The shield of faith quenches all the flaming darts of the evil one (v. 16). Most of these darts are doubts. We should give up all our doubts, not only about God, but even about the believers, the brothers and sisters. The enemy constantly sends darts to make us doubt others. If we accept the darts of doubting, we will have problems with the brothers. We must always keep faith as our protection from the attack of the enemy’s darts.
The helmet of salvation is for our head (v. 17a). As we realize the church life and fight the battle, we always need to pray that the Lord will cover our head. The Lord must cover our head with His precious and victorious blood. Our head needs the covering because the head has much to do with the mind, the way of thinking. There are always the openings for the enemy to come in to attack us through the mind, the mentality. If the saints come together for only a few weeks, they will feel good toward one another, but gradually over the months and years suspicions may grow between them. We cannot say why, but the saints become suspicious without any reason. This is one example of the attack from the enemy. Other kinds of thoughts also come as darts from the enemy. Therefore, we need our head covered. We must pray that the Lord will cover our head, our mentality, our thinking, our mind. We need the helmet of salvation.
In addition to the above items, there are two weapons. The first is to exercise to contact the word by the Spirit (v. 17b). We must read the word prayerfully so it may be living, powerful, and prevailing to us. We should take the word not in dead letters but in living power. We can exercise the word as the living sword to attack the enemy. This is our offensive weapon.
The last item of the armor is the most important. This is prayer (vv. 18-19). This is not merely to pray for our small personal matters. Many good saints pray day by day only for their small matters, such as their house and pets. A certain elderly sister in my hometown prayed much for the chickens she raised. She prayed that the Lord would protect the chickens and the things she needed to raise them. We should forget all such matters related to our family and our living. The Lord told us that our Father knows everything that we need. Rather, we should pray for the kingdom, the gospel, the church, and the Lord’s interest.
Verse 18 says, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.” Prayer is a general term, while to petition is to pray in a specific way with a certain purpose. Verses 19-20 continue, “And for me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known in boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in a chain, that in it I would speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Me in verse 19 refers to the apostle, the sent one. Utterance here is the Greek word logos, meaning word. Our utterance is the proper, expressive word. These verses indicate that the things we must pray for are the kingdom of God, the saints of God, the gospel of the Lord, and the Lord’s interest. If, for example, we see certain things in the church, we should not talk to one another as if reporting news, providing material to gossip about. To gossip about church affairs opens the door for the enemy to come in and attack the church. The more we know something about the church, the more we need to bring it to the Lord, to touch the throne by our prevailing prayer. This is the right way to pray. If we are properly realizing the church life, we will stop all gossiping and be prevailing, living, active, and positive in prayer. We will go to the Lord to pray, to touch the throne, and to bring all problems to the throne.
We intend to practice the real church life, but there are many things involved with this. Therefore, we must give up gossiping and common talking and be positive and active in prayer. We should go to the Lord and pray by ourselves and with two or more others. We must take the ground and standing of the church, identify with the heavenly Head, and pray in a prevailing way for the church. If we see a weakness with someone, we must not talk. If we see that some of the leading ones are not adequate or qualified, we must not criticize. Rather, we should go to the Head on the throne and pray. Then the Lord will solve the problem or remove it.
We must not point to someone and say, “What kind of a leading one or elder is that?” When we criticize in this way, we damage the church life and open the way for the enemy to come in and attack the church and bring death into the Body. We are defeated by the enemy already. We lose our ground, and we damage the church very much. The only thing we must do is to bring this matter to the Head and pray, “Lord, be merciful to us and be merciful to that brother. Lord, we leave it to You what You must do.” The Lord will honor our prayer. By praying in this way, we will be those standing in the opening to shut the way for the enemy to come in to attack and damage the Body. We must simply go to the Lord and pray. If someone else has the same realization we have, we should be one to go to the Lord to pray. Our weapon is our prayer for the matters we see and for the Lord’s servants.
We must take the ground of being in the church, in Christ, in the Spirit, and in the heavenlies. Moreover, we are not dealing with mere humans; we are dealing with the evil forces of darkness, the kingdom of the enemy. This is our real enemy. We must also remember our defenses: being girded with truth, having the breastplate of righteousness, being shod with the gospel, having the shield of faith, and putting on the helmet of salvation. We must also learn how to exercise in the word in the spirit in a living way, and we must learn how to pray and petition. Many times we must pray with all kinds of prayer and petition.
The church life is a prayer life. I especially ask the leading ones among the saints to realize a real prayer life. The leading brothers must come together to pray often and pray more. Then they will help all the saints to learn to have a prayer life. To simply have a prayer meeting in the church once a week is not sufficient. The church must have a prayer life, and the leading ones must take the lead in this prayer life. All these items are the armor we need to fight the battle. In these days the battle is not a small matter. It is not a small matter to speak about the eternal purpose and central thought of God, the church life, the testimony, and the recovery of the testimony. We cannot succeed merely by speaking or preaching. We must realize these matters by fighting and by praying.
Here are many lessons for us to learn. If the Lord is gracious to us that we may learn the lessons of realizing the Body life and the real spiritual warfare, there is no need for other teachings. This is sufficient. By this we will be exercised, disciplined, ruled, and controlled by the Lord in the spirit. We will learn all the lessons spontaneously, and there will be no need for others to teach and direct us; we will be directed already. This is the only way for us to realize the church life and have a real recovery of the Lord’s testimony on this earth, especially in this country, in these last days. This is why I am so burdened for these matters, and this is why I have kept these matters for the end of these messages. I am waiting to see what will come of these lessons. Let us pray and look to the Lord that He will make them so real to us, so that each one of us may realize the church life and realize the real spiritual warfare for the kingdom of the Lord.
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