3. _Take it and employ it vigorously till your life's end._--"His
sword was in His hand." "There is none like it."--_Ibid._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 18-20.
_The Programme of Prayer._
+I. Prayer should be constant and varied in its methods.+--"Praying
always with all prayer and supplication" (ver. 18). The Christian
warrior is armed from head to foot with the girdle, the breastplate,
the greaves, the shield, the helmet, and the sword; no weapon of
defence or offence is wanting; it would seem as if nothing was needed
to complete the equipment. The one essential now is the spirit and
courage to fight, to use the spiritual weapons with dexterity and
effect; and the power to do this is secured by prayer. Prayer should
be constant; the soul should be ever in a praying mood; and
supplication, earnest entreaty, should be used in the special
emergencies that occur in the battle of life. "Praying always with
all prayer": all kinds and methods of prayer should be
employed--prayer in public aided by the sympathy and inspiration of
numbers, in private when alone with God, in the family, in the whirl
of business, in the stress of battle, in the intervals of recreation,
in the heart without a voice and with the voice from the heart. The
earnest and needy soul will find its own way of keeping up a
prayerful intercourse with God. "Some there are," said Wesley, "who
use only mental prayer or ejaculations, and think they are in a state
of grace and use a way of worship far superior to any other; but such
only fancy themselves to be above what is really above them, it
requiring far more grace to be enabled to pour out a fervent and
continued prayer than to offer up mental aspirations."
"Warrior, that from battle won,
Breathest now at set of sun;
Woman, o'er the lowly slain,
Weeping on his burial plain!
Ye that triumph, ye that sigh,
Kindred by one holy tie:
Heaven's first star alike ye see--
Lift the heart and bend the knee."--_Hemans._
+II. Prayer is prompted and sustained by the Divine
Spirit.+--"Praying . . . in the Spirit" (ver. 18). The Spirit is the
author and element of the believer's life in Christ. It is He who
gives the grace and power to pray; He helps our infirmities, and
intercedes for us and in us. Prayer is one of the highest exercises
of the soul, and achieves its loftiest triumphs under the inspiration
and help of the Spirit. He suggests topics for prayer, proper times
and seasons, imparts urgency and perseverance in supplication, and He
alone makes prayer effectual.
+III. Prayer should be accompanied with persevering
vigilance.+--"Watching [keeping awake] thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication" (ver. 18). We must not only watch and
pray, but watch while we pray. Watch against wandering thoughts,
against meaningless and insincere petitions, against the seductive
suggestions of the tempter, and against the tendency to trust in our
prayers or in our earnestness rather than in God, whose help we
supplicate. "With all perseverance" means a sustained, unsleeping,
and unresting vigilance. The word implies stretching out the neck and
looking about in order to discern an enemy at a distance. Without
watchfulness prayer and all the spiritual armour will be unavailing.
The best-appointed army, over-confident in its strength, has suffered
inglorious defeat by neglecting to watch. The wakeful and earnest
suppliant must persist in prayer, undaunted by opposition and
unwearied by delay.
+IV. Prayer should be offered on behalf of the Church in
general.+--"For all saints" (ver. 18). Prayer that in its nature is
generous and comprehensive is apt to become selfish and narrowed down
into despicable limits. The man prays best for himself who prays most
earnestly for others. "Prayer for ourselves must broaden out into a
catholic intercession for all the servants of our Master, for all the
children of the household of faith. By the bands of prayer we are
knit together--a vast multitude of saints throughout the earth,
unknown by face or name to our fellows, but one in the love of Christ
and in our heavenly calling and all engaged in the same perilous
conflict. All the saints were interested in the faith of the Asian
believers; they were called with 'all the saints' to share in the
comprehension of the immense designs of God's kingdom. The dangers
and temptations of the Church are equally far-reaching; they have a
common origin and character in all Christian communities. Let our
prayers at least be catholic. At the throne of grace, let us forget
our sectarian divisions. Having access in one Spirit to the Father,
let us realise in His presence our communion with all His children"
(_Findlay_).
"The saints in prayer appear as one,
In word and deed and mind;
While with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.
"Nor prayer on earth is made alone--
The Holy Spirit pleads;
And Jesus on the eternal throne
For sinners intercedes."--_J. Montgomery._
+V. Prayer should be definite and special in its petitions.+--1. _For
the preacher of the Gospel in unfavourable circumstances._ "And for
me . . . an ambassador in bonds" (vers. 19, 20). An ambassador, being
the representative of his king, his person was in all civilised
countries held sacred, and it was regarded as the greatest indignity
and breach of faith to imprison or injure him. Contrary to the rights
of nations, this ambassador of the King of heaven was put in chains.
Even Paul, with all his magnificent endowments, felt the need for the
prayers of God's people and craved for them. The fortunes of the
Gospel were bound up with his life, and he was now suffering for his
courageous defence of the truth. It was of immense importance to the
early Church that he should be true and faithful in this crisis, and
he asks for the prayers of God's people that he may be sustained and
the Gospel victorious. Here was a definite and special theme for
prayer. Occasions of great peril evoke the spirit of earnest
supplication. It is an aid to devotion to have some one specially
pray for.
2. _For courage and facility in unfolding the mystery of the Gospel
he feels constrained to declare._--"That utterance may be given unto
me, that I may . . . make known the mystery of the gospel, . . . that
therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak [_as I must needs
speak_]" (vers. 19, 20). The apostolic prisoner was more concerned
about his message than his own fate. He hailed the occasion of His
defence before the civil authorities as an opportunity for unfolding
and enforcing the Gospel, for preaching which he was now in chains.
He feels the gravity of the crisis, and he is nervously anxious to do
justice to his grand theme. Clear as was his insight and firm as was
his grasp of the leading truths of the Gospel, he invokes the prayers
of the Ephesian saints that God may give him liberty and power in
their exposition, and that he may win converts to the truth from the
midst of his enemies. The pulpit will become a greater power if the
people of God pray fervently and unitedly for the ambassadors of
Christ. Prayer is more potent in winning souls than the logic and
eloquence of the preacher.
+Lessons.+--1. _The topics for prayer are abundant and ever present._
2. _Prayer nerves the soul with Divine power._ 3. _Earnest and
believing prayer will prevail._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._