CONNECTED THROUGH PRAYER
How many times do we pray for the church? I will be the first to admit that many times when I pray I forget to include the church. However, when the church is on mission for Christ, it is a major threat to Satan. So Satan will work to cause the church and its leaders problems. This is the time when it is even more important to pray for the church and its leadership. God, in ways we don’t always understand fully, chooses to work through the prayers of believers. In the last part of Ephesians, Paul has one last word of instruction – Pray! There were competing religions and philosophies that were causing the Ephesus church problems. We are often exposed to the same type of problems today. The evil that the church was facing required faith and prayer! The mystery of how prayer works must not distract us from our task to pray and to focus on the truth that God wants in our prayers.
Read Ephesians 6:18
Paul was directing Christians to stand their ground and to put on spiritual armor so they could be victorious as they engaged in spiritual warfare- leading up to this verse. He urged believers tin other churches to give serious attention to the ministry of prayer (1 Thess. 5:17; Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2). In verse 18, Paul said they (and us) need to pray at all times, pray with persistence, and pray for each other. This means we must face every situation with prayer. Again, Paul used the Greek meaning of time- it referred to the opportunity.
How can we pray at all times and how does it influence our daily routines? (We can make quick, brief prayers to respond to every situation we meet during the day. This would influence our daily routines by thinking of God at all times.) This means ordering our life around God’s desires and teachings so our way of life becomes a prayer. We don’t have to isolate ourselves from other people and from daily work or interests in order to pray constantly. We can make prayer our life and our life a prayer while living in a world that needs God’s powerful influence. We also should pray for all believers in Christ. So pray for the Christians you know and for the church around the world (all the saints). Paul is saying that “praying” refers to the way all things are to be done. This is the thought behind the hymn which says “Put on the gospel armor,/ Each piece put on with prayer”. The military image drops into the background her, but prayer is the soldier’s communication with headquarters. It is also the spirit with which the troops support one another. Modern armies call for air support (a big reason we all are NOT speaking German or Japanese today). God’s army calls for prayer support. This prayer is to be at all times – time as an opportunity (5:16). Prayer is to be in the Spirit- that is- with the Spirit’s help and with the Spirit as the direction of Christian’s life.
Read Ephesians 6:19-20
Paul states something that could be difficult to understand- “Mystery of the Gospel”. This means that the gospel –the true, only way of salvation- was hidden, a mystery, God has now made known, though it remains a mystery to many (non-believers). Think about the people of the Old Testament; how we learned how some were saved- Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc. But do we really know how Moses, David, Daniel and others received salvation? We are convinced they were saved- but it was a “mystery”.
Undiscouraged and undefeated, Paul wrote powerful letters of encouragement from prison. Paul did not ask the Ephesians to pray that his chains would be removed but that he would continue to speak fearlessly for Christ in spite of them. God can use us in any circumstance. We should also pray that God will accomplish His plan through us right where we are. Knowing God’s eternal purpose for us will help us through the difficult times. Paul’s request for prayer, for himself, to preach the gospel showed his desire and commitment to the gospel. The phrase “open my mouth” was one that is only used for very serious matters. Paul said he was “an ambassador in chains”. There were many ambassadors in Rome in some fine embassies, but as indicated Paul was in prison. He asked only to empowered and strengthened to speak for Christ.
Read Ephesians 6:21-22
We can pray for church leaders better when we know about their circumstances. So what keeps us from being more aware of our church leaders’ prayer needs? (We need to make our duty to desire to know more about our leaders. Of course, many leaders are private people- not true of our Pastor. He is always telling us his personal stories.) Paul tells us a bit about Tychicus (Acts 20:4), whom he describes as a “early loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord”. Tychicus was one of the missionaries who accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey. Paul referred to him four times in his letters. Paul wrote that Tychicus would give the church an update on Paul’s situation (Col. 4:7). He told Timothy he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus (2 Tim. 4:12). Paul also mentioned to Titus that he was sending Tychicus or Artemas (Titus 3:12). Paul was stating that Tychicus was a dependable co-laborer in Christ and a valued friend in kingdom work. From all of this, we can be sure that Paul prayed for Tychicus.
Up to this point, Paul’s personal words have been limited to identifying himself and explaining his mission to the Gentiles. But here at the end of Paul’s letter, he acknowledged the personal ties between himself and some of his readers. Paul was sending a personal messenger who would give the church news of Paul and to encourage those in the church. Sending Tychicus with news about Paul gives us an excellent example to follow as we pray for others who serve the Lord. By knowing what’s going on with others, we can pray for their personal needs, their families, and the provision of resources. We can ask the Lord to give them boldness as they us eth opportunity that opens up to them. I believe you will acknowledge that praying in specific ways makes out prayer time more purposeful and likely longer.
Following verse 19 where Paul requests prayer for himself, he believed that sending news of himself would permit them to want to pray for him. They could also pray for specific issues like Paul’s health. However as always, Paul was trying to encourage and build them up because he was interested in them. This is a major issue of learning from Paul. Specifically, we can enjoy the blessing of knowing how our faithful friends in Christ are doing as they serve the Lord. We can rest in the assurance that comes with getting recent updates on their work. And our hearts can be encouraged! As we reflect on Paul’s intention to keep his Christina friends informed about how his mission is working by sending Tychicus, we do well to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit who we can trust to guide us to know more about the needs of others. This helps us to know how to pray for others so we can be connected more closely to them.
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