THE SPEAR OF PRAYER

Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.


I grew up in the church. No I wasn’t a pastor’s kid. I wasn’t even a worship leader’s kid. I was an intercessor’s kid. I was that kid whose mom was either away for hours in the morning, stuffed in a room with like-minded saints praying for the church, or found on the couch at home with a Bible in her lap and eyes closed in prayer. I was that kid that, when you got sick, you knew to call mom because she would drive out every demon on the block if it meant seeing you healed. And I was that kid who, God-forbid, you lied to your mom because she was in such great contact with God that your hidden moments would be told to her by the time you got home from school.
It wasn’t until I went off to college, though, that I began to truly understand the power that comes in prayer. In my freshman year I ended up fracturing my femur in a lousy attempt to show off my white-boy dance moves. The report from the doctor was at least six weeks on crutches and possibly a surgery to place screws in my leg if I planned to walk again. So, after I got done crying from both the pain and the report of the doc, I decided it was time to pray.
After two weeks of walking on crutches, I threw them aside. I was done. Not that I would suggest this to anyone else, but I felt that they were more than a physical crutch. To me, they represented a lack in faith that Jesus could heal me. So I tossed them aside, and began to pray for a complete healing in my leg. I had seen the original x-rays, I knew it was cracked, and cracked good. But when I went back for my check-up, something was different. I can still remember the doctor talking into his recording device and saying, “I don’t know what happened, but there is no mark of a break, and no reason for the surgery.”
I know and have heard testimonies far better than mine about people getting healed, or being sparred of what could have been a terrible incident, or even having needs met, but all these accounts go to prove one thing. Prayer works!
When most put on the armor, they put on the pieces we have already looked at, which include the belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword. However, Paul didn’t stop with just these six pieces. Tucked within Ephesians 6:18, and maybe tucked just a little too good, is one more piece. This final piece of our armor is prayer. Now you may question how I come to this conclusion as again, it is not bluntly mentioned in Paul’s dressings. But as many believe Paul wrote Ephesians while being watched by the Roman Guard, so Paul would hourly have had before him a fully dressed guard to look at. This Roman soldier would have been decked from head to toe in all his gear, and carried with him the shield, sword, and a spear. It is this spear that is equated in our piece of prayer.
The Roman army actually had two spears at their disposal, and both were for a different function. The first was a short spear, better known as a javelin or pilum, and it was common for the soldier to carry at least two of this style. It was this tool that was thrown with the intention of penetrating the armor of their enemy. Furthermore, the tips on these spears were crafted in such a way that they would break off or bend when hitting their target. To see the remnants of broken spears littering the ground, and wounded soldiers with the metal spear tips half swallowed within their body became the norm in war.
Along with the javelin, though, was the lance. The lance was a long, shafted weapon that normally required the use of both hands to fully throw. While many within the army would carry at least one lance, it was not uncommon to see a soldier carrying two of these approximately eighty inch weapons. It was the tip of the shaft that was made of iron, while the back portion was made of ash wood, in addition to being weighed with lead weights to increase the balance, distance, and impact when reaching the intended target. In battle, it was the lance that would be thrown first with the hopes of doing great damage. If the lance failed to take out a soldier, it would hopefully do damage to the soldier’s shield, as being stuck into the enemy’s shield would at least render the shield useless and the lance unable to be throw back
In Ephesians 6:18, Paul states to “… pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Just to clarify this verse, Paul didn’t specialize on what type of occasions or kinds of prayer, but simply stated ALL occasions and with ALL kinds of prayers and requests. Just as the soldier had a javelin and lance for whatever the situation required, so Paul is pointing out here that we have a prayer for whatever we are dealing with. This spiritual weaponry has been given to us not for decoration, but for use against the strategies of the enemy.
We read that on the night Jesus was betrayed, he took the disciples with Him to the Garden and asked them to stay and pray while He went further into the Garden Himself to pray. Upon His return He found the disciples sleeping and eventually questioned of them if they could not tarry just one hour. Yet how many times has this happened to us? I know personally that I can make the commitment with my mouth to wake up early for a prayer meeting, but get as far as, “Dear Heavenly Father…,” before the Zzzzzz’s of sleep overcome me. How can I expect to take on the enemy if I cannot tarry one hour myself? And have you ever noticed that you pray more effectively when you have a burden to pray for something? Perhaps another reason we cannot find the ability to tarry is because we have lacked the burden. Our prayers become as effective as throwing the lance with a broken arm. Yet if we tarry, and become consumed with the burdens that burden our Lord, we will find the lance effectively hitting the target each time.
Let me point out here as well, though, that God answers in His time. We pray in a time that is important to us; we pray in the now, the KRONOS. However, God is Sovereign, and He can do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants to do it. Therefore, God answers prayer on His appointed timing, his KAIROS. We cannot push His timing, but we can keep praying until the two times collide.
Let us look at still one more relationship between the spear and prayer, this one found in our moments of worship. In Acts 16:25 we find the account of Paul and Silas in prison for rebuking the spirit of python out of a woman who predicted the future and earned funds for her masters as a fortune teller. Now, sitting in prison at the midnight hour, we read that the two were praying and praising God in song. Suddenly, there was an earthquake that shook the prison and released all the prisoners of their chains. Don’t miss that point. Through prayer and praise, the chains that held them all captive were broken off them. The spear had been thrown because of their prayer and praise, and it hit the enemy square in the chest. Freedom for Paul and Silas was found, and salvation for the entire home of the jailer was accepted. To think that praise is not also a weapon is wrong, for even in the wilderness David sang his prayers to God.
It is prayer and praise that gets our minds on God and His plans. It is prayer and praise that opens the door for God’s hand to change circumstances. It is prayer and praise that urges us to walk in God’s ways. And it is prayer and praise that reminds us of what God has done, encourages us in what He is doing, and gives us hope in what He will continue to do. It is for this reason that Jude 20 reminds us to build ourselves up in the most holy faith.
Prayer is a weapon, for it is communication with God. How can we know the heart of God if we do not tarry for His heart? How can we throw the spear and hit the mark if we are throwing aimlessly? Therefore, let us take the time to seek Him, seek His heart, and pray through the burdens that He places on us. He has given us this means of communication so that in this battle we will know the target and hit it dead on. Now, grab your spear, and pray.