Ephesians 6:18 (ESV)
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
I started writing a personal commentary on the book of Ephesians a long time ago in order to provide myself a focus for my Bible reading and study. If you look at the dates of my postings, you’ll notice that it didn’t help much with a daily focus. Just like a lot of things in life, this project has been subject to procrastination.
We’ve just about finished with the section on the armor of God and have arrived at verse 18. The verse begins with “praying always.” What this means to me is that prayer should be a regular activity for us as well as on the tip of our tongues, so to speak, so that our communication with God is ongoing. Elsewhere the Bible says “Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
The next phrase speaks of praying with “all prayer and supplication.” Supplication seems to be the kind of praying we do the best. Supplication is asking and pleading with God to meet some need. But there are obviously several different kinds of prayer. Sometimes the word “prayer” as in this verse is just a general term for all kinds of different prayers. Prayer can include confession, thanksgiving, and praise. You may be able to think of others.
The verse concludes with the challenge to be watchful. A soldier on the night watch is ordered to be watchful. We need to be alert because the enemy is roaming around looking for someone to devour. We need to be alert to circumstances of life and the needs of our friends and neighbors so that we can bring these things to the God of heaven. And we can be especially alert for the temptation opportunities that the devil puts in front of us because this prayer instruction is given as part of our spiritual warfare.
Our praying is to be with perseverance. We should not give up. Even though we are told not to pray meaningless vain repetitions, we are nevertheless admonished to be persistent in our praying. See Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 18 for example.
Besides perseverance, we are to pray supplication prayers for all saints. According to Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority.” So, our prayer list probably should be a lot longer than it is. Praying for all the saints we know includes our family, people who go church with us, other friends who are believers, missionaries, etc. Than, as Paul told Timothy, we need to pray for the President and other leaders who are in authority over us.
To be honest, I find praying difficult. The list always seems so long that my endurance in prayer is not what I would like it to be. Paul talks about striving in prayer (Rom 15:30), and that is what it feels like to me much of the time.
Pray for yourself and for your brothers and sisters, that all of us would be able to be more diligent in our praying. This is not a legalistic thing where you check it off your list and say, “I’ve achieved that goal for today. I’m good.” No, it is a matter of communicating with the God who loves us and letting Him know how great He is, what you’re thankful for, and what you need. The throne room is open. We should go in without fear and bring our requests to Him.