Colossians, a book on Christ, the Head, and Ephesians, a book on the Body, both end with the same charge. Ephesians 6:18 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.” “Praying at every time” means not only on every hour or every half hour, but all the time. “All prayer” means all kinds of prayers—short prayers, long prayers, loud prayers, silent prayers, public prayers, private prayers, prayer by yourself, prayer by a number of saints. It doesn’t mean whenever you pray you need to do these things; it means that at every time you need to pray; even every minute you have to pray. Pray at all times, pray at every time, in spirit watching unto this. Watching unto this refers back to the prayer at all times. This means you should be wakeful to such a prayer. You shouldn’t be sleeping. It even says watching unto this in all perseverance. This means not only one kind of perseverance, but all kinds of perseverance. You have to persist; you have to insist to the uttermost. This indicates that there may be something holding you down, holding you back, suppressing, oppressing, depressing, hindering you. So you have to persevere; you have to be persistent; you have to insist; you would not give up.
Thus Paul also picked up the thought to combine pray and watch. The seed of praying and watching was sown in Matthew and the development is here in Paul’s Epistle. All of us know that Ephesians is a book on the Body. But how can you have the Body life? It is not just to understand it, although we surely need to understand because we are complicated people. The enjoyment of food comes from the taste of the food. If you don’t have any knowledge of the taste of a certain food you could never love that food. Once you have some knowledge concerning a certain food you will have an emotional aspiration for that food. Then you need a strong will to get the food. Then you will eat. Likewise, to have the church life we need Ephesians to teach us. But after being taught shall we simply keep the knowledge? No! After being taught with the knowledge concerning the Body of Christ, you need to pray. And you need to pray at every time, not only in the morning or at noontime or in the afternoon or before bedtime. You have to pray at every time.
According to the revelation of Ephesians we have to pray in order to have the church life. Although you may have the knowledge concerning the church, without praying unceasingly you cannot have the church life. The church life does not remain with your knowledge; it remains with your praying, even with your continual and persistent prayer all the time. At the end of Ephesians such a charge is given, indicating that the church depends upon our prayer life. If we don’t have a prayer life, we are through. We may have a lot of knowledge, a lot of revelation concerning the Body, but this does not mean we can have the church life. To have the church life depends upon our continual prayer. Ephesians 6:18, like other verses in these four books, uses many modifiers: “By means...of all prayer...praying at every time in spirit...in...petition.” We have to pray and watch unto prayer in petition. This is the way to watch unto prayer. This means you have to pray every minute and then you have to be awake, not sleeping. We have to be awake to this kind of continual prayer, and this watching is in all petition. This means that while you are praying, you are watchful; while you are praying, you are awake.
According to the Lord’s word in Matthew 26, we are all sleepy persons. If you don’t sleep physically, you sleep spiritually. And many times you sleep psychologically. While I am speaking some may be sleeping physically while others are sleeping psychologically. This means their mind and their attention and their hearing and their realization are absent. Sometimes you are sleeping spiritually. This means your perception is dormant. To be a person who prays unceasingly you must be a watchful person, a person fully awakened, fighting against your sleeping nature and your sleeping being. How do you fight? By petitioning. Prayer is a general thing; petition is a special, particular thing. You have to watch unto the general prayer by special petition.
In Matthew the Lord Jesus only said watch and pray, but Paul developed it very much. Paul’s speaking corresponds with the Lord’s. The Lord said, “The spirit indeed is ready,” and Paul said, “Praying at every time in spirit.” Paul’s word indicates we should forget about our flesh. You shouldn’t let your body sleep so much, but let your spirit pray much. But nearly all the day long we have been subdued and controlled either by our body or by our psychology. So we have to let our spirit rise up over our body and over our psychology. Then we can pray, and we can watch unto prayer in the way of all petition. Of course, this will tire you out, but you need to exercise. If you’re going to get strength, you have to spend strength. If your automobile doesn’t run for a certain period of time, the battery will be run down. While the car is running it exhausts the battery, but it also charges the battery. How do you get more strength? Exercise! If you don’t pray today you cannot pray tomorrow. If you don’t pray in the morning you cannot pray at noontime or in the evening. One time of prayer strengthens you to pray two more times. Two times of prayer strengthens you to pray four times. The more you pray the more you will have to pray. The more you pray the more you will like to pray. And the more you pray the more you will be able to pray. I am in good physical condition because I get a lot of exercise. If I miss two or three days of walking I feel awkward when I begin to exercise again. I may start out walking only sixty minutes a day, but every day I add a minute, and soon I can walk one and one-half hours. When I exercise every day my walking is so refreshing to me. It doesn’t give me an awkward feeling. Exercise increases your strength. If you don’t pray, you just don’t like to pray. If you pray, your appetite for prayer will be increased. So you have to pray and watch unto prayer in all petition. This means don’t cease in prayer. Don’t stop your prayer. Pray all the time and keep yourself all the time wakeful. You have to fight against the threefold sleep: physical, psychological, and spiritual. This word concerning prayer is the concluding charge in the book of Ephesians, a book which reveals the Body of Christ. Isn’t this meaningful? If you don’t have such a kind of watchful prayer, it would be difficult to have the church life.