This passage is part of Paul’s teaching on the armor of God – that you may be familiar with. As he describes all the “equipment” a Christian needs – belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, sandals of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit – he gives the most attention to prayer (three verses 18-20).

Let us consider what Paul teaches us about prayer. Four times he uses the word “all” in his instruction on prayer. Prayer is not something that is an extracurricular activity. For Christians, prayer is part of our all in all. We are a people of prayer, who pray, and pray for all things at all times.

Like king Josiah we must be confronted by the word of God and respond with obedience of heart and action.

Today I begin a sermon series on resetting. From time to time it is good to take an assessment of your life and reset things that are not as they should be. In the weeks to come I will be preaching on prayer, Bible study, worship, and other spiritual disciplines. But before we begin with the specific areas where we need to reset, I want to start with an introductory word on grace.

The cancer that is consuming the church today is a lack of concern for the danger of sin and the consequences sin brings. The cancer grows in our homes and in our personal lives as we grow comfortable with things, we know are wicked and contrary to the will of God, but we justify their presence by saying that they “are not that bad.” Or we find false comfort in the knowledge that others tolerate the same in their homes.

This cancer grows in our nation as well – as our nation grows ever more comfortable with open rebellion against the goodness of God’s created order and God’s authority to declare what is right and wrong. The great evil of our day is abortion. From this flows related evils of euthanasia, genocide, and human trafficking. If any life is not sacred, then no life is sacred.