A Spiritual War of Attrition
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:10-13, 18-20
The original Legend of Zelda game was released by Nintendo in 1986 and has gone on to be one of the most successful video game series of all time (and my personal favorite). I remember being given the original Zelda game in middle school and being constantly frustrated by how difficult it was. While the game is brutally difficult in the first place, there are some who have sought to turn the difficulty up to the maximum. The first thing that Link is supposed to do in the game is get a sword. Taking this as optional instead of mandatory, these gamers have played the entire game, up until the final boss, without ever using or even having a sword!
You might wonder what this has to do with prayer. Well, in the game when you receive the sword a text bubble appears above the character that says, “It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!” That, in essence, is the story of why we pray. It is a dangerous world for us filled with spiritual enemies and we make this battlefield much harder when we refuse to take up our sword!
There are many ways to answer the question of “why?” when it comes to prayer. Some answers will look at the incentives of prayer such as intimacy with God, some will look at the imperatives of prayer; the commands of God, some will look at the influence of prayer such as how it transforms our hearts. Rarely do I hear a sermon or read an article on the dangers of not praying. We have so much to gain that we have forgotten how much we have to lose! Prayer is an essential part of the Christian walk because it is a suicide mission to go without.
A great frustration of mine is the ‘inoculation effect’ that grips us when we are exposed to familiar verses such as John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:11, or Philippians 4:13 and slowly but surely lose our appreciation and comprehension of the great magnitude of the truth held within them. I fear this has happened to many of us when it comes to Ephesians 6. This passage speaks about the armor of God, an object lesson that has made it a favorite passage for VBS themes and Sunday School classes for children. I fear that we have lost the solemn and serious nature of Paul’s words because we have gotten too close and too familiar with it. Let us not take lightly that we are at war. We are in the midst of a raging battlefield and we have forgotten to fight.
What battle are we in anyways? It is a war against “spiritual forces of evil”, not “flesh and blood”. What Paul is saying here is that our opposition is Satanic and demonic, it is unseen and yet deadly, it is viciously against salvation and justice and sanctification and God, and it is too easy to miss. If we had eyes to see the spiritual battle around us we would immediately grasp the danger of our current situation. When we attribute spiritual warfare to malfunctioning sound systems, delays in traffic, and minor colds (all of which may be spiritual warfare) and neglect the greater battles that are occurring in the world and in our homes such as the fight for abortion legalization, false teachers and the prosperity gospel, homelessness, prostitution, and certainly the death grip of pornography, we have severely misunderstood the stakes. This is a war for souls, not convenience.
Once we grasp the great danger of this constant battle, a spiritual war of attrition, hopefully it will become clear how foolish it is to go out in anything less than full armor and armed with every weapon we have. Too many Christians are playing with squirt guns on the beaches of Normandy. Or maybe we are using other weapons such as political activism or self-help books and neglecting the twin weapons of the Word and prayer, forgetting what is basic and necessary and what is supplemental.
Paul’s prescription for safety in the battle is threefold: the Armor of God, the Sword of the Spirit, and the Prayer of the Saints but we will focus our attention to prayer for now. Within the context of spiritual warfare, Paul tells the Ephesians to “keep alert… making supplication”. How did Paul want us to fight back in this battle? If the armor of God is defensive, then he is clearly teaching that the Word of God and the prayer of the saints is our offensive tactics as Christians. This makes perfect sense. At the beginning of this section Paul writes, “Be strong in the Lord…” Why is prayer and the Word our method of attack? It is because we have no power in ourselves and when left alone are at the full mercy of the spiritual forces of evil (which are not known for mercy I might add).
Prayer is our cry for God to take up arms against the enemy. It is our weapon of warfare, but in reality, it is a phone calling for air support. The Word of God is its companion because our words waver, and our will is weak, and we must put in front of us the unwavering and inalienable Word of God as our other means of attack.
To bring this principle of prayer to bear on the spiritual battles of today, I worry about those who labor to end abortion who spend long days in writing and activism and confrontation and little in prayer. I am reminded and humbled that “Unless the Lord builds this house the laborers labor in vain.” I fear for those who evangelize and preach and do not cry out to God in the spirit of John Knox “Give me Scotland or I die”. A prayerless pastor is a danger to himself and to others.
Dear Christian, fight the good fight in prayer. If you do not fight, the battle does not cease, you just begin to lose.
Last week I challenged you to meditate on what keeps you from diligent prayer. This week consider how to go on the offensive in the spiritual battles of our day. I would encourage you to pray for two things each week. One being the lost people in your life and the other being the horror of legalized abortion. Pray daily for the Lord’s hand and strength. Pray diligently for the Lord to give you by his strength the ability to preach the gospel to those who are casualties of this spiritual war. Labor in prayer and prayerfully labor. May the Lord give you strength to fight the good fight.
