the saints (and for Paul)]
Prayer needs to come to this place where it’s not all about me. Not about my heavenly vending machine where I insert my dollar of prayer and get my spiritual candy or whatever. Prayer is difficult, if not impossible - when we try to wage this battle in our own strength. The scope is so far beyond me myself and I, plus the enemy pulls out all the stops to keep us from praying. Cuz against prayer he is defenseless. For all the saints, Paul says. And for me, he says. So we pray for one another. This grows the love and unity! We pray for our pastor, our teachers, our leaders. And we come together to pray. Matthew. 18:19-20 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My Name, I am there in their midst.”
The power of prayer and of presence. Gathering for prayer is the most important thing we do. It’s how we fight! It’s not some extra meeting for just a few. This is for everyone. We all pray. At all times. In the Spirit. For all the saints. This is an all-skate, we go on the offensive together. In Acts 19 we see where the demons found Paul offensive! May the Lord grant us a similar grace...
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