Summary of passage: Paul advises us to take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (word of God) and pray in all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Questions:
8a) It tells us to take the sword of the Spirit, meaning to have it to use as a weapon, and to pray in the Spirit on all occasions, meaning to pray all the time for everything (every battle, trouble, or temptation you are faced with).
b) Personal Question. My answer: Memorizing key verses to use when I am assaulted. Ones that prop me up (different for everyone), and are specific to what I am facing. Studying and reading God’s word daily will change me, make me more Christ-like, and more able to withstand assaults. Praying more. Praying all the time for every thing that may seem insignificant to others but is a challenge in my life. Pray for others. Spread the Good News.
9) According to Webster’s dictionary, alert means, “watchful and prompt to meet danger or emergency; quick to perceive and act.”
For me, be alert means not to become complacent in life or the devil will hit me when I least expect it and I will be unprepared. I must be active in warfare, not passive. I must always be prepared.
I liked the dictionary definition words “prompt” and “act”. We must not let things linger and fester, things that could turn into sin. We must be prompt to banish these from our lives. I believe we all know what these things are when they arise for the Spirit inside of us lets us know.
Conclusions: I’m not for sure prayer is a “secret resource”. Prayer has been around for millenia in most religions. If you hold any kind of belief, most people want to communicate with their higher being so people pray. It may even be instinctual.
As a weapon, prayer may be a secret resource since some may not think to pray. But again for millenia people have prayed before big battles or over dying loved ones or evil spirits or deeds. I think prayer has been a weapon for a long time and not so much a secret.
The power of prayer is discussed a lot in the Bible. Not for sure about other religions. But it’s a resource nevertheless. You can judge if it’s a secret or not.
