“Stand Firm & Pray Boldly” | Sunday AM | Pastor David K. Caruthers

 Original Broadcast of Sunday Morning 10 AM Bible Class, 06/28/2026 

Speaker: Pastor David K. Caruthers

Message Title: "Stand Firm & Pray Boldly" 

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Sundays at 10am & 11AM 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I want to start by just reading Ephesians 6 and 10, just that one verse. It's the beginning of this topic that we've been talking about for the month. And it says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Everybody said amen. You may be seated. Thank you so much. Well, we've spent the last few weeks on this topic of the armor of God. And we've talked about the various components, the equipment, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes or our feet being shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit. And Brother Wise brought us a sword just to uh to uh be an example of a real Roman sword. So, Roman, you get a good glimpse of that if you'd like to uh come look. It belongs to him, it's not ours, so uh we won't carry it around, but we will give you an opportunity to see that. You may be seated. And uh so today we're gonna wrap up the series with some final instructions, and then I'd like to just kind of step back and look at the big picture again and get beyond the details. Look at the challenge that's laid down by God through the writings of the Apostle Paul in this setting. So, after talking about these uh these equipment, these tools of a soldier, this armor, and these essential items, the Apostle Paul concludes by writing in verse number 18, Ephesians 6 and 18, where he says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Now I just want you to notice if you're uh at that looking at that verse, I want you to notice sort of the repetition that's going on in the verse. And I'd like to focus your attention a little bit. Um, not we're talking about applying it to our lives and spiritual things, but just thinking of it in this context of that the apostle Paul has been using of battle, of armor, of soldiering. And so put it in that context and think about what the verse is saying. So I want to note a few phrases: praying always, all prayer, all perseverance, and then the word supplication. These are emphasis or words that sort of carry the weight of the point being made to us. And that, that, uh of course, the word prayer in the in the scripture, if you're in Ephesians 6, the word prayer is just what you think it is. I don't think I need to describe that. It's prayer. And uh, but it uses the term all and also always. Both of those are exactly the same word in the original language, and of course they mean each or every one, every one of these things, uh, all of them. And then it uses the word perseverance, which is a patient persistence. And then it uses the word supplication, which is reference to a need, or a request for assistance for a need. And so there's there's that need that's standing there. So when he says praying always with all prayer, that's actually a repetition. It's kind of the words are the same in both prayer and all, or prayer and always. They're exactly the same word in the original language. So it's an emphasis of this prayer that he's talking about, and how we should be involved in this prayer, and and this, and the watchfulness or the vigilance that a soldier must have. So think about that. So all of your armor, all of the things that you have, that you're equipped to do the work you do, and and I I'm I'm not a veteran, so I haven't experienced all that, but I know that uh uh that even in your training, you know, they're very strict, I'll just say it that way, very strict for you to keep your tools at hand. So you get in big trouble if you lose your gun, you know. Because the the idea is as a soldier, you keep your tools at hand and you're always prepared and you're always ready. And so they have in training soldiers do a lot of things that you would say, what in the world do you need to do that for? You know, why are we guarding the door to the you know, to the place where everybody's sleeping on base, you know, or whatever it is. They have you doing all these things to let you practice that you have to always be ready and you have to always have your equipment, whatever it is that you have, for that. You have to have that at hand, to be on the ready. And so when when the apostle Paul, in this context of soldier, is talking about prayer, he's telling the soldier or us as Christians to be vigilant, to be aware, to be always ready. And this repetitive use reminds us of that, to be vigilant, to be watchful, to be ready to respond. The good soldier is always ready, always ready for the moment of action. And so, whatever it is, even if you're like even in law enforcement or other things, when you're on, you have to always be ready, even if you're just driving in your car. You have to always be ready, even if you just happen to walk into a store or get out of your street or do anything else. You're always ready to use the tools and to take up on the role that you have. And of course, this is used kind of throughout scripture in a lot of ways. I'll I'll refer to one's probably the one that comes to mind to you in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8. It says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Be aware, be on guard, be vigilant, be watchful. Stay connected, stay close by, don't wander around, don't let your attention wander, don't, don't you let your feet wander, stay focused on what you're doing. And so this idea that Paul is using about prayer here is this constant readiness, this constant awareness, this persistence of staying focused on what's at hand. The Apostle Paul gives his protege Timothy these instructions in Timothy, 2 Timothy 4 and 2, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season. And then he tells him, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering or patience and doctrine. Here's your duties. But he starts it out by saying this phrase, be instant in season, out of season. And that means even if it seems out of season, you have to be instantly in season. Whatever the opportunity is, whatever the moment is, you have to be instantly ready and prepared for that. We do too as Christians, right? So we don't know really what's coming our way. We don't know in life what the next moment is. We don't know who we may meet and need to be instantly prepared to talk to them about God or pray with them or reach out to them in some way. But we also need to be instantly prepared in our own lives, instantly ready and on guard. And so the vigilance that he's talking about, this vigilance, this awareness, this preparedness that he's talking about is exercised in prayer. It's staying grounded and connected by prayer. And so, through prayer, we're connected to the source of the power and strength that we need to fight the enemy, to fight the obstacles, whatever that happens to be, through prayer. And prayer is not really a piece of the armor, it's the atmosphere, it's the attitude, it's the approach in which we live our lives and through which we follow God. But it is critical to the use of that armor. It's critical to the use of that armor that we do it in the power of God and the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives. So prayer is that source of power, but it's more than that, it's also the strategic plan behind the battle. James chapter 5, verse 16, again, a familiar verse to you. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Please, it's not a gender term in man, it's people. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much. Is effective, is powerful. There's something powerful in prayer that can't really be replaced in our lives by anything else. And part of that, I think, as the Apostle Paul is saying here in this context, is because it gives us the connection to the power, the strength, the anointing of God, and the connection for us to be able to hear God's voice and hear what God is saying in that moment, to be listening and aware for God to speak to us and to guide us while we're in this struggle, whatever, you know, whatever that struggle in particular is. We need the word of God, but we also need the voice of God in our lives to speak to us. So we need to we need to be connected to God through prayer. You you cannot, you can be fully equipped with all of the tools, but you still need prayer. You have to have the prayer to go with it. It's important for us to grasp it. Ephesians 3 and 20 says, now to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. But we have to ask or think. We have to pursue God. We have to seek out to God according to the power that works in us. Because prayer is what sort of breathes life into the armor. Prayer is uh is the activation of each piece of the armor. Prayer is the power source behind the battle. Prayer is the connection to the commander, prayer is the strategy room where God leads us and guides us and gives us direction. You know, just out there swinging the sword at every little thing, you know, is not is not what God's called you to do, just to be randomly swinging. Even, even we read in the scriptures where in that moment that seemed like it was the right moment, Peter pulls out his sword and swings it at the servant of the priest. And Jesus said, put your sword away. That's not the time for that. It's not the time for that kind of aggression. Now it's always time for the word of God, but it's not always time to just sort of randomly throw it out there and and use it as a tool for yourself. God doesn't give you the Bible so you can win an argument. That's for you. That's you sort of taking it on yourself and manipulating the Word of God. He gives you His Word to lead you, guide you, and instruct you, and to help others. But if you're just using it as a tool, and we've all seen the Word of God manipulated, right? We've all seen people both, let me say, both well-intentioned and not well-intentioned, take the Word of God and use it in a way that that's not God's plan. That's not what God desires for us. And so we need that prayer. Without that prayer, then then it doesn't come alive in our lives. It's like it's it's just it's there, but we need that we need the armor to come alive in us. Without prayer, then truth just becomes information. It's just data, it's just facts. Without prayer, uh uh righteousness becomes our own efforts, our own, our own best guess. Without prayer, faith becomes just positive thinking. Without prayer, our peace is fragile. Without prayer, our salvation is something that happened somewhere in our past, and it's not very relevant today without prayer. And it's easy for the Word of God to remain silent and passive in our lives. We need prayer. We need prayer to awaken us, we need prayer to empower us, we need prayer to lead us. And so this verse, though, also emphasizes how important this is when it tells us that we pray, but we pray always. We pray in the spirit, we pray with perseverance, persistence. We pray always, that means it's always time to pray. It's always time to pray. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is. For some, you know, for some, God seems to be more close to them early in the morning. For some, they can't hold their eyes open early in the morning, so it's later in the day that God's, you know. I mean, we put times fitting our schedules, right? So that that's fine. We put times fitting our schedules, but that doesn't make that time holy or better or God closer or anything else. That's about us as human beings, and there's nothing wrong with that. We all we all understand that. And I think probably everybody in here knows, you know, for some of you, uh, we sometimes call ourselves morning people and not mourning people. You know, that's kind of the two alternatives that we often come up with. And so you you find the time that works for you as far as praying, but every time is a good time to pray. Any time is a good time to pray, whatever time it is. And and when we pray, there are there are different prayers just like there's different conversations. You don't always have the same conversation, you don't always have the same interaction. It depends on the circumstances, what you're trying to communicate, how how how that uh maybe how intimate that is, or how close your heart that is, or sometimes it's the moment. And if we're not careful, even as Christians, we're sort of like, you know, we we repeat the same prayer over and over again. And we bring the same needs over and over again. We kind of get in the in the routine of doing it that way. And so you know, as a person, you know you're used to interacting with people, you're used to talking to people. I hope. Some, anyway. You talk to people and you do sort of have some patterns, right? Yeah. We have some patterns in the way we talk, the way we communicate. That's fine, we know that. But we don't just keep saying the same thing all the time. Otherwise, our relationship is not very deep. Our relationship is pretty shallow. You know, you probably have whatever it is, the favorite place you like to go or don't like to go, but you go often anyway, like the grocery store or something like that. You know, or some other place. Maybe you like coffee, you stop at a coffee place, or maybe you like tacos, you stop at a place. Whatever it is. I shouldn't have said that, then everybody's wanting a taco this morning. Whatever it is, you know, you have you have repeated interactions with people based on some usually transaction. And what do you do? You typically say the same thing every time. You know, we'll walk in the door, and that person is sitting there, and you walk in this door regularly, you know, maybe every day, maybe a few times a week, and the person is there and you say hello, that's good, that's nice, that's cordial, but you don't really have a conversation. You just exchange a few things that you're used to changing. You're gonna have a very shallow walk with God if that's how your prayer life is. And so I I want to I want to say that that when we're talking about a battle, we're talking about in this context of uh of this explanation that the Apostle Paul is using, this example, the Apostle Paul, it means to pray fervently, it means to pray deeply, emotionally, it means to put all of yourself in the prayer. And I realize you don't pray that way every time you pray, but but there is a time for you to pray that way too. And in relation to this battle, in relation to what you're facing, then pray. Pray no matter what it is, pray. Pray when you feel strong, pray when you feel weak. You know, pray, pray in the spirit, pray with your words, with your mind, with your brain. Amen. I I don't I don't think there's any glory in just saying the same words over and over again. Right? And but I also don't think you have to have this very articulate prayer. But it is interesting if someone can have a real conversation with someone and it's fairly articulate, but then when they come to the prayer, they just say the same few phrases over and over again. Because, wait, are you engaged with prayer or are you just repeating something? Are you just saying something because that's what you're used to saying, or are you really talking to God? Are you really thinking about what you're praying? Are you really thinking there's a time to really engage and to say what you're really trying to say to God and to even take a moment to try to say it better? Now, God understands your heart, but it's good for you to give your best to God. And I say that because I I think for me, it's like uh, you know, I was uh it's been a number of years ago now, I was praying along one day and it just dawned on me that uh not only am I a pastor, minister, preacher, so I speak a lot, but also, you know, I do have some education at this point in my life, some educational training, and uh, and then I thought, you know what, I'm doing lazy speak with God. And with what God has given me, I feel like I should be giving more than that. I should be able to say more than that. I should be able to express more than that. And so sometimes it's important for us to try to express more than that. You know, it is God. I know it's a casual world that we live in, but it is God we're talking to. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and put some effort into what I'm saying to God. So there is a time for that kind of prayer. But there's also a time to pray in the spirit and not worry about forming words or saying it precisely, but just letting God's spirit flow in your life. There's a time to pray in tongues, and there's a time not to pray in tongues. There's a time to pray different ways, but we can pray fervently in the spirit. We can pray the scriptures. If you're only reading your Bible silently, you're missing something. You need to read your Bible out loud. I know you can't read your Bible out loud all the time, but read your Bible out loud. Open your Bible in your prayer time and read it out loud. Not only let the word process as you read it silently, but speak it out loud. Pray with persistence, pray with expectation, pray boldly in faith. Prayer's not the last resort, prayer is the battle plan. Prayer is the way this all works together. So I need to shift gears and kind of step back for a moment so we can keep moving. Knowing everything that we've talked about, knowing about the armor, kind of reviewing that a little bit and talking about that a little bit, and the necessity of prayer, I want to I want to return back to how this whole, how this whole series of of this armor and this soldiering and all these things, I want to return back to how it began. He begins in verse number 10, Ephesians 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but it's against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So I think it would do us well as we conclude this series to just step back now and say, okay, um, okay, why are we doing all this? And what's the main process? Point that we're getting to. Why is this important to us? It's important to us because we want to stand in the power and the strength of God, that we have an enemy, a spiritual enemy that we're talking about here, not a fleshly, not a human enemy. We're talking about a spiritual enemy. And we need to stand in the power and the strength of God. And we need to be able to be engaged in this battle against the enemy. And we need to have that armor of God. We need to stand strong in the Lord. Stand strong in his strength and power and grace. I need to get where you are on your notes. Exodus chapter 14, verse 13 says, Fear not, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. So we have to move beyond just simply the armor itself and engage with what God is doing. So we don't step away, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but we don't, we don't, we don't drop the shield. He's our shield. He's our refuge. We don't take off the belt of truth. We need truth. We need it tight. We need it securely wrapped around us. Your word is truth. Psalms 119, John 17. Your word is truth. We don't take off the helmet of salvation. We put on that helmet of the hope of salvation. We don't lay down the sword, the word of God. Word of God is sharp and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. We don't walk barefoot into battle. We need that. We need those, we need our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace so that we can have that grip and that strength. But we also have to be strong in the Lord. We have to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And I'm saying that because, I mean, it's it's it's a charge. It's a command. To be strong in the Lord. It's the intention for us to be strong in the Lord in the power of his mind. It's not the intention for us to be weak and fragile and frail, it's the intention for us to be strong in the Lord. In his strength, in his power. So you don't dress up a soldier and he's done. Or she's done. It takes more than that, doesn't it? Takes more than that. Just because you go to the, you know, the uh surplus store and buy all the stuff won't make you a soldier. You can have all the equipment on. It won't make you a soldier. It's got to be more than that. There's something else that has to happen. Not only do you need, and we're talking about here, not only do you need the power of God, and you need the strength of God, and you need the prayer of God, but you also have to step forward into the battle. You have to step up. You have to step up into what God has called you to do in trust and confidence in Him. You keep all the armor on. I'm not saying, you know, now you toss all that aside and run head-along without it. No, you go with it. But just the armor alone is not going to do what needs to be done. It's going to take you stepping up, you being strong in the Lord, you stepping forward. The scripture here, again, I mentioned it the other day. It says, having done all to stand, stand therefore. You know that second that end of verse 6 verse 7 beginning of verse 7. Stand therefore, stand therefore. I think it's 7, 17. I think it's 17. I didn't go back and look. So we stand. Yes, we stand strong in the Lord, but we do more than just stand. Verse 13 and 14. We don't just stand. We don't just stand still and do nothing. We stand strong. And there is a time to just stand and be strong. There is a time to move forward in God. To move forward in what God has called you to do. To move forward in faith. To refuse to be dissuaded. To refuse to be frozen in fear. To refuse to be overwhelmed by what seems impossible. To take a stand and to take a step forward in God. I shall not be moved. I shall not be dissuaded. I shall not be turned aside. Because the Lord is with me. And I'm standing in the power of God. And so today I want to sort of conclude what we've been talking about by challenging you to not just think about the armor, but enter the fray. Now, again, that uh that's a big challenge sometimes. That's a big challenge sometimes. Now, I want to say as a pastor, you don't wander around in life looking for the devil so you can fight. You know, I've heard some evangelists, I'll just say evangelists because that tends to be that personality, you know, you know, act like that we wander around all the time, you know, with our, you know, with our armor on, saying, I'm looking for the devil. I want to have a fight today. That's not the attitude we're talking about. That's not the tone we're talking about. Because listen, here's what happens when you do that. When you start trying to live for God that way, it's really about you. It's not about God's plan. You're not hearing God's strategy. You're just kind of doing. And what happens is the devil would like to get you fighting battles that don't really matter while he defeats you where it does matter. He'd like to get you fighting things that aren't that significant to your walk with God and to what God wants to do. Because you're busy with that, you're expending resources. It's classic military strategy, right? We want to get the enemy to spend all their resources over here for two reasons. We want them to be distracted because we're doing something over there that they're not seeing. We also want them to spend their resources so they have less on this over here that doesn't really, this is not that important, but what's really happening is we are we're going a different route. It's a distraction, and that's what the enemy would like to get you to do. Just wander around looking for every skirmish you can be a part of. That's really important. You say, well, Pastor, I don't do that, but listen, that's really important in our day. That's really important because of the internet and all the stirring of I don't know, I hate to say news because it's not really news, it's just stuff, I don't know. Distractions everywhere. And the enemy likes to get you over here fighting this battle with something that's not gonna really make a difference, but it's gonna exhaust you and consume all your time, and then you're gonna say, I won. Because I won an argument. But you didn't win an argument. God didn't call you to win an argument. You didn't really win. There's a time to explain things, there's a time to show people in the scripture, there's a time to say this is what the Bible says. But God didn't call us to have a fight, a verbal fight with people, or a physical fight either. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. So we don't need to engage with that. And our world is filled with distractions. And again, I I will say too, as just a pastor, just you know, pastor here at Calvary Church, a small voice here. Listen, all that stuff that you're hearing, there's some bad stuff going on in the world. There's always been bad stuff going on in the world. All right? And I know all the politics, there's some people that are uh that win elections that you wouldn't agree with at all, and you can find plenty, sometimes even plenty of scriptural reasons to disagree with them. Okay? So I'm not saying there isn't anything there, but what I'm saying is the reason why you're hearing so much about that is because eyeballs equals dollars. That's what it means. Why is that why is that that YouTube podcast doing all this controversial stuff? Why? Why? Eyeballs equals dollars. They're making money, they're doing anything they can to draw your attention to side. But it's not just the podcasters, it's regular news too. Eyeballs equals dollars. Their motivation is to get you watching to get dollars from your pocket and put them in theirs. That's not evil, that's what happens. That's just the truth. They're in business to make money. Listen, even all the podcasters, I don't know how I got off on this. 1035. Even all the podcasters, listen closely. What are they looking for? They're looking for followers because they want to monetize their followers. Even I saw something the other day with it's kid stuff. Kids, when we're our grandkids, kid stuff. And on the kids stuff program, they're advertising car insurance. It's like car insurance? Why is this kid stuff bringing up car insurance? Not even as an advertisement, as like them talking about car insurance, calling the insurance companies by name. Why? Because they get paid by the insurance company. And what I'm saying is, don't get drawn into that. The enemy would love for you to get distracted over here thinking you're doing something when you're not really doing what God has called you to do. And I need to move away from that topic and get over here where I'm where I'm going. But it is true, and it is a danger of our culture today. And then we're exhausted by all of that. Anyway, what I want to do though today is to challenge you to go beyond just getting your armor on and engage. And engage. We need people in America today that stand on the word of God. We need people in America today that will proclaim the word of God, not fight, not argue, not get out in the public and see who they can stir up themselves. But we need people who stand on the word of God. We need people that'll stand strong. We need people that'll stand for what matters. We need people that that will work in the kingdom of God. So get your armor on, but then go. Then move forward. Then accept the challenge. God will be with you. You can be victorious over the enemy. You can be victorious over the things around you. You can be victorious over what's happening in your world. You can walk in the spirit and the power of God. He has designed you to be strong. He has designed you to be strong. He's designed you to be strong. Do you believe that? God empowers you with his spirit, designs you to be strong. Now, I will say as a pastor, sometimes I've heard people say, Oh, pastor, I think I'm gonna fall. I don't know, I think I'm gonna fall. Oh, I think I'm gonna fail. I don't really know how to redirect that. When they just keep on telling themselves they're gonna fail and they're gonna fall. Or when they say, I just can't pray. I just can't. I just can't. I don't know, and I can't do it, and I can't do it, and I can't do it. Sometimes we just have to do it. We just have to do it. It's better to pray imperfectly than not pray at all. It's better to not know how to pray and do your best than not pray at all. So just pray. Just seek God. Just seek God. And it's one of the things that I always say about, I believe that like prayer conferences and other things where they train you and teach you how to do these things, how to how to pray, those are important and they're helpful to us. But but those won't do a thing if we don't actually go pray. They don't really accomplish anything unless we go pray. And you don't have to be perfect in prayer, just go and pray. You don't have to be a little, I, you know, oh, this is this kind and this kind of prayer, and I gotta do this. You don't have to, you don't have to do all that. Just go and pray and follow God and take that step forward. And it's the same with Bible studies, it's the same with all kinds of things. It's not just that you have to know. I'm I I'm I'm not a theologian by any means. I've been pastoring and preaching for a long, long time. I went to Bible college, I don't know if that counts as anything, but anyway, I went to Bible college years ago. You know, all those things. I don't know all the answers in the scripture. I don't have all the answers. I'm not worried about it. You can ask me a question and I can say, I don't know. I'm old enough to say, I don't know, and not feel bad about it. I'm okay, I don't know everything. It's alright, I don't have to know everything. Now, I'll probably go and look if you ask me and uh and go research it or try to find out, but but but I can say I don't really know. So don't be afraid. It's really, you're never gonna do it unless you actually do it. You gotta get up and actually do it. You have to actually step forward. You have to have to sort of step over your timidness and step into the power and strength of God. You've got the armor to protect you, you've got the armor to cover you, you have the power of God at work in your life. God has filled you with his spirit, God has filled you with his power. You don't have to shrink back in weakness and fragiless, but step forward in strength and say, you know what? I on my own am weak, but I have the armor of God, the power of God, the word of God in my life. I don't have to be weak any longer. I can stand in his power and his strength and trust in him. Would you stand with me? Because they're about to start the music. I'm sure you all know the music comes on about now, each Sunday morning, to remind us that our time is ticking down, that we only have a few minutes left. I want you to just challenge you today, as we conclude this series, not just to think about each piece of armor or each uh you know uh tool that you would have, not just to talk about those, but also to get the main point in mind, and that is to go in how God has equipped you. Go in his strength, go in his power, step forward in his grace and his mercies in your life. Take that step forward in faith. Take that step forward in faith. I don't know how that's gonna work, I don't know if I can do it, I don't know, and and I'm worried and you know all these things, weak, fragile, whatever it is that you would say, just take that step forward in God. Take that step forward in God and let God strengthen you, let God's hand be upon you, let God be with you. Get the armor on, but take the steps and move forward in what God wants to do in your life. Would you just lift your hands?