Paul on His Knees in Rome

A Prayer Strategist.

Prayer came first in Paul’s strategy. And Paul was a rare strategist, the rarest spirit strategist of the whole Christian world.

Strategy is a fighting word. A strategist is a general, a militarist. Strategy has to do with the planning of the whole action of a war. It studies critically the entire field, the enemy field as well as its own.

It looks critically over the forces available on both sides. Then it plans, as shrewdly as possible, such arrangement of the armies at command, and such action, as is likeliest to bring decisive victory.

A war is really a game, a terrific, tragic, terrible, game, between two men, two generals, the two strategists, pitting brains and will power and armed forces against each other.

Now Paul was a rare strategist, an outstanding spirit strategist. He was a fighting man, first and foremost. Life was a fight to him. His letters are full of this sort of talk. And it was no mere rhetoric with him. It was grim deadly reality.

The earth, with its spirit atmosphere, was the battlefield. The forces arrayed against each other were unseen spirit forces, unseen but real, far more real than things seen.

Man is the high prize being fought for. The earth, man’s domain, goes with the man, whichever way the thing turns out. This is Paul’s philosophy.

And in this warfare prayer comes first, in Paul’s understanding. In all his skilled strategy prayer, properly manned and manceuvered, played the first, the leading part. Prayer is a spirit force, dynamic in its energy, quite beyond measurements and standards.

It is not the only weapon or force in the spirit strategy, not by any means. But it reckons first. It affects all others. It affects them beyond all calculation. It comes first. It comes last. And there is no middle, first and last touch in an unbreakable unity.

This is the judgment of this seasoned old fighter, this spirit strategist, Paul. Prayer was put at the top in all his strategic plannings.

Paul is a giant from any and every point of view. He and Moses are the two outstanding figures in the action of the whole Bible story. He is the Moses of the New Testament, as Moses is the Paul of the Old.

Their activities dominate the story. And their writings make up a large part of the Book. Both are men of action, and both men of rare literary ability.

Paul came of an old aristocratic family, of which he was justly proud. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. The best Hebrew blood coursed in his veins, and the noblest Hebrew tradition was honoured in his family record.

He was a man of culture, rare, unusual, broad, ripe culture. His native city, Tarsus, was a university center, sitting on the dividing, connecting ridge between Orient and Occident, with the best culture of both, and of the Hebrew world as well. These three cultural tides swept its scholastic shores. And the man proved an apt pupil and scholar in such surroundings.

Paul was a born leader, and trained in leadership. He had all the bold initiative blended with shrewd caution, which is essential in strong leadership. He reveals the rare organizing genius, with the painstaking care, and the steady patience, so indispensable in ripe strong leadership.

His personal traits are notably striking. The keen logic of the philosopher, the gracious suavity of the polished gentleman, the oratorical power that can hold an antagonistic crowd at bay by sheer force of speech and personality, he blends these in rare degree.

The faithfulness of a true friend, the longing for sympathy and sympathetic understanding, the tenderness of personal touch, the mastery of subtle expression with the pen, the self-sacrifice of real heroism, what a blend in his personality these traits make!

The aggressive intensity of his very being gives the touch of objective reality to his conversion. It was this rarely seasoned judgment, these trained critical faculties, this terrifically intense nature, that made the most radical face-about ever known, on that Damascus road, in the full blaze of the noontide flood of sunlight.

The Strategic Prayer Center,

This is the man we are to watch for a bit, on his knees, in Rome. We are watching a master among masterful men, an old master indeed, in his rare skill and touch and output.

He is on his knees. It ig the strategic posture. It gives the clue to all hig strategy. He is on his knees in Rome, the world center of his day. It is the strategic center of world action,

And Rome is the throbbing heart of a planet, the earth. This ig the third degree, the superlative degree, of strategy.

The earth may, or may not, be the material center of the universe. There are able scientists on both sides of that.

But it is quite unquestionably the moral center of the universe. The eyes of the upper spirit world, and the lower, are glued here, breathlessly watching the action on this earth.

The central planet of a universe, the central city of that planet, a man there, a rarelymasterful human, bended low down on his knees, while his keen eye takes in the whole spirit action centering here, what a study is here!

The hour of the world’s day is most significant, The racial clock had run down, morally. All agreed, and agree, on this. It had struck midnight. The day had run out.

The subtle air currents of the planet were a-thrill with a something, a some One, coming. All speak of this. And a man had come; a man? the man, kin to all, yet distinctly separate from and above all.

He had lived. He had taught, and done things. Then he had, of his free accord, yielded to death. He said it was for a race, a world, in a distinctive sense.

Then he had spurned the grave. The earth could no longer hold him in its relentless grasp. And his Name, the throbbing power of it, had gone out to the ends of the known world, literally, actually.

The incomparable strategy of the Holy Spirit in that Pentecost event has not even yet been appreciated. I mean, simply, just now, as a bit of strategy.

At the least, five thousand men are involved, not persons, men, the natural leaders. They are Jews, the most intense racial group. They are from every city center of the known world, literally.

They are devout pilgrims to the religious festival of their people. They witness the crucifixion of Christ, and, at least five hundred of them, his resurrection.

They had been through that untellable experience of the Pentecostal flooding of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of flame, the rushing shaking wind, the speaking of every common foreign tongue, the burning message of a crucified risen Messiah-Christ, rung out in exultant praise.

That experience could never be forgotten, nor gotten over. It burned itself into their very being, scarred itself in, blessedly scarred. Every man was revolutionized by it, into the very roots of his being.

Now, now, these men are scattered, literally, actually, they are scattered out over the whole known world. And, be it marked keenly, they are scattered to the city centers of the earth, the centers of spreading influence.

Every city center heard the story, saw evidence of a supernatural power, felt the power. The earth was a-flame with the Christ Name, the Christ story, the Christ power.

As a bit of pure strategy the thing arouses profound regard. There is nothing to be compared with it, as a bit of mere strategy.

This is the setting of this man’s life work. There was a new force at work in the old worn-out world.

The pierced Hand had reached out and wound up that racial clock. The dial had been turned for the dawning of a new day.

Already the long slender lines of light were reaching eagerly to the farthest horizon. The clear shining after rain had started everywhere.

And this man’s detail was not to the Jew. It was to the outer non-Jewish world, that was listening, so intent, to the Jew-echoing of the Jesus’ Name and power.

Paul’s errand was actually world-wide. Even to far-off Spain, on the very fringe of the known world, he had, pretty clearly, gone.

It touches one’s heart to repeat, with full reverence, that wherever Jesus’ Name was known, Paul’s name, too, passed from lip to lip, in praise or criticism.

And it is striking, from the strategic point of view, to note that the main direction of his movement is toward the West.

The needle of the compass of stagnation has, for centuries, pointed dominantly east and south, reckoning from the Middle-of-the-Earth Sea, the Mediterranean.

The needle of the compass of need points, where? Everywhere. It is pulled out and down, violently, at every point of the horizon.

The needle of the compass of the Holy Spirit points — everywhere, too; with the plain markings, in stone, and in life, out in far China, and India, in those early centuries, and until this hour.

But the needle of the compass of progress, racial movement of progress, that needle points distinctively, decisively west. And it is dominantly toward the west that this master of strategy moves.

The Ephesian London.

From cultured Antioch, on the Orontes River, he went out, through Little Asia, and Greece, and Rome, and far Madrid, likely, in old Spain, burning like the intense flame he was.

And, and, everywhere he went, he put prayer first, and last, and refused any middle ground between untouched by it. The strategy of territorial sweep always hinged, with this man, on the strategy of spirit, on prayer.

The strategy of city center touching the widest radius of the crowds, went hand in hand with, and was secondary to, a yet subtler, deeper, higher, strategy, the spirit strategy, reaching out to the unseen forces.

This then is the man, the master, we are to watch a bit. And it reveals the man most, that we learn most of him as we watch him at prayer. For he is a master at prayer.

And he reveals his rare mastery as a strategist in this, that prayer had the pivot place in all his strategy. Everything began and centered and revolved about prayer, in his intense life.

That strangely resistless power on the old Damascus road, pulled him down to his knees and face. And he never got over it. The knee habit persisted to the tragic end.

It was while on his knees there, in the open, that the voice came so singularly clear, outlining his future career. And that voice became inseparably connected with his knee habit ever after.

It is no marvel that prayer had such an intimate place in his life. He is still on his knees, as the Roman official came, on the Appian Road, to give him a quick exit out and up and in, to the full life the other side the blue.

Paul’s letters take us into this holy of holies of his inner life. You can often see a whole landscape clear to the horizon through a thin erack in a fence.

There is many an unintended crevice in these heart-throbbing letters. They give rare pictures of the inner heart of this rarely-human man, this master of men. And they give pictures in living glowing colours of this master of prayer, at prayer.

There’s a story in itself in these letters, of Paul’s inner prayer life, a rare story. It would be immensely helpful to pick out the prayer threads, a word here, a phrase there, and weave them into the fabric of a story. It would make a rare bit of tapestry.

In every one he tells how he is praying for these spirit children whom he has fathered. He tells them what he is praying for, and what he is praising for, too.

The very form of the epistle tells ofttimes how strong the prayer habit is with him. It actually shapes his mental processes, and his pen. And the intensity of the language, reveals his own intensity in prayer, and, too, what an intense thing prayer itself was to him.

An illustration of this is in his word ‘‘strive,’’ with variations of ‘‘striving’’ and in the old version ‘‘conflict’’ and ‘‘labour.’? The word underneath is a fighting word.

These epistles of Paul’s are the throbbing of his great heart, like a warm quick pulse-beat, through the fine distinctions of his keenly incisive mentality.

They are not the leisurely product of a scholar, in his cloistered study, surrounded by books. They are more like the sparks thrown off, by the striking of his great brain and great heart on the anvil of the tense problems ever pressing tumultuously in.

For clear incisiveness, close logical reasoning, fineness of distinction, and yet, through all, the throb throb of a great warm heart, they are incomparable in any literature.

But there is one epistle peculiarly that lets us

*See for illustration Colossians 1: 29; 2:1; 4:12-13. Romans 15:30; and many others.

see this man on his knees. In its pages, in a rarely distinctive way, this old master, unconsciously, lets us look in and see him on his knees.

It is the one commonly called the Epistle to the Ephesians. It is the more striking, in this connection, because it is quite clearly meant to be a circular letter. It was sent, not to one church simply, but also to the whole group of churches circling round-about Ephesus.

We will understand the value of this Ephesian letter better, if we get this city of Ephesus in our minds, clear and fresh in this connection.

It will make the facts stand sharply out if one remembers that Ephesus was then a center of world action, as not now. It could quite accurately be spoken of as the London of Asia Minor, or the New York. It was the most populous city of all that populous land.

The. tides of life surged strongly back and forth in that great peninsula. With its congeries of races and nationalities, it had been covetously fought over by all the great world powers, both eastern and western. It was the whole world in miniature. And Ephesus was the. beach where every ebb and flood was strongly marked.

One appreciates afresh the strategy of this rarest strategist, when it is recalled that he centered all his vast energy here, continuously, for two to three years,

And here there was a power marking and attending his ministry, to a degree unknown elsewhere. There’s a group of evidential miracles of healing quite distinctive. It makes the strategic importance of this city stand out with peculiar prominence.

And it was to this same Asiatic metropolis that John turned, for some years, after being released from his Patmos prison.

Ephesus was a loud sounding-board, for all that immensely populous strategic peninsula of the Taurus Mountains and plains and seaboard.

All that dwelt in this eastern world of peninsular Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and all others.

The Prayer Epistle.

The characteristics of Paul’s letters are marked. Romans is distinctively a teaching epistle. Galatians, Philippians, and the two Corinthians, as well as the two Thessalonians, are dealing, in great plainness and tact, with the peculiar problems troubling those churches.

The Hebrews Epistle seems clearly an attempt, through some talented devout Jewish disciple of Paul’s, to encourage the Christian Jews, in the thick of sorest persecution, tempting them to throw over their new-found faith.

The two Timothys and Titus are of course, personal letters to these young men, and Philemon an exquisitely-phrased letter to the Christian owner of this converted run-away slave.

But this Ephesian cireular letter, written to the whole group of churches, in this teeming world of Little Asia, this is distinctively Paul’s prayer epistle.

It seems to have been written, literally, on his knees. Certainly its form and phraseology suggest that. Its structure is fascinating. It is cast in the form of prayer.

There is a connecting phrase running through it, like the unifying strain in a symphony or oratorio. It is a very striking phrase. It is this: “For this cause I bow my knees.’’* Paul ig on his knees as he writes or dictates. He had started twice before to say what the thing is he is specially praying for them.

Each time, with that rare intensity, he goes off, in the fullness of his heart, on some kindred word of counsel, then back again to the main thing. He never loses the main thread.

The letter begins with what proves to be a mingling of praise and prayer that they might appreciate, and enter into, an intelligent understanding of God’s plan for them, and through them.”

Then he begins again to explain the prayer in his heart for them, ‘‘for this cause I,’’ and he goes off again into the actual prayer he is making for them.” And this fills out that first chapter.

Then chapter two is a parenthesis, throughout, growing out of the prayer. He is still playing on the same string.

Then he picks up his connecting phrase again. Perhaps a shift of his knees brings him back. And go again he begins, ‘‘for this cause I Pau By and again he is off on a wonderful parenthesis, in his eagerness to have them understand the marvel of God’s plan for them.*

1 Ephesians 3:14 with 1:15 and 3: 1. *Chapter 1: 3-14. * Chapter 1: 15-23. *Chapter 3: 1-13.

At last he gets to the prayer deep down in his heart, the prayer he had gone to his Imees, once again, to offer for them. And what a prayer that closing paragraph of the third chapter is, with the gracious piled-up benediction on the end.

Now, the words of fatherly counsel, always so needful, that he puts in, grow out of the prayer. ““Therefore,’’* because of how he is led to pray, this homely counsel is given.

The counsel is suggested by the prayer, and grows out of the prayer. Their ‘‘walk’’ or daily life is stressed, with special words for wives and husbands and children and servants, That would cover all.

The Prayer Paragraph.

And then comes the knot on the end, the great prayer paragraph.” This seems to have been what he had in mind as he went to his knees. He gathers up in this paragraph all his teachings on prayer.

It is the great outstanding passage on prayer in all of Paul’s writings. He wants to have them understand clearly about the action of prayer. It is the great outstanding passage of the whole Bible on the meaning, the strategy, of intercessory prayer.

Let us then look at this tremendous climactie bit on prayer. Let us draw near, with bated breath, as we watch and listen to this old master of the fine strategy of prayer.

*Chapter 3: 14-21.? Chapter 4 to 6:9.
* Ephesians 6:10-20.

We keep our Bibles open at Ephesians, six, ten to twenty. The first bit is about emphasis. This old master strategist gives us a lesson in proportions, in keeping the true balance, so the big thing will stand out.

If Paul’s words are put into simple every-day English, it will help make clearer just what he is saying.

He says: Now the thing to emphasize is this, be bold in action, as the Spirit guides, reckoning on Jesus.”

Here are three very striking things. Boldness in action stands out as the big thing. Be daring. Do the brave, the daring, the bold, thing. Here is the main line of strategy in prayer. Here is the key to all Paul’s world-wide campaigning. It makes one think of Foch. When everything is against you attack. Defensive warfare never wins. He wins who keeps the initiative in action.

Then follows quickly, without even the pause of a punctuation point, this: as the Spirit guides. Ah! This is significant. This makes one stop at once. This is big with meaning.

There’s a check on that boldness. There’s a modifying of one’s action. It must be as the Holy Spirit leads, so, wholly so, only so, never other than so.

The leading of the Spirit is the one dominant law in all life, and in all service, and in all prayer.

And the third bit comes in hot on the heels of this. It is: reckoning on Jesus. This is the emergency bit. This is for the pinch, when you are hemmed in by enemy action, and can see no possible way out.

Boldness stirs the enemy. Certainly it stirs our unseen spirit enemy. He does his best and utmost and worst. He’ll make things as tight and hot for you as he ean.

But then you know this ahead. You know it in planning the bold action. You are prepared. You have reserves. They are unconquerable. In the pinch, reckon on your reserves. Reckon on Jesus, our blessed Victor and Lord.

This is the beginning of this prayer paragraph. This is the beginning of prayer strategy, the Holy Spirit’s leading, clearly understood, intelligently appreciated, accepted without any “‘buts’’ or ‘‘ifs.’? This is the leading line in life, and service, and prayer.

Then comes bold action. And, mark keenly, that the Holy Spirit’s leading always calls for bold action. With full reverence be it thoughtfully said, that the Holy Spirit is a great strategist.

He takes the initiative. He keeps it. He who follows him will be bold, modestly, unassumingly, quietly, but daringly bold. Never presumptuous; no jumping from the pinnacle of the temple at some one’s else suggestion.

The bold action will always be at the Holy Spirit’s direction, and only so. One learns to wait until he leads, and leads clearly. And his leading, followed, makes the next step clearer.

And then the strategy covers the enemy’s angry, malicious, maddened, slap-back, with all the venom and force possible. Reckon on Jesus. All the resistless power of Jesus is at your finger tips, as the need may be. He never fails. He can’t. He won’t. He doesn’t. Hold steady. Keep quiet within. But never flinch. The victory will come because of — Jesus, our wondrous Victor Lord.

This is the beginning of this prayer paragraph. It is certainly very significant. We are surely learning a lot about how to pray here.

Four Things.

And, now, this old prayer strategist says, in effect, that there are four things to get clear, and keep clear. The first thing is this: Prayer is warfare, spirit warfare. It is fighting, stiff real fighting.

Note carefully the language used here, ‘¢armour,’’ ‘‘the whole armour,’’ ‘‘breastplate,’’ ‘“‘shield,”’ ‘‘fiery darts,’’ ‘‘sword,’’ ‘‘helmet.”’ These are all fighting words.

‘‘Wrestling’’ is, of course, an athletic word. But the actual wrestling in the Roman arena, in Paul’s day, was no athletic contest.

It was a fight, and a fight to the finish. The loser of the fight usually was the loser of his life, too.

The trained wrestler was skilful in knowing just how to deal the one rightly-placed blow, when his antagonist was in his grip, that meant sure instant death. And that blow was given without hesitation.

This may seem startling sort of talk to some. Well, it’s Paul’s sort. It’s strategic talk. It opens the way to victory. Clearer thinking makes stronger action, and quicker surer results. This is Paul’s first bit. Praying is action in warfare.

And, the second bit follows hard on the heels of this. Get the enemy out in the clear. Understand who it is you’re fighting, and who it is that is opposing and fighting you.

There’s a ‘‘not’’ here, to clear the air. Our fighting is ‘‘not against flesh and blood.’’ It ig not against the men and women who oppose us, so craftily, so maliciously and slanderously, so meanly, so persistently, so bitterly.

These poor befooled people are only pawns on the board. There’s a master spirit strategist, cunningly, sneeringly, heartlessly, moving them, here and there at will,

This is a great help, getting this clear, a great relief. These people certainly can put up a stiff ugly fight, and do, and seem to get satisfaction out of doing it.

Poor befooled dupes! How the spirit enemy, behind the scenes, laughs at them, and the ease with which they can be moved, this way and that, on the board.

These people themselves need help. Yet there is no greater play for real caution, the caution of real wisdom, than in helping such as these poor befooled dupes of the Evil One. For they may be in Christian circles, with religious phrases on their lips. Yet how stingingly real and actual their fighting is!

There is great help here. There is freedom, a new sweet freedom of spirit. There can be freedom from all personal enmity, and bitterness, and the like. And what a freedom this is! ’

There must needs be keen caution, clear dis-| cernment, discretion in look and word and at-, titude, oftentimes. But there can be real liberty. of spirit.

The love of God ean flood the heart, while one is yet in close personal touch with those actively fighting our most earnest efforts.

That very flood of love will grow caution, gentle reserve, guarded speech, and all this sort of thing, in outer contacts.

It does give a rare liberty within, a freedom, a gracious peace in the heart, in the thick of smoke and fog, of shot and shell and poison gas. That ‘‘not’’ of this old master helps greatly.

The Prayer Enemy.

Having cleared the ground thus far, Paul goes on to tell who the enemy is against whom our fighting, our prayer-fighting, is pitted.

It is the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the world of darkness, the hosts of wicked spirits in the lower heavens. Here are words commonly used for political organizations of nations, among us humans down on the earth.

There is’a vast population of evil spirits. They are thoroughly organized. Their headquarters are in the lower heavens, that is the heavens of the clouds encircling the earth.

Their sphere of activity is the earth itself. Their objective in this spirit warfare is the control of the earth and of the human race. This is what Paul points out as the enemy against whom we are fighting in prayer.

It will make things clearer to recall that there are three populations of intelligent beings on our earth. There is the human population which the various national census takes count of.

There is this countless host of evil spirit beings. There is another vast host, as numerous, at least, as this other, and as thoroughly organized, at least.

These are the good spirits whom we commonly call angels. They are under the sway and control of our Lord Jesus. In vast countless numbers, they swarm our earth, our streets and roads, our cities and our homes, ever eagerly absorbed in their blessed ministry of protecting and helping us.

In talking here about this evil spirit enemy, it is good to keep the other world, of good angel beings, clearly in mind, and that they are under the direction of our Lord Jesus, our faithful Friend.

At the head of this vast evil army is he who is called here in this prayer letter, ‘‘the prince of the power (or powers) of the air.’’*

And it is plainly said here, in so many words, that men who refuse to be followers of Christ are directly under the active control of this evil spirit prince, and these evil spirits whom he rules and uses.

It is further striking and immensely helpful to notice the chief characteristic of this warfare, on the evil side. ‘‘Wiles;’’ that is, cunning deceit, lies of every shade and sort; deliberate methodical crafty fraud, underhand trickiness. All this is in the word underneath our English word, ‘‘wiles.’’

Mark keenly, that this is the enemy’s chief weapon. He doesn’t fight in the open. He isa past master in lies, acted and spoken; all sorts of devilish deceit.

And it is quite striking to find that Paul plainly calls him ‘‘the devil.”’ There is no squeamish beating about the bush here.

There is no vague rhetorical verbiage, more or less misty and indefinite and bewildering. The head of this enemy force is plainly spoken of as ‘‘the devil.’’

He is ‘‘diabolos,’’ the evil slanderer, the lying deceitful arrogant incorrigible relentless merciless enemy of man. This old strategist has no question at all, and permits none, about the personality of this foul spirit prince.

This is item two in this great prayer paragraph. The enemy is put out in the clear. This is great strategy. Recognition of a problem is half its solution, and the first half. Getting our enemy out, clear and sharp, is the beginning of his defeat, our victory. It cuts straight across his chief strategy — deceit.

How to Fight.

Then comes the third thing, a big thing, how to fight. It is a simple, clear, graphic description of the victorious fighter in this warfare. And this is by far the bigger part of the entire

paragraph.

In reading this description one keeps in mind that it is prayer Paul is talking about. Prayer is the climax of the entire passage. It helps much to keep clear that praying is fighting, spirit-fighting, and that our fighting is to be done on our knees.

There is here a detailed description of a Roman soldier, fully equipped, all ready for the stiff action of battle. Under this language Paul speaks of our taking up the whole armour of God.

Six things are specified in the soldier’s preparation. There’s the snug trim girding of the garments about the waist and loins, and the feet well shod. These put one’s person in fighting shape.

Then there are the four fighting pieces of armour. Three are for defense, breastplate and shield and helmet. The soldier must be well protected in action. And the sword is the one sufficient weapon for attack, and driving through against the foe.

Under this language is given the description of the prayer fighter. It is an intensely vivid and interesting description. Really it is telling us how to pray. It tells what shape the man is in who gets great answers to prayer.

The whole thing can be put very simply. There is to be a clear grasp of the truth of the Bible for one’s self, There must be a clean strong consistent life. One’s whole dependence is on the sacrificial blood of Jesus. This is the foundation of all, the sure footing.

There is faith, simple, strong, seasoned, unquestioning faith, in Christ and his Word. There is a settled assurance of victory as the outcome of the prayer, the spirit conflict. And there is an intelligent practical understanding of the truth of the Bible for others.

The clear grasp of the truth of the old Book of God for one’s self, this is a strong snug girding of one’s loins for quick bold unhindered free action.

A pure consistent daily conduct of life, ruggedly true, above all pure, graciously gentle in contacts, but uncompromisingly rigid in all matters of moral principle, this is spoken of as the breastplate. Against it all attacks fail and fall utterly.

The seasoned, unquestioning, steady, unswerving faith in Jesus our Saviour and Lord, and in his Word, this is the shield against which all the sudden flaming fiery attacks of doubt fall off, and fall down, ineffective.

The absolute assurance of victory in the particular problem, the puzzling tangle, the haunting question, the precious life to be saved, this is the helmet guarding one’s thinking and imagination against attack.

And an intelligent usable understanding of the essential truths of the Bible, ayailable for needed use with others, this is the Sword. With this well in hand the Holy Spirit can use us in service with others.

Now, the immensely significant thing to note, just now, is, that Paul is not speaking of these things as necessary or desirable in themselves. They are, of course. One quickly recognizes here simply the true follower of Christ in contact with his fellows.

But, for the moment, all this falls into second place. The things that are really first are named here as fitting one for one certain thing. And that thing is prayer. This is tremendous, simple, but absolutely pivotal.

The proper rhetorical finish of that long sentence should be ‘‘with all your fighting strength fighting.’’ But Paul is splendidly intense. The rhetoric has served its purpose, and is dropped. The Roman soldier has helped make the issue clear, and he falls out of the march. He gets a leave of absence.

With an intensity, and practicality, that takes hold of one’s heart, in the intense action of life to-day, Paul goes at once to the thing he is talking about. He says, ‘‘with all prayer and supplication praying.’’ This equipment is to fit one for praying.

Spirit Fighting.

And this at once plunges us headlong into the fourth item, namely, the fight tiself. First was getting clear that prayer is a fight, a warfare. The second was getting the enemy we fight in prayer, getting him out clear, boldly, definitely outlined. It is fixing the target for our shooting. Then comes the equipment for fighting, getting into good fighting shape.

All this is leading up to the chief thing, the fight itself. This prayer knot on the end is of vital interest. This is the bull’s eye of the target. At last Paul has us gripped with the one thing he’s been driving at, from the first, in this sixth-chaptered Ephesian letter.

Now look at this prayer knot on the end of the hank of threads making up this prayer letter. ‘‘With-all-prayer-praying’’ practically means: Use all sorts of praying in your praying. And that is language that grows out of the very thick of life.

All sorts of praying, communion or fellowship, petition for one’s own needs, intercession. on behalf of others, habitual praying, emergency praying, the praying that is a continual mental attitude, the unspoken or wordless prayer, the prayer that goes up ‘‘on the fly’’ in the thick of the crowded street or gathering, the walking prayer, the prayer that breathes out with the rhythm of natural breathing.

‘And it sounds just like this man Paul, to add ‘cand supplication.’? That’s one of his intense words. It has in it, underneath, the heart-throb of need, of personal necessity. It is the word of one who knows well the feeling of some sore need, crowding in on every side, and thinks of others in like circumstance.

Seasonable Praying.

Then there is a word about the calendar of prayer, ‘‘praying at all seasons.’’ In the springtime of promise pray, gratefully, thankfully. You can feel the new life coming as you pray.

Through the seed-time, the careful cultivation, the weeding, the stirring of the soil, the fertilizing, the eager watching for new life to pip the surface of the human soil, pray.

In the springtime of promise, let the prayer be as steady as the round of the clock, the rhythm of the days, the distilling of the dew, the gentle falling of the small growing rain.

In the summertime of fruitage, still pray. With a heart full of praise, keep on praying. Guard the growths against the withering of too hot a sun, too cold a night, the blight of bad growths, the parasites. Prayer must never relax guard in the summer of fruitage.

And in the reaction of autumn, with the chill in the air, the less warmth and light of the sun, the lengthening shadows, still pray.

For autumn time, in the human soil, may mean a deeper digging in of the unseen roots, a softer finer colouring displacing the gaudier, a dropping off of not-good growths, if some one is quietly steadily praying. The apparent backset may mean a deeper growth.

And in the winter time of blighted hopes, and frost-bitten plans, there’s the greater need of prayer. The ice and cold and blasting wind can be overcome, and may be, and surely shall be.

For prayer can push up the calendar. And spring, a new springtime, is just a bit ahead. Steady there, when it’s winter in your life and plans, pray.

There are fine growths going on under the snow. The heart of the earth is always warm under any wintered surface. Prayer can turn winter blight into new spring buds and bloom and fruitage.

Prayer is always seasonable. Even when it may be unseasonable, or out of season, in custom or habit, by clock or rule, there’s a rare tact that can make a season for prayer, in your heart, under your breath. At all seasons, even ungeasonable seasons, it is still in season to do praying of some sort.

For praying is above seasons. It knows a higher law. It can change seasons, a winter to spring and a spring to full summer. So, at all seasons, pray.

And the same gracious word of caution comes in at the end, as at the beginning, of this paragraph. There, our boldness in action is as the Holy Spirit guides. The initiative is his. We go only as he leads.

Here, action in prayer is to be ‘‘in the Spirit.’? Still the initiative is his, and the steady continuance is from him, and the finish, too.

All prayer is suggested by him. The impulse to pray, that gentle drawing away to your knees in some quiet corner, that comes from him.

The inner thought of prayer in the thick of the crowd, that again is his hand touching the hidden springs.

We may well cultivate these promptings by quickly heeding them. The open Book, the shut-away corner, the bended knee, the habit of brooding over the open page, in all these simple ways we cultivate his gracious promptings.

So we learn to pray ‘‘in the Spirit.’””. And we may be praying in the Spirit most when we are not thinking of him, at all. He leads us to the Book. He speaks to us of Jesus. He draws out our hearts in prayer. All this;is his touch. So, we are praying ‘‘in the Spirit.’’

“<Watch and Pray.’’

And ‘‘watching’’ is put in by this shrewd old prayer strategist. Our Lord coupled ‘‘watch”’ with ‘‘pray.’’ These days one needs to learn to pray with one eye open, sometimes both. The eyes of the heart, the eyes of trained caution, need to be ever open.

We need to watch against. In the thick of traffic on the streets and roads one is constantly on the watch. It’s dangerous to fall asleep at the wheel, maybe fatal. ‘‘Watch’’ is for the enemy, ever on the alert.

And we watch for, too. We watch for opportunity, for the first pipping of the human bud, the first pushing of the green of some circumstance up through snow and ice.

There is a rare vitality in the human soil we’re concerned with so much. It’s warm under the coldest reserve. Be on the watch for what you pray for.

And, steadily, unwaveringly, we watch that Man on the Throne, just through the upper blue there. Watch him. He is watching you. You watch him, The eyes may meet. They do meet in a common expectancy. They shall yet meet in glad recognition of the fulfillment of all prayed for. Carmel had a lookout. Don’t forget that.

And, again, another great word is added, and it’s a war word, too, a strategic word, ‘‘perseverance,’’ ‘‘in all perseverance.’’

The man that doesn’t know when he’s whipped can’t be whipped. He’s unwhippable. No one can be defeated without his own consent. Never consent to be defeated. Let the prayer, in expectancy, be ‘‘in all perseverance.’’

First of all be quite simply clear of your leading, the Spirit’s gracious leading. In your heart, through his Word, through your mental processes, your common thinking things through, sometimes when you’re not conscious of any special leading but simply doing the next thing — in all this he leads.

Be clear of that leading. Then persevere, insist, persist. Refuse to acknowledge defeat, and you never will need to. This is Elijah’s ‘‘go again seven times.’’ It is our Lord’s word, ‘‘antil seventy times seven.”’

It means constancy. It means the north star, about which all the stellar heavens revolve. It means the strength that can hold steady in any outrunning tide, or suction, or deadly undertow, and does.

And again that word ‘‘supplication’’ comes in. It joins hard and fast here to ‘‘perseverance.’’ The intensity of the personal need, the intensity of your expectant prayer, is to be matched by the intensity, the steady intensity, of your waiting, your perseverance.

And the direct objective of the prayer makes it definite. It is for Christ’s followers, ‘‘for all the saints,’’ that they may understand, and hold true.

Prayer is so definite and personal. That long list of names at the end of the Romans letter gives light here, with the gracious personal touch to each.

Do you remember the simple bit told of

Hudson Taylor’s reading that first chapter of First Chronicles? It was his custom to read the Bible through, by course. This chapter came in his regular course. It is simply a list of names, one long list of strange hard names.

And as he read, it did seem tiresome, monotonous. He sighed a bit, but kept on. Then bowing his head over the book, in his great simplicity he made a bit of prayer.

He had felt the need of a message, some warm enheartening message from the Word. And now, only this apparently endless list of names, names, nothing but names.

And as he was quietly bowed over the chapter of uninteresting names, in an inner voice, soft as Hermon’s dews, vibrant as the tones of a clear resonant bell, the words were spoken, ‘‘your name is down, too’’! Ah! the page of names flashed with a sweet soft clear light.

Pray for others, by name, ‘‘the saints,’’ the separated ones. Our Lord did, and in all likelihood does. The habit of earth would persist.

And there is the tender personal touch here, so frequent in this great human Paul. He asked them to remember him in their praying. He is / in prison; true. But he ig an ambassador, the ambassador extraordinary, plenipotentiary, to: the whole outer Gentile world.

““Stand’’ as Victors.
vn Sak ch he Anat IRN Ea a Sa

There is one most significant word in this prayer epistle. It is in this knotted prayer paragraph. It is distinctively a war word, and as

*Luke 22:31-32, distinctively a prayer word. So Paul understands it. So he uses it here.

It is the word ‘‘stand’’ with the variation of ‘‘withstand.’’ Four times over it seemed literally to stand out on the page, in the rare significance of its meaning.

It is distinctively a fighting word. In its original meaning it has to do with literal fighting of physical forces. It is used in that sense here. It really has two meanings, or, rather, there are two stages to its meaning, the first stage, and then the advanced or final stage.

Its first meaning is to hold your position in battle against the enemy. No matter what happens, stand, hold steady, don’t give an inch, don’t yield your position by so much as the third of an arrow hair.

This is the meaning the first time it is used here. ‘‘Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand (hold your position) against the wiles of the devil.’’*

Its second meaning is yet more significant. It looks forward to the finish, to the day of victory, to the fact of victory.

Here, it means the position of one who has routed his foe. And so he remains on the field at the close of action as victor. He remains because he is victor. The defeated foe is either fleeing for his life, or he lies dead.

Now, it is very significant to mark keenly, that this is clearly the meaning in Paul’s mind here. He deliberately goes from the first stage to the second, the victory stage.

‘‘Take up the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day (or the erisis day), and, (and,) having done all to stand.’’

That is, when the crisis of action is on, in the sore problem one is dealing with, we are to take the position against the enemy, and hold it.

And the outcome, when all’s done, when the action of battle is over, the outcome will be that we stand as victors. The enemy is defeated. He is either hopelessly out of action on the field, or dead, or he is fleeing in the distance for his life.

‘*Stand’’ here means that you remain as victor on the battlefield. You remain because you are victor. This is the simple clear meaning. There’s the ring of victory in the very word, *“stand.’’

There is a famous historical illustration of this. It gives both these meanings, the action meaning while the fighting is still on, and the victory meaning when the fighting is over.

It is the famous illustration of that terrific crisis battle of Waterloo. The Iron Duke, Wellington, and Napoleon were pitted against each other. As Napoleon set out from Paris he is reported to have said that he was going to measure himself against Wellington.

He recognized that it was strategist against strategist, brains against brains, will power against will power, strategy against strategy. And the day’s close would tell which was the greater. It was a bit of his keenness that he sensed the situation, so accurately.

When the action of the battle had begun, and was well under way, Wellington was approached by a group of his officers. They respectfully intimated that they be advised of the main line of strategy he had mapped out. -

Then, in the event of anything unfortunately happening to him personally, they would follow out the strategy he had planned.

And he is said to have replied that his strategy could be put into one word, and that word was ‘‘stand.’’

He had carefully studied the ground of action long before that great day came. Now, he had skilfully chosen the position, and placed his various fighting units.

And the strategy was to hold the position. They were to stand, to hold steady, and never yield a hair’s breadth. In the face of the hottest fire, and the most serious losses, they were to stand.

And so they did. Again and again, all through that terrific day, officers begged to be allowed to advance. ‘‘No; not yet; hold steady; hold; stand; stand.’’ This was the repeated answer. This was the great strength of this — great strategist.

And all the day long the French battered themselves to pieces, literally to pieces, against that immovable stone wall of Wellington’s men.

No cunning move on Napoleon’s part, no fierce assault, could make Wellington change his strategy, nor advance before the time he had set in his plans.

This is the first meaning of Paul’s great word here, — hold your position; take your stand, and hold it.

Then in the end of that Waterloo June day, in just the shrewdly-chosen nick of time, the order ‘‘Charge!’’ was given. This is the moment the famous artist chose for his famous painting.

And charge they did. And at the day’s close, the battle’s close, they stood on the field. The French couldn’t stand. They were fleeing, what there was left of them. The emperor was fleeing on his white charger toward Paris.

This is the second meaning of the werd Paul uses here. It is the final meaning. We stand because we are victors, in full possession of the field.

‘‘Stand’’ means an outcome of victory. When all’s done, in the crisis day, we remain on the field of action, for we are victors.

This old strategist is making clear that this is the outcome. It will be victory, with the flags in the breeze, the bands playing, and the victors singing.

Our hearts shall burst out, with a new present Meaning, in the blessed old song, ‘‘Thanks be to God who (now) giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’??

This is the strategy of prayer. God and man join forces against the Evil One. When he is driven off, the gracious presence of the Holy Spirit brings the needed results.

This is the strategy of love. Love sets out to free men of the malignant power of the Evil One. And it does.

+I Corinthians 15: 57.

He is set free. His power of free choice now chooses only the right. The image in which he was created is restored. The strategy of love ‘‘never faileth.’’

This is the strategy of the Book. It begins with God and man in sweet fellowship in a garden of delight.

It closes with God and man in a yet fuller fellowship in a garden-city. The garden of God’s planting, is made more, with the true eulture of man’s growth.

This is the gracious strategy of the Holy Spirit. He woos us into the quiet corner daily, with the Book.

He opens up its pages to our eyes, and opens the eyes of our understanding to see. So we come to understand. So we learn to pray, simply, intelligently, confidently, victoriously.

This is the strategy of Calvary, and the Third Morning After. The stinging defeat of Satan there, by our Lord Jesus, becomes a present stinging defeat for him in our lives, through our choice, and the power of the blood of Jesus.

Jesus, our blessed Lord Jesus, teach us, too, to pray, even as thou didst teach Paul.

Thou wast the master of prayer those human years, down here on the battlefield. Thou art the master of prayer, now, at the Father’s right hand, ever interceding.

Thou didst make the Wilderness of critical temptation a place of prayer, and a place of victory, too, with the enemy ‘‘deparied,’’* on the run.

Thou didst begin Calvary with prayer among the Gethsemane trees. Thou didst make Calvary itself a mount of prayer, thy last breath there a prayer.

Thyself wast a prayer that Third Morning After, a triumphant victorious prayer, rising up out of death, through the rock of the tomb.

Thy presence now, at the Father’s right hand, is a prayer, as thou dost watch us down here im the thick of conflict.

Blessed Jesus, Saviour, Victor, teach us, too, to pray, that we, too, may know the sweets of wictory.

We ask for thy Name’s sake, on the ground of thy precious blood shed. Amen.

1Luke 4:13.