Ephesians 6:18-20; Prayers for the ministries of all others are effective.

Class Outline:

Thursday August 18, 2022

EPH 6:18-20

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, 19 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, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

 

The apostle has bidden his readers apply themselves with wakeful and incessant earnestness to prayer.

 

Prayer is the arm of spiritual combat that is meeting privately with the Commander.

 

By prayer, the Christian soldier draws reinforcements of mercy and knowledge and hope from the eternal source of good. By this means, the Christians in Asia whom Paul is writing to will be able to carry on their own conflict with vigor and to help the other saints in the brand-new church do the same.

 

Notice what Paul is asking for.

 

The apostle Paul stood at the forefront of this battle. What if for some reason Paul lost his boldness to speak? The damage to the gospel and the church in this world would be great. By the time of this writing, Paul has probably stood before the procurators Felix and Festus (Act 24), and before king Agrippa (Act 26). Paul speaks the gospel with boldness and does not beg for his life. He proclaims his innocence of the charges brought against him because he was in fact innocent and the Jewish leadership, wanting to see Paul killed, lied about him. Paul appealed to Caesar and he will have to stand before the emperor’s tribunal in Rome. We have no record of Paul at Caesar’s tribunal.

 

Paul asks for prayer knowing that he will be soon facing some very intimidating audiences to whom he must make an issue out of the gospel and not unfairness, laws, or injustice.

 

Paul wants to face his Jewish accusers and the Roman courts like Jesus did.

 

Php 3:10

that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

 

Paul wrote the command in this letter:

EPH 4:29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

 

His request is prayer so that when he speaks it may be the gospel that issues forth and not fear, anger, or a cry for earthly deliverance.

 

It is vain or unwholesome to speak of anything but the truth and grace at the moments when they are needed. Rash and vain words can never do good, and will often do harm.

 

Compare with the sister passage in the sister epistle.

 

COL 4:2-6

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. 5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.

 

Paul requests in both letters that they pray for how he ought to speak and in both letters commands them to speak as they ought to speak.

 

The principle is to live yourself in what you are praying for others.

 

Perseverance and persistence in prayer is taught multiple times by the Lord and Paul. Now, similar questions will arise concerning sovereignty as does with prayer in general when we linger on this wonderful truth. “Why should I have to keep asking when God can’t forget anything, plus, He already knew what I was going to ask before I asked?” It is something we cannot fully answer, but what we can answer is as to the frequency of times in the Scripture we are told to persist in prayer, as in all of God’s instruction, it is for us.

 

Prayer for ourselves must broaden out into a persistent intercession for all the servants of Christ.

 

It is biblical for us to ask others to pray for us, but for legitimate things as God would define it.

 

When it comes to prayer for ourselves, which we will see in more detail when we are finished with exegeting our passage, we must understand what God wants for us and then ask, seek, knock accordingly. God is interested in the spiritual condition of our souls. That is not to say that He doesn’t desire to bless us materially if/when we have the capacity not to be distracted by them, but even if we are mature enough, that is no guarantee of material. Job was rich, John the Baptist was poor. Paul was rich and then became poor, losing it all for the cause of his ministry. Sometimes the poor also become rich, but what God is interested in is the richness of our inner selves. As we see here, Paul is interested in the success of his ministry of the gospel.

 

Paul prayed for the church as a whole as well as individuals. He therefore prayed for people he never met and we can do the same. The quality of the church is the one most important thing to the health of our nation. The church doesn’t need to lobby Washington. It only has to influence the communities where the individual churches exist and over a short time, millions and millions will be influenced by the gospel, the truth, and goodness in general. We should pray for the church here and throughout the world and for our own church. We should pray for the ministries of everyone in our church. We should pray for our own ministry to this church in seeking the work and service that God would have us do.

 

Php 1:12-21

Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. 15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice. 19 For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

 

Paul doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge that the prayers of others had a portion in the cause of his deliverance.