Ephesians

Praying with Purpose

We are engaged in a spiritual battle, the greatest battle ever fought. And the message of Ephesians 6 is that this is a war that must be fought on our knees. Paul writes:

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 saints.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, 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 6:18-20)

Immediately after listing for us our spiritual armor, Paul instructs us in the final complement to the full armor of God: prayer. Notice the order in which Paul discusses these issues. He does not reverse the order and say, “First pray, then put on the armor of God.” No, we put on the armor first, then pray. We tend to reverse this order, and that is why our prayer life is frequently so feeble and impotent. Our prayer life would be stronger and more effective if we would carefully observe the designated order of Scripture.

I think most Christians would candidly have to confess that they are dissatisfied with their prayer life. They feel it is inadequate and perhaps infrequent. All of us at times struggle to improve our prayer life by disciplining our schedules or maintaining a prayer list or journal. In other words, we begin with the doing—but we are starting at the wrong place. We are violating our basic human nature in approaching prayer this way. The place to start is not with doing, but with thinking.

Whenever we wish to become disciplined and motivated for some task, we must begin with careful reflection on what that task requires. And Paul tells us that, as we approach the all-important task of prayer, we must put prayer in its proper order. Prayer follows putting on the armor of God. In fact, prayer is a natural, normal outgrowth of putting on the armor of God.

Now, I am not suggesting that we do not need to discipline ourselves as Christians. But discipline comes in at the beginning of the process, when we put on the full armor of God. Then prayer takes place as a natural outgrowth of our discipline in putting on that armor. When we follow the process that Paul outlines for us, our prayer life takes on real meaning and significance.

This is the problem with much of our praying now, isn’t it? It is shallow and superficial. Prayer should be an outgrowth of thoughtfulness about the implications of faith. Thoughtful prayer that is an outgrowth of the full armor of God is prayer with depth, meaning, and significance—prayer that is pointed and purposeful.