The description of the Christian soldier given by Paul in Ephesians 6 is compact and comprehensive. He is depicted as being ever in the conflict, which has many fluctuating seasons—seasons of prosperity and adversity, light and darkness, victory and defeat. He is to pray at all seasons, and with all prayer, this to be added to the armor in which he is to go forth to battle. At all times he is to have the full panoply of prayer. The Christian soldier, if he fights to win, must pray much. By this means only is he enabled to defeat his inveterate enemy, the devil, together with the evil one’s manifold emissaries.
“Praying always, with all prayer” is the divine direction given him. This covers all seasons, and embraces all manner of praying.
Christian soldiers fighting the good fight of faith have access to a place of retreat, to which they continually repair for prayer. “Praying always, with all prayer” is a clear statement of the imperative need of much praying, and of many kinds of praying by him who, fighting the good fight of faith, would win out in the end over all his foes.
The Revised Version puts it this way: “With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplications, for all saints, and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me, in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel….” It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men.
The life to which Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junket. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he removes his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to “endure hardness as a good soldier.”…
The Christian soldier wrestles not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places. Or, as the margin reads, “wicked spirits in high places.” What a fearful array of forces are set against him who would make his way through the wilderness of this world to the portals of the celestial city! It is no surprise, therefore, to find Paul, who understood the character of the Christian life so well, and who was so thoroughly informed as to the malignity and number of the foes which the disciple of the Lord must encounter, plainly urging him to “put on the whole armor of God” and “to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Wise would the present generation be if all professors of our faith could be induced to realize this all-important and vital truth, so absolutely indispensable to a successful Christian life.
It is just at this point in much present-day Christian profession that one may find its greatest defect. There is little, or nothing, of the soldier element in it. The discipline, self-denial, spirit of hardship, determination, so prominent in military life, are largely lacking. Yet the Christian life is warfare all the way.…
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
All these directions end in a climax; and that climax is prayer. How can the brave warrior for Christ be made braver still? How can the strong soldier be made stronger still? How can the victorious battler be made still more victorious? Here are Paul’s explicit directions to that end: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
Prayer, and more prayer, adds to the fighting qualities and the more certain victories of God’s good fighting men. The power of prayer is most forceful on the battlefield amid the din and strife of the conflict. Paul was preeminently a soldier of the cross. For him, life was no flowery bed of ease. He was no dress parade, holiday soldier, whose only business was to don a uniform on set occasions. His was a life of intense conflict, the facing of many adversaries, the exercise of non-sleeping vigilance and constant effort. And, at its close—in sight of the end—we hear him chanting his final song of victory, “I have fought a good fight,” and reading between the lines, we see that he is more than conqueror!
In his epistle to the Romans, Paul indicates the nature of his soldier-life, giving us some views of the kind of praying needed for such a career. He writes: “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea” (Rom. 15:30f).
Paul had foes in Judea—foes who beset and opposed him in the form of “unbelieving men” and this, added to other weighty reasons, led him to urge the Roman Christians to strive with him in prayer. That word “strive” indicated wrestling, the putting forth of great effort. This is the kind of effort and the sort of spirit which must possess the Christian soldier.
Here is a great soldier in the great struggle, faced by malignant forces who seek his ruin. His force is well-nigh spent. What reinforcements can he count on? What can give help and bring success to a warrior in such a pressing emergency? It is a critical moment in the conflict. What force can be added to the energy of his own prayers? The answer is in the prayers of others.…
The Christian soldier is to pray at all seasons, and under all circumstances. His praying must be arranged so as to cover his times of peace as well as his hours of active conflict. It must be available in his marching and his fighting. Prayer must diffuse all effort, impregnate all ventures, decide all issues. The Christian soldier must be as intense in his praying as in his fighting, for his victories will depend much more on his praying than on his fighting. Fervent supplication must be added to steady resolve; prayer and supplication must supplement the armor of God. The Holy Spirit must aid the supplication with His own strenuous plea, and the soldier must pray in the Spirit. In this, as in other forms of warfare, eternal vigilance is the price of victory; and thus watchfulness and perseverance must mark every activity of the Christian warrior.
The soldier-prayer must reflect its profound concern for the success and well-being of the whole army. The battle is not altogether a personal matter; victory cannot be achieved for self alone. There is a sense in which the entire army of Christ is involved. The cause of God, His saints, their woes and trials, their duties and crosses, all should find a voice and a pleader in the Christian soldier when he prays. He dare not limit his praying to himself. Nothing dries up spiritual vitality so certainly and completely; nothing poisons the fountain of spiritual life so effectively; nothing acts in such deadly fashion, as selfish praying.
The Christian soldier is compelled to constant picket duty. He must always be on his guard. He is faced by a foe who never sleeps, who is always alert, and ever prepared to take advantage of the fortunes of war. Watchfulness is a cardinal principle with Christ’s warrior: “watch and pray” forever sounding in his ears. He cannot dare to be asleep at his post. Such a lapse brings him not only under the displeasure of the Captain of his salvation, but exposes him to added danger. Watchfulness, therefore, imperatively constitutes the duty of the soldier of the Lord.
Rest assured that the devil never falls asleep. He is ever “walking about, seeking whom he may devour.” Just as a shepherd must never be careless and unwatchful lest the wolf devour his sheep, so the Christian soldier must ever have his eyes wide open, implying his possession of a spirit which neither slumbers nor grows careless. The inseparable companions and safeguards of prayer are vigilance, watchfulness, and a mounted guard.…
When will Christians more thoroughly learn the twofold lesson, that they are called to a great warfare, and that in order to get the victory they must give themselves to non-sleeping watchfulness and unceasing prayer?…
Christian experience will be sapless, and Christian influence will be dry and arid, unless prayer has a high place in the life. Without prayer the Christian graces will wither and die. Without prayer, we may add, preaching is edgeless and a vain thing, and the gospel loses its wings and its muscle. Christ is the lawgiver of prayer, and Paul is His apostle of prayer. Both declare its primacy and importance, and demonstrate the fact of its indispensability. Their prayer directions cover all places, include all times, and comprehend all things. How, then, can the Christian soldier hope or dream of victory, unless he be fortified by its power? How can he fail, if in addition to putting on the armor of God he is, at all times and seasons, “watching unto prayer”?