PRAYING ALWAYS...

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” EPHESIANS 6:18

SHIRAN isn’t with us this week. Going back over our posts together however, I am more than pleased that at some point, we tackled this aspect of this part of the Christian’s armour. Albeit, in a different sort of way!

Before I go on here, I thought it imperative that you all read this piece (again) before we go any further. The LORD is good and ever continually so. Blessed be the name of the LORD. It was always the habit of Jesus to strike right at the heart of the matter. He knew what was essential and He knew what wasn’t. He didn’t tell men they ought to pray. That instinct was born in their hearts: the most ignorant heathen prayed, the prophets of Baal prayed, the hypocritical Pharisees prayed. What Jesus was interested in was showing men the right way to pray, so that they could have miracles in answer to their prayers. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men…But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matt. 6:5-6. The great secret of prayer is to realise and understand that God is also in the very room where you are. It is this realisation that God is actually present that makes prayer vital and powerful. The Psalmist David in Psalms 139:6-10, realised that God was present wherever he was, although he admits he did not fully understand it. God is everywhere –He doesn’t come and He doesn’t go.

But what is it to pray? The disciples said (unto Christ), “Lord, teach us to pray”. See Luke 11:1-4. Our Lord didn’t hesitate to grant their request. He never was one to keep His secrets to Himself. He came into this world to teach others to do what He did. Jesus was willing that His disciples should learn to do even greater works. John 14:12. And reading our Lord’s account of how to pray, we see that true prayer begins and ends in worship. “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” and “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” Successful prayer also means daily contact with God. When one’s spiritual life begins to deteriorate, generally the cause can be traced to a lack of consistent daily prayer. It is no wonder that the forces of darkness are able to mobilise against so many people and in some cases completely paralyze their efforts. The things of which a successful life is made are shaped in the crucible of the daily hour of prayer. God must work with the material given Him and if there is a paucity of material made available, He is limited in what He can do. Many people do not realise that there is an actual substance to prayer. In Revelations 8:3, we are shown God’s repository of the prayers of His saints for the use at the proper time. In a vital way, the prayers of God’s people have a part in the execution of His plan on earth. God has ordained that His people should have at their command the resources of heaven. However, this is only available to those who day by day keep in contact with their God. “Give us day by day our daily bread.” Jesus did not ask us to pray for a year’s supply or a month’s, or even a week’s supply of bread. God wants us daily to be in utter dependence of Him. He wants us to daily feel the need of His presence, of His sustaining power. God’s plan involves a daily dependence on Him. Without Him we can do nothing. And if we are to successfully accomplish His will in our lives we must not allow a single day to pass without that vital communion with God.

Once again, “Praying always” covers all seasons and all manner of praying - praying with our natural understanding and also praying in the spirit. I Corinthians 14:2 says, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” Paul is saying here that God has given the Church a supernatural means of communication with Himself. This call to prayer entails effort, wrestling, and struggling -putting out the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come out, finally, more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. And as I like to say, this call is no primrose path. It’s no rose-scented flirting. From the time we first draw our swords, we are compelled to endure hardness, as a good soldiers of Jesus Christ. See II Tim.2:3. Some prayers are prayed too late; some people seek God earnestly after they get into trouble, not realising that had they prayed sooner, they might have avoided the pitfall. There is such a thing as foreseeing evil and avoiding it. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.” Prov.27:12. How can one hope to escape the the traps that the forces of darkness continually devise against them? The answer to that is, not in human foresight or wisdom. See Prov.3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Prov. 3:5. Also see Psalms 91. In the latter (Psalms 91), is promised deliverance from Satan’s traps. The expression “snare of the fowler” is a clear allusion to the work of Satan who is busy setting snares for God’s people.

And finally I would like to share with you in relation to what we’re onto here, the story of the Christian Armenian merchant who was carrying merchandise by caravan across the desert to a town in Turkish Armenia. This [true] story illustrates the importance of daily prayer in our lives as pilgrims, soldiers of Christ. A Christian Armenian merchant having had a Christian upbringing from his childhood had formed a life habit of daily committing himself into the hands of God. At the time of this incident, the country was infested with “Kurds”, that is bandits who lived by robbing caravans. Unknown to the merchant, a band of these highwaymen had been following his caravan, intending to rob it at the first camping place on the plains. At the chosen hour, under cover of darkness, they drew near. But all was strangely quiet, and as there seemed to be no guards, no watchers, but as they pressed up, to their astonishment, they found high walls where no walls had been before. They continued to follow and the next night, they found the same impassable walls. The third night the walls stood but there were breaches in them through which they (bandits) then went in. The captain of the robbers, terrified by the mystery, awakened the merchant. “What does this mean?” he asked. “Ever since you left Ezerum, we have followed, intending to rob you. The first night and the second night, we found high walls around the caravan, but tonight, we entered through broken places. If you tell us the secret of this, I will not molest you.” The merchant, himself, was surprised and puzzled. “My friends,” he said, “I have done nothing to have walls raised about us. All I do is pray every evening, committing myself and those with me to God. I fully trust in Him to keep me from all evil; but tonight, being very tired and sleepy, I made a rather half-hearted lip prayer. That must have been why you were allowed to break through!” The “Kurds” were overcome by such testimony as this. There and then, they gave themselves to Jesus Christ, and were saved. From caravan robbers to God-fearing men, the “Kurds” became. The Armenian merchant however, never forgot that breach in the wall of prayer.

Let’s constantly give ourselves to prayer saints of God. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,…Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” EPH. 6:12-18.

And I pray that He might cause your eyes to be opened up to the mystery of praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. And I also pray that the grace of God, and His love, and the power of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Now and always. AMEN.