Ephesians 6:13, 18 NIV – Therefore put on the full armor of God… 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.
What Ephesians 6 is telling us is that in the midst of this broken world, we don’t fight with the implements of this world – we pray. This is why we must make prayer a continual activity that encompasses our whole selves: rooted in a fear of the Lord, listening for His answer, asking according to His will, and acting as He directs.
Paul’s imperatives of being strong, putting on the full armor of God are both passive and active – to be strong, to put on, to stand, with the knowledge that strength is not something of our own: “The…form of the verb “be strong” indicates that this empowering is something done to us Christians, not something we do ourselves; its present tense shows the empowering is continual. This instruction is not for a quick fix, but for a life spent drawing strength from Christ.” [Snodgrass, Klyne, The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians, 338]
Let’s worship to “Surrounded” written by Michael W. Smith (Click here).
Prayer: Lord, we put on the full armor of God and pray in the Spirit with all kinds of prayers. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
– WW