Integrating Missionally

Ephesians 6:18-19 (ESV)
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

While working on a series on Spiritual Warfare, I was using Klyne Snodgrass’ NIV Application Commentary for part of my study. In this commentary, Snodgrass states, “The emphasis on prayer, and the emphasis on all, indicates that the believer’s entire life is one large prayer to God.”

I have done a double-take on this statement. It is not something that I have fleshed out; it is something that I am pondering on many levels. How it ties together with “in the Spirit” must be fleshed as well (see below). But here is my general scribbling to what he said, and I open it up to you for dialogue…

We don’t do prayer, we become the prayer. Prayer is not something we do, it is something we become. We become the petition, we become the intercession, we become the cry of pain, we become the praise, we become the warrior.

Stop a moment and take that in. Stop and think of the incarnational statement that can make in your life.

But the thought must go further. Prayer that is truly incarnational, pneumanatical prayer, is prayer “in the Spirit”. While some commentators may see this as praying in tongues, (see also 1 Cor. 14:5), most do not. However, the focus on this incarnational prayer is certainly the Spirit. PT O’Brien, in the Pillar Commentary on Ephesians, states “Their prayers are to be ‘in or by’ the spirit, that is inspired or guided by the same Holy Spirit through whom they have confident access to the father“.

My scribbles for this are, “not our prayer, but His prayer; dative of sphere…under the influence of…not our prayer but his…under his influence and with his assistance”

When we pray in the Spirit, it is His influence and His prayer and we begin to incarnate the mind and heart of and thoughts of God. We become the prayer. We are both the prayer and the pray-er.

Could it be that the incarnational aspect of our praying and living is a direct reflection of the freedom we give the Holy Spirit to guide our praying? We must become a human glider, rising and falling, turning and spinning, on the currents of the wind. Unfortunately, we are more like the pilot of a helicopter, which, in the view of a friend from college, “beats the air into submission.” Motorized sailing means the pilot is in control – at least in his view – but a pneumanaut allows the wind to control and direct him in his praying. Doing so allows the wind to then control him totally.

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