Antioch Agent

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

-Ephesians 6:18–

I have been really thinking about this matter lately. It is one of significant spiritual importance … the importance of prayer in the life of a believer. As the old sunday school song used to go, “Read your bible, pray everyday, if you want to grow“, i believe that the simplicity and truth of those words will always hold true. There is no secret formula to spiritual growth, it has always been down to the basic discipline of spending time before the Lord in His Word and in prayer.

If there is one aspect that is lacking in many a believer and then would inevitably get translated to the local assembly of other believers, it is prayer. How much the believer sees the need for prayer as an individual, governs how he sees the need to pray corporately as a church. The weekly prayer meeting has always been the barometer of a church’s spiritual state. When God’s people pray, things happen. However, when they don’t pray … things just seem to happen or nothing really happens at all. How wonderful it would be to see adults, young people and children all coming together for united purpose of prayer. It would really lend weight to the uttered conviction that God will bless His church when His people pray.

The verse in Ephesian 6:18 above is a reminder that we ought to pray always (in all seasons) with all prayer. And this call to prayer is found right in Ephesians 6 where Paul spoke concerning how believers are to wage their spiritual struggle. A battle is waged in 2 positions, one .. standing, the second on our knees. What i found helpful from the VWS commentary was “all prayer”  basically means prayer in its various kinds. It could be a silent prayer we utter to the Lord, a vocal verbalized one, in a formal setting …  or even a cry unto the Lord for help. But the battle call must be accompanied by the believer realizing that his strength of resource can only come from God, and he does that by prayer.

We are also called to supplication. While ‘prayer’ is the more general form, ‘supplication’ adds to it the meaning of making earnest request or petition unto the Lord. Supplication is mentioned twice in the same verse, and the second time with a specific request to pray for the saints, meaning for one another. Here we see that the scope of prayer should extend beyond one’s personal concern (own own needs) but for the needs of other fellow believers who are also engaged in the same spiritual war. It is the spirit of Paul’s words in Philippians 2:4 where we are to “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” And so, while prayer brings the believer before the Lord, he then brings other believers before the Lord. And O how blessed it is to know that other faithful believers are praying for you. Paul’s ministry certainly wouldn’t have been as effective without that kind of support from the believers of his day and how he was thankful for it. I too know that that to be true in my life, I have had the benefit of godly parents and aunts who have spent much a time praying for me over the many years. Only the Lord will truly know how much of what and where I am today has been a result of sustained sustaining prayer by His saints.

There are many important passages to consider on this wide subject of prayer. I do hope to be able to consider them and perhaps write a little more about it as the Lord leads. Of course what we must also guard against is the attitude of talking too much about it, while failing to do enough of it. But as we are to exhort one another daily while it is called today (Heb 3:13), perhaps we really ought to encourage one another to be more faithful in the simple yet important matter of prayer.

So believer, if you’re reading this today and haven’t yet taken time to pray… perhaps this thought may find a place in your heart. If you’ve not been keeping a regular quiet time before the Lord, you can begin by resuming it today. If you haven’t prayed in a while, just close your eyes and quieten your heart before the Lord and commit yourself to Him today. He’ll listening.