Strength to Stand

I recall a time, not long ago, when I just had to sit down.   I did not have any strength to stand.  It was a very humid hot day.   I was especially busy that day doing yard work.   After several hours of pruning, cleaning, moving dirt, my strength, in the words of the Psalmist, was "dried up like a broken piece of pottery."  (Psalm 22:15)   I just did not have the strength to stand, let alone do any further yard work.

Perhaps you know what I mean.   Perhaps this is how you are feeling right now in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.   You might be feeling what David felt as he writes in another Psalm:   "My strength fails because of my affliction." (Psalm 31:10)  Troubles in life can truly wear you out.  Be it isolation. Economic uncertainty.  Disease.  Death.  Your strength fails, and if you try to stand, you fear you will fall down.

The apostle knew how hard it was to stand in the midst of trouble.   He felt ever so weak in the face of acute pain and unending suffering in his life (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-29).  Life for Paul was a battlefield.  The final years of life were spent being chained up, in prison because of his faith.  Yet even in his darkest moments, Paul speaks about how we can have strength to stand in our own dark moments.  Writing from his prison cell, he tells the church in Ephesus that the struggles we face in life are ultimately spiritual, a struggle with the spiritual forces of evil. (Ephesians 6:12)  If we are ever to stand in the face of evil, we must use spiritual resources in our combat.  Four times Paul uses the word "stand" to the posture we need to take in the face of the devil and his schemes. (Ephesians 6:11-14)

How can we stand our ground in the face of evil?   How can we stand up for our faith in the face of opposition?   What will give us strength to stand when trouble surrounds us?   It is true we need to put on the full armour of God in our spiritual battles!   We need to know the truth, live righteous lives, walk in peace, hold on to faith, be assured of our salvation, and use the Word of God as our defense. (Ephesians 6:14-17)  But it does not end there.   Paul goes on without a break to tell us about the need for prayer.  In other words, you can have all the elements of being a Christian, but unless your life is immersed in prayer your strength will fade.  Prayer needs to pervade every aspect of our lives.

Paul put it like this:  "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)  Most Christians will pray sometimes, with some prayers, and some regularity.   But notice how comprehensive our prayers should be.   Four times Paul uses the word "all".   What if we replace "some" by "all" when it comes to our prayer life?    We would pray constantly and regularly.  Our prayers will not sound the same each time for they will vary with many different prayers.   We won't quit praying.   Like good soldiers we will remain constantly alert!   And we will pray for everybody, for all believers.  God has given us prayer so that we may have the strength to stand.   In the words of the English preacher John Stott:  "It is by prayer that we wait on the Lord and renew our strength.   Without prayer we are much too feeble and flabby to stand against the might of the forces of evil."  

Paul knew that so well, and so he asks the Ephesians:  "Pray also for me." (Ephesians 6:19)  Paul knew that in order to have strength to stand he needed the constant prayers of others.   As we pray for others, they too will be strengthened to stand.

During this global pandemic many people are doing it really tough.  We see this with the number of calls to Lifeline escalating.  The measures taken by our government and the Australian population are providing some relief.   Physical distancing.  Isolation.  Closed borders.  Job programs.  Financial supplements to individuals and businesses.   What would we do without our nurses and doctors who work on the frontlines with the sick and dying?  These measures are all good and necessary!   But there is one more thing all of us could do!  In fact, this should be our number one task during this battle against COVID-19:  to keep on praying for all people, on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests.  Check out the resource Pray to End Covid19 on the CRCA website for prayer ideas.   I am encouraged when I hear or read of churches holding prayer meetings on ZOOM.   One church I know is holding such prayer meetings every week until the global pandemic is over.  May Ephesians 6:18 become the standard for our disciplines of prayer.  Keep on praying, for by prayer our strength will be renewed, and we will have the strength to stand.