PRAYER ROOMS
- 9am – Tuesday, online only
PRAYER GUIDE
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.
Ephesians 6:16-20
Having given us his mental roadmap, a battle plan based on Christ’s victory, and having commanded us to take up the full armor of God. Paul here instructs how we are to engage in spiritual warfare. Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. It is not the only time in scripture that the word of God is likened to a sword. The author of Hebrews writes: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” (Heb 4:12). Likewise in John the Seer’s vision of Jesus riding the white horse in Revelation 19, a sword came out of the mouth of Him Whose Name was the Word of God.
The word of God is therefore a sword. It is a weapon of war, in addition to all its other uses. It is our only weapon for spiritual warfare. The truth of God is the primary implement for spiritual warfare against the enemy and all his schemes and methods. This of course, is what we see in the case of Jesus Himself, who in his forty day wilderness fast faced direct temptation from Satan. Jesus’ strategy was not to oppose the devil in his own authority, but to literally quote scripture to Satan. Jesus chooses the same passages of scripture which were given to Israel during their forty years of wilderness wanderings.
Satan’s primary weapons of war are lies, being the father of lies (John 8:44). Our primary weapon must, therefore, be God’s truth. There is nothing so powerful and effective in our prayers as laying claim to the oracles and promises of God.
What do we do with the word of God? We pray it…in the Spirit. Or, we might say as well, we pray the word by means of the Spirit. The Greek here is a dative of instrumentality. We wield the sword of the Spirit by means of the guidance and leadership of the Spirit. If you have ever seen Star Wars, the idea here is strikingly similar to that of a Jedi knight who wields a lightsaber by the power and guidance of the Force. Such a warrior is nearly unstoppable.
How ridiculous would it be for us, equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to pray our own ideas in our own strength and under our own guidance? It would be like Luke Skywalker deciding to go into battle against a deadly enemy with no light saber and without using the Force. And yet so often in prayer, we come with our own ideas. Our own wishes. Our own agenda. We are fighting with our bare-hands when we have the lightsaber of the Spirit.
Our calling is to Wield the Word of God by the Holy Spirit to tear down and combat lies, principalities, powers, rulers and authorities which are set against Jesus and his Kingdom, to call into existence the will and purposes of God.
For Reflection:
- Do you know the word well enough to wield it in prayer? If not, how might you grow in your knowledge of the word?
- Pray for the church to grow in its knowledge of God’s word and in its practice of praying the word.
- What lies is the enemy sowing in our culture and among the people of God in these times? What truths do we need to pray in response?
- Ask the Spirit to show us particular scriptures He wants us to pray today in regards to revival in the church and awakening in our city and region…and show us how to pray them.
In Our Time 