In Ephesians 6, as Paul urges us to put on "the full armor of God", he wraps up by telling us to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests...". (v. 18, NIV). The King James Version (KJV) reads, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit". In exploring our spiritual armor, we have discussed the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God), the shield of faith, and the readiness that we gain from the gospel of peace. Now we'll spend some time exploring prayer as a weapon and the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers. Let's Navigate!

 

As we discussed the imperativeness of faith and how it plays a huge role in readying us for battle by helping us to accept the peace that is given us through Christ, our Lord and Savior; relationship with God becomes an important foundation for developing, maintaining, and nurturing our faith. Our ability to dwell in God is our refuge, and a source by which we can strengthen our faith. Prayer and supplication are two of the means by which we can dwell in God and connect with Him. In our post entitled, "Amen! Luke 23:46 SEAL IT", we discussed the importance of backing our prayers with an "Amen!", and not just by uttering the word but by embodying what it is that Amen means.

 

Amen is defined as:

• Verily,

• Truth,

• For sure,

• That which is true,

• Faithfully,

• Certain.

 

In other words, "Amen" is an affirmation of confirmation. Our Amen is our declaration of faith that we believe in and have assurance concerning that which we have prayed for. As we seek God's face through prayer and supplication, our armor should be at work even as we pray. Our spiritual armor is not just weaponry that we use to face the giants in our lives, but it is a tool by which we strengthen our spirits so that we can overcome the attack of our flesh.

 

As we pray and supplicate to God, that shield of faith and the gospel of peace must seal every prayer that we pray. And that faith and that peace is going to come forth through our acceptance and belief in the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God). In other words, regardless of what we stand in need of and regardless of what we take to God in prayer, we must make our requests with faith and have peace that Christ has already made possible whatever it is that we stand in need of. We must pray and stand on the truth that all power rests in Jesus' hands, just as the Word of God tells us so.

 

Christ intercedes on our behalf. And we know this because the belt of truth rests in who God and His Son are. God gave us His Son, as a ransom for our sins and as a result, all power and authority was given over to him. That is a concrete truth that is given unto us through the Word of God. And the sword of the Spirit helps us to carry that truth and all the other truths of God with us, because Jesus, having been our mediator, gave us access to God by dying for us. It was through Jesus' death and resurrection that we were given the grace of salvation that allows the Spirit of God to reside within us. By our faith in Jesus as the Son of God (who was born, crucified, died, and resurrected with all power and authority in his hands) and the confession and repentance of our sins, the Holy Spirit can dwell in us and steer, teach, and develop us. In order to effectively use the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit (the Word of God), we must BELIEVE IN WHAT IT SAYS! If we want to effectively use our spiritual armor, FAITH IS NOT AN OPTION!

 

2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us that "no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God" (NIV). It is through Christ that we became heirs to all that God has promised us as believers. It is through Christ that we become heirs of all that has been promised to us as children of the Most High God. It is through Christ that all battles have been won and all our enemies have been subdued. Christ is the confirmation (the Amen) to all that God has promised us because through his birth, life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection, we gained access to God making us heirs of everything that He has. Through Christ we inherited everything that the Word has said belongs to us. Christ was the "CERTAINTY" of everything that God promised and remains the "truth" of such.

 

Whenever we accept and receive salvation, we become the "Amen" and the glory of God is made known because we are the evidence of what God did in showing us His grace by giving us His Son as a living sacrifice which NO ONE ELSE HAD THE POWER TO DO! Only God and God alone had the power and sovereignty to perform the work that He performed when He allowed His Son to be labeled GUILTY so that we could all be FREE! That is why prayer is so imperative.

 

Prayer is a means by which we can lay our burdens at Jesus' feet. Prayer is the path by which we can pour our hearts out to God and release every care unto Him. Prayer is how we connect and commune with God. Prayer is how we come into contact with God and the presence of His glory. Prayer is a means by which we can pour into the Christ who poured out his blood for us. Prayer is a welcome mat at the door of our hearts in which we can release everything that we don't want to let linger in our
hearts to God. And it is a pathway to allow all those things in that we don't have the strength or power to obtain on our own.

It was through prayer that Hannah supplicated and sought God's face, pouring her heart out concerning that which she did not have the power to make her body do. Hannah supplicated to God in faith and God answered. 1 Samuel 1, tells us that after Hannah took her cares to God, her face was no longer downcast. Hannah nurtured her spirit through prayer and then was able to go and nurture her physical body and move forward in faith. And 1 Samuel 1:19 tells us "and the Lord remembered her" (NIV). God remembered Hannah's supplication. He remembered her faith. And He rewarded her accordingly. Hannah welcomed God into her circumstance. 

 

Upon finding out about the decree that anyone who prayed to any other man or god besides the king would be thrown into the lions' den, DANIEL PRAYED AND GAVE THANKS TO GOD. And though he was thrown into the lions' den as a result of his defying the decree, God brought him out of the lions' den because HE TRUSTED IN GOD enough to pray, even when prayer was being used as a threat against him. Daniel prayed although there was a threat attached to it. But what his haters did not recognize was that because Daniel was attached to God, their weapon against him would not prosper. If anything, they pushed Daniel into situating the very promotion that they tried to keep him from obtaining because when man stood against him, he placed his feet firmly in who he knew God to be. Daniel welcomed God into his circumstance.

 

When Paul and Silas found themselves having been stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison, they prayed and sang hymns to God and suddenly there was a violent earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison causing the prison doors to open and the chains of the prisoners to become loosened. Although bound in chains by man, Paul and Silas remained bound to Christ, recognizing that their freedom was in him and through him regardless of what their physical confines were. And God vindicated them and set them free from those physical chains. Paul and Silas welcomed God into their circumstance. 

 

All of these individuals prayed but they backed their prayers with the shield of faith that rested in the truth of who they knew God to be. Prayer was their weapon and it was shielded by their faith. Prayer was the means by which all of these individuals welcomed God into their circumstances. It was not for nothing that Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28, NIV). Jesus does not state that "MAYBE" he would give us rest, but he gave us a definitive "I WILL"! Therefore, we can have faith that whatever we take to God in prayer, HE WILL HANDLE IT...BUT WE MUST BELIEVE! WE CANNOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER AND THE ASSURANCE OF OUR FAITH!

Praying in the Spirit                     

 

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God."

-Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)

We are taught to pray. We are taught to cast our cares upon God. We are supposed to make our requests known to God. We are supposed to ask God for what it is that we want. However, apart from making our requests to God and praying to Him based on our feelings, thoughts, and emotions, it is also important that we pray to God in the Spirit by allowing the Spirit to guide us in our prayers. We are not omniscient. While we know what we want, we don't always know what we need. We only know what we think we need, BUT GOD KNOWS ALL! God knows both our wants and our needs, and He is the only one with the omniscience,
knowledge, and wisdom to correctly distinguish between our wants and needs. Quite often we might all find ourselves wanting what we don't need, needing what we don't want, and confusing the difference between the two as we deal with the everyday priorities and occurrences of life.

 

Even if we were to reflect on our praying with and for others, there are times in which we don't know what to pray. Many of us pray that the doctor won't find anything wrong. However, we become frustrated when the pain and symptoms are still ever so present and the doctors say that they can't find any underlining cause. We often pray for our finances to turn in our favor but don't pray to God asking Him to help us to better manage our finances and to show us how to allocate our resources. We seek God asking Him to help us make all the payments that we need to make but never prayed to God asking Him to guide us in our purchase decisions. We sought God's face asking Him to keep that relationship intact but never bothered to seek His face concerning whether we should have become connected with that individual to begin with. We might honor that prayer request from a friend of loved one praying exactly what they asked us to pray for without the knowledge that what they want may not be what's best for them. AND THAT IS WHY PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT IS OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE! 

 

We only know what we think we know, but GOD KNOWS ALL THINGS! When we allow the Spirit to lead and direct us in our prayers, we can intercede for others based on what is needed and we can pray for ourselves in alignment with what the will of God is for us. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus instructed us to pray in the following manner:

 

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen" (KJV).

 

If we reflect on what many of us know as, The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), it is a prayer that is founded on the truth that God knows all things, has all power, and has His own plans for us. The Lord's Prayer is a call for us not to worry about what is or what will be because God has us in His care. It is a call for us to acknowledge that nothing gets past God because HE SEES ALL THINGS. God is omnipresent. Before we take anything to God in prayer, He is already aware of what we are taking to Him as well as every other facet of our lives. In Psalm 139:1-3, David expresses, "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways" (NIV). Because we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God, there is no part of us that is not known 
to Him. God created us, therefore He knows every intricate detail that makes us human, that makes us who we are, and that makes us His. That is why we can trust Him with our requests, our prayers, and our thoughts. God knows exactly what needs to be done in order to fulfill whatever it is that we have asked Him for and NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, He has the power to fulfill it! MOST IMPORTANTLY, we must understand that because God knows all things and all power is in His hands, HE HAS ALREADY FULFILLED whatever it is that we take to Him because His plans for us have already been established. We just have to wait for the earthly manifestation of them to occur, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10, KJV).

 

Our ability to pray in the Spirit allowing the Spirit to guide us in prayer helps us to address the root of what we need. The Spirit knows all things and therefore cannot lead us astray. Praying in the Spirit gives us certainty in what we are praying for because the Spirit is not going to allow us to pray anything that is contrary to where God is trying to take us. And if we are praying in the Spirit, that means that we are praying exactly what God wants us to pray which means that if there is a request attached to that prayer, God has to listen because HE CANNOT IGNORE HIMSELF! That also means that GOD HAS TO MANIFEST AND FULFILL WHATEVER THE REQUEST WAS BECAUSE IF HIS SPIRIT SPOKE IT THROUGH US, THEN HIS WORDS CANNOT RETURN VOID (IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN)! If the Spirit spoke it, that means that God spoke it, which means that IT HAS TO HAPPEN! 

 

Praying in the Spirit is an important part of our spiritual armor because the Spirit is all-knowing. The Spirit knows what we need, what we stand against, and what lies ahead. Therefore, in the Spirit leading us in prayer and telling us what to pray and seek God for, that situates us amidst our 'what is' and prepares us for what's to come.

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Our Brother's Keeper                    

 

"...With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

- Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)

 

We might not always know where each other are whether physically or in life. No matter how close we might be to someone, we still may not know the woes of their trials and afflictions. We still may not know their full life's circumstances. However, prayer is one of the ways in which we can commit to uplifting, strengthening, and supporting one another. Regardless of where we are in our spiritual journeys, regardless of our sex, race, age, culture, occupation, lifestyle, or any other demographic, THE ONE THING THAT WE ALL NEED IS PRAYER! If there is anyone who thinks that they don't need prayer...WE MUST BE SURE TO PRAY FOR THEM ANYWAY!

 

Prayer is essential. Prayer is a way for us to take our eyes, our minds, and our thoughts off of everything that surrounds us and simply and wholeheartedly look to God!

 

There are some individuals who are so deep in despair that they don't have the strength to pray.

There are some individuals who want prayer but are ashamed or too shy to ask for it.

There are some individuals who feel like they're not worthy enough to pray.

There are those who feel like they don't know how to pray.

 

Whatever the case might be, we can all go to God and intercede on behalf of someone else. Whether we specifically take someone to God in prayer or if we ask God to allow the Spirit to guide us as to who to pray for, there is much power in our ability to go to God in prayer. We can pray for someone without making it known to them. It is important that we take the time as God leads us to pray for our friends, loved ones, co-workers, and teammates. We must pray for those who hate us just as much as we pray for those who love us. It is also important that we pray for people that we might not know but may come into contact with. You don't have to personally know someone to pray for them. It does not matter if they are a stranger. The Holy Spirit is there to guide us in all of our prayers whether praying for individuals that we know personally, come into contact with, or have never met a day in our lives. It is important that we pray for our neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, and most definitely our countries. THE WHOLE WORLD IS IN NEED OF PRAYER! THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS IN NEED OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD! We must genuinely be our brother's keeper. We must not envy one another and seek to tear each other down, but we must build each other up and encourage each other's hearts. And prayer is a means by which we can do so. 

 

It does not matter if you think that someone can pray better than you.

It does not matter if it appears that everything in someone's life is going good.

It does not matter if it appears like someone might be conquering their challenges and gracefully overcoming their trials.

THESE INDIVIDUALS MIGHT STILL NEED PRAYER!

Pastors, preachers, and other spiritual leaders need prayer.

The children of God might pray for others, but they still need prayer.

NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM NEEDING PRAYER! 

Paul faced a lot of opposition. As forceful as Paul was at spreading the gospel of Christ and as relentless as he was in doing the work of God, Paul himself needed prayer and he was not afraid or too caught up in the hype of his own anointing to make that known. In our scripture highlight Paul states, "Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be 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" (Ephesians 6:19-20, NIV). Paul is in prison as he writes this. Paul is in prison while boldly urging us to put on the full armor of God. From the tone of Paul's writings, you would not know that he was physically bound, and that is the glory of Christ. Paul is motivating others to spread the gospel and to live their lives accordingly while in a situation that could take away anyone's ability to stay the course. Although Paul could boldly proclaim and declare these things, Paul himself needed strength.

 

Paul could have easily succumbed to his chains and gave up on both God and life, but God was his refuge and his strength. It was Paul's proclaiming of the gospel that caused him to be put into prison, and those confines could have caused him to consider himself a disservice to both himself and the gospel. However, Paul did not allow the chains to hold him prisoner. Paul realized that the work that God had called him to do could still be done regardless of where he found himself. If anything, Paul's imprisonment caused the gospel to be spread even more due to his being sent from place to place.

 

On numerous occasions Paul requested prayer. Paul asked his fellow believers to pray for his safety, courage, strength, for his continuity and ability to continue to spread the gospel, and for God to provide a door so that he and all the others that were bound could continue to spread the message and glory of Christ. Paul requested prayer that the chains would not halt his ability to go forward in proclaiming who Christ was. Paul recognized that his imprisonment had the ability to weaken and deter him which is why he tells the church, "pray that I may declare [the gospel] fearlessly, as I should". Paul acknowledged that he should not allow circumstances to stop him and that in all things he should move forward fearlessly because he understood that as believers, God goes both with and before us in all things. That is why Paul states that:

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"...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

-Romans 8:37 (NIV)

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"God is able to bless [us] abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that [we] need,

[we] will abound in every good work."

-2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

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and that we should,

"give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for [us] in Christ Jesus."

-1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

 

Paul dwelled in God and kept his spirit nurtured. Paul stayed in constant prayer for other believers and understood that he also needed prayer. Paul understood that prayer was a power source in which we must constantly tap into for strength, courage, wisdom, understanding, and whatever else it is that we stand in the need of.

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Be Alert!                            

We cannot allow ourselves to be caught off guard. We must remain armored! We are not omniscient. We do not know the future. We are not capable of knowing what attacks are going to come our way. HOWEVER, because Jesus warned us that IN THIS WORLD, WE WILL HAVE TROUBLE (John 16:33, NIV), we know that trouble of some type is going to greet us whether we want it to or not. And in knowing such, we can prepare our spirit man to be able to stand firm in battle.

Does that mean we won't get distraught?...NO!​

Does that mean that we'll always have strength and won't become weary?... NO!

Does that mean that we won't feel like God is not answering our war cry?... NO!

 

WELL, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

IT MEANS THAT when the attack comes and our flesh wants to cave-in to our feelings and emotions,

OUR SPIRIT WILL REMEMBER THAT THERE IS A GOD WHO FIGHTS FOR US and HE ALWAYS WINS!

 

It means that God will give us joy.

It means that God will be our strength.

It means that Christ has already won the battle for us before we ever physically walked onto the battlefield!

 

   BUT...

it is going to be hard for any of us to stand firm on that belief if we don't keep that belt of truth tightened, the sword of the Spirit (Word of God) sharpened, keep our breastplates in place with our helmets upright, keep our feet strapped and laced in the peace of Christ, and be relentless in prayer so that we can understand the power of our SHIELD (faith).

 

Being battle ready is an everyday effort and activity. It requires consistent focus on God and God alone, which means that there will be times when we will have to SHUT EVERYTHING OUT so that we can dwell in God and allow Him to fill us with whatever it is that we need to endure.

 

Most importantly, we must remember that while prayer is powerful and while prayer most definitely changes things, THE CHANGE WILL NOT HAPPEN AUTOMATICALLY! Prayer is powerful but it is not a 'POOF' There It Is! experience. There will be some things that we pray about and will get an instant reply from God much like Hezekiah received when Isaiah gave him that unfortunate message that he was not going to accept as defeat. When the prophet Isaiah did as God had instructed him to do and told Hezekiah to get his house in order because he was not going to recover from his illness, Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed. And in doing so, HE GOT GOD'S ATTENTION! Before Isaiah made it out of the middle court, God sent him back to Hezekiah with a message telling him that He had heard his prayer, seen his tears, and was going to not just heal him, but add fifteen years to his life. And on top of that, God was going to deliver Hezekiah and Jerusalem out of the hands of the king of Assyria (reference 2 Kings 20).

 

However, while Hezekiah received an immediate response in the narrative described above, there are times in which we will pray and much like Job, no matter how much turmoil we're in or how much we cry out to God, He will allow us to endure until He is ready to answer us because HE HAS A PLAN. And then there are those times in which we can pray like Moses prayed and be faithful yet still find ourselves wandering in the wilderness for years because GOD HAS A PURPOSE and a lesson to teach us. There are those moments in which much like David, we'll pray and God will answer. But then along will come that next attack and we'll pray again and might have to wait. And then we'll find ourselves in a constant whim of praying to overcome and then conquering one challenge only to find ourselves surrounded by another battle, another war, another giant, or another King Saul. David was never without a moment in which prayer was not a necessity. And the beauty of that is that HE RECOGNIZED IT!

 

We must understand that prayer is the answer to the challenges of our lives, but our prayers are not always instantly answered! No matter how much any of us love God, we all might find ourselves becoming annoyed or frustrated when we pray and it feels like God has pressed the 'IGNORE' button. Even when we trust God, we might find ourselves thinking, "Okay God, this is taking longer than expected!" The prayers of the righteous will CERTAINLY BE ANSWERED by God, BUT they will be answered in His timing and not our own. That is why many of us at times start to feel like carrying our shield of faith is heavy.

 

The truth for many of us is that we love God, but there are times that WE JUST DON'T CARE TO FACE ANOTHER BATTLE. We just don't want to hold up a shield and fight another enemy. AND THAT IS WHERE WE GET IT TWISTED! WE DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT OUR ENEMIES! The fight that we fight is never about us versus our enemies. The fight that we fight is not about our fleshly persona against another person of flesh. The fight that we fight is WILL WE TRUST GOD TO DELIVER US, TO BRING US THROUGH, TO GIVE US VICTORY, TO FIGHT FOR US, AND TO WIN THE BATTLE ON OUR BEHALF! Our shield of faith is to help us to stand still and hold it up while God does the fighting for us. Our shield of faith is not about what we're fighting against as much as it is about our ability to understand, grasp, and accept who God is, who and what we believe Him to be, and what we believe and trust that He can and will do.

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Gideon's shield of faith was not about whether he had the strength to fight against the Midianites. It was about his ability to believe that God was going to give them into his hands. If we reflect on Judges 6:14, it states, "The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (NIV). If we stop and really reflect on the fact that God told Gideon to "go in the strength that he had", that was really speaking to the power of God. That was God showing Gideon that while you think that you are not enough, I AM MORE THAN ENOUGH! God sent Gideon who was used to being oppressed by the Midianites and was also impoverished due to the havoc that the Midianites had inflicted upon the Israelites, to go and attack them with an army that God ends up reducing from 32,000 to 300 men. God was making sure that Israel could not proclaim that they did it on their own, but He was also showing us the truth that rests in the Word of God when it tells us that God is our strength. It is showing us the truth that God fights for us. It is showing us the truth that if God is for us we need not worry about who stands against us because we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Him! 

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David's shield of faith was not about what he could do to Goliath, but it was about him knowing what God would do to Goliath through him. In 1 Samuel 17:37, David says, "The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (NIV). David's shield of faith rested in the belief that God would deliver Goliath into his hands. David understood that there was strength in the fact that Israel was God's army. David understood that it was not about what he held in his hands, because the battle was going to be won by God's hands. Even when Israel had to physically fight in battle, IT WAS STILL GOD WHO WAS DOING THE FIGHTING! Even when we must face the giants, situations, and challenges that come against us, IT IS STILL GOD THAT DOES THE FIGHTING! THE BATTLE IS ALWAYS HIS REGARDLESS OF HOW HE LEADS US TO APPROACH AND FIGHT OUR WAY THROUGH IT! Our battles are never won out of our own power and strength. Gideon had to physically go against the Midianites, BUT IT WAS GOD WHO DELIVERED THEM INTO HIS HANDS! David's fight against Goliath was the Lord's battle, and God did it by David's hands through His power (1 Samuel 17:47). 

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FEAR NOT!                          

 

Isaiah 41:10-13 reads:

 

           So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you;

           I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 'All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced;

           those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them.

          Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right

          hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you (NIV).

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​Fighting a battle of any kind, is not going to be easy and fighting a fight of faith will at times seem impossible. But if we consider what faith is, that is why in most cases, God will place us in front of what appears impossible because it is standing in front of the impossibilities, that challenges us to activate our faith allowing us to believe in the possibility of what seems unattainable, not humanly possible, and slim to none. WE MUST BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT GOD CAN'T DO! No matter how big the giant is, how ferocious the lions are, how hot the furnace is, how deep the pit is, how far along the diagnosis is, how broken we are, or how underprivileged we might feel, GOD CAN STILL DO IT! 

ARMOR UP! PRAY UP! FAITH UP AND FIGHT!