These verses are verses about spiritual warfare. They tell us the fact that we are in a war. You don't have to read it in the Bible to discover you are in a war. If you try to live a Christian life on a daily basis, very soon you will understand that you are in a war against the dark side.

These verses of Scripture have laid before us several areas of truth and understanding. In the opening verses of the section he is talking about our adversary. He tells us that we don wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

Then in verse 13 he talks about our weaponry and lays before us the marvelous armor which God has provided, forged by God Himself, so that you and I might have the victory over the devil on a daily basis. Our adversary, our weaponry. Now he shares with our victory-how you and I can get victory in the battle against the dark side. He lays before us what I call the Christian secret weapon. It is a weapon which is largely misunderstood by this world. Most people do not understand it. They do not know its power. Unfortunately, it is a weapon that is unused as much as it ought to be used by God's people. It is the mighty weapon of prayer. It is the believer's secret weapon in the warfare against the dark side.

Here's the picture that Paul has laid before us. He has shown us a soldier who is not putting on all of the armor to do battle with the devil. He has put on each piece of the armor of God. Now, the armor goes forth to battle. The enemy attacks and then the soldier does something very unusual. He drops to his knees and begins to pray.

What kind of soldier is it who prays? What kind of soldier is it who goes forward on his knees?

I read some time ago about an African antelope known as an Gnu. It is a very unusual animal because when an enemy approaches the Gnu, it immediately drops to its knees and then as the enemy gets closer it springs to attack from its knees.

What a picture this is of the mighty power of prayer. You and I have the opportunity to come to God in prayer. Someone said many years ago, I don't know who said it, but it is certainly true. "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees." I think that is true. Then a great writer, S. D. Gordon says this. "Prayer strikes the winning blow. Service is gathering up the results."

Here is an unusual army. It is an army that moves forward and conquers on its knees. Prayer is very important because prayer is what keeps you and me in contact with headquarters. It is very important for an army to maintain contact with headquarters. Headquarters knows all about the movement of the enemy. Headquarters sends down information and tells us the strategy and the attack we are to make.

When you study the battles of the children of Israel in the Old Testament, you will find that they did not win those battles because they had more soldiers. Many times they did not. It is not because they had superior equipment or their strategies were better than the enemy. The reason Israel won their battles is because of prayer. They talked to the Lord, they called on God, and the Lord in answer to their prayer, came down and won the battle for them.

In WWI history there was a regiment in the Argonne Forest that got lost. It became known as "the lost regiment." For days it was out of touch with headquarters. For days nobody knew where the lost regiment was. Its ranks were sadly decimated because they were out of touch with headquarters.

There many Christians today who are like a lost regiment. Some churches today are like a lost regiment. They are out of touch with headquarters. You and I must understand the mighty power of prayer. It is prayer which brings us in contact with the God of the heaven. Prayer is the victory. The place of prayer, the prayer closet, is the place of victory. You and I will never know until we get to heaven just how many spiritual battles have been won because of God's faithful people who have been away in the prayer closet and called on God.

We have many people in our fellowship who are committed to be prayer warriors. You've committed yourself to pray 15 minutes every day for the church and its ministries. Some of you are getting older and you may not be able to do everything you would like to do. You may not be able to be as active as you probably would liked to have been in earlier years. But there is a marvelous ministry that God gives to us even in the years of declining strength. It is the ministry of prayer. It is the ministry of spiritual warfare through the means of prayer.

I think about the Lord Jesus Christ and how for 3 1/2 years He walked on the earth. Up and down the hills of Judea. In and out of the villages and the cities. Then the time came for Him to be nailed to the cross. They nailed our Lord Jesus on the cross. No longer would His hands touch the blind and make them see. No longer would His feet walk across those dusty roads of Galilee. Now, on the cross, Jesus three times, prayed. There's something you can do when you cannot do anything else. I want to talk to you about our secret weapon. I want to talk to you about the mighty power of prayer. I'll do it from these verses of Scripture.

In verse 18 I want you to look at a couple of truths here that are side by side with one another in the Bible that I want to point out to you. He begins by saying, "praying" and in the middle of the verse he says, "watching." Praying and watching. That reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the disciples that night in the garden of Gethsemane. The night before He was going to the cross, Jesus said, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation."

We know what happened. Instead of watching they went to sleep. Instead of praying the dozed off. So when the enemy came to arrest the Lord Jesus the Bible says about those disciples, "they all forsook Him and fled."

We must learn to watch. It is when we watch that we sight the enemy. We must pray because it is when we pray that we fight the enemy. I want to encourage you as God's children to keep your eyes open in these dark days in which we live. Be watchful. Be alert. Don't go to sleep. Then be very, very prayerful. Watch and pray. Pray and watch.

The next thing I want you to notice in verse 18 about this passage on prayer is that he uses the word "all" four times. He says, "praying always." "With all prayer." "Watching thereunto with all perseverance." "Supplication for all saints."

I want to take those four uses of the word 'all" and talk to you about our secret weapon, the mighty weapon of prayer. "Put on the Gospel armor," the Bible says. "Each piece put on with prayer."

One of my favorite allegories is one of the great allegories of all time-Pilgrim's Progress-written by John Bunyan, a Baptist preacher. In this magnificent allegory of the Christian life, he comes to what he calls "all prayer." here's what he says about "all prayer"--the mighty weapon of prayer. "When thus he wielded this mighty weapon, the fiends of hell gave back and came no further.

The four "alls" of prayer.

I. We Must Pray Regularly.

We must pray always-pray on a regular basis. Pray always. That just means we need to learn to pray all the time. When you wake up in the morning you ought to pray. You ought to begin your day with prayer. At the noontime you ought to pray. In the afternoon you ought to lift your heart toward God in prayer. In the evening when you get home, you ought to pray. When you are driving in Jacksonville traffic you had better pray. Always pray. There are two kinds of pedestrians in Jacksonville-the quick and the dead. You better really be praying in Jacksonville. That simply means that we are to be praying on all occasions. We are to be in the spirit and in the atmosphere of prayer so that our prayer life is a regular part of our life.

In I Thessalonians 5:17 the apostle Paul tells us to pray "without ceasing." That doesn't mean you have to be down on your knees all the time. That does mean that you are to be in a conscious communion with God all the time. Do you pray all through the day? Talk to God on a regular basis. Pray regularly. Pray all the time.

Why does the Bible tell us that we ought to pray all the time? The very time you don't pray may be the time the devil launches his attack. The devil tries to catch you when you you're not praying. The devil tries to catch you at an unprotected time in your life. That prayerless time is a perilous time because that may be the very moment that the devil makes his fiercest attack against you.

So we are to pray regularly. Talk to God on regular basis. Pray always, he says in these verses.

The devil will do anything he can to keep you from praying. Have you experienced that in your own personal life? When you get ready to pray, have you noticed how easy it is for your thoughts to wander? There you are. You are settled and ready to pray and sure enough, you think about something you forgot to do. Or you think about something on the job you left undone. The telephone rings. The cat falls in the aquarium. Something always happens when you pray. The devil will do everything he can to hinder you from praying. Wandering thoughts. Wicked thoughts. Sometimes when you are praying the devil will hurl wicked thoughts through your mind. Wayward thoughts. Worthless thoughts. Unworthy thoughts.

I want to share with you one thing that will help you with wandering thoughts in praying. Just pray out loud. Just talk to the Lord like you would talk to someone else. Some people find it helpful to walk while they are praying. Some of the great saints of God have prayed as they walked. I would encourage you to do some of these things to help you to learn to pray on a regular basis.

The second all "will all prayer and supplication in the spirit. This teaches us about the mighty weapon of prayer that-

II. We are to Pray Correctly.

Notice that little prepositional phrase, "in the Spirit." He is referring to the Holy Spirit. The Bible talks about praying in the Spirit. In Jude 20, the Bible says, "but ye beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit." He is saying that we must learn to pray correctly. We must learn to pray in the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit.

Let me give you a little statement that I think will help you in the matter of prayer and it will help you understand what prayer is really all about. Here's what correct prayer is. Correct praying is TO the Father, THROUGH the Son and IN the Holy Spirit. Jot that down somewhere in your Bible.

What do we mean when it says, "praying in the Holy Spirit." I do not believe it is referring to a prayer language, as such. I do not believe it is talking about something which happens which causes you to bypass your mind. The Holy Spirit does not bypass your mind when you pray. The Holy Spirit does not eliminate your mind when you pray. The Holy Spirit enlightens your mind and empowers your mind when you pray.

Turn to Romans 8. I think this passage of Scripture explains what praying in the Holy Spirit is all about. Look at verse 26 and 27. One of the great statements in the Bible about praying in the Holy Spirit. "Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities." Do you ever come to the Lord in prayer and have a great feeling of infirmity? You have a great feeling of weakness. You come to the point that you just don't seem to even be able to pray. Have you hit those crisis points in your life? Those difficult times in your life when you couldn't even seem to pray. The Bible says on those occasions the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities. "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought."

Not only do we feel infirmity, but we feel our ignorance in prayer. Sometimes we don't know what to pray for. Do you ever get that way? You don't know exactly what to ask God for. You aren't really sure about the situation. Well the Holy Spirit helps us. He helps us with our infirmities and our ignorance. "for the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." It is simply saying that as we begin to pray and we feel our infirmity and our ignorance, the Holy Spirit creates the prayer on the inside of us. It says in verse 27, "He who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." The Holy Spirit enlightens our prayers. He enlightens us to understand what God's will in the matter so we can pray that. Then He empowers our prayers with groanings and utterances which cannot be uttered with human words. This is talking about the help of the Holy Spirit. It is talking about the fact that when we pray we have a blessed paraclete who comes alongside of us and helps us to pray in those difficult times.

I have experienced it so many times and I think probably you have, too. There have been those times of prayer and I seem to be grappling, not knowing what to say. I seem to be struggling not know exactly what god's will was in the matter. Somehow the blessed Holy Spirit would break through and he would create a prayer in my heart. He would seem to give me the will of God in the matter. There seemed to be a great surge of power and my prayer became liberated. My words became loose and I was able to pray intelligently, according to the Scriptures. I was able to pray with enlightenment, according to the will of God. There was a power that seemed to emerge.

When we were studying the Tabernacle we go to the altar of incense-that golden altar. The priest would go in there with that altar with incense in one hand and a golden sensor-a pan with fire in the other hand. He would take that incense and put it on the altar. Then he would take the fire and through the incense into the fire. When he did the fire turned the incense into smoke and it arose toward heaven. The fire of prayer is the Holy Spirit. the fire of prayer is the intercession of the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us according to the will of God.

We must learn to pray correctly. We must pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

Notice the 3rd all.

III. We Must Pray Persistently.

That means we must keep it up. We must not give up when we pray. The devil will attack constantly so we need to learn to pray constantly. We need to learn to pray persistently.

I think about what Jesus said when He said, "Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." The tense of the verb really indicates you ought to read it this way. "Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on praying." It's as if the Lord Jesus Christ piles words up to encourage us to keep praying and not give up.

Too many times we are like little boys who run up to houses and ring doorbells. Then they rush away before anyone comes to the door. Sometimes in our prayers we pray, but we stop praying before the answer comes. There are some of God's children who have prayed for years and years and years for things to take place.

Last Sunday morning, a lady in our church shared this testimony with me. She was so excited and thrilled. I got thrilled with her. She said, "My husband went to the Billy Graham Crusade on Friday night and was saved." She said, "I've been praying 36 years for my husband to be saved." Thirty-six years! Praise God for persistent prayer. Don't give up.

I used to hear a song when I was a boy-preacher. "Just keep on praying 'til the light breaks thru. Just keep on praying He'll answer you. God hears your prayers, He'll answer you. Just keep on praying 'til the light breaks thru."

There's power in persistent prayer. Jesus to a parable one time in Luke 18. I love this parable. It's one of my favorite parables of Jesus. In verse 1 it says, "and Jesus spoke a parable unto them, to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint." He was saying, "I'm fixing to tell a story which teaches that you ought to pray all the time and don't faint-don't give up." Then He told the parable about the wicked judge. The widow woman came to the judge and said, "Avenge me of my adversary." He just kind of brushed her off and she just came back again. He brushed her again. Next morning when he came to the office he said to his secretary, "Who is that sitting out in the waiting room?" "Same widow woman. She's come to ask you to avenger her of her adversary." He was a crooked judge but he said, "I don't fear God and I don't fear man, but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to grant her request to get rid of her."

Is the Lord trying to tell us that God is like a wicked judge and we have to twist His arm and talk Him into answering our prayer? No. That's now what it's saying. He is teaching truth by contrast. He is saying that God is not a wicked judge whose arm you have to twist. He is saying that God is a loving, heavenly Father who invites us to keep on keeping on and to keep on persistently praying. Why is it that prayers are not answered when we want them to be answered? Why is it that sometimes prayers are delayed?

Probably just about every one of us in this building have prayed a prayed recently and there has been no answer. I would say that 99.9% of you do pray. And you have prayed a prayer recently and there has been no answer to that prayer and you are tempted to give up.

Delayed prayer is a mystery to us. We don't have all of the answers to it. Sometimes we pray with wrong motives. Sometimes we pray wrong things and God does not answer those prayers. There is always an answer to prayer. God either says yes and He gives you the answer. Or God says no and He knows what is better for you and he doesn't give you what you've prayed for. Or sometimes God says to wait awhile. You may be in that "wait awhile" state. I personally am very thankful that prayer is left to the mind and heart of God and that I don't always get my prayers answered when I want them answered. I daresay most of you are that way also.

Some of you ladies, just think if God had given your prayer and you had got old Herbert instead of Sam. Have you see Herbert lately? You thought Herbert was the one. You though you had to have Herbert. But God said, "No, I'm going to give you Sam." Look at Sam now. Aren't you thankful for Sam?

So sometimes we pray with wrong motives and sometimes we pray with wrong desires. Sometimes God is doing a work in our lives. Sometimes through the wrestling of praying persistently for something God is working. He has a way of purifying your motives and showing you things in your life that ought not to be as you wrestle and grapple trying to find the answer to the unanswer of prayer. Sometimes God is just teaching us to be patient and to wait on the Lord.

I thought about this beautiful song-"My help cometh from the Lord." What a wonderful blessing that is. Isn't it wonderful to know that we can wait on the Lord? Our help is on the way. It may not come today. It may not come tomorrow, but prayer answers are on the way. It's just around the corner. We must pray persistently with all perseverance.

Notice this 4th all of prayer. "And supplication for all saints. We must pray regularly. We must pray correctly. We must pray persistently. Now--

IV. We Must Pray INCLUSIVELY.

We are to reach out and include all saints in our prayer. It's easier to pray for some of the saints than others. Some saints are sweeter than others. I understand that. Dr. Lindsay used to frequently ask me, "Give me that poem again about the saints." He liked that. "To dwell above with saints we love, that will indeed be glory. To live below with saints we know, well, that's another story."

But we ought to be patient with all the saints. God is doing with them just like He's doing with us. He's working on them. Praise God! We may not be where we are going to be, but we are now where we used to be.

We are to pray. If you see a saint of God that's not where they ought to be-pray for them. Pray that God will help them to be what they ought to be. Pray for all saints. The Christian faith is an army. You are not a solitary soldier. You are not on the battlefield alone. There are other saints of God who are praying. Pray for all the soldiers in the warfare. Pray for all God's saints. Pray for your Sunday School teachers. Pray for your Care Group Leaders and your Out Reach Leaders. Pray for your choir. Pray for your deacons. Pray for your staff. Pray for your pastor.

He says in verse 19. This is the great apostle Paul, "And for me." Pray for me. This is Paul talking. The great saint of God, the great missionary, the great scholar, the great theologian. Paul begs the saints of God to pray for him. I would include myself in that. I would ask you to pray for me. He says, "Pray for me that utterance may be given." Paul realized he had a unique opportunity. Paul was in a Roman prison, chained to a Roman soldier. Those Roman soldiers were dispatched from the Imperial Palace of Caesar. They were in shifts, back and forth. The apostle Paul saw those soldiers as an inroad into Caesar's palace. He said, "Pray for me that utterance may be given, that I may open my mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel." He is saying, "Praying for me that I will set forth the message of the gospel with clarity. Help me to make it plain and simple."

When you come to our services, I want to encourage you to pray for me that God will help me to make it plain. Notice he used the word, boldly, the second time down in verse 20. "Therein that I may speak boldly." Not only speak it with clarity, but speak it with courage. Pray for the preacher that he will speak God's message with clarity. Speak it with courage-that he would be bold to tell the truth of God as it ought to be.

Clarity without courage is like the sunshine in a desert. There's plenty of light, but there is nothing to see. But courage without clarity is like a beautiful garden at midnight. There's plenty to see, but no light to see. So, we need clarity and courage. We need light and we need courage to speak the word as we ought to.

Paul says, "I'm an ambassador in bonds." You are an ambassador. II Corinthians 5:20 says, "Now, then we are ambassadors for Christ." We are representatives of the heavenly kingdom. We are representatives of heaven. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ in this world. Paul says, "I am an ambassador in chains." Ambassadors, in those days when they attended festive occasions, would often wear ornamental chains that set forth the splendor and the wealth of the country they represented. The apostle Paul says I have some chains, too. His prison chains were his badges of honor. When we get to heaven, the Lord is not going to be interested so much in how many medals and how many decorations you received, as scars you have endured serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are to pray for one another that we might speak the message boldly and be bold witnesses for the Lord Jesus.

I want to encourage you to have a daily prayer time. I pray in the mornings. I would encourage you to set aside a time, maybe at your work desk. Maybe on the job you can get there a few minutes early. I would encourage you to have a definite time of prayer every day. I would encourage you to have a place to pray. Some of you may have a prayer rug down by your bed. That may be where you pray. Some of you may have a little place out behind the house that may be where you pray. Find you a place. Have a definite time. Have a definite place where you pray. Then get into some method of reading the Bible. One of the best ways in the world to pray is to pray the Bible to the Lord. Just talk back to the Lord in His word. Have a method of reading your Bible because as you read the Bible you will run across the promises that God makes to you in the Word. Learn to claim those promises in prayer. Then pray on a daily basis, all through the day. That's our secret weapon.

Joshua was getting ready for the battle of Jericho. His heart was leaping within him. He was filled with anxiety and fear. The night before the battle he got alone and sensed that he was in the presence of another. He said, "Are you for us or are you for them?" The one who was there said, "No. As the captain of the host of the Lord, am I come." It was Jesus, the captain of our salvation. He was basically saying to Joshua, "I'm the captain. I'm going to lead you into victory over Jericho." The Lord said to Joshua, "Take off your shoes from your feet. Where you are standing is holy ground."

When you get into the prayer closet, you are on holy ground. Take off your shoes. When you get into the presence of God in prayer, you are in the presence of the captain of your salvation who has already won the victory. The Bible says, "Now, thanks be unto God who always causes us to triumph in Christ." The Bible says that on the cross He spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them.

When Jesus Christ died on that cross, He was buried in the tomb, He walked through the halls of hell, announcing the victory He had won on the cross. On the third day He arose again from the dead with the keys of death and hell on His side. He got in His ascension chariot and He rode back into the gates of glory and the victory, the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and He is ever making intercession for you and me. We have the victory in prayer.

Every head bowed. I hope I have challenged your heart to pray-to use your mighty weapon of prayer. If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, I hope you will do so tonight.

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