10.17.23 | Ephesians 6

By

PRAYER ROOMS

  • 9am – Tuesday, online only

PRAYER GUIDE

The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.19 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, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Ephesian 6:10-20

In this passage, Paul writes to the church with a rousing exhortation to conclude his great Epistle. He evokes the image of a Roman battalion. Calling them to put on their armor and stand their ground. Over the next few weeks we will mine this passage for insight about how we can pray and engage in spiritual warfare. 

Let’s start this week by looking at Paul’s worldview. A worldview is a mental map of the world. And as we all know from every movie. You can’t fight a war without a map. In order to engage in spiritual warfare we need an accurate mental map. 

Most of us are using the wrong map, and this is why we are not fighting well. Or fighting at all. After all, the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn’t exist. 

NT Wright tells us that every worldview must answer four primary questions.

  • 1. Who are we?
  • 2. Where are we?
  • 3. What is wrong?
  • 4. What is the solution?

Paul gives us his worldview in this passage. Who are we? We are the people of God. Where are we? In a world at war. What is wrong? Humanity has rejected God’s leadership and evil has insinuated itself inside every human heart, human culture and structure, and is lurking in the heavenly realms reinforcing these patterns of sin and death in the world. What is the solution? We must take our place in the battle, clothing ourselves in God’s armor, and taking our stand on Jesus’ victory.

Most of us have a very different worldview than Paul? Who are we? We are tired parents. We are struggling students. We are democrats or republicans. We are plumbers or teachers. Where are we? Living in America. What is wrong? Any number of things. Climate change? Politics? The Patriots. What is the solution? I don’t know, I just need to get through the week.

The invitation for us to start is to recognize where we really are. We are in the midst of a spiritual battle, which Jesus has already won, but which we need to enforce and implement. We are to take up our stand against the enemy (yes…there is one) but putting on the armor of God, taking our stand, and praying the word in the Spirit.

Let’s engage that battle this morning.

For Reflection:

What is your worldview? Who are you? What is wrong? What is the solution? Allow the Holy Spirit through Paul to give you an accurate and full mental map of present reality.

Pray for yourself and for the rest of the church to wake up and be activated in prayer, and to recognize the desperate need for and importance of prayer in this time.

Pray for yourself and the church to be fully clothed in the armor of God, truth, righteousness, assurance of salvation, faith, the readiness to share the gospel, and the knowledge of the word of God and the ability to pray the word of God.

Pray for Jesus’ victory on the cross to be applied to and extended to various places of brokenness around us, in our families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and our cities.