The Full Armor of God - Prayer

The Suffering of Spiritual Combat, No. 11 - PH34-01

Advanced Bible Doctrine - Philippians 1:28-30

There are no human weapons of defense that we have with which we can successfully resist the angelic assault. We have no human capacities to resist this angelic attack. This is what Ephesians 6:12 told us, that we don't fight against flesh and blood type of enemies. Consequently, Ephesians 6:13-17 have been spelling out for us the various elements of the Christian's armor which God has provided for his defense, and the sword of the Spirit with which he does the battle, that sword being the Word of God.

This warfare requires not only equipment and weapons, but like all combat, it also requires a method for using them. We call that "tactics." That you have the armor, and now that you have the weapon, how do you go about using them in combat?

Prayer

So suddenly, I hope that with that one statement, you have realized already that no matter how effectively you have put on the pieces of the armor; how carefully you have developed them through taking in the Word of God; and, how carefully you have taken the sword of the Spirit and sharpened it in your hand for use, it will all be to no avail if you get out on the field of battle and you use it in the wrong way. If your tactics are wrong, your defensive elements will be meaningless, no matter what protection you have and no matter what your weapons may be. You may have the finest weapons. As a matter of fact, you may out-gun the enemy, but if your tactics are wrong, the enemy will defeat you. History is filled with military victories of a handful of soldiers against tremendous odds for the simple reason that the handful used correct tactics whereas the majority used the wrong tactics for the situation in the field.

When I say the word "prayer," I know what is in us. Our natural inclination is to yawn and say, "Oh yeah, that's really good. Prayer. I'm for that." We are talking about something that is the heart of winning or losing in the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged. So, the tactics of prayer are what Paul realizes he must yet add in order to explain how this battle is to be fought and won. He realizes that the equipment in itself is not going to do the job.

Well, what is the procedure? What is the tactic that he presents for the field of battle? It's described in the words, "Praying always." Naturally Satan is going to bring his greatest hindrance and his greatest resistance to this part of your warfare. If he can't keep you from doing all the other things, but if he can keep you from doing the prayer part, then the other will be taken care of. So, you may be certain that prayer is one of the places that Satan hits the hardest because this is the toughest thing to do.

Within any group of believers, you have all kinds of variety of prayer habits. You have some Christians who pray every day. You have some Christians who pray seldom. You have some Christians who pray many times a day. You have some Christians who maybe make it once a day. You have people who will not go to bed at night but what they have a word of prayer. When they get up in the morning, their habit is to have a word of prayer. You have kids to whom the idea of prayer never even enters their head. The last thing on earth they would ever think of doing is praying. You have people who once were prayer warriors but who have now become too intellectual, too mature, and too sophisticated.

The prayer life brought blessing. You and I face the same thing relative to prayer. People who pray are blessed. They're prospered. God moves you along in life. Pretty soon you become too sophisticated, too intellectual, and too capable to now have much confidence in prayer. Somehow, you think you made it on your own. You look around you and you see these characters who never pray, your unbelieving friends, and they're making it just as well as you are. They're living life to the hilt and having a ball. You don't understand that Satan is the one that's making it for them.

Ephesians 6:18

It is present tense which means that this is a battle tactic to be constantly used in the angelic conflict. It is middle which means that the use of this tactic on the field of battle will benefit you as the Lord's soldier. Participle indicates that it is a principle of spiritual warfare. It is a declaration of a principle (a doctrine) of spiritual warfare. It is face-to-face confrontation of intercession with the living God.

Then he says that this praying is to be "always." This is one English word, but in the Greek, it's actually three different words: "enpantikairo." What it actually literally means is "by means of all time," or we would say "on every occasion." This is direct confrontation with God on every occasion. It refers to every occasion when you use the tactic of prayer in this spiritual warfare. It's the same principle which is enunciated in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 with the words. "Pray without ceasing."

This word "on every occasion" is connected in the Greek to the words "in the Spirit." You don't quite see this in the English. It is, "Praying always in the Spirit." That's the way it should read. What this means is in the sphere of the Spirit, or we would call it "the filling of the Spirit." The tactic of prayer, in other words, can only be executed under the filling of God the Holy Spirit when He is controlling the internal mechanisms of your soul. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit uses this sword in response to our prayers.

There is a vast amount of praying in this world which is not by means of the spirit. So this kind of praying obviously poses no threat to Satan or to the demonic angels at all. As a matter of fact, Satan and the demons encourage that kind of praying. That's the world's system of praying. So understand that prayer in itself is not of any importance. It's a meaningless ritual. Many people go through the meaningless ritual of prayer.

The Bible says that prayer is a technique that works. It will defeat Satan and every demon angel that you will ever come up against. It is a sure fire protection. But God has a way for the use of prayer, and that's what we're trying to spell out here. It is direct confrontation face-to-face with the living God. It is prayer always in the Spirit. It is always under the filling of the Holy Spirit.

So don't go to God in prayer when there is something in your life that needs to be straightened out. Don't be so ridiculous as to go to the living God and think that He will hear you and pay any attention to you at all when you are praying under the power of your old sin nature. That's where emotion has come along. Satan comes along and takes the emotion of your soul while it is under the domination of the old sin nature. He kicks your emotions into an action of religious expression. So, you begin praying. But God is not listening. God is not answering that prayer. God is not responding or paying any attention whatsoever to a prayer that's being offered from the midst of an old sin nature whose emotions have been kicked into action by Satan. Only the Word of God can keep us from being fools. We are surrounded by these fools on every account and on every side. We are surrounded by people who are spiritual fools simply because they have never gained a respect for Bible doctrine from the control element that that is within our souls. We are to pray in the Spirit under His control.

Then we have the words "with all," or this is the Greek preposition "dia," and it means "by means of." "Pray always in the Spirit by means of." Then he has two words that he describes by means of. He says that the first one is "by means of prayer." The Greek word is "proseuche." "Proseuche" is the general word that the New Testament uses for prayer requests. It is used only of requests to God. It is never used of requests of man to man. Therefore, it is in a sense the most significant sacred word for describing our face-to-face communication with God. Prayer here is viewed as a practice covering all areas of the soldier's life. This is what you would do before you go into battle on the eve of any military operation.

For example, in the South Pacific, this was common practice on board ship, as a landing party was preparing to go over the side: At about 4 o'clock in the morning, everybody was wrestled out of the bunks for a heavy breakfast; preparation; going over the side; and, getting into the landing boats. They would rendezvous in the landing craft in circles until the shore bombardment was lifted; the planes moved out; the naval guns were silenced; and, the word was radioed for the first wave to line up and to hit the beach. All of this was preceded that morning, in one place or another, all over the decks of that ship, by meetings in prayer. The chaplains would gather, and a service would be conducted. Then in full battle gear, with weapons in their hands, often kneeling on the deck and knowing that they were going to go over the side, they would commence, knowing that this could be their last day on earth.

The sad part is that for many of those men, they were just praying. They were going through the ritual. It was magic that they were doing. However, for some of those men who were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, this protective garment of prayer was the final element in real combat as it is in spiritual combat. Some of them went into the Lord's presence. Others of them were saved for other duties here in this sphere.

This is the word that describes what they were doing. It was "proseuche" before going over the side into the landing craft. It was prayer as they anticipated what they were going to face on that beach. It was prayer of what they were going to hazard in their very lives in the face of the fire of the enemy.

There is another word here that he also adds which he calls "supplications." "Praying always in the Spirit by means of prayer (for the battle as it is coming) and for "supplication." This is the word "deesis." "Deesis" is the word that stresses "expressing a desperate need." This is used in the New Testament to God, but it is used elsewhere of man-to-man. It is coming to a person, either a human being or to God (in the New Testament, it is used only of coming to God), in a moment of desperate crises. In a moment where you've done everything that you can think of doing; you find yourself incapable of doing anything else; you find yourself in some desperate straits; and, you turn to the Lord, knowing that He alone can bail you out. This is prayer in the midst of the battle. This is prayer when you're looking down the rifle barrel of the enemy. This is prayer in the midst of the field of conflict. Therefore, it covers both ways.

What this verse is saying is that the tactic with which we use our armor and our weapon, the Word of God, is that before we go into battle, it is the habit of our life to be approaching God in prayer by which we benefit ourselves as we anticipate the day that we're going to face; the life we're going to live this week; and, the problems with which we will be faced. Then as we get into the day; as the moments of conflict arise; as the temptations come to us; as the abuse comes to us; as the slander comes to us; and, as everything that Satan can treacherously direct against us is met, including the disappointments and the frustrations, then we return to the Lord with "deesis," with cries of supplication to help in our need.

This is what Peter did when he was walking on the water; he got his eyes off the Lord; he began sinking; he had a crisis situation; and, he cried out in desperation, "Lord, save me." This is praying always in the spirit, with all prayer before the battle, with supplication and the crisis in the middle of the battle, "and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." The word "watching" is the Greek word "agrupneo." "Agrupneo" means "to be vigilant." We would describe this as being sleepless. Stay awake. Pay attention to be on your guard. For what? That you do not be negligent of using the tactic of prayer, or you get hurt.

That's what this word means. It means to be careful; to watch; or, to be on guard. It is present which means constantly you are to be on your guard. It is active. It is up to you to see that you use prayer. It is a participle. It's a principle of operation. "Watching there unto (praying, that is) on the occasion of spiritual conflict with all perseverance." The word "with all" means "with every kind of" perseverance. The word "perseverance" is "proskarteresis." This simply means to be persistent; to stay on it; and, not to yield. Again it uses the word "supplication" ("deesis"), the word for your desperate moments in the field of battle.

Then he says that it is to be done "for all saints" (this perseverance of supplication), and it uses the Greek word "peri" which means "in behalf of" all saints. In other words, no fellow Christian soldier is to be set out into the field of battle in the face of the demon enemy without prayer. You should do it for yourself. You should do it for the other believers. That's why it says, "for all the saints."

The Principles of Prayer

1. I think you understand, first of all, that only believers have the right to approach God in prayer. Anybody who is an unbeliever who prays is doing something pointless. It's just an act of religion. Only those who are in union with Christ can pray. Only Christians who are in a status of spirituality (that is, they are filled with the Spirit with all known sins confessed) are able to pray.
   
   
2. Secondly prayer is basically asking God for something for yourself or for others. Every now and then, you hear somebody who tries to decry the fact that Christians are asking God for things. They call those "gimme prayers," and that's supposed to crush you and humiliate you so that you go to prayer and you never ask God for anything just to prove how spiritual you are. All that proves is how uninformed you are. That is because the idea of prayer in the Scripture basically means asking for something. It keeps using a word like "aiteo" in the Greek which means "to ask." That's the point of prayer. It is going to God and asking for something.

   In Matthew 21:22, we read, "And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." It is a matter of asking. Matthew 7:11: "If you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" The Bible tells you to be a "gimme Christian." That's what it's telling you. It's telling you to take your two-and-a-half ton truck; just back it up to the dock in heaven; and, start loading up as fast as you can grab it (before one of the deacons or somebody else moves into your spot and grabs it). It's asking God for things.

   There are things to ask for, and things we should not ask for. There are ways of asking, and ways that we should not ask, and the Bible spells out these principles. But, first of all, you have to be in the family of God. Secondly, it is your privilege to ask.

   This is certainly clear if you will look at the model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 (which is mistakenly called the Lord's Prayer), you will find that that prayer is full of asking. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ telling us how we should pray, and He gives us an example that's full of asking for things. Secondly, in the high priestly prayer of the Lord Himself in John 17, it also is full of requests. It's a series of requests. So prayer is asking.

3. Prayer is to be accompanied by thanksgiving. This is very important. Philippians 4:6 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." There's another little bit of information. There's another doctrinal principle. If you are going to use prayer, you will have to use it in the way that the Bible lays out the procedure. The procedure is you do ask for things, but you accompany that asking with thanksgiving for the past blessings and for the past answers.

   If you have a hard time doing that, I would suggest you get yourself a piece of paper, and that you put a column for a date at the top. Then you draw some lines across and make yourself some space across the page and you put the date; you put the request; then you put another date; and, when God has come through and answered that prayer request, you just put the date down and note that the request was answered. Or, you could just say, "Granted," whether you want to put the date or not. It will be very impressive then for you to take that sheet as the weeks go by, and take a look and see how much God has done because you have asked. It will thereby give you a frame of reference for your thanksgiving which must always be included in a legitimate bonafide prayer. Do not pray without inserting thanksgiving. The two are to go together.

4. Prayer must be offered in the status of spirituality. In John 15:7, we have this taught. The Lord says, "If you abide in Me, and in My words abide in you, ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." Let's take a look at this verse. Prayer must be offered in the status of spirituality. The word "abide," first of all, is to be equated with the word "spiritual," or "spirituality." It has to do with the status of fellowship. This has to do with temporal fellowship. He is saying that if you are in temporal fellowship, He will do something for you. The first "if" is a third class "if" in the Greek language. That means "maybe you will, and maybe you won't." Maybe you will remain in temporal fellowship because you have confessed known sins, or maybe you won't. Maybe you are going to buck the Holy Spirit who is ministering and appealing to you, and you are going to refuse to change your relationship to Him. So, the Holy Spirit remains grieved in you. He remains quenched, and you remain walking not by means of the Spirit, but by means of the old sin nature.

   The Greek word for "abide" is the word "meno." "Meno" means fellowship. It is not fellowship with the Lord in salvation. We know this because in John 15:10, we have this same word used of the Lord Jesus where He says, "If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love (or my fellowship), even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love (in his fellowship)." The Lord Jesus Christ did not have to abide in the Father's love relative to salvation. He did not need salvation. But in His humanity, He too had to remain in the Father's fellowship by means of not sinning (which was true in his case), or if we do sin (which is true in our case) by confessing the sin.

   So "if you abide" is aorist which means any point in which you are in fellowship. It is active which means that you determine that situation. It is subjunctive which means it is potential. You may, or you may not do it. If you are using the grace system of learning doctrine and if you are filled with the Spirit, then you will abide in Him.

   So He says, "If you abide in Me (that is, in terms of temporal fellowship), and My words abide in you." That is, Bible doctrine is in your human spirit because you are positive to the Word of God. You haven't been instructed in the Word, and then bucked it. If there is some point in which you have been taught the Word of God and you are now resisting it, you have gone negative volition and you are out of fellowship, both with the Lord and with His Word. The word "abide" again is "meno".

   Then He says, "You shall ask," and that is not quite right. It is not in the future as this implies. It is using the Greek word "aiteo" which is so commonly used in the Greek for "asking," which again emphasizes that prayer is a request. This is important because it's aorist. That means any point at which you pray, requesting. It is middle. You will be benefited by that request. And here it is imperative. This is a command. So, in other words, it should not be "You shall ask." You can just cross out the words "You shall" in your Bible. It should be, "Ask." "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you (you're in fellowship), then ask what you will."

   Ask anything that you want to ask, whatever you desire. The result will be, "It shall be done." The word "shall be" is the Greek word "ginomai." It is future. Anytime, as a result of your asking, God will be in the affirmative to you. It is middle. The requests were granted for your benefit. It is indicative. It's a statement of fact about the prayer tactic.

   So, here's the point: If you are going to pray, you have to be in the Spirit. That means that you have to be in the status of spirituality. If you are, then the Word of God very definitely says, "Just go ahead and ask. Ask whatever you will. The spirit of God is guiding that asking, and the result is that it will be done unto you."

5. The next point about the tactic of prayer is that prayer is to be offered in faith rather than as a mere hopeful but doubtful speculation (James 1:5-6). You don't want to be praying without believing. You don't want to pray with a spirit of, "Well, it can't hurt. I'll try it. What have I got to lose?" That is not prayer in the Spirit in the outlook of faith.
   
   
6. Next, prayer must be offered according to the will of God to be granted (1 John 5:14). For you to pray according to the will of God requires, first of all, that you know the Word of God as your guideline for prayer, and also that you be filled with the Spirit for the Spirit's guidance for the request which you should make.
   
   
7. God knows our needs before we ask for them, but He has ordained prayer as the channel of blessing (Matthew 6:32, James 4:2). So don't say, "Why should I pray? God knows what I need." He does indeed. However, He has also ordained that, "You have not because you ask not," James says. He has ordained that the channel of blessing is your request of Him. This is important because it reminds us, as we constantly need to be reminded, of who the source of our blessing is.
   
   
8. Prayer is a grace operation, and its blessings are in no way earned or deserved (Hebrews 4:16). When we pray, it is not because we deserve an answer. We pray because God's grace has invited us to come to what the Bible calls His throne of grace. We have not earned or deserved this response.

   Prayer is directed to the Father; in the name of the Son; and, in the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 6:9, Ephesians 6:18). So please don't rear your little children by having them fold their hands at the table and saying, "Dear Jesus, bless this food." Right away you've taught him bad doctrine. You've taught him false doctrine. Some of you look like you're going to have to go home and straighten out a few things starting today. Do not teach your little children bad doctrine. Sometimes we have people in beginner Sunday school and primary Sunday school that pick up literature which happens to be disoriented on that score, and they follow it without correcting it.

   Do not teach children to pray to God the Son. Even the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit directed their prayers to the Father. The scriptural order is important. This is not just an insignificant thing. If you want to go ahead and shut the door on your prayer, you just go ahead and pray to God the Holy Spirit. If you want to slam shut the opportunity of having the tactic of prayer working for you in the angelic conflict, you just go ahead and pray to the Son. Satan will be very happy to encourage you. There are vast groups of Christians, whole denominational groups, that love to pray to Jesus. They are out of line with the Word of God. So don't fall into that trap. Remember that the devil is going to encourage you to do everything that is possibly right but in a distorted way so that the results are not gained for you. You pray by addressing the Father; in the name of the Son; and, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

9. Prayer played a vital role in the life of Christ and in the activities of the New Testament church. As you read your Bible, this is self-evident. The Lord Jesus began his ministry in prayer; He continued it in prayer; and, He ended it in prayer. The New Testament church was filled with praying groups of believers. The apostle Paul everywhere stressed to his converts that they were to pray.

Hindrances to Prayer

Christians who want to pray are often puzzled, therefore, by the fact of their failure to do so. Many Christians are distressed by the fact that they are convinced that prayer is indeed the biblical order, and that it is important, and yet they are distressed by the fact that they just don't pray. The reason for it is because Satan and his agents are there manipulating your life in such a way that prayer gets squeezed out. They will hinder you by causing you to be tired when you should be praying. They will hinder you by causing you to be tired from something that you should not have been doing to get you tired.

They will squeeze prayer out by getting you to hustle to serve God. This is one of the best ways Satan has learned, that if he can get a Christian in there serving the Lord like crazy, he'll skip the tactic of prayer, and then that Christian service is totally meaningless relative to opposition to Satan's cause.

Or he will get you to get elated over one answer to prayer. For the next 15 years, you'll get up in testimony meetings, and you'll say, "I think back upon that night in my desperate need 15 years ago," and you're still living in that prayer answer. Satan is building it up to you, and he's saying, "Oh, that was great. That was really great. Beautiful. Tell us about it again. We never get tired of hearing about it." In the meantime, you don't have any time to look for anything more that God will do.

Or maybe he'll get you to take a course on how to pray. Sign up at the local school here and we'll teach you to pray. You'll take a course. We'll have practice in class. We'll practice praying to one another, and then we'll go to God and see how it works out. Or, he will give you some nice books that teach you to pray--to help you to see how to approach God, and to really pour your heart out. Satan says, "That's good."

Or he'll get visitors to come. You're getting ready to pray. You'll have a visitor. Isn't this nice? You brought me donuts and coffee so we could have fellowship. So you have fellowship with your friend on donuts and coffee, and God, who waited to hear you and waited to meet you, goes ignored. That's a very subtle device.

The telephone rings, and you don't know how to get off the phone. Satan gets you to pour out your time on the telephone. There are some people that just love to talk on the phone, and Satan loves to encourage you.

Or he'll stress the fact that you've had some requests that weren't answered, or he'll explain away some request that really was answered.

Or he'll get you in a bunch of church meetings where you're pondering your problems and looking for solutions. But he doesn't bring you to the point of prayer.

Well, prayer is a magnificent tactic, and it really works. Satan is going to do everything he can to dissuade you from using it. He wants Christians who are faithful in service but negligent in prayer. It is the curse of the local church today that we generally as a church body are negligent of prayer. This was one of the things that was characteristic of the believers in the New Testament. You go back to the Book of Acts and start reading again, and you will find that they turned out in mass just to pray. Everyone was delighted to get down there to the local assembly meeting place, wherever it was, to pray.

We've had a magnificent experience this past week. For a long long time, we have been dreaming about the possibilities of a printing press operation here at Berean Memorial church. No place else in this city is such a thing even to be found--a church with a print shop operation. We have found in our audio recording ministry that we can't keep up with the labels; we can't keep up with the letters; and, we can't keep in touch with people. We find that people are writing to us and saying, "Could you give me this tape in a booklet form. We even have people who are transcribing tapes, and I've got the manuscripts piled on my desk, and there they sit because we can't go any further with converting them into one of the most effective outreaches ever--the printed page. Every time we have sent printed matter to people, the response has been very noticeable.

So we have wondered if perhaps this was not a thing that would solve a great deal of problems; would open doors of contact; and, would get the Word of God with a particular slant and emphasis and non-loophole preaching that goes out from this place to the Christian public who is really thirsting for it. Last Sunday I mentioned this publicly. At the end of the service, I had several people who came up and said, "I think that's right, and I'll help buy it." On Monday, the church council (all the boards meeting together) discussed this extensively. We too saw that this would open doors of outreach that we can't do any other way. However, printing is a big business, and printing equipment is expensive business. On Wednesday night, we had four major items of prayer, and this was one of them. Mr. Cross, our printer, began feeling out, as a result of that Monday meeting and our prayer Wednesday night, through the trade for a possible press. He said we could maybe for $600 get a press that we would hand feed.

The result was that on Thursday morning, he called me and said, "I have found a large organization that has money, and it has good equipment. It is selling out a print shop. At this point of time, if he had not inquired, he would not even have known about it. It is because the Lord has been putting guidance together of what he wanted us to do, and He led us to pray, and on Thursday comes the answer.

So he went to see the man whom he discovered was a personal friend of his (it so happened). The press that he had was not a hand-fed press, but an automatic press. When he finally settled the deal on the cost, it was $250. That much money we already had committed. So we decided to go for broke. He went over to the shop yesterday, and to make the long story short (because it's just as exciting in its abridged form), a print shop needs all kinds of things. Well, Mr. Cross ended up not only with that automatic press, but he ended up with a smaller press that punches out those oval holes on our tape labels. He also secured, of all things, the heart of a print shop--a Linotype machine--a very expensive piece of machinery. The man wanted $800 for it, and Mr. Cross got him down to $450 for it.

But he wasn't satisfied. He felt he was on a winning streak, and he hated to leave the window when he was winning. So he decided to pursue it further, and the result is that he secured all kinds of accessories that go with a print shop for $1,200 dollars for the works, including 1,000 pounds of metal out of which the type is made incidentally, which cost 60 cents a pound.

This is unbelievable. This is not accidental. This is the result of prayer. It is exactly what we need, and we've got exactly the room back here with a concrete floor ready to put it in.

So when we ask you to come out to pray on Wednesday nights, big things can happen. That was just the group that was there. Who knows what God may do if we had as big a group Wednesday night as we have on Sunday mornings? Who knows what transformations may come? This tactic is at the heart of our survival in the spiritual conflict. This tactic is the thing that Satan cannot get around. This is the one thing that finally finishes him off.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1973

Back to the Advanced Bible Doctrine (Philippians) index