Benjamin - January 2011

I am Called to Pray!

I keep wanting to press more into Jesus, to connect more with who He is and what He thinks about situations that are going on around me and in different areas throughout the earth. Many times at night I lay wanting to be able to really pray. I always start prayers with requests that the Lord help me pray. You know where the scriptures say “teach us how to pray” (Luke 11:1) and “I want to believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24), those kinds of prayers.

In Ephesians 6, Paul talks about the armor of God. He describes how to use the armor. He tells us to put on the armor that we might withstand, and having done all, still be standing when we are wrestling in heavenly places. The wrestling that he is describing is a picture of being in a battle. That is exactly what it is, a battle. Thus we wear the armor. It is for protection as we stand and fight for the truth of God. And that is where Paul starts.

In Ephesians 6:14, Paul tells us to stand with our waist protected with truth, and our heart with the breast plate of righteousness, our feet prepared to take the gospel of peace, and above all to have faith as a shield to guard us from the arrows of the devil. He tells us our helmet is salvation and our offensive weapon is a sword. And that sword is the Word of God. It is a powerful weapon!

So, what I think we can learn from that passage is that we are constantly in a spiritual battle and that battle is prayer! In that battle we have to protect ourselves by speaking the truth in all things, walking in Jesus’ righteousness, and knowing we can only do those things through faith! Salvation protects our mind, and that’s why Paul tells us to put it on like a helmet. But the only way that we can come to salvation and be righteous and truthful and ready to share the gospel is by God’s word, and is through understanding God’s Word. And that is the final thing Paul tells us to “take up”, the sword of the Spirit. It is the only power that we will have to use to fight in our battle of prayer.

I do feel called to pray. Reading this passage really made me stop and think. If I want to be effective and able to pray, I will have to know and live by His word. I don’t have to be fearful and wonder what to pray. I can pray His word and know His will through doing that. I can always pray in Faith!