‘With all prayer and supplication at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, even in the fashion in which I ought to speak.'
The armour must be combined with prayer, that spiritual assault weapon that equally confounds the Enemy. The prayers are to be twofold, for all the people of God and for Paul in his special ministry. They are to be ‘at all seasons' and ‘in the Spirit', and should be persevering. Their concern is to be for the spiritual wellbeing of the people of God and the furtherance of God's purposes through Paul and his fellow-ministers.
‘With all prayer and supplication.' The repetition is probably for emphasis rather than to distinguish types of praying. It covers the whole range of prayer. We are to be a praying people, earnest and urgent.
‘At all seasons in (or by) the Spirit.' There is no holiday from our responsibility to pray, and we must seek to ensure that our prayer is Spirit inspired, and not just repetitive and formal. Compare Jude 1:20, ‘praying in the Holy Spirit'.
‘Watching thereto with all perseverance and supplication for all God's people, and for me --.' Again the need for persistence and perseverance is stressed, and the supplication is now said to be for all God's people (those set apart to Him) and for Paul. It is to be thoughtful and penetrative, and continuing.
‘That utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, even as I ought to speak.' We may note this with some surprise. We tend to feel that Paul knew no inhibitions and never lacked boldness. But he is here aware that he not only needs the words to be given to him, but the boldness as well. He is not so confident in himself that he boasts of being without fear. He is too aware of his weakness. This is in total contrast with Peter's words on the night before the crucifixion (Mark 14:29; Mark 14:31), which brought only disaster and taught him an important lesson. Possibly Paul too had learned from that. That he is speaking of his continuing to preach the Gospel, and not just his testimony in court, comes out in Colossians 4:3-4, although the court testimony would be included.
‘The mystery of the Gospel.' See on Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 3:3-9; Ephesians 5:32; Mark 4:11; Romans 16:25-26; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16). The mystery now revealed is the work of God in bringing to Himself through the shed blood of Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles as one, and His final glorification of them with Himself when He sums up all things in Christ
‘For which I am an ambassador in chains.' An ambassador in chains is an ambassador seemingly rendered useless, but he can still seek to carry out his mission. So Paul is aware that his ambassadorship is limited and precarious because he is in chains. But he wants them to pray that he will not fail in his responsibility. Yet had he not been in chains we may well not have had Ephesians. God had greater purposes than Paul or the early church could ever know. When all seems lost God triumphs.
We should note that on the whole Christ's view of prayer, and the Scriptural view of prayer, is not as a means of obtaining personal favours, or even guidance, but as a means of furthering the Kingly Rule of God. Jesus in fact told us that personal prayer for material things merely demonstrated that we doubted that God would provide all we needed and was unnecessary (Matthew 6:8).
When He taught us to pray the first part of His prayer was concerned with the overall purposes of God. He taught us to pray for the ‘hallowing' or ‘sanctifying' of the name of God. This is to occur through the forwarding of His purposes (Ezekiel 36:23; see also Ezekiel 28:22; Ezekiel 28:25; Ezekiel 38:16; Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:27). Then we are to pray for the coming of His kingly rule and the doing of His will on earth. The main concern then is to be for the fulfilling of His work and will.
The second part of the prayer was for daily bread (the minimum of sustenance), forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from temptation and evil. Thus it concentrated on what was personally necessary for the successful carrying forward of the purposes of God, the meeting of our basic spiritual needs, and the minimum sustenance required so that we could fulfil that work. How different from so much of our praying.
In view of His comment about God knowing our needs before we asked, the prayer for daily bread was clearly intended, not so much as a prayer for daily food, but in order to continually remind us of the Source from which we obtained our bread. For this aim of reminding ourselves of God's goodness alone can justify praying for other than spiritual things for ourselves, and that should be with the aim of being made useful in carrying forward the work of God.