This is the last part in our Armor of God series, and we're going to dive into a part of the armor that sometimes gets left out, but in my opinion, it is too important to not mention. I've said it countless times on the blog, but prayer has been one area that the Lord has truly been teaching me so much about in this season of life, and I'm really passionate about sharing those tools with you guys because I have experienced the genuine life transformation that comes from a strong prayer life.
Ephesians 6:18 says: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." Paul says this to the Ephesian church right after he explains all of the other parts of the armor, and I know he did that with such intention. It would be ridiculous to think that we can put on all this armor and be successful in spiritual warfare without prayer. Prayer is our connection with the divine, with the Almighty God - who IS our strength - and without that, we're left to our own devices to figure it out and carry all the weight of our burdens on our own.
Yet so often, we forget. We forget that we get to pray, that prayer doesn't have to be complicated, and that prayer goes two ways. Our minds become rushed, chaotic, and unfocused, pushing talking with God back and back on our priority list. We get caught up on our circumstances, on trying to fix it ourselves, that we forget that we can come to Him for rest (Matthew 11:28) and that He will pray for us (Romans 8:26). Sometimes, we feel so stressed about the idea of prayer that we don't try at all. Or, we do pray, but it's more like word vomiting on God and we don't actually take time to listen. Our prayers aren't really intentional, and don't leave us any better than when we came.
It doesn't have to be this way, and it doesn't have to be hard.
Prayer is powerful because it's our way to communicate with our Creator, anywhere and at any time. Prayer is a conversation between us and the Father, and what a gift that is! We literally get to sit and talk with the One who formed us, who died for us, and lives inside of us, and we don't have to earn it. It's available to us for free, whenever and wherever. There's no pressure, no script, no special words.
Prayer destroys strongholds and releases burdens. It's our immediate access to God Himself, our way to pursue and call out to Him without the restriction of a veil that the Old Testament Israelites had to face. It's a love language in itself, a space where we can praise and cry, worship and beg on our knees. All of our emotions are welcomed, and we take our anger, adoration, and anxiety all to the feet of Jesus.
The enemy doesn't want that. The enemy wants us to hold in all our emotions, to carry every burden alone, to leave the Almighty out of our battles because without Him, the enemy has a chance. Without prayer for a prolonged period of time, we become weak and weary, self-centered and anxious. We take our eyes off of the things that are eternal and focus on the world. The battles remain, sometimes heightened, but we don't have the tools and armor to protect us.
And he especially doesn't want us receiving the word of God through prayer. When we pray and leave space to listen, we open the door for the presence of the Father and His voice. We receive wisdom and discernment, peace and freedom. We hear His guidance and perspective and truth in the midst of chaos and lies. That is an honor unlike any other - to not only be able to give everything to the Lord through prayer but to also experience His presence and voice. Who am I to be in the presence of the Almighty God?
So, prayer is a gift, but it's also vital. It's vital that we stay in communication with the Father, that we surrender the weight we carry and hear from Him. This is one of the most important aspects of our faith and weapons in spiritual warfare, because without prayer, we aren't connected to God, and without God, we don't stand a chance.
So what does it look like to implement prayer daily and effectively?
Remember, it doesn't have to be hard or complicated. To pray effectively, we just have to pray consistently and intentionally. We should revere the Lord and come to Him with an attitude of respect, but we also can bring the most difficult and broken (and exciting and joyful) parts of our lives to Him in prayer, and that is such a beautiful interaction.
Paul gave us some practical advice: pray on all occasions with all kinds of requests. It's easy to get redundant in our prayers, asking for the same thing and praying over the same three situations or people. But Paul reminds us that we are to cover every occasion in prayer and invite the Lord into every situation. I know that's not easy, but I want to empower each of us to work on that, so I created some prayer cards to encourage and inspire our prayer routine. I actually use these prayers in my personal time with the Lord, and they are a game changer! Feel free to download or print these, but I would most definitely challenge you to create your own strategic prayers to use in your everyday life. I've done in this in numerous ways, which you can read about in these posts:
An Updated Look Into My Prayer Life! (Here, I talk about my prayer wall and prayer notebook - which has changed my Bible study and relationship with the Lord.)
How Prayer Has Changed My Life + what I'm learning when I pray on my knees
I would challenge you to take some time and reflect on this topic. Bring it to the Lord and seek his wisdom, and maybe think through some of these questions:
How often do I pray?
Do I tend to get distracted while I pray?
When I pray, what do I pray about? Am I always asking, or do I leave space to listen and praise?
After I pray, do I feel discouraged or lifted up?
How is your prayer life currently? Do you find it easy or difficult to pray? What strategies are you going to implement to grow in prayer? Let me know down in the comments below; I love to hear from you!
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