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Watch and Pray - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:18-20

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Perhaps the one thing that we do as human beings that comes the most naturally to us is breathing. It happens all the time. You never think about it or rarely, only usually when it's not functioning properly for some reason. Think about it. From the doctor's first slap, it just comes naturally.

Several years ago, I came across some interesting statistics relating to this activity that we take so for granted. I think I shared some of them with you then, but they serve the purposes I want this morning. The average adult typically breathes between twelve and fifteen times per minute or some twenty thousand times each day. We normally breathe, in a typical day, about 535 cubic feet of air. Here's a little statistic you can use in conversation over the water cooler this week. Most people only breathe through one nostril at a time instead of two. And the nostril they use changes every fifteen minutes to three hours depending on the individual. It's a carefully regulated system. While we can vary the rate of our breathing and we can even voluntarily hold our breaths for a short period of time, it is absolutely impossible for a healthy person to voluntarily stop the breathing process beyond that very short period of time because if we don't inhale, carbon dioxide builds up in our blood and we experience what scientists refer to as overwhelming "air hunger." It's a reflex built in by God and it's crucial because without breathing, the body's oxygen level drops dangerously low within just a few minutes, leading to permanent brain damage followed eventually by death. It's so crucial to living that breath is sometimes used as a metaphor for life itself.

In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul wants us to know that what breathing is to the health of our bodies, praying is to the health of our souls. What breathing is to the health of our bodies, praying is to the health and defense of our souls. We cannot, we cannot survive without it.

We're studying Paul's instruction in the last full paragraph of his letter to the church in Ephesus, verses 10 through 20 of chapter 6. The theme of this paragraph is that we as Christians are in a spiritual war. Satan and his forces are trying every day, every moment of every day, to destroy our souls and we can only stand firm in the strength of Christ and by putting on the armor of God.

As Paul develops that theme, the eleven verses here divide into three parts. The first part in verses 10 through 13 is we must understand our orders. Here we have a general overview of the war in which we're engaged. And then the second part of this passage is in verses 14 to 17. We must put on God's armor. Here is a detailed explanation of the spiritual armor given to us by Christ. There are six pieces, six pieces intended to protect us from Satan's tactics. Satan's tactics are to try to undermine our confidence in the Word of God in some way; to try to intimidate us with fear and persecution; and to try to seduce us with personal temptations. And our spiritual armor protects us from those things. Our spiritual armor, we've learned, is not something we do, but rather our spiritual armor is something we understand and apply. Specifically, it is understanding and applying the truth of the gospel to our own lives.

Last week, we began to consider the third part of this paragraph. In the third section, we find that if we're going to be successful soldiers, we must develop a soldier's mindset. We must develop a soldier's mindset. That's in verses 18 to 20. Look at those verses again: "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Clearly, the focus of these verses is on prayer, but these three verses are not disconnected from the rest of the passage. Instead, they are emphasizing the importance of prayer in resisting Satan's attacks, the importance of prayer in this spiritual war in which we're engaged. Essentially, they identify for us the right mindset of a soldier. A good soldier is characterized by a spirit of dependence and reliance on his commanding officer. Much of boot camp is simply to train that soldier to look to and depend on his commanding officer as an automatic reaction. The same thing is true for us. As Christians, we are to know the truth. We are to apply the truth. But those are not enough—we must know the truth and apply the truth with a spirit of dependence and reliance on our commanding officer. And how do we do that? We do it through prayer. That's how we express our dependence and reliance on God in this spiritual battle. We do it through prayer.

And in these three verses then, Paul explains how we should pray in that context. And he does so in a series of prepositional phrases. Each prepositional phrase tells us something else about how we should pray. Now we went through verse 18 last week, but let me just remind you of what we learned there. First of all, Paul says we should pray "with all [kinds of] prayer and petition," all different kinds of prayers. They may be prayers of praise, prayers of adoration, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of confession, prayers of requests from God, but all of our prayers, all the different kinds of prayers, are to be prayed constantly.

Notice the second expression "at all times"—on all occasions, in all circumstances. This is to be a constant issue of life for us. We talked last week about how to do that practically, how to schedule time into your life. If you failed in that this last week, recommit this week to do that. The saints through the ages have done that—"at all times."

Thirdly, we learned we must pray "in the Spirit." That is, we must pray relying on the Spirit's power. When you pray, remind yourself of your need of the Spirit and ask the Spirit to help you pray. It's ironic, isn't it, that the very thing, prayer, that shows our dependence on God, we can't do alone—with the Spirit or in the Spirit.

Fourthly, Paul adds we're to pray with alertness. Look at verse 18: "and with this in view [with this importance of prayer in view], be on the alert." The word "be on the alert" in Greek literally means "to keep watch," "to stay awake," "to have insomnia." You are to keep watch like a soldier over your own soul. Do you understand you can never as a Christian truly go on vacation from this warfare? Satan is trying every day to destroy you. You can never let down your guard. You must always remember you're on active duty as a Christian regardless of where you are and what you're doing. Be praying with alertness.

And fifthly in verse 18, he says we should pray "with all perseverance and petition." This means to pray even when there's no answer. Just keep on praying.

So, looking at this passage then, what we've learned so far from the total passage—verses 10 through 18—the Spirit has really given us two weapons if I could simplify it. He's given us the Word of God. That's the armor, knowing and applying the truth of the gospel to ourselves. And He's given us prayer. Those are our two great weapons against Satan's attacks.

Now today, I want you to notice the last prepositional phrase in verse 18. Here again, Paul continues to explain how we should pray. And in verse 18, he ends with praying "for all the saints." Here Paul tells us for whom we should pray. This expression, by the way, really breaks down into two natural categories and both of those categories are implied in this very passage. So, when Paul says we should pray for all the saints, first of all, we should pray for ourselves. If we're believers, we should pray for ourselves. It's understood that we will pray these things for ourselves. Paul addressed this entire passage to each member of the church in Ephesus and he told each one to stand firm, stand firm by putting on the armor—that is, by understanding and applying the truth of the gospel to yourself—and by praying. So clearly then, Paul intends for each of us to stand firm by praying for ourselves. In other places, he commands us to do that. You remember Philippians chapter 4? "Let your requests be made known to God." It's not an option. So, we're to offer for ourselves all kinds of prayers, at all times, in the Spirit, with a constant state of alertness and with all perseverance. That's how our prayers for ourselves are to look.

But Paul wants us to know that our responsibility to pray doesn't end with us. You know, there's a real tendency to do that, isn't there? Because I have to put on my own armor, because I feel under attack, because I have temptations that I know both originate within me and from outside of me, because I have struggles, I can start to think that the real war is really just between me and Satan. Listen, to think like that is to miss the whole point of the metaphor that Paul is using here of a soldier. There is no such thing as a war in the real sense between two people. Wars are between nations and kingdoms and kings. Listen, it's not you and Satan that are at war. It's God and Satan that are at war. You and I are merely foot soldiers in this army. The picture throughout this passage is of each one of us as Christians being soldiers in the same army. We are partners in war. We battle a common enemy. We need each other. We fight side by side and that means we must pray for one another. Listen, if you were in a real army, if you had been in the Roman army of the first century and you were there at your point on the line, you would know that the defeat of the enemy or your own defeat not only depended on how you held your own ground, but how the soldiers on each side did. You would be concerned about them. Well, Paul says the same thing is true in the spiritual war in which we're engaged. So not only does all, "for all the saints" include praying for ourselves, but really, primarily, it includes praying for all other Christians, praying for all other Christians.

Look back in chapter 1, verse 1 of Ephesians. Paul begins by addressing this entire letter "to the saints who are at Ephesus." If you are a Christian, you're a saint. The word simply means "holy one" and in "holy" here not so much in the sense of that you are perfect, perfectly sanctified, but rather this is describing what happens at the moment of salvation. At the moment you were saved, God set you apart from sin for Himself. He set you apart for a holy purpose, for a special purpose for Himself. You are set apart or holy in that sense. So, if you're a Christian, you're a saint. There's no such thing Biblically as a separate category, there are ordinary Christians and then there are saints. Every believer is a saint. And here, Paul says, when he says, "for all the saints" and he calls all the believers in Ephesus "saints," he's telling them pray for the Christians in your church. If you're going pray for all the saints, you better start with the people around you, the people in your own church.

But drop down to verse 15 of chapter 1. He adds this: "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints." And here, he's spreading out. He's not talking about their love just for the saints there in Ephesus. He's talking about their love for saints beyond Ephesus and so those are saints as well. And so, the believers in Ephesus were not only to pray for themselves and not only to pray for the Christians in their church. They were to pray for all other Christians as well outside of their church family—for all true Christians. Listen carefully. When we pray, we must not as a general practice pray only for ourselves. That is our temptation. It all becomes self-focused.

But when our Lord taught us to pray, the disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray" how did He teach us to pray? It wasn't "My Father who is in heaven"; "give me this day my daily bread"; "forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors"; "lead me not into temptation"; "deliver me from evil." It wasn't that, was it? The Lord said I want you to pray like this: "Our Father who is in heaven"; "give us this day our daily bread"; "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"; "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." That's how we're to pray. It's not "me" and "my." It's "our." We are to pray both for ourselves and for our fellow Christians in this church and for all the saints around the world that God would protect them from Satan's attacks, that God would protect them.

You may know someone right now in your life who Satan is attacking and undermining their confidence in the Word of God. Listen, you need to be praying for them. Maybe you know someone right now who's being intimidated by Satan with fear and persecution—not physical persecution like happens in many countries of the world, but maybe insult and ridicule at school or in the workplace. They're passed over the promotion, they're treated as scum because they believe something as ridiculous as the Christian faith. Pray for them. Maybe you know somebody who's facing a relentless stream of personally tailored temptations that keep coming at them and they keep giving in. You need to pray for them. That's our responsibility. We get so absorbed in our own lives and our own problems that we forget we have other soldiers on each side involved in the same war. And guess what? They're, in many cases, facing the same temptations. What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 10? He says your temptations are "such as is [what? Are] common to man." In many cases, our fellow soldiers are in much worse circumstances than our own, and yet we tend to focus on ourselves.

You know, we ought to do this because it's right, but there's also a benefit to us from praying for others. Listen to Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I love this paragraph:

Prayer is the sovereign remedy for many of the ills and diseases of the soul that tend to defeat us all. It is the sovereign remedy for introspection. Self is the last enemy. It is self that causes most of our troubles. We sit thinking of ourselves and what's going to happen to us, what the effect of something will be on us. We turn in upon ourselves and pity ourselves and are sorry for ourselves and spend our time commiserating with ourselves.

Lloyd-Jones says, "One of the best ways of getting rid of such a condition is to pray for other people. Lift up your head, look away from yourself, and as you do, you will forget yourself." One of the best remedies for sort of inspecting your own spiritual navel is to start praying for other people and their problems and their troubles instead of your own.

Let me ask you bluntly. How often this week have you prayed for someone other than yourself? How often have you prayed for the people who live in your house? How often have you prayed for the Christians in this church, the people around you right now? How often this week have you prayed for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Lebanon and Tunisia and Egypt suffering the unrest that's in their countries? Paul says pray "for all the saints."

Now the question that comes immediately to mind is how. How are we to pray for each other in this spiritual war? Okay, I get it. I'm to pray for all these other people, but what exactly should I pray? Well, in verses 19 and 20, Paul gives us an example of how to pray both for ourselves and for others and he does so using himself and his own circumstances. When Paul begins verse 19 with the words "and pray on my behalf" I don't think Paul is putting himself in a different category than praying for all the saints. Instead, I think his request for prayer is just an example of what it's like to pray for all the saints. So, verses 19 and 20 then provide a very insightful example of how to pray both for ourselves and for others in the middle of this spiritual war.

Now before you can really understand verses 19 and 20, you've got to know a little bit about Paul's circumstances when he writes them because his current circumstances are not easy. Ephesians is one of four letters in the New Testament that we call "prison epistles." Can you guess why? Because it was one of four letters Paul wrote from his first imprisonment in Rome. Ephesians was written near the end of that first imprisonment, about AD 62, from his own rented quarters in Rome under house arrest chained to a Roman soldier.

Let me show you how often Paul makes a big deal about this. He mentions it only three times in this letter. Go back to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1: "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles." Look down in verse 13 of the same chapter: "Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are for your glory." The last time he mentions it is over in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1: "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." That's it. He is a prisoner.

But the question is why. Why was Paul in prison? About four years before he wrote this letter, Paul had gone to Jerusalem with offerings from the Gentile churches for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. But when he arrived in Jerusalem, he found there was a big problem. Turn back to Acts for a moment. I want you to see this and I think it will really help your understanding of Ephesians. Acts chapter 21. Acts 21, verse 17: "After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After he had greeted them, he began to [tell what God was doing] among the Gentiles through his ministry." Verse 20, they were excited about that. They began glorifying God, but they said, let us tell you what's going on here. You see, brother, thousands of the Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the Mosaic Law. Now remember, this is a transition time in the life of the church. Hebrews hasn't been written. The story hasn't been finalized that the Old Covenant is gone and dead and the New Covenant in Jesus Christ is what they ought to pursue. So, this transition time, the Jewish believers were zealous for keeping that Old Testament law.

Verse 21: "and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs." This isn't good. So, what should we do? Verse 22: They're going hear that you've come. This is going create a problem. "Therefore [this is what the leaders of the churches in Jerusalem suggested] do this that we tell you." We have four men who are going take a Jewish vow. You take it with them, verse 24 says. In fact, you pay for their expenses, and you go through this process. And then, the end of verse 24, people will know that "you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the [Mosaic] Law." So, Paul does this, verse 26. You know, wanting to be a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles, "Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of"—he was going to follow through on this vow. This is seven days.

Unfortunately, somehow the Jews become convinced that Paul, in going to the temple and fulfilling this vow, was taking a Gentile Christian with him into the area where only Jews were allowed which would have defiled the whole temple. The rabbis and the priests would have had to clean it from top to bottom. This was a major desecration that invited the death penalty both for the Gentile and for the Jew who brought him. Notice verse 27: "When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, [so this is where Paul was ministering. They see Paul there at the temple, they] begin to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, 'Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and [against] the Law and against [the temple]; and he's even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.'" Why did they think that? Verse 29: "For they had previously seen Trophimus [notice this] the Ephesian in the city with Paul, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was provoked." A riot breaks out. Paul is arrested. Eventually, Paul is transferred from Jerusalem over to the coast of Israel, a Roman city called Caesarea. And there, Paul was kept (are you ready for this?) for two years.

Turn over to chapter 24, verse 26. There was a Roman governor there named Felix and Felix would listen to Paul about his faith in Christ (verse 24). He would get frightened. He'd tell him to go away and then he'd summon again. But verse 26 gives what was really going on: "At the same time too, Felix was hoping that money would be given him by Paul. [Bribes were illegal in the Roman Empire, but they were often a reality. He was hoping Paul would bribe him]; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and converse with him. But after two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul imprisoned." Wow—unfairly arrested, unfairly imprisoned and kept for two years because of a wicked Roman governor who did it solely for financial gain and for political advantage.

Finally, after those two years, Festus, a new governor, Porcius Festus arrives and he hears Paul's case, but it doesn't go well. Look down in verse 7 of chapter 25: "After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him which they could not prove, while Paul said in his own defense, 'I have committed no offense either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.' But Festus [watch it again, here's another governor], wishing to do the Jews a favor" said, [aw, come on] 'Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?' But Paul said, 'I am standing before Caesar's tribunal [he knew he couldn't get a fair trial there], where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.'"

So, Paul then is sent from Caesarea, where he's been incarcerated for two years unjustly and unfairly, he's sent by ship and you, of course, know the story in the book of Acts. There's two weeks of a major storm on the Mediterranean. They're shipwrecked. Eventually, they make their way to Rome. Turn over to Acts 28. Acts 28, verse 16: "When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him. After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together," he began to explain his situation: "Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death. But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar." Verse 20: "For this reason, [therefore,] I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel."

So, when Paul writes to the Ephesians, he is literally bound by a chain in his own rented apartment in Rome. So, the government isn't even paying for him to be incarcerated. He's having to pay for it himself. He's guarded twenty-four hours by a Roman soldier and he's waiting for his hearing either before a Roman prefect representing the Caesar or before Caesar himself—Nero at this time. By the way, Paul's life makes it clear, doesn't it, that knowing and loving and serving Jesus Christ does not mean you won't face any difficulties here and that everybody will like you?

Now I took all that time intentionally because I want you to understand Paul's true circumstances when he wrote the end of Ephesians. Now that you've got that picture, go back to Ephesians 6. Now that you know what he's really dealing with, read again verses 19 and 20: "and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Now folks, I want you just to forget for a moment that you just read that, and I want you to imagine that you were in Paul's circumstances. What would you be struggling with? You have been unfairly, unjustly accused. You have been illegally arrested. You have been illegally held for two years in prison solely because of the political advantage of the governors and their desire to get bribes from you. Then you're transported by sea to Rome. You're now, you've waited two more years waiting to hear, have a hearing before Nero. What do you think you'd be struggling with? Well, let's just be honest with ourselves. We'd be struggling with anger. We'd be struggling with bitterness, probably toward the Jewish Christian leaders in Jerusalem who had suggested the vow that got all of this stuff started to begin with, probably toward the Jewish enemies who followed him, who dogged his trail and made false accusations against him every time he showed up in court, made it necessary for him to appeal to Caesar. We probably would have been tempted to have had anger and bitterness toward those two Roman governors, Felix and Festus, who absolutely aborted justice because they wanted financial bribes or to gain some political advantage, who literally stole from Paul four years of his life.

And what would we be obsessed with? What would we be asking for people to pray for? For our vindication and our release, but notice what Paul asks prayer for in those circumstances—for two things. First of all, utterance—notice verse 19: "pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me." The word "utterance" is not a common word that we use. The Greek word is logos. Pray that I get a word or a message from God. Now that doesn't mean that Paul never studied the Bible and he just sort of sat and prayed, "Lord, give me a message." You know, it's like that cartoon I saw years ago, I still love it, in Preaching Magazine where the preacher is on his knees praying and he's saying, "Lord, please give me a message to go with this great illustration." Listen, he wasn't praying for God to give Him a message in the sense of what I'm doing this morning. No, he was referring to a special promise the Lord had made.

Go back to Matthew, Matthew 16. I'm sorry, Matthew 10, verse 16. Our Lord had promised this would happen. He said,

Behold, I send you out as sheep. [But]beware [verse 17] of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. [If that happens to you], when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

That's a wonderful promise, isn't it? If a believer ever finds himself dragged before a court, before government officials because of his faith, this is a promise he can seize. This is what Paul was praying. He was saying, "You pray that God will do what Christ promised He would do—when I stand before Nero, when I stand before Caesar, that I will be given a message by God Himself."

Notice what he says back in Ephesians 6. Pray that God will give me a logos, "word," a message "in the opening of my mouth." And is this message in his own personal defense? No, look at it, verse 19: "[a message] to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel." What's the mystery of the gospel? Well, you'll remember when I have taken you through Ephesians up to this point, I've told you when you come to the word "mystery" in the New Testament, forget everything you know about the English word "mystery." It has almost nothing in common with it. In the New Testament, the word "mystery" is something that only God knew before and that we would never have come to know on our own, but that God has now revealed and so we can know it. That's what a mystery is Biblically. And he calls it the "mystery of the gospel." What's that? What is the mystery of the gospel? To Paul, the short answer is Jesus Christ. That's the mystery of the gospel. It's Christ Himself.

Turn over to the parallel passage in Colossians chapter 4, verse 3. He has a similar prayer: "praying … for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery [which is] of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned." Christ was God's great secret which is now made clear and revealed is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

But from time to time, Paul would refer to one particular aspect or element of his message about Christ and he would refer to it as a mystery. The whole mystery, the whole secret, is Christ. And sometimes he'd refer to part of what was revealed about Christ as the mystery. He does that in Ephesians 3. In Ephesians 3, he says in verse 4 the mystery is Christ. Then in verse 6, he says: The mystery which has now been revealed [verse 5] is that "the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Jesus Christ through the gospel." So, the mystery is Christ and part of that mystery is that Jew and Gentile would be brought together in the church.

You know what Paul is saying? Paul's saying, "Listen, when I stand before Caesar, I want to talk about God's great secret: Jesus Christ, His gospel and His body, the church." Now why was this important to Paul? Because the Romans saw the Christian faith as a sect of the Jews like Pharisees and Sadducees were sects of the Jews. And Paul wants the Romans to know, he wants Nero to know that the Christian faith is not Judaism. While it's built on the Old Testament, it was an entirely new entity that God had created. So, Paul then wants the Ephesians to pray that when he stands before Nero, God will give him the appropriate message both to preach and to defend the Christian faith. Why? Look at verse 20: "for which I am an ambassador." Here and in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul calls himself an ambassador of Christ. This is my duty. This is my calling, my assignment. I'm an ambassador, but notice "an ambassador in chains." Now that is truly ironic. You see, the city of Rome as the capital of the Roman Empire was constantly filled with ambassadors who had come representing other countries and other governments and other kings. But none of them had ever arrived in Rome like Paul. They had never come in chains because, in the first century just like today, an ambassador, an officially appointed representative, has always diplomatic immunity. That's out of respect for the leadership and sovereignty of another nation, even an enemy state. During the World Wars, we respected the ambassadors of our enemies. We didn't arrest them. They can't be tried under the laws of our own country. They have to be tried under the laws of their home country. That's how an ambassador works. So, Paul shows up as an ambassador of the Lord of the universe and he's in chains. Paul says "pray that I'll have a message when I stand before Nero."

Did you notice what he didn't pray for? He didn't ask them to pray for his release. He just wants to get the message right when he stands before Nero. But he had a second prayer request in verse 20. Look at it: boldness. Utterance and boldness, "that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Now that should shock you because if you've ever read the book of Acts, the very last thing in the world you would ever think of praying for the apostle Paul is for boldness in speaking the gospel. But that's exactly what he asks prayer for here. You see, Paul understood that apart from enabling grace, even he could lack the courage to speak clearly and boldly for Christ and the gospel. What does that teach us about how we ought to pray for ourselves and for each other?

Now the Greek word for "boldness" in these verses, verse 20 and verse 19, literally means, according to one leading lexicon of the Greek language, "outspokenness, frankness, plainness of speech that conceals nothing and passes over nothing with courage, especially in the presence of persons of high rank." That fits perfectly what Paul is talking about here. This word includes "clarity." It includes "completeness, not leaving anything out." And it includes "courage." Paul says when I stand before Caesar, pray that God will give me an appropriate message about Christ and the gospel and pray that I will proclaim it with clarity, with completeness and with courage, that my message won't be confusing, it won't be incomplete, and it won't be the message of a coward.

At the end of verse 20, he adds "as I ought to speak." This is how I'm morally obligated to speak. As John Stott writes, "What concerns Paul most is not that his wrists may be unchained, but that his mouth may be opened in testimony not that he may be set free, but that the gospel may spread freely." Wow, what a prayer.

Now folks, as we end this morning, let me ask you this. What do we learn from Paul's example of how to pray for ourselves and others when it comes to spiritual warfare? What did we learn? We learned this. When you pray for yourself or when you pray for others, pray primarily about the spiritual war between God and Satan. The real issue in your life (listen carefully to this), the real issue in your life is never the physical issue. It's never your circumstances. And the real enemy is never the people involved. Remember verse 12? Paul says, "our struggle is [what?] not against flesh and blood." Our real enemies are Satan and the spiritual forces out to destroy us and to thwart God's purposes in the world. And they are happy to use whatever circumstances they can to accomplish that.

The context of this passage on prayer is the reality that we are locked in a spiritual battle with Satan. We need to put on the armor. That is, we need to apply the truth of the gospel to ourselves. And we need to pray for ourselves and for others. And when we pray, we need to pray about the spiritual battle being waged in those circumstances. And verses 19 and 20 provide us with an example from Paul's own life. It explains how to pray for someone in the middle of a spiritual battle. stopped

Listen, if Paul had looked only on the human side of his circumstances, he would have been tempted to anger and bitterness. He could have easily asked himself, "Where is God? Four years unjustly in prison, are you kidding?" But Paul understood that his circumstances were part of a spiritual war and that he was in exactly the place on the front lines where his commanding officer had assigned him to be. And so Paul prays and he asks them to pray that God will use his circumstances for the advance of the gospel.

Now Paul was an apostle. And at this point, Paul had been a Christian for twenty-five years. And yet here, Paul admits that he needed their prayer to be able to respond rightly to his circumstances. If he needed it, how much more do we need it?

Now I want you to think for a moment about the circumstances of your own life. I want you to think about perhaps temptation or trials or troubles or difficulty that are creating issues in your life. I want you to think about how we tend to look at those circumstances in our lives and in the lives of those we love. When we look through human eyes at those circumstances, what do we see? We see people who are responsible for them. We see seemingly random circumstances. And we're tempted to respond to those people and those circumstances in anger and bitterness. Instead, we should see beyond the people, beyond the circumstances, and we should see it as part of the spiritual battle in which we're engaged.

And then we should make sure that we have on the armor. Make sure you're applying the truth of the gospel to your own soul. And make sure that you are resting in the sovereignty of your commanding officer, that you are in exactly the place on the front line where He's placed you. That's His purpose for now. And pray that Christ will advance the gospel in you and through you to others. Listen, don't pray just for the physical circumstances that you're in or somebody else is in. Don't do that. Copy Paul. Pray that the Lord will use those physical circumstances, whatever they may be, to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ in your heart, in the hearts of others and in the world. Don't ask God simply to remove those circumstances so that your life will be easier and more comfortable. Instead, ask God to advance the gospel through you and those circumstances. That's the mindset of a good soldier. Let's pray together.

Father, help us to see life through Your eyes. Father, help us, like Paul, to see beyond the people who cause trouble in our lives, to see beyond the physical circumstances and to see the spiritual war that is raging between You and Satan. Father, remind us that we are not alone. We are foot soldiers together in this war, that others of our fellow soldiers are facing the same or even worse circumstances. And Father, help us not to pray solely for ourselves, but help us to pray as our Lord taught us to pray for one another. Father, I pray that when we pray, You would help us to look beyond the physical circumstances, beyond the people involved, and to see the spiritual battle raging between You and Satan. And Father, help us to pray not for the removal of our circumstances, not for our own comfort and peace, but like Paul, O God, help us to pray that through our circumstances, even if You choose to leave us in them, the gospel of Jesus Christ would be advanced. Father, give us the right mindset. Harden us as soldiers to fight on behalf of our Lord. Remind us, Father, that however difficult the battle may be and may appear to us today, in reality it is already won and someday our Lord will return and set His enemies to flight and destroy them every one. Father, help us to live and think like Christians.

I pray, Lord, for the person here this morning who has no idea what this is all about because they're still fighting on the other side. They're still thinking they're fighting for themselves and what they want are in reality fighting for Satan. Lord, may they see that today and may they see the beauty of Jesus Christ. And as we read earlier, seeing Him may they be willing to count everything else loss, to give everything else up to have Him. Lord, may You do that work today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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114.

Watch and Pray - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:18-20
Current
115.

Watch and Pray - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:18-20
Next
116.

Do You Love Jesus Christ?

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:24

More from this Series

Ephesians

1.

The Ephesians Overture - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:1-2
2.

The Ephesians Overture - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:1-2
3.

God's Blueprint for Time & Eternity

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:3-14
4.

Blessed Beyond Measure

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:3-14
5.

In Christ

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:3
6.

Sovereign (S)election - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:4
7.

Sovereign (S)election - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:4
8.

Sovereign (S)election - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:4-6
9.

Sovereign (S)election - Part 4

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10.

Sovereign (S)election - Part 5

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11.

Sovereign (S)election - Part 6

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:4-6
12.

Christ's Role in the Drama of Redemption - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:7-12
13.

Still Amazed by Grace

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:8
14.

Christ's Role in the Drama of Redemption - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:7-12
15.

Christ's Role in the Drama of Redemption - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:7-12
16.

Christ's Role in the Drama of Redemption - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:7-12
17.

Sealed By the Spirit

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:13-14
18.

Praying For the Person Who Has Everything - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:15-23
19.

Praying For the Person Who Has Everything - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:15-23
20.

Praying For the Person Who Has Everything - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:15-23
21.

Praying For the Person Who Has Everything - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:15-23
22.

Praying For the Person Who Has Everything - Part 5

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:15-23
23.

Praying For the Person Who Has Everything - Part 6

Tom Pennington Ephesians 1:15-23
24.

This Is Your Life - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:1-10
25.

This Is Your Life - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:1-10
26.

This Is Your Life - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:1-10
27.

This Is Your Life - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:1-10
28.

This Is Your Life - Part 5

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29.

This Is Your Life - Part 6

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30.

This Is Your Life - Part 7

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31.

This Is Your Life - Part 8

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:1-10
32.

This Is Your Life - Part 9

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:1-10
33.

Foreigners to God & His People

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:11-13
34.

He Himself Is Our Peace - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:14-18
35.

He Himself Is Our Peace - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:14-18
36.

He Himself Is Our Peace - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:14-18
37.

Our Union with Christ: Three Compelling Illustrations - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:19-22
38.

Our Union with Christ: Three Compelling Illustrations - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:19-22
39.

Our Union with Christ: Three Compelling Illustrations - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 2:19-22
40.

God's Great Secret - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:1-13
41.

God's Great Secret - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:1-13
42.

God's Great Secret - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:1-13
43.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
44.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
45.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
46.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
47.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 5

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
48.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 6

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
49.

How to Pray for This Church - Part 7

Tom Pennington Ephesians 3:14-21
50.

Walk Worthy!

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:1
51.

Preserving the Unity of the Church

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:2-16
52.

Attitudes: the Petri Dish of Unity

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:2
53.

The Ties that Bind

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:4-6
54.

Our God & General

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:7-10
55.

Church by the Book - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:7, 11-12
56.

Church by the Book - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:7,11-12
57.

Christ's Goal for His Church

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:13
58.

The Implications of Christ's Plan for His Church - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:14-16
59.

The Implications of Christ's Plan for His Church - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:14-16
60.

The Implications of Christ's Plan for His Church - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:14-16
61.

How to Live Like a Pagan - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:17-19
62.

How to Live Like a Pagan - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:17-19
63.

How to Live Like a Pagan - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:17-19
64.

How to Live Like a Pagan - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:17-19
65.

Real Change From the Inside Out - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:20-24
66.

Real Change From the Inside Out - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:20-24
67.

Real Change From the Inside Out - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:20-24
68.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
69.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
70.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
71.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
72.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 5

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
73.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 6

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
74.

Walking In Our Father's Footsteps - Part 7

Tom Pennington Ephesians 4:25-5:2
75.

Free from the Slavery of Sexual Sin

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:3-14
76.

God's Standard of Sexual Purity

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:3-4a
77.

How to Pursue Sexual Purity - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:4b
78.

How to Pursue Sexual Purity - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:4b
79.

Don't Be Deceived!

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:5-6
80.

Walk As Children of Light

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:7-10
81.

Let Your Light Shine

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:11-14
82.

Watch Where You Step! - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:15-18
83.

Watch Where You Step! - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:15-18
84.

Watch Where You Step! - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:15-18
85.

Watch Where You Step! - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:15-18
86.

Three Primary Effects of the Spirit's Influence - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:19-21
87.

Three Primary Effects of the Spirit's Influence - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:19-21
88.

Three Primary Effects of the Spirit's Influence - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:19-21
89.

Three Primary Effects of the Spirit's Influence - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:19-21
90.

Three Primary Effects of the Spirit's Influence - Part 5

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:19-21
91.

A Wife's Submission to Her Husband

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:22-24
92.

Husband, Love Your Wife - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:25-33
93.

The Bride of Christ

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:25-27
94.

Husband, Love Your Wife - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:25-33
95.

Husband, Love Your Wife - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:25-33
96.

Husband, Love Your Wife - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 5:25-33
97.

God's Text to Children

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:1-3
98.

Parenting For Life

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:4
99.

Don't Forget Who You Work For

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:5-9
100.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
101.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
102.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 3

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
103.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 4

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
104.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 5

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
105.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 6

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
106.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 7

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
107.

Learning to Use God's Armor - Part 8

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:10-17
108.

The Belt of Truth

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:14a
109.

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:14b
110.

The Right Shoes for Battle

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:15
111.

The Shield of Faith

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:16
112.

The Helmet of Salvation

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:17a
113.

The Sword of the Spirit

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:17b
114.

Watch and Pray - Part 1

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:18-20
115.

Watch and Pray - Part 2

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:18-20
116.

Do You Love Jesus Christ?

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:24
117.

Benediction!

Tom Pennington Ephesians 6:21-24
118.

The Book of Ephesians

Tom Pennington Ephesians
Title