As we continue our walk through Ephesians, we’re now coming to the conclusion of Paul’s teaching on spiritual warfare. The focus now turns to prayer, especially prayer in the spirit.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:18
The phrase keep on praying literally means through all diligence and petition in the Greek language. I had a problem with this – reconciling petition and life in the battle zone. I understood the need to be alert and diligent, but how did petitioning fit into all this.
It turns out that my lack of understanding had to do with being raised in church. From what I learned, petition was a list of needs presented to God.
“O God – bless my work, heal this one, provide this money, etc.”
That’s what I thought it meant to bring a petition before God. Because of that, I couldn’t understand it as a part of warfare.
The Greek word in this verse is deesis. It means begging. Literally, it’s what a beggar would do. Over time the church had turned it into a “holy” word. Actually the root of this word is want, lack, need, desire, ask, or beg.
I began to pray and seek God’s wisdom as to what this means for us. I found that this word came from a root even further back. The root meant to bind, either by chains or duty. It spoke of someone who was duty bound.
That’s when it clicked. When a military person receives orders, they are bound by their duty to perform it or die trying.
Here is a company of men who are told to take that hill. They’re pinned down by enemy fire. But they have a duty to perform. What do they do?
Do they send off a list of things they need? NO! They get on their radio with a passionate call for air support. Their communication is specific, passionate, and urgent. As they make this call, they’re ready to move immediately when it arrives.
Now I know the Scriptural truth. Petition is more about the passion than the list. This requires us to have the same heart as our Commander and Chief. It requires us to press in by the Holy Spirit.
We must be passionate as we live in this spiritual battle zone. We need to be passionate about our duty. This is what we’re called – under orders – to carry out.
In Scripture we’re told what’s important to our Commander. God’s people should be petitioning for workers in the field, healing, deliverance, protection, baptism in the spirit, and for God’s will to be accomplished.
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs — he wants to please his commanding officer.
2 Timothy 2:3-4
It’s clear from Scripture that there are two different mentalities. You could think like a soldier or like a civilian. Which are you?
I’m using the illustration of a company of soldiers who were ordered to take a hill. They’re making a passionate call for reinforcements, air support, and medical evacuation of the wounded so that they could fulfill their orders.
At the same time, back home, there are people safe in their houses watching TV. They don’t know or care that this company of soldiers is pinned down. They don’t know or care about the objective to take that hill. They don’t know or care if these soldiers succeed or die.
Maybe the next day they’ll hear a news report about soldiers who were killed in the line of duty and say, “That’s too bad.”
The key mentality of battle is that each soldier knows the importance of the objective. They know just how precious every foot of ground is. They also know what the cost of advancement is.
There are people in the body of Christ right now, who go to church on Sunday. They sing, clap, and hear a message that uplifts them. Then they go off happily to their homes. Or maybe they go off to work or play. They don’t know or care that there’s a lost soul about to enter eternity that needs to hear the message of the cross NOW.
“God, send reinforcements.”
They don’t care that the enemy has trapped someone in a prison of drugs.
“God, send air support. Break the stronghold so we can set them free.”
That’s what this word petition means. Knowing the objective and passionately begging for the support from on high. Not because we need to beg, but because we know the cost of failure. We know how precious a soul is to the Lord.
We know the price of victory. We have a warrior’s mentality.
Question: How do you fulfill the call to bring petitions to the Lord on behalf of others?
© 2023 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 