Stay Awake and Pray

Dannah Gresh: Ultimately, the only way we can serve the Lord in evil days is by leaning on God’s strength alone. Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You see, the methods of human ideas, philosophies, policies, ideologies, strategies, resources, education, effort, none of these apart from the gospel and the Word of God are effective at combating evil.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Choosing Gratitude. It’s April 18, 2023, and I’m Dannah Gresh. 

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the reports of trouble and strife that come to us all the time? The shootings, the wars, the financial struggles, the way many today reject what is right and even celebrate and encourage what’s wrong! All these things can function as a call to prayer. Nancy will explain in a moment.

Speaking of prayer, don’t forget that if you would like our team of intercessors to pray for your specific request, you can submit it at this web address: ReviveOurHearts.com/prayer. Now here’s Nancy.

Nancy: I want to invite you again today to join me in Ephesians chapter 6. We’re doing just a quick flyover of verses 10 through 20, a passage that has really ministered grace and strength to me in recent days, and I want to encourage you with it as well.

We looked yesterday at verse 10 in Ephesians in chapter 6 where Paul says “Finally . . .” after this great glorious presentation of the gospel and of all that is ours in Christ. Paul says, 

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.

And then he tells us, knowing that we are weak, that we need help, he says, 

Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. (v. 11)

The devil is an enemy, the devil is out to destroy us, to attack us, and everything that is good and godly. He explains in verse 12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood . . .” It’s not against people you can see. The enemy is not your husband, the enemy is not your kids, the enemy is not your Congressman or your President. I don’t care what party you're from and who you think is messing up this country, that’s not the ultimate enemy.

Our [battle] is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness . . . (v. 12)

These are unseen rulers, behind the scenes, trying to accomplish their nefarious purposes in this world.

They hate God, and that’s why they hate the gospel. They hate Christians, and they want to undo everything possible about the gospel. So your battle is against evil spiritual forces in the heavens!

 For this reason [he repeats it] take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. (v. 13)

Now, as I said yesterday, we could do a whole long series on the armor of God, and maybe someday we will. But I want to just give you the big picture here, showing you that we need strength, but we don’t have that strength in ourselves. We are weak, but He is strong. Christ in us is strong! And in this evil day . . . Would you say we’re living in an evil day? [Ladies verbalize their assent.] So would believers of every generation.

Believers in other parts of our world see this even more clearly than we do, perhaps, here in the West. But it is for sure an evil day! And Paul says you need to be prepared, you need to take your stand! You need to be proactive putting on this armor of God. 

So, what does this full armor of God consist of that Paul is talking about? Here we move to verse 14 of Ephesians chapter 6:

Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. (vv. 14–17)

Now, again, there is so much here,and the way I love to teach, usually, is by taking a passage like that and spending a week or two or three on it. But I’m going to spend just a few minutes on it, because I want you to get the overview. 

The full armor of God described here protects us from head to toe, and it’s equipment that we can’t afford to be without in any and every kind of spiritual battle. We know that to send troops into battle without supplies, without protective armor, without ammunition, without whatever the weapons of war are, and the armor; to send them out there, they’re just going to get mowed down!

We’re going to get mowed down spiritually if we don’t take the full armor of God that God has provided to protect us from head to toe! So, he mentions several things, I’ll just reference them here: the belt of truth (v. 14). Truth is a powerful protective!

If you want to be protected against the lies of the enemy, you want to protect your children against the lies they’re being told by the enemy—in schools and in media and in children’s programming—they need to know the truth! The truth is more powerful than lies.

The breastplate of righteousness (v. 14). The righteousness of God that we have through Christ, who is our righteousness. And actually, all of the armor of God, putting it on, another way of saying it would be, “Put on Christ” (see Rom. 13:14).

Christ is the truth (see John 14:6), He is our righteousness (see 1 Cor. 1:30). This is what it is to be in Christ, to recognize that He is the One who protects us and keeps us and arms us and fits us for battle. 

So, our footwear: the gospel of peace (v. 15). You need to know the gospel, you need to know what it means not just to get you saved, but to get you sanctified and to keep you protected from the attacks of the evil one.

The helmet of salvation (v. 17). These are things that cover and protect us in the battle. Salvation, you say, “Yeah, I got salvation thirty-four years ago. I remember that.” No, you’re still needing the helmet of salvation today! What does the gospel do in your life today to protect you from the assaults and the attacks of the evil one?

And then Paul talks about the shield of faith (v. 16), the means by which we deal with every arrow that the enemy sends our way. These are flaming arrows. They’re designed to destroy, to set us afire, and there are a lot of flaming arrows going out there today, aren’t there?

Everywhere you turn . . . I’ve seen them on social media; it’s just so wearying! These are flaming arrows. But he says with faith you’re protected from those flaming arrows, and you can actually extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And then he talks about the sword of the Spirit (v. 17). This is an offensive weapon. And what is that sword? The Word of God. Apart from God’s Word sent forth in the power of His Spirit, we are powerless against the evil one and the forces of darkness in these evil days. The Word of God is so powerful. 

I love this Book! I’ve spent my life reading and studying this Book, soaking in it. I want to know this Book better than I know any other book. I want to know it better than I know anything about pop culture.

It so saddens me to see how many believers in Christ, so-called, are way more familiar with the songs and celebrities and things of this current age than they are with the Word of God! This is powerful. It is lifegiving. It is transformational.

I got a precious email the other day here at Revive Our Hearts from a woman. Let me just read it to you because it illustrates what I’m talking about. She says, 

So many times I could have emailed about how perfectly customized your Revive Our Hearts podcast is for my struggle or the encouragement I’ve needed that day. But today it’s just so perfect that I simply must stop to share it. We’re in our very last week of homeschool, and for some reason this week, my kids are all being a little . . . “extra!” 

I’ve been really struggling to hide my heart in Christ and not be led into sin by their struggles, but it has been a real battle, and I’ve been discouraged by the defeats. Sure enough, this morning started out in much the same way, and I was just feeling weary. In my Bible time I prayed simply that God would help me to behold Him today. We waded through the morning and lunch, and I decided to seize the afternoon “read and rest” time to catch up on the kitchen and some podcasts.

I opened Revive Our Hearts and the current series? Behold Your God—based on Scripture that the kids and I had been memorizing for the last four weeks of the school year. I’m shaking my head and laughing because . . . God! His truth and grace and faithfulness are so good!

And sure enough, the content of the first episode has been just the truth-mind renewal I need! I’m so, so thankful for God’s work in my life through this ministry! 

Now, I don’t have anything to offer that woman who’s weary in this homeschooling season of her life, but I have this! [Nancy holding her Bible] 

And the Word of God says, “Behold your God!” That’s what lifts her eyes, lifts her hope, lifts her heart to the truth instead of the wearying realities of everyday life. You see, the methods of human ideas, philosophies, policies, ideologies, strategies, resources, education, effort; none of these—apart from the gospel and the Word of God—are effective at combating evil.

Why do we forget this? Why do we think that the Word is, like, outdated? We think it because people tell us it is, and people believe that it is. The sexual morality, the teaching of God making male and female: “That’s old! That’s not modern, that’s not believable!” And we forget that the Word of God is sufficient! It’s true and it’s a powerful sword! 

And so, why do we look to other tools and weapons in the battle and forget that we have the most powerful one here? Whether the battle is with temptation in our own hearts, with human lostness all around us, with prodigal children, conflicts in churches and relationships, public policy issues, wicked governments . . . whatever it is, the Sword of the Spirit, with which evil is confronted and defeated, is the Word of God! 

Listen, pray for your pastor (we’re going to talk about that in just a minute) because pastors today are fighting such a pressure to be “‘more relevant,” to be “more contemporary,” to talk about something other than the old-fashioned Word of God.

And I’m telling you, there is nothing better, there is nothing more, there is nothing even close to equally effective! The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, love it, soak in it, learn it, memorize it, share it—share it with others.

When somebody’s having an issue and you lovingly and compassionately and wisely—under the direction of the Spirit—turn them to the Word of God, they may reject it, they may resist it. But God is planting seeds in hearts—yours and theirs—as you share His Word.

And then in verse 18 Paul says, “Pray at all times in the Spirit.” Prayer is an indispensable weapon in our spiritual warfare, in the battle against the powers of darkness. Prayer acknowledges our own helplessness. We can’t do this. We are not self-reliant. We can’t win this battle! 

We are weak, but He is strong. Prayer acknowledges that we are utterly dependent on God’s strength, on His grace, on His wisdom, on His ability to overcome the evil one. Prayerlessness, which is something I know a lot more about than prayerfulness, is an evidence either that we don’t realize we’re in a battle, or that we foolishly think that we can win this battle in our own strength and effort. 

 

I’ve heard mothers say that they loved mothering with their first child, their first two, but then came this third one or this fourth one, for whom no textbook was ever written! “I’m good with one or two. I can manage that.” Well, God knows how much you think you can manage, and then God pushes you just over the edge of what you think you can manage so that you get desperate.

That’s why I say so often, “Anything that makes me need God is a blessing.” It forces me to my knees. A woman was just sharing with me during a break that her precious children are now in teenage and young adult years. She said, “I’ve never spent so much time on my knees praying!”

She said, “I’m the mom. I’ve told them these things all these years, and I feel like sometimes just sounds old to them. So I’m on my knees.” She’s telling God, she’s praying, “Lord, capture these kids’ hearts! Help them to love the truth, help them to really know You. Arm and fit them for the battle of the world they’re going into!”

Paul says, “Pray in the Spirit.” Sometime you ought to do a study of the role of the Holy Spirit just in the book of Ephesians. You see many references to the Holy Spirit. How we need the Spirit of God, because our prayers are impotent. 

They are powerless and they are fruitless apart from being directed and energized by the Holy Spirit who lives in us—who shows us how to pray and who intercedes for us when we have no idea how to pray. We need the Holy Spirit.

So Paul says, 

Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. (v. 18)

Now there are a lot of “alls” in that verse. This verse, as much as any in the Scripture about prayer, shows the magnificent length and width and depth and heights of prayer.

We’re exhorted to pray at all times. Verse 16 says in every situation—with all kinds of prayers, with all perseverance, for all the saints. What he’s saying there is we need to pray all the time for all of God’s people, without ever giving up.

He says stay alert! Prayer requires vigilance and alertness. Remember Jesus saying to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Stay awake and pray” (see Matt. 26:41). Jesus said, “Be alert at all times, praying” (see Luke 21:36). 

Jesus prayed at all times: in His hour of great sorrow and temptation in the garden. He prayed from the cross. He prayed for us as He headed toward the cross. He intercedes for us from heaven today.

 

And we join Him in that intercessory ministry as we persevere. Stay alert in prayer for other believers. Prayer links us with the omnipotent hand of God, and allows us to participate with Him in what He is doing in this world. So we’re to pray for all those things. If you want to know what to pray for the saints, go through the book of Ephesians.

Pray: 

• that they might be able to stand 
• that they might be able to resist
• that they might be able to extinguish the darts of the evil one
• that they would live as children of light 
• that they would be wise
• that they would be filled with the Spirit
• that they would experience every spiritual blessing God has lavished upon them by His grace 

Pray the Scripture for those saints!

So many believers today are weak and yielding to temptation, overwhelmed by life’s storms, not filled with the Spirit, not walking in the Spirit. Maybe it’s because we're not praying for all the saints as we’ve been exhorted to do.

What might God do in the lives of those stumbling, fumbling believers in your church or in your life if we were persevering in prayer on their behalf? And how might the entire church better reflect the beauty and the glory of God in our world if we were praying for the people of God, praying for the saints? How might His glory be being displayed in our churches in ways we rarely see in this part of the world today?

Blogs and books and podcasts and sermons, social media and church programs and activities and small groups and conferences . . . Look, these can all be used to help edify the saints. But if they’re not girded up with prayer, if they’re not accompanied with Spirit-directed, persevering, targeted prayer, the impact of our most fervent efforts is going to fail. It’s not going to work. The church will languish, and that’s exactly what’s happening!

Do you know where churches are thriving today? It’s in parts of the world where there’s persecution, and they have to pray! They’re just desperate! They can’t make it; they can’t survive without God! I want to encourage us as we think about this passage to be alert to opportunities to pray for the saints, to pray with the saints, for and with others.

I want to encourage you to be a part of cultivating a culture of prayer in your home, in your church, in your friendships, in your texting. Be praying for one another, be praying with one another. In the middle of my study late last night I had a call with one of our staff. It was something we were needing to handle, and it kind of fell in the middle of my study time. 

It was ten o’clock at night, and I knew I had a few hours left still to study. And our team member said to me before we hung up, “Let me just pray for you.” She prayed for the saints—for this saint, for these saints here today. And God has used her prayers today to strengthen and equip me for this battle. Look for opportunities. Pray with your children, pray at home, pray without ceasing.

I have a friend who for many years led one of the largest Christian organizations in the world. He was known for never having a phone call that he didn’t end in prayer. And that’s become part of the culture of our ministry, we pray! We pray at the beginning of meetings; it’s not just a pro forma thing. We know we need God! Now, it can become just a rote thing, and then God upsets things just enough for us to know we really do need Him—to make us desperate for Him. See what you can do to create a culture of prayer around you.

Paul says in verse 19, 

Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. 

Paul understood the necessity and the power of prayer, and he appealed to this church in Ephesus to pray for him, that God would supernaturally give him the message to proclaim each time he opened his mouth.

You say, “Paul needed this?” Yes, Paul needed this. What’s he to say in Athens? What’s he to say in Philippi. What’s he to say in Thessalonica? There were different people, different situations, different needs. How was he to make the gospel known?

He said, “Pray for me that I will know how to speak when I open my mouth.” He asked them to pray that he would be given boldness to declare the gospel as he should. I just wonder how much more effective our pastors might be, evangelists and preachers, if the church were praying for them in this way? 

There’s no amount of seminary training or study or preparation that can substitute for the faithful, fervent prayers of God’s people. I’m looking back at my sweet husband in the back of the room here today. 

Before we were married, he was in a church in Orlando that had two services. And Robert came alongside this pastor whom he loved so dearly, a great preacher of the Word, and between the services Robert would go to that pastor’s study and encourage him and pray for him. 

Robert’s been gone now from that church for seven years, but that pastor thanks Robert for being a man who lifted him up, and lifts him up, with prayer. Those pastors need that! Listen, your pastor will be a way better preacher if he has people praying for him rather than criticizing. Even the great apostle realized that.

Missionaries . . . we have a visiting missionary here today with us. In these parts of the country where it’s been like “out of sight, out of mind,” now with social media, we can know more about what their needs are. But they’ve been called and entrusted to make known the gospel. 

Rather than critique these preachers, these missionaries, these Christian workers, rather than comparing them to others or challenging them about their shortcomings, let’s pray for them! Let’s pray that God will make them fearless in declaring the truth, even in the face of opposition and the cultural headwinds that are so powerful against them!

Listen, I cannot imagine where I would be today—where Revive Our Hearts would be—without friends who pray for us! Yesterday I got a text from a dear sister in Scotland—she’s probably watching right now. The text said, “Praying for much wisdom and strength as you continue to prepare for tomorrow. Covering you in prayer!”

After midnight last night, I was still up studying and I got a text from a sweet friend who said, “I can’t sleep, so I’m holding your arms up from Arkansas!” She knew I was studying for today. That’s why God’s blessing your heart today, my heart, as we’re soaking in the Word together. It’s because of praying people.

So Paul says in verse 20, 

For this [for the gospel] I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.

He didn’t say, “Pray I can get out of this place; pray that I can get rid of these chains!” He prayed for boldness to proclaim the gospel, even while he was in chains.

And so I would like to just take a few moments here to pray this passage over you. We’ve read through the passage, we’ve just done a thirty-thousand foot view of it. But I want to leave it with you, and then I want to leave you with the passage and ask you to go back and study it and meditate on it and ask God to show you what He wants to do in and through you with this passage.

So, Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 10, finally Lord, I pray that these women and others listening to this program in days to come will be strengthened by You and by Your vast strength. Thank You that You have enough strength for every weakness that we might have!

And I pray that each one would put on the full armor of God so that they would be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Because we recognize that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but it’s against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this darkness—against evil spiritual forces in the heavens. 

That’s a mouthful, and we don’t even know all of what that represents. But we know it’s true that there are unseen battles going on in this room, in this world, in our homes, in our churches, in our communities. It’s a spiritual battle, so we need that armor. 

And so I pray that each one of us would take up the full armor of God, that they may be able to resist in the evil day, that they might be prepared to take their stand against evil and the evil one!

I pray that they would stand with truth like a belt around their waist, with righteousness—the righteousness of Christ—like armor at the front of them, just protecting them, and their feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace.

And that in every situation—in every situation!—that anyone who’s listening to this would find themselves today, that they would take up the shield of faith with which you have promised they can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one! 

May they take up the helmet of Your glorious and beautiful salvation. May their head, their mind be protected by salvation. May they take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God which is so powerful to accomplish that which You send it forth to do.

May these women, may we, may we all pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request. May we stay alert, as Jesus did there in the garden while those disciples were sleeping. May we stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. 

Lord, help us to pray for our pastors, for our Christian leaders, for new believers, for longtime believers, for the spiritual leaders in our churches—our elders and deacons, Sunday school teachers, Bible teachers, social media ministry people. Help us to pray for the saints around us: our family members, our friends, our church members. Help us to persevere in interceding for them, because we can’t make it without prayer . . . nor can they. Show us how to pray; help us to pray.

And then thank You, Lord, for those who pray for me. Lord, how grateful I am for their prayers—these praying friends over all these years. I pray that the message may be given to me and each of us, when we open our mouth to make known the mystery of the gospel!

At times we find ourselves, as Your ambassadors, in chains in dark and difficult and hard places, bound up. It feels like Christians are being bound up and canceled left and right in our world today. But I pray, Lord, that we might be bold enough to speak about Christ and the gospel as we ought! So may we be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength! I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Dannah: Amen! That’s the host of Revive Our Hearts, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, praying for us. She used Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20 as the guide for her prayer, and she’ll be back with more in just a minute.

You know, praying through God’s Word is a great way to breathe new life into our prayers. Not only that, but we can be more sure we’re praying in the will of God when our prayers are being shaped and informed by the Bible. That’s the main concept behind a book we’re making available to you this month.

The title is Finding the Right Words to Pray: Fifty Scriptures to Guide Your Prayers. We’ll send you a copy when you donate any amount to help support Revive Our Hearts. You know, your prayers and your financial gifts make a huge difference in the lives of people—people like this listener who wrote to say, 

God continues to use Revive Our Hearts to change my life and grow me in His Word. Thank you, Nancy and team, for not watering down His Word and staying faithful to help women—including me—find freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ. Heaven rules . . . and I know God hears our prayers, and He will make a way! God bless. 

Isn’t that great? If you’ve given to Revive Our Hearts, you’ve helped us to be an encouragement to this precious listener, so thank you!

To make a donation and request your copy of the book Finding the Right Words to Pray, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. And, of course, to submit your prayer requests go to ReviveOurHearts.com/prayer. 

Tomorrow, we’ll hear about how God used the faithful prayers of a small group of people in 1857 to fan into flame a movement of revival that swept across the United States and around the world! Now, here’s Nancy.

Nancy: Ladies, count on it. Look to Him, draw upon His strength. He will give you what you need in the battle every day, every situation. Put on the whole armor of God and go out strong in the power of the Lord! 

And then, remember that the day is coming when the evil one will be banished forever: no more evil, no more sin, no more temptation, no more wickedness, no more lies, no more deception. Just truth and righteousness and glory and salvation and goodness and joy, singing in the presence of the Lord forever!

Prayer will be praise, and faith will be sight. So in the meantime we battle on, but we do it from a position of victory and strength, amen? 

Women: Amen.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is calling you to draw on His vast strength and to find freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!.

All Scripture is taken from the CSV.