Praying With All Perseverance in the Spirit
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:18-20 KJV
Introduction
The first Sunday of African American History Month, we began the month focusing on Life’s Perpetual Struggle. The scriptural message from Genesis 32 reminded us that God is with us in life’s struggle; God preserves us through the struggles of life and in clinging to the Lord at all cost we are blessed to be a people of God who fulfill the purposes of God through our lives. The decision after engaging in life’s perennial struggle is whether “you walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” (Martin Luther King Jr.) According to James Russell Lowell, “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide in the strife with truth and falsehood for the good or evil side. And the choice goes by forever twixt that darkness and that light.”
The second Sunday we focused on being strong in the Lord and the power of the Lord’s might, in order to withstand the wiles of the devil (the deceiver whose hidden intent is to distract, delude and create doubt) because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world, and against wickedness in high places. We were reminded of the deceitful nature that perpetuates policies, principles and practices promoting the darkness of this world and wickedness in high places of privilege and power supported by toxic churchianity parading as authentic Christianity. We are wrestling against principles and powers that perpetuates practices and policies that put people in captivity, demean their humanity, deny their right to exist, by creating laws that disenfranchise the many and enfranchise the few. The rulers of darkness and wickedness in high places promote inequity and injustice by justifying entitlement and privilege systematically in social structures that maintain and sustain inequality rather than justice and opportunity for all.
The third Sunday we focused on how to withstand what you face. Paul cites how you are to protect yourself if you are to stand against the wiles of deceptiveness, against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:14-17
|
|
Sunday, February 28, 2021 |
|
The fourth Sunday in African American History Week we are reminded by Paul,
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18 KJV
To understand the purpose of prayer, it is important to first understand what prayer is not. There are many wrong views in the world and culture about prayer, even among Christians, and these should be addressed first.
Prayer is not:
• bargaining with God.
• making demands of God.
• only asking God for things.
• a therapeutic, meditation-type exercise.
• bothering God and taking up His time.
• a way to control the Lord.
• a way to show off one’s spirituality before others.
Consider what you believe is the purpose of prayer.
|
|
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18 KJV
Warren Wiersbe an author, sums up the purpose of prayer well: “The immediate purpose of prayer is the accomplishing of God’s will on earth; the ultimate purpose of prayer is the eternal glory of God,” from On Earth as It Is in Heaven: How the Lord’s Prayer Teaches Us to Pray More Effectively, Baker Books, 2010, p. 78.
Many people believe that prayer is only about asking God for things. Although supplication is a part of prayer (Philippians 4:6), it is not the sole purpose of prayer. Praying for the needs of ourselves and others is needed and beneficial, but there is so much more to prayer. A. W. Tozer warned, “Prayer among evangelical Christians is always in danger of degenerating into a glorified ‘gold rush,’” from Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings, compiled by Gerald Smith, Moody Publishers, 2008, entry for Feb. 26. But God is not a magical genie who answers our every wish, nor is God a weak God who can be controlled by our prayers. God is not our cosmic bellhop to do what we are called to do.
The best way to learn about the purpose of prayer is studying the example of Jesus during His earthly ministry. Jesus prayed for himself and for others, and he prayed to commune with the Father, (the ultimate of his life) as stated in John 17. Jesus prays that the Father be glorified and prays for his disciples and “for those who will believe in me through their message.” John 17:20. Submitting to the Father’s will was another aspect to Jesus’ prayer life, highlighted in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) With any request we have, we must submit to God’s will.
Consider praying in the spirit as submitting to the will of the Lord as you express faith in the presence to be with you as you face life’s diverse situations.
|
|
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18 KJV
Prayer acknowledges that there is a higher authority to whom we owe allegiance, commitment, and loyalty.
Praying in the Spirit is prayer with divine help. It’s trusting in faith and relying on God to hear, understand, and act. Praying in the Spirit is a gift to be received through faith in Christ Jesus. Scripture admonishes. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit helps us when we pray as the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26
We are in a very challenging climate, morally, legally, politically, religiously and socially. Traditional norms of acceptability of what is right and wrong, good and bad, are all twisted and left to subjectivity rather than objectivity. I need not say any more about the reality of the possibility of the future threats to the way of life we cite in our creative altruism, as articulated by the founding documents that envision the kind of people we would be. I have shared it with you before and I’ll share it again, “these are times that try men’s souls,” is the way Thomas Paine expressed it in The American Crisis, a pamphlet series published during the American Revolution from 1776 to 1783. Seemingly, we continue to face the same concerns, issues and problems since our inception which have plagued us as “an albatross around proverbial necks,” breaking our backs, curving our spine, so that we bend with what is convenient instead of fulfilling the creatively altruistic ideals.
Consider what it means that you acknowledge a higher source in your prayers to whom you are committed and loyal.
|
|
And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18.
We continue to struggle with the persistent realities which we created with our bigotry, injustice, prejudice, and privilege as a people. However, we also let our creative altruism form a document that what would help us escape the darkness of selfishness to create a more equitable nation. We fought the American revolution to break with England, (1775–1783). We fought a civil war to establish our democracy, (1861-1865). We have been fighting ever since to achieve what we articulated in these words, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” We are still struggling for equity and justice for all.
I cite this because our government was established with principles from the Judeo-Christian heritage. We even have a chaplain to begin governmental legislative proceedings with prayer in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The inclusion of a prayer before the opening of each session of both the House and the Senate traces its origins back to the colonial period.
Although there is a separation of church and state, we acknowledge as church and state that there is an authority to which we are all accountable whether it is to God, country, laws, oaths that govern and determine what actions and behavior are acceptable.
I close this part with a prayer from James Melvin Washington’s book, Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americas. (William Donnel Watley, Page 266).
“O God, as a black man, I get exceedingly tired and so filled up with confronting and fighting racism, that formidable foe. It passes its poison from one generation to another. It has polluted all of the wellsprings of a nation’s institutional life. More widespread than the drug scourge, more explosive than the nuclear weapons, more crippling than germ warfare – racism has washed up on the shores of every nation of every continent. I know that greater is the One that is in us than the one that is in the world. May that Spirit’s presence and power direct and inspire me now and evermore until victory is won for my people, and all people, and until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” Amen.
Consider the prayer you pray as you continue to struggle with dreams deferred, hopes hindered, and fulfillment frustrated.
|
|
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18 KJV
“Pray and watch.” We can only remain faithful when we are devoted to prayer. In prayer, we continually allow God to forgive us, cleanse us, teach us, and strengthen us to obey God. In order to keep watch, we must pray for endurance and freedom from distractions by, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) Luke 18:1 encourages us to always pray and not faint.” Then, Ephesians 6:18 states, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
“Pray and watch so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Matthew 26:41
In Matthew 5:44, Jesus even admonishes us “to pray for those who despitefully uses you.”
Submitting to the Father’s will was another aspect to Jesus’ prayer life, highlighted in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Yet not as I will, but as you will”. Luke 22:42
Martin Niemoller, a prominent Lutheran pastor and an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler is probably remembered for his postwar words. “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out, Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”
There is a poem by Charles Osgood where the theme is about responsibilty.
There was a most important job that needed to be done, / And no reason NOT to do it, there was absolutely none. / But in vital matters such as this the thing you have to ask, is WHO exactly will it be who’ll carry out this task. / ANYBODY could have told you that EVERYBODY knew, / that this was something SOMEBODY would surely have to do. / NOBODY was unwilling, ANYBODY had the ability, / but NOBODY thought he was supposed to be the one. / It seemed to be a job that ANYBODY could have done, / If ANYBODY thought he was supposed to be the one. / But since EVERYBODY recognized that ANYBODY could, EVERYBODY took for granted that SOMEBODY would. / But NOBODY told ANYBODY that we are aware of, / That he would be in charge of seeing it was taken care of. / And NOBODY took it on himself to follow through and DO, / What EVERYBODY thought that SOMEBODY would do. / When what EVERYBODY needs so, did not get done at all, EVERYBODY was complaining that SOMEBODY dropped the ball.
John F. Kennedy proclaimed, “If not you, who, if not now, when?” (John F. Kennedy) An excuse is a tool of incompetence which build monuments to nothing and he who makes excuses seldom does anything.
“Lord, it’s more than I’ll ever understand, how I am preserved by thy hand. But then there’s only two things required of me; to be faithful (because I’ve been set free) and to be willing to be used by Thee. So Lord I come willing to be used by Thee.” James Melvin Washington’s, Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americas, (Genna Rae McNeil page 256).
Consider the perseverance your prayers provide to manage the frustration of continuing in “the strife with truth and falsehood for the good or evil side.”
|
|
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, Ephesians 6:19 KJV
Prayer prompts one to participate boldly in what God is doing in the world.
Prayer focuses our attention to the higher authority as we continue our “walk in the light of creative altruism rather than in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” (Martin Luther King Jr.) We follow in the footsteps of Jesus who has shown us the way. Our ultimate oath is to the Lord as those who are faithful in following Jesus as the expression of what God is like and what we have the potential to become as creatures made in God’s image and fashioned in God’s likeness.
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for people to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Those who are elected to the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our nation take an oath that transcends the darkness of selfishness.
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”
We can decide how to manage the continuing struggle with hope and optimism. Justice, political, moral, and social concerns and questions of our day require a response.
“O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this golden privilege to worship thee, the only true God of the universe. We come to thee today, grateful that thou hast kept us through the long night of the past and ushered us into the challenge of the present and the bright hope of the future. Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace, help us walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all of God’s children, Black, White, Red, and Yellow will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the kingdom of our Lord and of our God, we pray.” Amen. James Melvin Washington’s, Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americas, (Martin Luther King, Jr. p. 190).
Consider how through and with prayer you are prompted to participate with what God is doing in the world.
|
|
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:20 KJV
Conclusion
When you consider the prayers of the bible, they do run the gamut of human emotions being able to vent their worst thoughts, their best thoughts, and the in between thoughts, all acknowledging the higher authority to who our allegiance, commitment and loyalty belong first and foremost. All other loyalties pale in significance. And we base loyalty to our oaths on a bible when we are elected to public service; to be loyal to the constitution and to defend it and the laws of the land.
Prayer is abiding by loyalty to a higher authority. Prayer encourages perseverance and persistence with supplication of what you need to be faithful to the authority to whom you subject yourself. Prayer emboldens people to be courageous without hesitation or reservation in mind and heart to fulfill what the oath requires.
With every fiber in my body. With all of my heart, soul, and mind. I worship you, heavenly Father, at this appointed time. I’ll let nothing get in the way of what I come to say, You are worthy of all the praise that I bring. Um huh.
Pledge allegiance to the Lord of life. Make your commitment to the giver of every good and perfect gift in life. Be loyal to the abiding presence that sustains you through life.
Consider the prayer you pray that causes you to persevere through life’s challenging circumstances. Lord, I’m available to you. To whom are you available?
|
|
2412 Griffith Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90011
Phone: (213) 748-0318
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
