The Armor of God Part 7: The Power of Prayer

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: Daiga Ellaby

 "Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints." ~Ephesians 6:18

As we bring our weeks-long study of the armor of God to a close, we come now to something that is oftentimes overlooked, forgotten, and not counted among the pieces of armor simply because it is not symbolized as armor in this passage. But we would be gravely mistaken if we were to ignore this vital foundation upon which every piece of the armor rests and by which the pieces are activated: the foundation of prayer.

On this verse Matthew Henry writes in his commentary,

"Prayer must buckle on all the other parts of our Christian armour, v. 18. We must join prayer with all these graces, for our defence against these spiritual enemies, imploring help and assistance of God, as the case requires: and we must pray always. Not as though we were to do nothing else but pray, for there are other duties of religion and of our respective stations in the world that are to be done in their place and season; but we should keep up constant times of prayer, and be constant to them. We must pray upon all occasions, and as often as our own and others' necessities call us to it. We must always keep up a disposition to prayer, and should intermix ejaculatory prayers with other duties, and with common business. 

Though set and solemn prayer may sometimes be unseasonable (as when other duties are to be done), yet pious ejaculations can never be so. We must pray with all prayer and supplication, 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 thanksgivings for favours received. We must pray in the Spirit; our spirits must be employed in the duty and we must do it by the grace of God's good Spirit. We must watch thereunto, endeavouring to keep our hearts in a praying frame, and taking all occasions, and improving all opportunities, for the duty: we must watch to all the motions of our own hearts towards the duty. When God says, Seek my face, our hearts must comply, Ps 27 8. 

This we must do with all perseverance. We must abide by the duty of prayer, whatever change there may be in our outward circumstances; and we must continue in it as long as we live in the world. We must persevere in a particular prayer; not cutting it short, when our hearts are disposed to enlarge, and there is time for it, and our occasions call for it. We must likewise persevere in particular requests, notwithstanding some present discouragements and repulses. And we must pray with supplication, not for ourselves only, but for all saints; for we are members one of another. Observe, None are so much saints, and in so good a condition in this world, but they need our prayers, and they ought to have them. The apostle passes hence to the conclusion of the epistle.

As Henry so aptly points out, it is prayer which equips us fully to wage war against the enemy. We can have all the pieces of armor on, but if we are out there attempting to fight by ourselves, we will grow tired, stumble, and fall. 

If, however, we remain in close, intimate, and ongoing communication with the Lord, He is then able to help, strengthen, and sustain us in ways that only He can. If we want to be strong for the battle of spiritual warfare, we must put on each and every piece of the armor, certainly. But we must not make the grave mistake of then going into battle alone -no matter how armored up we are-lest we grow weak. 

We must never think it safe to do battle with the enemy without being prayed up before, during, and after. There are countless sobering stories in the Old Testament of the Israelites going out to battle before prayerfully seeing whether or not the Lord was blessing the time and place of said battle. And every time, there were disastrous consequences - even though the soldiers were well armed! 

In order to stand strong in the face of spiritual warfare, we must daily get dressed in our armor, but we mustn't leave it at that. We must remain in constant prayer, as well, for we will only be victorious when we are following the direction of the Lord.

And, with that, we bring our series on the armor of God to a close. May you, dear sisters, feel armed, equipped, and ready the next time the enemy comes at you in spiritual warfare, and may you be encouraged by the Lord every step of the way.

Reflection Questions:

1) Had you ever noticed verse 18 before and the part prayer has to play in battling spiritual warfare? 

2) Why is prayer so important?

3) Have you been battling spiritual warfare while being armed with prayer, or have you been attempting to go to war without this vital foundation?