This is the sixth prayer in the prayer acrostic, F.O.L.L.O.W. C.H.R.I.S.T.
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W: Give me words to present the Gospel!
- "17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints: 19 on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News" (Ephesians 6:17-19).
Prayerful Observations:
I believe that this is the single most important passage in the Bible, for being an effective worker in God's kingdom. It deserves weeks, if not months of prayerful meditation.
This is the end of Paul's famous instructions regarding spiritual warfare, which began in verse 10. From verse 10, Paul described armor to take into spiritual battles. Prayer is not armor. Prayer is the warfare itself, using the armor described. The pieces of armor represent truth, righteousness, readiness to speak the gospel, faith, salvation and God's word. In the text above, only two pieces of armor are listed, a helmet and a sword. They represent the confidence of salvation and God's word respectively. He said to take them all, with prayer. Please observe in verse 17 that the word of God is "the sword of the Spirit". I pray that you will not miss the weight and power of this statement.
That is the background for the above passage. Here is the point regarding spiritual communication in prayer. Paul asked the Ephesians to pray for him "that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News". The word "utterance" is a translation of the Greek word "logos", meaning word. Some translations render logos as "words" in this passage.
Paul asked God to put words into his mind!
Why did Paul need God to put words into his mind, so that he could explain the Gospel? Paul knew the gospel better than anyone alive. He wrote half of the books of the New Testament. He was taken up into the Third Heaven in Paradise (2 Corinthians 12:1-6). He was taught the gospel directly by the risen Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12).
Paul knew that mere knowledge of the truth is insufficient to effectively deliver the gospel. We must know truth. But Paul knew that we must ask God to give us His words, speak the words He gives us by faith, and then let the Holy Spirit work supernaturally in those whose hearts God has prepared in advance to hear.
The Holy Spirit within the believer actually preaches the gospel, through Christians (1 Peter 1:12).
How great an arrogance it is to think that we can explain the Gospel on our own, when Paul knew that he needed to ask God to give him the words!
This is how we explain the message of eternal life to an unbeliever.
This is how we present words of guidance to a brother or sister in Christ. This is how we encourage others in tragedy! This is how we take up the yoke of Christ! This is how we make disciples of all nations!
So, we should ask God to give us words. If we believe that He will give us words through our prayer, He will. If we don't, He won't (James 1:6, 7; micro-subchapter 4.2a). If we have doubts, we should ask God to increase our faith.
Some say that God only communicates through scripture. But Romans 1:19-20 reveals communication of scriptural truth directly into the mind of man, but without communicating those truths through scripture. Click here for an in depth study of Romans 1:19-20.
Some say that the only communication practiced by the Holy Spirit is to explain scripture. But there are scriptures which reveal that God communicates ideas directly into the mind which are more than illumination of scripture: Revelation 17:17 and Ephesians 6:17-19 are examples.
So, God does communicate in ways other than scripture and His communications are not limited to illumination of scriptural truth. But God will not communicate anything into our minds which contradicts scripture.
To limit the communications of the Holy Spirit to rules and doctrines of scripture is to reduce walking by the Spirit to living by rules and doctrines. This turns sola scriptura into legalism... living by rules.
So, if I ask a legalist how to walk by the Spirit, I will typically hear something like: "Live according to God's word". In practice, the legalist studies scripture and tries to do it. To that practice I say "what does that have to do with a Spirit? Walking by the Spirit has something to do with a Spirit. An atheist can live by rules and beliefs.
But, one who walks by the Spirit will talk to the Lord about scripture with praise, with requests for understanding and requests for power to obey. This has much to do with the Spirit because it is continuous interaction with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, unlike the legalist who studies the word and tries to obey it, one who walks by the Spirit, in scripture, can actually "live according to God's word", because God grants understanding and power to obey as God hears requests for understanding and power through prayer.
The legalist and rule follower has a problem with Ephesians 6:18-19 because it says that God will put ideas into our mind. They take exception to the spiritual interaction. Ephesians 6:18-19 illustrates the living, spiritual, interactive relationship which goes beyond living by rules. Ephesians 6:18-19 does say that God will give us words of the Gospel.
So, we should ask God to give us words of the Gospel. If we believe that He will give us words through our prayer, He will. If we don't, He won't (James 1:6, 7; micro-subchapter 4.2a). If we have doubts, we should ask God to increase our faith.
Do you remember that Ephesians 6:17 above said that the word of God is "the sword of the Spirit"?
What do you think is the most powerful thing that God will put into your mind when you pray the prayer of Ephesians 6:17-19 asking God to give you "utterance" to share the Gospel? He will put the sword of the Spirit into your mind, so that scripture is spoken by your tongue. Yes, God's word is the sword of the Spirit. It is no coincidence that the book of Revelation presents Jesus as having a sword in his mouth (Revelation 1:16, 19:15).
So, by faith, we ask God to give us words to present the Gospel. He gives us words, some of which may be scripture, some of which may not be scripture but none of which may contradict scripture.
I prayerfully ask that you pray that prayer now.
Pause for prayer
To see all twelve prayers in the acrostic FOLLOW CHRIST, click here.
