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Scripture Reading: Eph. 6:10-20
We are very familiar with this passage of Scripture. This afternoon we will not consider the whole passage. Instead we will only read verse 18. "By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints." Today we will pay special attention to this verse. For the sake of time, we will not even consider the first and last parts of this verse; we will only consider the few words in the middle: "praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance." The apostle said that we should pray and petition at every time in the Spirit and by the Spirit. But even if we have prayed and petitioned at every time, it is still not enough; we have to have one thing: to watch unto this in all perseverance. If I say that the Lord is coming soon and that we have to be watchful, this may be understandable. If we encounter some trials and are told to be watchful, we may also understand this. But it is hard to understand the words, "watching unto this in all perseverance." What does the "this" refer to? Which item does "this" indicate? We know that "this" refers to the prayer and petition mentioned above. The apostle was exhorting us to be watchful and persevering in our prayer and petition. If he had said that the Lord is coming and that we have to be watchful, we would all understand what he meant. If he had said that trials are coming or that danger or sufferings are coming, we would also know what he meant. But he said that we have to be watchful in prayer and petition. His words were not about the Lord's coming or about trials, but about prayer and petition. This is hard to understand. When many people come to this passage, they do not know what it means. Therefore, this afternoon may God grant us the light within this one short hour to understand what it means to be watchful in prayer and petition. If we learn what it is to be watchful, we will have learned a great deal in the matter of prayer. Please remember that we have to be watchful not only concerning the Lord's coming and the dangers and trials that are coming, but we also have to be watchful in the matter of prayer and petition. What does it mean to be watchful? Being watchful is to open our eyes to observe and to keep surveillance; it is making sure that nothing escapes our attention. The apostle is not telling us to be watchful concerning tribulations and trials, but concerning prayer and petition. There is nothing more vulnerable than prayer and nothing more attacked than prayer. For this reason, we have to learn the proper lessons in prayer before we can go on.
Today I will mention a few things related to being watchful in prayer.
In the Christian life, no time is more attacked than the time of prayer. We sometimes say that we have no time to pray. For this reason, unless we are watchful, we do not pray. It is amazing that we have time to eat, see guests, visit people, and do other things. But the strange thing is that once we intend to pray, we find that we have no time. For example, last night we might have said, "Oh, another day has passed, and I still have not prayed properly. Tomorrow I have to find a time to pray properly." But the next day at the scheduled time of prayer, someone may be knocking at our front door, while another person may be waiting for us at the back door. It is so strange that at other times, everything is quiet. But once we begin to pray, all kinds of things begin to happen. We can find a great deal of time to do this and that. But we cannot find a time to pray. Many people have found this phenomenon most amazing. Brothers and sisters, please remember that prayer requires watchfulness; it requires that we open our eyes and keep surveillance. We cannot skip prayer just because it is hard to find the time, and we cannot just let the matter slip by. We have to realize that this is absolutely a work of the enemy; the enemy is frustrating us and coming up with all kinds of things to take away our time of prayer. I must say frankly that the reason so many Christians pray so poorly is that they have not seen this matter; they have not been keeping a watchful surveillance and have not carefully guarded every opportunity of prayer from slipping by. They have time to do this and that, to study the Bible, and to do other works, but they cannot find any time to pray or make petitions. Brothers and sisters, this is where Satan gains the victory. He knows that if we cannot find the time to pray, we will not pray, and subsequently he will not be restricted.
We know that at every time we have to be watchful because there are dangers ahead. Every time we have to be on guard because there are enemies before us. If there were no danger or enemies, there would be no need to be watchful. In other words, there is the need to be watchful because there are dangers and enemies ahead of us. Therefore, when we pray and make petitions, we have to be watchful and struggle to find the time. If we want to wait until we have the time to pray, we will never have the opportunity to do so. All those who want to participate in the work of supplication and who want to advance in their prayer life have to make time; they have to set aside a time to pray. We have to guard this time and strive to lay hold of it. This means that we have to pray that God will give us the time to pray. We have to have prayers that guard our prayer time. We have to pray that we will not lose these times. Once these times are lost, there will be no prayer. Every person who wants to properly serve the Lord has to remember and realize that they have to set aside a prayer time. Andrew Murray said that those who have never set aside a time for prayer have never prayed. If we have never scheduled a time to pray, we will never have the time to pray. Furthermore, even if we schedule a time, we have to pray to guard this time and put a camp around this time with prayer, so that it will not be taken away by the enemy. This is what it means to be watching "unto this." The first thing we have to be watchful about is the time of prayer.
We must not only be watchful and on guard for our time of prayer, but we must be watchful and on guard that we use this time properly. Not only must we try to have a time of prayer, we must also carefully watch and guard ourselves while we are praying. What does this mean? We know that a Christian is attacked more when he is praying than at any other time. We are attacked the most during our prayer. At ordinary times, our mind is very clear, and our thoughts are lucid. But once we start praying, our thoughts become confused and distracted, and we are drawn away to somewhere else. Before we pray, we are strong physically. Once we start praying, we feel physically tired and sleepy. Originally, we could talk to people until eleven or twelve o'clock or work until the same time. But if we pray until nine o'clock, we feel that the time is too long and that we have to sleep. We cannot explain why the body is well one minute, but we feel ill as soon as we pray. If we would not pray and go away to do something else, our energy will come back. But as soon as we pray, our energy is gone. Brothers and sisters, this is the opposing work of Satan. He does not want us to pray; he wants to cut off the wire that is linked to heaven. He knows the power of prayer, and he knows that prayer will restrict him and bring down power from heaven. This is why he tries his best to attack our prayer. He knows that if he does not cut off this line, he will suffer loss. He knows that if you cannot fellowship with God, he can act any way he wants and do whatever he wants to you. This is why we can do whatever we want and nothing will interrupt us; we can carry various things out smoothly. But as soon as we decide to pray, nothing will go smoothly. Indeed, at no other time are Christians attacked as much as when we pray.
What should our attitude be concerning this? The only thing we can do is to be watchful. Therefore, we should not only be watchful and on the alert concerning the time to pray and not only sustain this attitude until the time we pray, but we should also sustain it when we are praying so that we might have a proper prayer. Brothers and sisters, we should open our eyes and see. We should not be deceived into thinking that we are not feeling well and that we should not pray. We must remember that this is an attack of Satan. Never think that you are tired and, therefore, that you should not pray because you may do harm to your body. No, you are deceived. There is not such a thing. Let me say this again. If you feel weak when you pray, do not think that you are weak. If it seems that your thoughts are not focused, do not think your thoughts are not focused. All this is the work of Satan in attacking and deceiving you. This is why you have to be watchful. "Watching unto this in all perseverance." You have to guard your prayer properly with prayer. You have to build a wall of prayer around your prayer. Therefore, before you engage yourself in the work of prayer, you must first pray that God will enable you to pray and deliver you from everything that hinders you from praying so that you will not become weak and sleepy. You must pray that God will give you the energy to pray, that your thoughts will not wander, and that under the covering of the blood, you will not become tired, weak, spiritless, or confused. You should say to the Lord, "Lord, protect my prayer so that I can concentrate myself in prayer, be empowered to pray, and not be hindered by my natural weaknesses."
Please remember that there are two kinds of soldiers in this world. One kind is a regular soldier that goes to war, and the other is a sentry. A sentry does not fight; he is there to protect. One may say that he is a guard of the soldiers who do the fighting. Many times we see a battalion of soldiers stationed in a courtyard with a few soldiers standing at the gate with their guns. What are these soldiers doing? They are protecting the soldiers within who do the fighting, keeping them from being attacked. We know that prayer is a kind of attack on Satan; it is a warfare with Satan. We also need sentry prayers to guard our fighting prayers. Being watchful means being on guard. Being watchful in prayer means that we have to be careful in keeping guard, not allowing our prayer, which is our fighting army, to suffer any loss. Therefore, there are two things that we have to be watchful about. The first is not allowing Satan to take away our time of prayer, and the second is asking the Lord to protect our time of prayer so that we can have the strength to pray. One thing we have to remember is that all adverse circumstances are not real; they are illusions and deceptions from the enemy.
If we want to pray properly, there are still other things we have to do. One of these is to avoid all prayers that are not prayers. Satan will not only take away our time and our strength to pray but will cause us to say many vain words in our prayer. This is something that we have to open our eyes to and be on the alert for. We must be determined not to waste our time in prayer. Many prayers are not real prayers but are vain talk; they do not accomplish any work. I read a story about Mr. Evan Roberts which at first I could not quite believe. Mr. Roberts was a leader in the Welsh revival. One time in his living room, a few people were praying for a certain matter. One brother was in the middle of his prayer, when Mr. Roberts went over and covered his mouth, saying, "Brother, don't go on. You are not praying." When I read this, I wondered how this could ever be. But he did do it. Now I know that he was right. Many of our prayers are in fact the result of Satan's instigating our flesh. Our prayers may be very long, but they are not real or useful. This is a fact. Many times in our prayers we encircle the world a few times, and we use up all our time and energy so that we can no longer pray properly or get any answers to our prayers. Although we may have prayed much, our prayers have not been answered and have not been effective. Our time and energy are all wasted. Prayer does not have to be very long, and there is no need to use many words. We must be careful not to put too much reasoning into our prayers. All we have to do is present our desire before the Lord; there is no need to add too much to this.
If what we say are vain words, we can be sure that God will not listen. Therefore, we have to be on the alert and be watchful. What is it to be watchful? It is speaking carefully before the Lord. There was a man who was really good at prayer. He once wrote a hymn; one line says that before a person comes to God, he should first be prepared in what he wants to ask of God. How do we submit a petition before a judge? Do we do it with nothing in our hands? No, we have to prepare a statement first. This is the way we should come to God; we must first be prepared concerning what we are going to pray. We should not come to God presumptuously without first knowing what we want. Many times our prayers are not answered, and we cannot work and do not have the strength because our prayers are foolish, aimless mutterings before God. This is absolutely the trick of Satan. He puts foolish mutterings into us. This kind of prayer is completely useless and does not change anything after we pray. Therefore, we must be watchful in prayer and properly on guard. When we come to God to pray, we must be very careful that we guard our prayer.
We have to be very clear in our mind what our desire is. We must see clearly what it is we want from God when we come to Him. We should not wander aimlessly before God. We must know what we want. If we do not have such a want, we do not have a prayer. All prayers are governed by the heart's desire. Once two blind men came to the Lord and said, "Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!" The Lord asked, "What do you want Me to do for you?" (Matt. 20:29-32). The Lord is also asking you, "What do you want Me to do for you when you pray?" Some people can pray for fifteen to twenty minutes. If you pull them aside and ask them what they are asking of God, they would not be able to tell you anything. Although they have said many things about this and about that, they do not know what they want; they do not have any wants. How can we expect God to work through our prayers? Therefore, before we pray we must pay proper attention to our wants. We must examine watchfully what it is we want. It is a pity that many people have no wants at all and are merely muttering foolish, vain words before God with long prayers.
Another thing that is equally important is the words we use; that is, the things we say in our prayer. Recall the Syrophoenician woman who came one day to ask the Lord to heal her daughter. The Lord said that it was not right to give the children's bread to the dogs. This meant that the Gentiles were the dogs. But she thought, "That is all right. He said I am a dog; I will be a dog to Him." She answered saying, "Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs under the table eat of the little children's crumbs." How did the Lord answer her? He said, "Because of this word, go" (Mark 7:24-30). Therefore, the words we use are most important. The Lord answered her prayer because she said the right thing. For this reason, we must not only have a proper desire before the Lord, we must also pay attention that our words would be right and compatible with our desire. Many times we want something in our heart yet after rambling for a long time, we find that we have deviated from our subject into other matters. All powerful prayers are carefully worded prayers. However, this does not mean that we have to compose a good prayer and recite it.
We have seen two things. If we are to pray before God, we have to take care of our desire and our words, and we have to closely guard them. Now we have to pay attention to a third thing. Not only should we take care of our desire and our words, but we must consider the way we pray. It is a pity that many people have good desire in their prayers and are proper in the use of their words, but they cannot watch themselves. All of a sudden their prayer strays off, and it cannot be brought back. Many times we have to consider if our prayers have wandered off. Many long prayers need much supervision and searching to see if the subject of request has changed through the use of wrong words. If this is so, we have to pull the prayer back and not allow it to slip away. Such a slipping away can very easily happen. At the beginning we may want something from God, but when sentence after sentence is piled up, the prayer goes off on a tangent and leaves the center. Many times when we realize we have left the center, we have to start all over again to put the words back into their proper place. We have to examine carefully if our prayer is in a good continuation. We must hold onto the goal and not give up. This is a most important point. Prayer requires that we be watchful, persistent, unrelenting, and alert in keeping out unnecessary words. For this reason, we have to supervise our prayer and protect it.
What we have just covered has to do with keeping out vain words and prayers that are not prayers. We have to be on the alert for the many words and reasonings, and we must keep them out. Under this third point, there are three items. First, in order to stop all useless prayers, we have to have a desire and specific want. Second, we need accurate wording; the things that we say in our prayers must be right. Third, we must maintain a proper condition by keeping out unnecessary words from our prayer and by refraining from praying prayers that are not prayers.
If all our prayers are to be effective, we have to knit them together as a net. What does this mean? It means that we have to pray thoroughly and not leave one matter untouched by our prayer. We must not allow one matter to slip by. If we do not have a net-like prayer, we cannot have a fruitful prayer. I do not want to go into detail about this matter today, but I will mention the principle in brief. A man who is capable in prayer will pour out all his desires before God and will use many kinds of prayers to surround the matter that he is praying for; he will form a net around the matter and will prevent the enemy from doing anything more. Our prayers today are too loose; they are not tight at all. Although many words are spoken, nothing is thorough, and the enemy can still carry on his work. If our prayers are like a net, the enemy will not find any gap to come in, and we will accomplish our work.
Let us illustrate with an example. Suppose a brother is traveling to the remote border regions to preach the gospel. We have a burden in our heart to pray for him. Because we have such an earnest burden for him, we pray to God about everything related to his journey. We pray about everything we can think of, including his needs, the train he will ride, the traintrack, his tickets, his luggage, his meals, his lodgings, his health, the porters, transportation, all the people he will meet, the houses where he will stay, the local people at his destination, his attitude, his demeanor, his preaching, his initial work, and his food and clothing during his stay there. In short, we pray about everything we can think of that is related to him. This is to pray by means of all prayer. It means to put a net around him, so nothing is left untouched by prayer and so he can have peace in everything. If we do this, Satan will not be able to do anything even if he wanted to because we have surrounded this brother with a net of protection. The enemy will not be able to bother him anymore. We have to pray even for the letters that go to him through the mail; we have to pray that the mail will not be lost and that the items that others send him will not be stolen. We have to pray about everything that is related to him. In this way, we will see a net of prayer around him, and the enemy will not be able to do anything. In order to do this, there is the need to be watchful. If we are not watchful and do not keep an eye on the matter, we will not realize that there are so many things to pray about. A hasty prayer, a prayer cut short, or a general prayer is often a loose prayer; it gives the enemy the ground to come in. Many times, loose prayers are a sign of the lack of desire, for if we have an intense desire, and we know what we are praying for, there will surely be a burden which will press us to pray for everything. Of course, this has much to do with our knowledge. For this reason, we must be watchful and open our eyes to oversee the situation. In this way we will be able to pray about everything that we see, everything that we can think of, and everything that the other person will encounter. If we are not watchful, we may finish our prayer in two sentences and will not have anything more to say. If we want to serve the Lord properly in the matter of prayer, we must be very watchful and observing in the matter of time, energy, and everything that we pray about, and we must do this until all the things that we pray for have come to pass. This is indeed not easy. However, this is an expression of great love. If there is no love, there is no supplication, for all those who have never loved fervently can never pray for others. If there is no love, God's children will not be able to participate in the work of prayer. Concerning prayer, there are many principles. But today we can only mention a few basic ones. The rest we will have to find out ourselves. Finally I will mention another matter.
A good doctor will not only be watchful about the medicine his patient takes, but he will also watch for any reactions in the patient after he has taken the medicine. He knows that if there is a reaction in the illness, there will surely be a change in the person's physiology, and he must change his treatment accordingly. For this reason, all proper prayers are not only uttered by all means but at all times. They must not only be uttered once, but again and again. They must not be uttered by all means once for all, but by all means at all times. Therefore, after our prayers, we have to pay attention to any new developments, reactions, or attitudes. We have to observe if the person or things that we pray for show any new signs. Otherwise, even though we have prayed, we are not watchful; and our prayer is still futile. If we pray for a person, we have to observe his condition afterward. This is very important, for this will affect our prayer before God. Prayer alone will not work, for it is powerless. (Of course, we cannot make this a general conclusion.) For this reason, we have to be very watchful even after we have prayed.
Suppose we are praying for one who opposes the Lord. We pray that God will make him believe, and we pray for him by all means. Not only are we praying by all means, we are also praying at all times. At the same time, we believe in God's promise and lay hold of His word. But after a few days, the situation becomes worse; he becomes more antagonistic. Many people do not understand this; they go on praying just the same. This is wrong. It is not enough just to pray. We must examine and present his opposition before the Lord and tell Him that this person has now become more antagonistic. At the same time, we have to ask God why his situation has become worse and what we should do. If we are watchful, God may give us the light and show us that our prayer has affected the enemy. Otherwise, there would not have been such a change. If the opposition has become particularly serious, it probably means that the prayer has touched him. The enemy is afraid that we will snatch this person away. This is why he becomes more antagonistic. When we see this, we can start praising the Lord. Although outwardly the person may be opposing us more fiercely, we know that our prayer has struck him, and the enemy is trying to guard him more closely. When this happens, we can change our prayer and cast another net. Perhaps after a while, he will become milder. In the beginning he ignored us. Now he begins to talk with us. At this point we should cast out another net in prayer. We have to change our prayer according to the situation. This requires that we be watchful. Being watchful is overseeing and observing. One thing is certain, our knowledge governs our prayer. The more we know about a matter, the easier it is to pray for it. Therefore, if someone asks us to pray for something, he must first explain the thing clearly to us. The amount we know is the amount we can pray.
Watchfulness enables us to know the direction of prayer, and it enables us to see the condition of the person we pray for and how much he has changed. For this reason, we must watch all the time, and we must find out what changes have occurred since we prayed. Has the situation become worse, or has it become better? Has it gone forward, or has it gone backward? We must watch closely. Many times, we have to keep watching a person, a work, a tribulation, or a brother. Not only must we be faithful, we must be prudent as well. Our eyes should be the same when they are open as when they are closed. Just as we have to close our eyes to pray faithfully for others, in the same way we should open them faithfully to follow all the changes. If we only close our eyes, the enemy will have many opportunities to deceive us. Ephesians 6 is a chapter on spiritual warfare. The most important thing there is the prayer at the end. But this prayer can only be maintained with watchfulness. Therefore, in our prayer, we must be watchful, for our prayers will only be effective when we are watchful.
Brothers and sisters, the basic need is that we pray. But if we want to be powerful in our prayer, we have to add watchfulness to our prayer. It is a pity that many people have not learned the work of prayer. They are unclear about the matter of prayer. We have no other goal today than that God would revive us to function in the work of prayer. Do not forget that for God's children, the thing in their life that suffers the greatest attack is the matter of prayer. If we do not pray, we will not have the power. This is why Satan specifically tries to disrupt our prayer life, so that we will not have the time or the energy to pray, so that we will use many useless words in our prayer, so that we will miss many items in our prayer, and so that we will become negligent after we pray and fail to note the changes that happen afterward. If we want to learn to pray properly, we must pay attention to these five things. By these, we will learn something in prayer. Although these five points are very simple, they are also very profound. Those who have prayed for many years have learned these five things, and those who are beginning their lessons in prayer should also take care of these five things. However, the more we go on in prayer, the more understanding we will have and the more experience we will acquire. May God give us the grace today to truly pay attention to these matters.
