Ephesians 6:18-20 - Homiletics

"Praying always."

Here is a part of the Christian's amour which had nothing corresponding to it in the panoply of the Roman soldier. Prayer comes in without any figure. We are taught that, even when every spiritual weapon is prepared and directed against the spiritual foe, all is in vain without a direct appeal to God. When Jacob, looking for an attack by Esau, had completed his arrangements of his family and flocks, the most important part of his preparations remained—another warfare had to be carried on, he must wrestle with the angel for his blessing. So in the Christian conflict, even when the loins are girt with truth, the heart protected by the breastplate of righteousness, the feet shod with peace, the head crowned with the helmet of salvation, the person protected by the shield of faith, and when the hands are grasping and wielding the sword of the Spirit, there is another duty which is quite indispensable—prayer: "Praying always with all prayer," etc. This is in accordance with the whole tenor of the Bible: Enoch, walking with God; Abraham, interceding for Sodom; Moses, pleading on the mountain; Elijah, praying for rain; David, Hezekiah, Daniel, Simeon, Anna, our blessed Lord in Gethsemane,—all show us that fighting men ought always to pray and not to faint. The soul is thus strengthened and encouraged; it reaches the promises and rests on them; it feels that God is with it; "They that wait on the Lord renew their strength; they mount up with wings as eagles; they run, and are not weary; they walk, and are not faint? The prayer required is marked by six features.

1. Manifold . With all prayer and supplication; all kinds—secret, ejaculatory, domestic, social, public.

2. Incessant . At all seasons:

3. Spiritual . " In the Spirit "—in dependence on his aid and inspiring power, in opposition to the mere form or rhyming of "pater nosters."

4. Watchful . (See Exposition.)

5. Persevering (see Exposition).

6. Comprehensive . "For all saints," and especially for God's servants in the gospel, the men who are bearing the burden and heat of the battle. Men may ridicule prayer; they may scoff at a praying man, a praying family, a praying nation; but the spectacle is really sublime. When Pere Hyacinthe, lecturing on the public immorality of his country, made the aisles of Notre Dame ring with his eloquence, he did not find cause to scoff at prayer. He said that it moved him to find England and the United States not ashamed to pray in the time of calamity, and to give thanks in the hour of deliverance. God, after all, is the Ruler among the nations, and his rule of good will stand true. "Them that honor me I will honor, but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."