{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-4364","native_reference":{"book_number":560,"chapter_from":6,"chapter_to":6,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":18,"verse_to":18},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrosiaster</b>: Insofar as our conduct is right we are rightly prepared for the Holy Spirit to abide in us. Hence we are more ready to obtain what we request. This therefore is what it means to pray in the Spirit at all times. We are directing our prayer to God with a clean conscience and sincere faith. One who prays with a polluted mind prays only in the flesh, not in the spirit.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 6.20.1</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: Bishop Epiphanius of Cyprus, of holy memory, was told this by the abbot of his monastery in Palestine. 'By your prayers we have kept our rule; we carefully observe the offices of terce, sext, none and vespers.' But Epiphanius rebuked him and said, 'Then you are failing to pray at other times. The true monk ought to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). He should always be singing psalms in his heart.'<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: Evagrius said, 'If your attention falters, pray. As it is written, pray in fear and trembling (cf. Phil. 2:12), earnestly and watchfully. We ought to pray like that, especially because our unseen and wicked enemies are trying to hinder us forcefully.'<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: This means that we should not say or utter particular words or recite them in our prayers as though they were premeditated or written down. We are to pray \"in the spirit\" and \"at all times.\" Let your deep affections enter into your praying. The inner spirit, that is, the inner man, is making his prayer with intense desire. He is praying all the time, so that even when he is not praying aloud he is still praying in the spirit.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 2.6.18</i></p><p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: When he says \"through every prayer and petition,\" I think he has this distinction in mind: It is a prayer when we speak the praises of God and recount his great works and when we give thanks and worship him. It is a petition when we pray to God either to pardon our sins or to offer his grace to us.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 2.6.18</i></p><p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: Some might think that the phrase at all times means only the daytime. But, so that he could amplify the force of \"at all times,\" what does he say? \"With all perseverance.\" This calls us to a certain persistent disposition of the mind. We do not pray as if we were asleep. This is what some sound like who pray by reciting or reading familiar phrases or uttering them routinely from memory.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 2.6.18</i></p><p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: The saints themselves, with the bishops and apostles and elders, are called to pray on behalf of the faithful and the catechumens and all the other members of the body. It is typical of Paul to make mention of the whole people of God in prayer. He also calls upon the whole people of God to pray on behalf of their leaders, bishops and saints, and then he adds: \"Pray for me too.\"<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 2.6.18-19</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"With all prayer and supplication,\" he says, these things shall be done, and ye shall accomplish all by praying. But when thou drawest near, never ask for thyself only: thus shalt thou have God favorable to thee.</p><p>\"With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance for all the saints.\" Limit it not, I say, to certain times of the day, for hear what he is saying; approach at all times; \"pray,\" saith he, \"without ceasing.\" (1 Thess. v. 17.) Hast thou never heard of that widow, how by her importunity she prevailed? (Luke xviii. 1-7.) Hast thou never heard of that friend, who at midnight shamed his friend into yielding by his perseverance? (Luke xi. 5-8.) Hast thou not heard of the Syrophoenician woman (Mark vii. 25-30), how by the constancy of her entreaty she called forth the Lord's compassion? These all of them gained their object by their importunity.</p><p>\"Praying at all seasons,\" saith he, \"in the Spirit.\"</p><p>That is to say, let us seek for the things which are according to God, nothing of this world, nothing pertaining to this life.</p><p>Therefore, is there need not only that we \"pray without ceasing,\" but also, that we should do so \"watching;-and watching,\" saith he, \"thereunto.\" Whether he is here speaking of vigils; or of the wakefulness of the soul, I admit both meanings. Seest thou how that Canaanitish woman watched unto prayer? and though the Lord gave her no answer, nay, even shook her off, and called her a dog, she said, \"Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table\" (Matt. xv. 27), and desisted not until she obtained her request. How, too, did that widow cry, and persist so long, until she was able to shame into yielding that ruler, that neither feared God, nor regarded man (Luke xviii. 1-7)? And how, again, did the friend persist, remaining before the door in the dead of night, till he shamed the other into yielding by his importunity, and made him arise. (Luke xi. 5-8.) This is to be watchful.</p><p>Wouldest thou understand what watchfulness in prayer is? Go to Hannah, hearken to her very words, \"Adonai Eloi Sabaoth.\" (1 Sam. i. 11.) Nay, rather, hear what preceded those words; \"they all rose up,\" says the history, \"from the table\" (1 Sam. i. 9), and she, forthwith, did not betake herself to sleep, nor to repose. Whence she appears to me even when she was sitting at the table to have partaken lightly, and not to have been made heavy with viands. Otherwise never could she have shed so many tears; for if we, when we are fasting and foodless, hardly pray thus, or rather never pray thus, much more would not she ever have prayed thus after a meal, unless even at the meal she had been as they that eat not. Let us be ashamed, us that are men, at the example of this woman; let us be ashamed, that are suing and gasping for a kingdom, at her, praying and weeping for a little child. \"And she stood,\" it says, \"before the Lord\" (1 Sam. i. 10); and what are her words? \"Adonai, Lord, Eloi Sabaoth!\" and this is, being interpreted, \"O Lord, the God of Hosts.\" Her tears went before her tongue; by these she hoped to prevail with God to bend to her request. Where tears are, there is always affliction also: where affliction is, there is great wisdom and heedfulness. \"If thou wilt indeed,\" she continues, \"look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then will I give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.\" (1 Sam. i. 11.) She said not, \"for one year,\" or, \"for two,\" as we do;-nor said she, \"if thou wilt give me a child, I will give thee money\"; but, \"I give back to Thee the very gift itself entire, my first-born, the son of my prayer.\" Truly here was a daughter of Abraham. He gave when it was demanded of him. She offers even before it is demanded.</p><p>But observe even after this her deep reverence. \"Only her lips moved, but her voice,\" it saith, \"was not heard.\" (1 Sam. i. 13.) And thus does he who would gain his request draw nigh unto God; not consulting his ease, nor gaping, nor lounging, nor scratching his head, nor with utter listlessness. What, was not God able to grant, even without any prayer at all? What, did He not know the woman's desire even before she asked? And yet had He granted it before she asked, then the woman's earnestness would not have been shown, her virtue would not have been made manifest, she would not have gained so great a reward. So that the delay is not the result of envy or of witchcraft, but of providential kindness. When therefore ye hear the Scripture saying, that \"the Lord had shut up her womb\" (ver. 5, 6), and that, \"her rival provoked her sore\"; consider that it is His intention to prove the woman's seriousness. For, mark, she had a husband devoted to her, for he said (ver. 8), \"Am I not better to thee than ten sons?\" \"And her rival,\" it saith, \"provoked her sore,\" that is, reproached her, insulted over her. And yet did she never once retaliate, nor utter imprecation against her, nor say, \"Avenge me, for my rival reviles me.\" The other had children, but this woman had her husband's love to make amends. With this at least he even consoled her, saying, \"Am not I better to thee than ten sons?\"</p><p>But let us look, again, at the deep wisdom of this woman. \"And Eli,\" it says, \"thought she had been drunken.\" (Ver. 13.) Yet observe what she says to him also, \"Nay, count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken hitherto.\" (Ver. 16.) Here is truly the proof of a contrite heart, when we are not angry with those that revile us, when we are not indignant against them, when we reply but in self-defense. Nothing renders the heart so wise as affliction; nothing is there so sweet as \"godly mourning.\" (2 Cor. vii. 10.) \"Out of the abundance,\" saith she, \"of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken hitherto.\" Her let us imitate, one and all. Hearken, ye that are barren, hearken, ye that desire children, hearken, both husbands and wives; yes, for husbands, too, used oftentimes to contribute their part; for hear what the Scripture saith, \"And Isaac intreated the Lord for Rebekah his wife, because she was barren.\" (Gen. xxv. 21.) For prayer is able to accomplish great things.</p><p>\"With all prayer and supplication,\" saith he, \"for all the saints, and for me,\" placing himself last. What doest thou, O blessed Paul, in thus placing thyself last? Yea, saith he, \"that utterance may be given unto me, in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.\" And where art thou an ambassador? \"To mankind,\" saith he. Oh! amazing lovingkindness of God! He sent from Heaven in His own Name ambassadors for peace, and lo, men took them, and bound them, and reverenced not so much as the law of nations, that an ambassador never suffers any hurt. \"But, however, I am an ambassador in bonds. The chain lies like a bridle upon me, restraining my boldness, but your prayer shall open my mouth\" in order that I may speak all things I was sent to speak.<br/><i>— Homily on Ephesians 24</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: Touching times of prayer nothing at all has been prescribed, except clearly \"to pray at every time and every place.\"<br/><i>— On Prayer</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: We are the true adorers and the true priests, who, praying in spirit, sacrifice, in spirit, prayer,-a victim proper and acceptable to God, which assuredly He has required, which He has looked forward to for Himself! This victim, devoted from the whole heart, fed on faith, tended by truth, entire in innocence, pure in chastity, garlanded with love, we ought to escort with the pomp of good works, amid psalms and hymns, unto God's altar, to obtain for us all things from God.<br/><i>— On Prayer</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: Further: since in the self-same commentary of Luke the third hour is demonstrated as an hour of prayer, about which hour it was that they who had received the initiatory gift of the Holy Spirit were held for drunkards; and the sixth, at which Peter went up on the roof; and the ninth, at which they entered the temple: why should we not understand that, with absolutely perfect indifference, we must pray always, and everywhere, and at every time; yet still that these three hours, as being more marked in things human-(hours) which divide the day, which distinguish businesses, which re-echo in the public ear-have likewise ever been of special solemnity in divine prayers? A persuasion which is sanctioned also by the corroborative fact of Daniel praying thrice in the day; of course, through exception of certain stated hours, no other, moreover, than the more marked and subsequently apostolic (hours)-the third, the sixth, the ninth.<br/><i>— On Fasting</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: Those who have wars continually pressing on them do not even sleep. Therefore the holy apostle tells them under conditions of battle to keep awake and pray constantly, not giving in to the pains of the body but to bear them with the utmost fortitude.<br/><i>— Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 6.18</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"307cfa7e14d1169dd082b0fe05d164a455cff348d6133c252886c9a442d8c220","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":4364,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"a515663c70199e8571b3b3bb1f1683ce89f6f5f27346704dbb49d7bf946311e0","translator":null,"work":null}