Read Ephesians 6:10-20
I read about Christian missionary workers in Afghanistan. There are 229 of them. At first, I thought they had all been killed. Then, it became clearer. That was the risk. They are not dead, but they are in danger. The message was: pray for them!
Yes, that’s today’s message from Ephesians, too. In verse 18, Paul says, “always keep praying for all the Lord’s people”.
Of course, we may well have concerns about local things around us. Our own families can’t meet together normally. We all feel a bit isolated. From Monday, we will even have a curfew stopping us from being out after 9 pm. There is plenty to worry about. But Paul says, “always keep praying for all the Lord’s people”.
It’s part of a mindset that’s always connected to God, through the Holy Spirit: “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph 6:18).
We don’t just go to God when we’re feeling desperate for ourselves. It should be our practice to live in the Spirit always. Connected through prayer to each other. And mindful of the wider world beyond ourselves.
The Ephesians letter is about the cosmic scale of God’s work. We think about the world, but Paul goes further, bringing in ‘the heavenly realms’. In verse 12, he says, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Paul wants us strong against the powers of the Devil. Satan has a strong hand in this world, even though it’s God’s world. So Paul refers to “this dark world”.
The “powers of this dark world” can include anyone who puts themselves or their idol in place of the God of love. We grieve to see the actions of the Taliban. The tragedy is that they act in the name of God, but do not believe in a God of love. There is strictness according to a list of rules, but a life-denying hardness of heart.
May our reading of scripture never lead us to hardness of heart! Paul names things that are evil, and we must not hide from the reality of these things. We must not abandon our compassion for people beyond our immediate friends and family. We should be a source of hope wherever we can.
Paul talks about standing firm. Armour is usually hard, but it protects a heart which must remain soft. Notice that in this passage, he doesn’t talk about taking up arms. There’s a sword, but it’s the Spirit kind, the word of God. Words are your only weapon. The armour is about endurance. Standing firm, standing your ground in the day of evil, and still being there – standing upright – at the end. The armour is truth, righteousness, gospel-readiness and faith. The gospel is the gospel of peace. We bear the gospel by acts that abide by the gospel of peace. But it takes courage to use that sword of God’s word, and Paul wants that courage. To get it, he asks his readers to pray for him (Eph 6:19-20). “Pray on all occasions”.
Hard times are not a reason to forget others in hard times. One of my husband’s students is from Afghanistan. She agreed with everyone in her class that lockdown here is hard for all. Then she told of women and girls in Afghanistan. For twenty years, they have been able to go to school, but with the return of the Taliban, it will be like twenty years ago. For women and girls, every day will be in the home, out of sight, out of public life. It will be like a life of lockdown.
Always keep praying for all the Lord’s people. The missionaries in Afghanistan, and all the others caught by the powers of this dark world. Let’s maintain the habit of prayer. We need to be encouragers, and to prepare ourselves also to stand. We need the whole armour of God: truth, righteousness, faith, and a readiness to share the gospel in both what we do and what we say.
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