July 26, 2026 – Resist: Victory Strategies: Prayer | Ephesians 6:17–18; Hebrews 4:14–16 BBC

If you were to take out an activity log of your week last week, and you were to log the amount of time that you devoted to prayer last week, I think most of us would probably feel a little disappointed at first glance.

If we were to take the amount of time we spent in prayer and maybe compared it to the amount of time we devoted to the other activities and functions that we spent our time on over the previous week.

Some studies suggest that the average American Christian spends approximately 17 minutes per week in prayer.

Could I suggest this morning that perhaps there are many Christians today who struggle to fight sin is because they have simply neglected this important practice.

Devoting time, a regular amount of time, a significant, meaningful amount of time in prayer.

To fight sin, the reality is you must pray.

If you want to fight sin, if you want to walk in the victory that Jesus has won for you at the cross, you must pray.

And so it's one thing for me to say that and for us to all say amen and to walk out and to say, okay.

But it's another thing to really understand how prayer helps us to fight sin.

And so rather than ending at 11.06 this morning with the simple challenge to pray more, I hope to spend a little bit of time this morning digging into the scriptures to help us to understand how does prayer help us to fight sin?

Is it a magical potion?

We simply say a prayer and sin vanishes?

Is it a mechanical process whereby I have to go through these 17 steps of prayer in order to have victory?

Or what does it look like to engage in prayer in a way that helps us to fight sin?

Well, in order to do that, we're going to begin this morning in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Let's look beginning in verse 17.

Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 17.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

I'll pray and then we will dig into the text.

Heavenly Father, thank you for today.

Thankful, thankful now for this opportunity.

We have to open up your word and to continue on in this study on spiritual warfare, the topic of how to fight sin as a Christian.

And we recognize and acknowledge this morning that we need to pray.

We know that prayer is a vital part of our walk with you, our relationship with you, our fellowship with you.

But we also recognize this morning that we need to pray if we want to fight against the temptation to sin.

And so help us today, this morning, help us to better understand how to pray.

We know that we're not out of line or out of step to have that question.

Your own disciples asked you to teach them how to pray.

And so we ask now, help us, help us to better understand how to pray.

Help us to understand how to pray in a way that helps us to fight sin this morning.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Ephesians chapter 6, look with me in verse 17.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

This is in the context of the armor of God, where Paul is instructing us how to fight sin.

He says in verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

So the first thing we notice this morning is that prayer is a weapon of warfare.

Prayer is a weapon of warfare in this list of the components that Paul lists that we need to fight sin.

Prayer shows up in the list.

Prayer shows up as a component of our weaponry and warfare against sin.

So understanding how essential prayer is, understanding we need to be praying.

The question is, why do we oftentimes find ourselves praying so little?

Why is this a struggle?

Why do we as believers at times struggle to spend time in prayer?

I think if we're being honest, I think that one part of the problem is that prayer oftentimes feels like we're not accomplishing anything.

I think if we're honest with ourselves, we'd have to admit that at times we may feel as though we are not being productive when we're praying.

Don't you wake up in the morning and don't you have a list of things that need to get done?

Don't you have a list of things that every day you have these tasks and responsibilities, and the calendar gets filled up and the daily schedule gets filled up, and there's a general busyness to life, and there's a pressure that exists, there's a pressure we live in to be productive people, isn't there?

Isn't there a pressure in your life to say, I need to be productive today?

I need to do something of value or productivity today, otherwise it feels like a waste of a day.

Does anybody else get that feeling?

Like, hey, I can't, I gotta get up and I gotta get moving, I gotta get things done.

And the reality is that if you take time to pray and you're finished praying, has any productive thing been done?

I'm talking like physically, materialistically, when we when we're finished praying, is the list still there?

There is a feeling, a sense in which prayer sometimes is not productive.

And I think the first thing we need to do this morning is we need to banish that thought and that mentality.

And we need to embrace the understanding that we are doing something when we pray.

Or to perhaps be a little bit more theologically precise, God is doing something when we pray.

Prayer is a means by which you engage in the fight against sin.

So if you want, if you wake up in the morning and you say, Today I want to fight sin, you know what you ought to do?

You ought to start the day in prayer.

You ought to start your morning in prayer, preparing yourself to fight sin.

Paul says you need to pray.

He says, pray, pray, pray.

Notice he says, pray at all times.

Pray at all times in verse 18.

I've been reading this summer on the American Revolution.

I try to sometimes be thematic in my reading, and I figured with the 250th anniversary I should do some reading on the American Revolution and have been enjoying some of my reading.

But one thing that stood out to me, there's several things, but one thing that stood out to me as I've read about the different battles that took place was the constant pressure that Washington faced to keep his army together.

There was a regular pressure that Washington faced, that there were several times throughout the war that that his army faced disintegration.

And it was a real struggle of Washington to keep an army on the field and to keep it together to fight against the British forces.

And in fact, there were times when the bulk of the British army was only miles away from the Continental Army.

I mean, they were really close.

There were several times where that was the case.

And in those moments, if it was ever bulk of the British Army versus bulk of the Continental Army, the British would have wiped us away because of the superior numbers and the superior, uh, the superior weaponry that they were utilizing.

And so it was during those times when you can read and you can look back and see how much of a priority it was for Washington to keep his guards and his sentries alert on the perimeter.

Especially when the British Army was so close, and so that he had specific instructions and rules, and they were very severe for those soldiers that were on guard duty, especially at night.

They had to be alert, they had to be active, they had to be on the lookouts.

Why?

Because the enemy was so close, and there was an understanding that the enemy was looking for opportunities to strike.

There was an understanding that there is an active enemy force that is nearby that is looking to attack.

And that acknowledgement, that understanding produced an alertness in the army.

As Christians, we look in scripture and we see that our enemy is described as a roaring lion who walks to and fro on the earth, seeking whom he may devour.

We need to recognize this morning that our enemy is active.

Our enemy is looking for an opportunity to attack.

In fact, we face those three great enemies of the Christian: the devil, the world, and the flesh, and none of them are at rest.

All three are actively engaged in seeking out ways and opportunities to turn you to sin.

And we need to acknowledge, we need to understand this morning as believers, that the fight against sin is an active fight, which requires you to be active and alert in your prayer.

We shouldn't ever get lulled to sleep, lulled into thinking that I am immune and I don't need to take this seriously, and I don't need to put time or effort or energy into praying in my fight against sin.

We need to understand the enemy is active, so I need to be alert.

I need to be prepared.

I need to be ready.

I need to be on the lookout.

I need to get into prayer so that I am ready to fight against the temptations to sin.

Are you with me so far this morning?

So, what are two specific ways in which prayer functions as a weapon in our fight against sin?

Well, one of those ways is interesting here in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

If you look at what he says in verse 18, praying at all times in the Spirit, grammatically, verse 18 modifies the imperatives of verse 17.

So, in other words, we could say it this way as you wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, pray.

While taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, pray.

The praying modifies the Word of God here, which helps us to understand this morning that wielding the Word of God as a weapon against sin goes hand in hand with prayer as a weapon against sin.

These two activities go together.

And if I could just encourage you this morning, last week we looked at how to use the word of God as a weapon against sin.

If you missed that sermon, go back and listen.

You can go back and listen to any sermons.

We've got them available for you.

But that's vitally important to understand how the word of God helps equip us against the fight against sin.

But we noticed this morning that prayer is another component to this fight.

That prayer modifies the reading and studying and utilizing of the Word of God as a weapon against sin.

So, how does prayer do this?

How do prayer and biblical meditation go hand in hand?

How do they go together in your fight against sin?

Well, there's a few different things we can look at.

First, look to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12.

Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12.

Hebrews 4:12

It says, For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Here the word of God is described as this piercing sword that's able to get to the very innermost being of your personhood.

And ultimately the word of God exposes you.

It lays you bare before the Lord.

And in what sense does it do that?

Well, if we look at how God's word acts in our lives, when we go to the word and we see how our uh very intentions, our desires, our heart is opened up before the word of God, we notice at times where our will is resistant to God's will.

God's word opens us up and helps us to see where my will is resistant to God's will.

And so when we're reading, when we're studying the Bible, when we're thinking about how the Word of God does this and we we go to the Word, we notice that we should respond.

When this happens, when the Word of God acts as that sword and you know pierces into our hearts.

What do we do?

We go in prayer.

And prayer is the means by which we humble ourselves before God and we submit.

It's the means by which we align our will to God's will.

It's the means by which we force our will into submission before the will of God.

And we notice Jesus himself doing this in the garden.

What does he say?

Not my will, but yours.

I think you really ought to think of this like a wrestling match sometimes.

And not a wrestling match between you and God.

Don't become like Jacob.

But you're wrestling your own will.

There are times where you, in the light of God's word, you must wrestle your will into submission.

And that's a fight.

So we read in 1 Corinthians 13, how we're called to love one another.

And we get a definition of what biblical love looks like.

And we go through the text, and perhaps we're reading through, you're studying through 1 Corinthians 13, and you're not just reading it quick.

Remember, this isn't microwave devotions, you're not reading it quick to check it off your checklist.

This is marinade devotions.

You're letting it seep in, you're thinking, you're reflecting, you're looking at yourself in the light of God's word.

And maybe you're going through 1 Corinthians 13 and you say, Wow, God, I don't measure up to that standard.

Or I really struggle in this specific avenue or aspect or component, or there's maybe the Lord brings to mind specific people in your life, and you'd say, I'm struggling to love this person in this way.

What do we do in those moments of biblical meditation?

We pause, we stop, we go to the Lord in prayer and say, God, help me.

God, help bring my will into submission to your will.

And we don't leave the throne room of God until our will has been brought into submission to the will of God.

This is how we fight sin.

That's spiritual warfare, people.

Okay, so we need to use God's word in conjunction with prayer to bring our will into submission to God's will.

How about another one?

How about James chapter one?

James chapter one.

God's word works as a mirror.

God's word works as a mirror.

I think that should be verse 25.

Or maybe it's verse 12.

It's either 12 or verse 25.

Either way, the context is that God's word functions as a mirror.

It reveals where you struggle in sin, where your weaknesses are in sin.

And so as you read God's word and you say, maybe there's a specific sin that comes to mind, and you'd say, this is an area of weakness for me.

I know this is a sin in which I regularly struggle with.

We don't just read it and feel bad for ourselves or feel a pang of guilt and move on.

No.

We reflect on the word and we go in prayer.

And we go in prayer and in prayer we ask God for his divine strength and deliverance.

That's part of the Lord's prayer, by the way, in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Meaning, Jesus, when he taught his disciples to pray, he taught them you should regularly be praying and asking God to help deliver you from sin.

That should be a regular part of your day.

And so that's why I think in the morning, before the day even starts, maybe, maybe you're going through the scriptures, or maybe as you take some time in your devotions, maybe you know yourself in the light of the Word of God, and you you recognize perhaps maybe for you you struggle with a spirit of complaint or critique, and maybe you find yourself just your natural disposition is to be a complainer.

And and you'd say, certainly, there's nobody here that that falls in that category, right?

Maybe this morning you'd say, No, no, I'll admit it, that's me.

I recognize, I understand.

I you I tend to complain about things.

I don't have a grateful spirit.

You recognize that's a weakness.

So what do you do?

Every morning, go before the Lord and say, God, deliver me from my complaining attitude today.

God, guard my tongue from complaining against other people today.

And you don't stop praying until you have thoroughly exhausted yourself before the Lord, asking for his help for the day.

Deliver me from the weaknesses I have to sin.

Do you ever ask God for help?

Do you ever ask?

Maybe you'd say, I struggle with sin.

Have you asked God to help?

Okay, last one.

Psalm 103.

The psalmist writes, Bless the Lord, oh my soul, bless the Lord all that is in me.

Forget not his benefits.

Forget not his benefits.

How easy is it for us at times to forget the goodness and the blessings and the gifts of God in our life?

It's why the psalmist challenges his own soul.

I don't want to forget.

I don't want to forget how good God is.

He challenges himself to reflect on the goodness, the gifts of God, the benefits and blessings of God.

And perhaps as you're studying God's word and you're doing your devotions and you get to a passage that just in a beautiful way reveals the character or nature of God in some way that just causes you to be filled with gratitude and thanks as you reflect on the character of God or the activity of God, something God has done, or perhaps your mind is drawn as you're studying God's word to a time in your life when God did something that you're just so thankful for, and you'd say, Wow, God, I look back and remember when you did this in my life.

You sustained me in this way, or you blessed me in this way, or you worked in my heart in this way.

Don't just microwave it.

Go in prayer.

Go in prayer.

What was he expressing here?

His complete and utter satisfaction in the Lord.

What produces or what develops that satisfaction in us when we do this?

When we spend time as God reveals himself and the nature and who he is through his word, we satisfy ourselves, we satiate ourselves in God through his self-revelation and his word.

And what does that do?

It bolsters us against seeking satisfaction in sin.

The more you satisfy yourself in the Lord and in his goodness, the more you are bolstered against seeking satisfaction through the desires that sin offers you.

We see how this goes hand in hand, don't we?

We see how we see why Paul says this in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times.

Prayer and the Word of God go hand in hand.

They're the two sides to the same coin in your fight against sin.

So we understand this is how we do this.

We need to be equipped.

We need to be equipped to fight against sin.

And so this is part of your ra regular daily devotional habit.

It should be.

Incorporating both reading of the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God, and responding in prayer as you seek to prepare yourself daily to fight against sin.

But we notice that prayer and the Word of God don't only function as a preparatory model or method for fighting sin, but Scripture also teaches us that prayer is effective in the moment of temptation.

And we see that in the book of Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

So turn turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 14.

Hebrews 4, 14.

The writer of Hebrews says, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

The author of Hebrews develops a significant doctrine in this letter, where he explains that Jesus fulfills the role of the high priest.

And the high priest in Judaism was responsible on the Day of Atonement to make a sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of Israel.

And on that day he would take the blood of the sacrifice, and he would go into the Holy of Holies, and he would sprinkle the blood on the Ark of the Covenant, and he would sprinkle it on that lid of the Ark of the Covenant.

And that was known as the mercy seat, because it was there where God dispensed of his mercy to forgive the entirety of the nation of Israel.

That was a very significant day.

It was the most significant day on the Jewish calendar.

And the high priest fulfilled this very significant role where he would go on behalf of the entire nation, he would go and offer up a sacrifice for sin.

And here we know that the author of Hebrews informs us that Jesus fulfills this office as high priest because he also went before God on your behalf to offer up a sacrifice for sin.

But Jesus is known as the great high priest because the sacrifice that he offered up was his own body.

His own body, his own life was the sacrifice offered up for sin.

And his sacrifice perfectly covers sin, perfectly forgives, so that you don't need to have a sacrifice offered on your behalf.

Time and time and time again, every time that you sin, we recognize here Jesus' sacrifice is once for all, paying the penalty for sin.

But then we notice in verse 15 he says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

To sympathize here means to share the feelings of someone else and includes the element of active help toward those in need.

Jesus here, we read, sympathizes with our weaknesses.

We would say, how can that be?

Well, because Jesus became a man.

He took on flesh.

And we read in the gospel accounts how Jesus faced the temptation to sin.

Weakness here in this context is a reference to temptation to sin.

And Jesus felt that temptation.

He's not a high priest who can't sympathize with our struggle against sin.

Jesus felt the temptation, but we notice here in a very significant way he felt that temptation, but the author of Hebrews reminds us yet without sin.

Meaning Jesus never fell to the temptation of sin, but he certainly faced the temptation.

And we read that in the gospel accounts where Jesus was out in the wilderness for 40 days.

He faced those three temptations by the devil.

Those temptations to sin.

Imagine the full force of a thunderstorm with wind and rain.

And imagine this powerful tempest blowing through.

Imagine these are like tornado, hurricane-like winds and pelting hail, and just the full fury and force of the ultimate storm, and it's blowing through.

And we think to ourselves, if we were in that storm, we'd be blown away.

But imagine that storm faces a mountain that is an immovable mountain.

And that mountain, as it faces that storm, it faces the full brunt and force and power of that storm.

In fact, we would say it faces that storm and feels the force of the storm more than someone that gets blown away.

Because the mountain is immovable, it doesn't move, and so it's this immovable object being blasted by this storm.

It feels the full force of it.

That's, I think, the picture we should have in our minds of how Jesus faced the temptation to sin.

He faced the full force and power of temptation to sin.

He faced the fullness of the battle of spiritual warfare, which therefore qualifies him to be what the author of Hebrews describes here as a sympathetic high priest.

When you go before the Lord, you say, I'm struggling, God.

I'm struggling.

I'm fighting my sin.

It's so hard.

We don't have a God in heaven who says, What do you mean it's hard?

Pick yourself back up.

Buckle up your bootstraps.

Keep moving.

What's wrong with you?

No.

Jesus is up in heaven and he says, I know it's hard.

I know it's hard.

I felt that.

I faced that.

I know it's not easy.

You have a sympathetic high priest who cares for you, who can sympathize with your weaknesses.

And notice that it's in this frame, it's in this context that we read verse 16.

Let us then, since we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I'm telling you people, this is a beautiful, beautiful promise of scripture.

And perhaps, perhaps one of the most underutilized promises of scripture.

Because what is the author of Hebrews promising?

What he's promising is this when you face time of need, and the time of need here in this context refers to when you are facing the temptation to sin, not in the morning before the temptation comes.

He's talking about in the moment of weakness, when you're feeling weak, when your flesh is weak, when you feel as though I can't stop my tongue, I can't stop my mind from going there, I can't stop myself from doing this, I feel weak.

The author of Hebrews says, in that moment, run to Jesus.

Run to Jesus.

And and you will find someone who is cruel or harsh or unhelpful.

He says, It's the throne of what?

The throne of grace, people, the throne of grace.

And when you run to the throne of grace, you will find mercy and grace to help in your time of need.

I am telling you, church, when you're fighting sin, when you run to Jesus, Jesus will help.

He absolutely 100% every single time will enable you with his grace to squash that temptation to sin.

You just gotta run to him.

You just have to go to him.

I think all too often, I think as Christians, we have gotten very good at going to Jesus and asking for forgiveness after we sin.

And that's good.

We should do that.

That's 1 John.

Go to Jesus when you sin.

Ask for forgiveness.

He'll forgive you, he'll restore your fellowship with him.

But maybe, maybe all too often we're like the person on the ladder.

Maybe you're trying to replace a light bulb or do some kind of project, and you're on a ladder, and maybe you're on that ladder and the ladder starts to wobble, and maybe there's a friend down below, a friend who's really strong, big strong arm, solid base.

And that friend is standing by that lavender, and all you have to do, the wobble, the lavender is wobbling, and all you have to do is call out and say, grab the lavender, I'm gonna fall.

But how many of us are on that wobbly ladder, and maybe it's pride?

We say, no, I've got it under control.

I don't need help.

I can get it back into balance.

Or maybe we think, I don't have time to cry out for help.

I'm too busy.

Life is too busy, I'm too busy trying to fix this light bulb.

Whatever the excuse is, we don't cry out for help and the ladder wobbles and crash and fall.

Just cry out for help.

Go to Jesus.

When the ladder is wobbling, go to Jesus.

You will find help in time of need.

Prayer, prayer, prayer.

We need it.

We need to get praying if we want to get fighting sin.

Prayer equips you for the battle.

So start your day in it.

Do it as you go to God's word.

Utilize prayer as the means by which you prepare yourself and ask for God's help and his divine assistance in the battle against sin.

And then in the moment, when the temptations come, run to Jesus.

Run to Jesus.

Father, thanks for today.

Thanks for this opportunity to open up your word and to dig into the text.

To reflect on prayer, to see it as a means by which we fight against sin.

And we know in Ephesians chapter 6 it's a part of how we fight.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We know we need to pray as we go to your word in meditation and think and study and reflect on your word.

Help us to read your Bible prayerfully and to pray as we go to your word, to pray for help in fighting against sin, to pray and wrestle our will into submission, align ourselves into submission and into your will.

Help us through prayer to so satisfy ourselves in you and in your goodness and in your good gifts that we're bolstered against the temptations of sin.

And Lord, help us in those moments of weakness to run to our great high priest who sympathizes with us in our weakness to go for help.

We're thankful for the promise that when we do so, that you will give us your enabling, empowering grace to fight back those temptations to sin, to walk with you, to walk in holiness and purity and righteousness and in fellowship and to enjoy that fellowship with you, Father.

Help us to do it.

Don't let us become that person of pride or the person who's not willing to ask for help or the person who minimizes their own sin or uh gets to a point where they don't even see it because they uh don't look to the word to uh help us to grow, but but help us to be humble and to be willing to go to you for help so that we can better fight against sin.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.