Being Prayer Operatives

This morning I was reading from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and it is a very familiar set of verses, but again the Lord highlighted something to me that, while I knew the words, I hadn't recently reflected on the impact what we were being called to do.

Here are the verses - Ephesians 6:10-20 NIV:

[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."

What caught my attention today was verse 18 - after putting on the armor of God, the next action we are encouraged to do is PRAY. Paul describes a bit of action in the Armor of God verses, standing one's ground, extinguishing the flaming arrows of the evil one, but the primary direction to action is found in verse 18 - "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions..."  Now, this is not a one-way conversation, where all we do is tell God about all the issues we see, this should be like all prayer, a two-way conversation.  Our desire is to walk in God's will, and we cannot know His will if we are not listening to what He is saying.

A good analogy would be how members of a strike team in the military are all in radio communication with each other and with operational head-quarters, except silence is not required, but rather constant communication.  Those operatives who are in the field are describing what they are encountering, where the resistance is coming from, and the Ops HQ is guiding them, directing air-support and coordinating their activity.  Imagine if the Body of Christ really learned to pray like this!

I also like Paul's humility in asking for prayers, specifically asking for prayers to be able to proclaim the Gospel fearlessly.  In other words, Paul needed encouragement and God's help to overcome his fear.  I don't feel so bad now.

Finally, there is an encouragement to pray for all of the Lord's people.  In other words, those of our congregation and those of other congregations, and those around the world.  We are one body and we war against (not flesh and blood) but rulers , authorities and powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil.  In other words, we can't see our enemies with our natural eyes.  We need spiritual vision, one reason to be praying in the Spirit on all occasions, and we need God's perspective for He rules with all authority in Heaven and on earth.  We all need to learn how to operate under His orders all the time.  This is the purpose of prayer, for it is in prayer that we hear from Him.

Just yesterday I was thinking about what it would be like if one day I only did what the Lord told me to do?  I was thinking about how I need to learn to actively listen in all circumstances, and learn to obey fearlessly.  I was thinking about the need to practice, and become better and better at hearing and following, and that is essentially exactly what Paul is describing  here.  We don't need to be strong in our own power, God is the provider of strength, power and armor.  We don't need to figure it out on our own, God will provide the words to speak (verse 19) and what to do. We just need to learn to walk in what God provides fearlessly.

Amen Lord, please help me to engage in my representation of the Gospel and the Kingdom with an operational attitude through constant prayer and obedience!  Lord help me to gear up and get after it!