The Believer’s Battle Cry

The significance of prayer in the life of a believer is indisputable in scripture. Prayer is our lifeline that connects, grounds and tethers us to the one who knows and loves us. It enables us draw near to God, lay our burdens at His feet and reframe and align our will with His. Prayer is a spiritual discipline and is a powerful weapon that the enemy does not want us to use, hence he likes it best when we either do not pray at all, keep it to a minimum (with being busy or distracted), or be very self-focused when we pray.

Ephesians 6:18 says “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.”

Every word in scripture is place with intention. The exhortation to pray on the heels of the description of spiritual warfare and putting on the full armour of God is no exception.

Paul’s instruction is more than a general exhortation to pray. He is specific.

Pray in the Spirit – Prayer is meant to be more than just an exchange of a few words with God, it is meant to engage the Holy Spirit so that our prayers are led and guided by Him. The alternative would be to pray in the flesh, in our own strength. How attuned to God’s heart would such prayers be and how effective would you think they would be?

I share something I read about prayer – Reflect on the fact that the entire Triune Godhead is involved in our prayer life. Jesus made a way for us to have access to the Father. The cross is the way, the throne of God is where we can enter through prayer and the Holy Spirit is our helper.

On all occasions – Let this sink in for a moment, it is not just a few minutes a day. Yes, we can set times when we spent time with God, but God does not want to be restricted to a certain part of our day. He wants us to commune with Him during the in-between moments; between the mundane and the memorable, the routine moments and the detours. On all occasions, that also means it includes every emotion that we feel during the joyful, the stressful and the sad moments. We can take all that we are feeling to the Lord, He does not want a curated version of us to approach Him, but a raw and honest one.

All kinds of prayer – Not just the eloquent ones, but the simple heartfelt ones, the one where there are more tears than words and even the ones that just say, ‘Thank you God’, or ‘Jesus help me’. At times, we are at a complete loss for words and that is ok, may we just sit in His presence and take solace, comfort and strength by being near the Father.

Be alert and persevere in Prayer – When we are alert and intentional in our prayers, our focus is not merely on the temporal. The enemy loves to play mind games with us, we are reminded to not succumb to his schemes but to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthains 10:5), and the best way to do it is through a consistent posture of prayer.

Pray for all the Lord’s people – Individual prayer is important, but this verse also shows us that intercessory prayers, lifting up the concerns and needs of others, is something that we are meant to do.

We are to be people of prayer, and the reality that we are in a spiritual battle is empahsised in scritpure “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5). 

In the verses that teach us about the spiritual armour of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18), there are two weapons that we possess that are not just defensive ones, but offensive weapons and they are the Sword of the Spirit (word of God) and Prayer. Fellow believers, may we not just take a defensive stance when we battle, but wield the weapons God has given us to push back against the enemy’s evil schemes.

God Bless.