Ephesians: Pray at All Times in the Spirit
Ephesians 6:18-20; Multiple other verses - I love the Lord because He has heard my supplication!
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Ephesians 6:18-20 NASB1995
The two words that are in bold are in italics in the NASB translation so I bolded them here since I put the entire passage in italics. According to Precept Austin, both of these words were added by translators. They are both probably unnecessary for the interpretation of the passage.
The AI image shows Paul in his captivity, dictating the words to the epistle. I like the touch of a Roman guard who has fallen asleep. The man of God - and his companion- poses no threat to that guard, but perhaps the guard should be listening more carefully.
These three verses are about prayer and its power. Let’s start with a good commentary from Enduring Word:
a. Praying always with all prayer: The idea is all kinds of prayer or prayer upon prayer. We should use every kind of prayer we can think of. Group prayer, individual prayer, silent prayer, shouting prayer, walking prayer, kneeling prayer, eloquent prayer, groaning prayer, constant prayer, fervent prayer – just pray.
i. We can say that it is through prayer that spiritual strength and the armor of God go to work. In theory, the prayerless Christian can be strong and wearing all the armor; but never accomplishes anything because he fails to go into battle through prayer.
ii. Often we just don’t pray because we are simply overconfident in our own abilities. Winston Churchill said to Britain in the early days of the Second World War: “I must drop one word of caution, for next to cowardice and treachery, overconfidence leading to neglect and slothfulness, is the worst of wartime crimes.”
b. For all the saints: We can battle spiritually not only on our own behalf, but also on the behalf of others. The soldier isn’t only concerned for his or her own safety. He feels an instinct to protect and to battle on behalf of others.
c. And for me, that utterance may be given to me: After bringing up the idea that spiritual warfare can be waged on behalf of others, Paul asks his readers to pray for him.
d. Boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel: Paul could have asked prayer for many things, but he wanted his readers to pray for this. He probably had in mind his upcoming defense before Caesar.
i. We could imagine Paul asking for many things, such as relief from his imprisonment or for other comforts. But his heart and mind were fixed on his responsibility as an ambassador of the gospel.
e. That utterance may be given to me: The idea behind utterance is clear speaking. Added to boldly, Paul asked for prayer that he might proclaim the gospel both clearly and with a fearless power. It is easy to neglect one or the other.
f. I am an ambassador in chains: Of course, the ancient Greek word for chains meant a prisoner’s shackles. But it could also be used for the gold adornment worn around the neck and wrists of the wealthy and powerful. On special occasions, ambassadors wore such chains to show the riches, power, and dignity of the government they represented. Paul considers his prisoner’s chains to actually be the glorious adornment of an ambassador of Jesus Christ.
That quotation from Churchill brought home some of things that I experienced in my working days on a major launch vehicle program. We would have a mission failure and there would be a huge and painful investigation. Quite often, one of the human factors that contributed to the failure was complacency, which led to neglect of processes and lack of rigor doing the tasks at hand (“we’ve done this a thousand times, so we know what we’re doing”). That same kind of overconfidence or complacency in human capabilities could have led to shoddy workmanship in aircraft and other equipment being produced for the war and Churchill recognized this as a mission threat, just as significant as treachery or cowardice.
Within our prayer lives, we can certainly become complacent and even overconfident. We say the same things all the time or mouth words in a liturgical prayer without thinking about their meaning. That’s one reason that I am not fond of repetitive liturgies; I watched people at the Lutheran church we used to attend stand there and mutter the words to the Lord’s Prayer every week while their attention was obviously on something else (like the fact the service was almost over). When we pray we read from a script (guilty) instead of just spending time praying to our savior and letting our thoughts lead us. We forget to pray, sometimes for days at a time (also guilty). We also assume that we can just jump straight into prayers of supplication and intercession and ignore the sins we have recently committed or forget to be thankful for our many blessings.
The prayers that Paul wants are characterized as prayers with perseverance. This example from John MacArthur on perseverance was found in Precept Austin:
When the coal truck delivered a ton of coal on the sidewalk in front of her house, a little London girl took her small shovel and began carrying the coal into the basement. When a neighbor man who was watching told her, “You’ll never be able to get it all in,” she replied, “Oh, I will sir, if I work long enough.”
The test of a person’s character is what it takes to stop him. Some people retreat as soon as the first shot is fired, while others fight through battle after battle with no thought of giving up. Satan will try every means to discourage and deter us, reminding us of defeats and dangers and setting every possible object in our way to destroy our assurance in Christ. (MacArthur, J: Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Press).
We can’t fight this battle half-heartedly or with complacency.
This photo from Unsplash is one of my favorites demonstrating perseverance in prayer. Here is what Charles Spurgeon says about prayer, which I find very intriguing (as quoted in Precept Austin):
What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and blot out our sin. He heard us. But when he had blotted out our sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the promise, for deliverance in the hour of temptation, for help in the time of duty, and for succour in the day of trial. We have been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars asking for everything.
Bear witness, children of God, you have never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living rock—Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in itself; it has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of God; and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your wants were innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have been countless.
Then have you not cause to say, “I love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication”? For as your prayers have been many, so also have been God’s answers to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured him by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor weak prayers. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily readings - February 6, Morning).
He never tires of hearing His children come to Him in supplication, but we find ourselves often full of despair and doubt and repetition. He blesses us and we should in turn bless the Lord.
Paul wants prayers from the saints at Ephesus to help him declare with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, as he is an ambassador for Christ in chains. This example of a man of prayer from evangelist Sammy Tippit is found in Precept Austin:
Study the history of the church and your will discover that awakening comes when God’s people pray. The Spirit of God is searching the entire earth to find the man or woman who will seek His face above all else. His nationality or race matters not. His abilities or social and economic standing are of no special importance. It matters only that he is seeking God’s glory.
There was a man know for his ministry of prayer. John Hyde was even nicknamed Praying Hyde. After Wilbur Chapman had met Praying Hyde, he wrote a friend about his experience:
I have learned some great lessons concerning prayer. At one of our missions in England the audience was exceedingly small; but I received a note saying that an American missionary was going to pray God’s blessing down upon our work. He was known as “Praying Hyde.” Almost instantly the tide turned. The hall became packed and upon my first invitation, 50 men accepted Christ as Savior.
As we were leaving, I said, “Mr. Hyde, I want you to pray for me.” He came into my room, turned the key in the door and dropped on his knees and waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips. I could hear my own heart thumping and his beating. I felt the hot tears running down my face. I knew I was with God.
Then, with upturned face, down which the tears were streaming, he said, “Oh, God!” Then for five minutes at least he was still again; and then when he knew that he was talking with God there came up from the depth of his heart such petitions for men as I had never heard before. I arose from my knee to know what real prayer was. We believe that prayer is mighty, and we believe it as we never did before.
Praying Hyde was used of God in India. He became an example of God’s using an intercessor to reach the multitudes with the gospel. We need a host of men and women who will stand in the gap and pray in the harvest. This is not a glamorous ministry. The one who prays for the multitudes will never be known by men. He will be known well by the Father.
I’m not a strong prayer warrior. But if you are gifted with a similar talent like “Praying Hyde”, it is your calling to stand in the gap and pray in the harvest. I’ll end this devotional with a list of Bible verses that Precept Austin has listed that help with effective prayer and warn us of ineffective ways to pray or how prayer can be hindered (this came from R. J. Utley) (note: Substack has added an option for letters in color, so the words of Jesus will stand out even more now):
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:10 NASB1995
“and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”
1 John 3:22 NASB1995
“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
1 John 5:14-15 NASB1995
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
John 15:7 NASB1995
“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14 NASB1995
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”
John 15:16 NASB1995
“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”
John 16:23-24 NASB1995
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”
Ephesians 6:18 NASB1995
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,”
Jude 1:20 NASB1995
“And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.””
Matthew 21:22 NASB1995
“But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,”
James 1:6-7 NASB1995
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
James 4:3 NASB1995
“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?””
Luke 18:1-8 NASB1995
“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”
Colossians 4:2 NASB1995
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
James 5:16 NASB1995
“You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
1 Peter 3:7 NASB1995
“If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear;
But certainly God has heard;
He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.”
Psalms 66:18-19 NASB1995
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
Isaiah 59:1-2 NASB1995
Confession should always precede supplication, but praise and thanksgiving should be the cover over all of our prayers!
My next devotional examines Ephesians 6:21-22 - The Ephesians can expect a visitor from Paul.
There will be one more devotional for verses 23 and 24, then I will summarize what we learned in Ephesians before taking a deep breath and writing an introduction to the book of Isaiah. Thanks to all of our readers for their nice comments and readership!
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I ask for more strength and perseverance in my prayers and to come to You as often as I can every day to be in Your presence! Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
Precept Austin was accessed on 07/07/2026 to review commentary for Ephesians 6:18-20.
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com.