Are You Being Watchful?

The Apostle Paul begins to conclude his letter to the church at Ephesus by saying...
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20)

Paul is not making a summation that spiritual warfare is only accomplished through prayer. He is saying that no matter how skillful or courageous the believer may be in spiritual warfare, without prayer, that is, communication with headquarters, we can be defeated. Not only are we to engage headquarters with various types of prayer but are to rely on the aid of the Holy Spirit to do so. The believer is to always be on the lookout for the enemy so that he does not tempt or assault the believer by surprise. The believer does this with all perseverance, that is, never losing sight or becoming complacent thinking that somehow the devil will leave me alone. Peter tells us...

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith...(1 Peter 5:8-9) Although the devil walks about seeking to do harm to believers, we resist him by being steadfast in our faith. Jesus shows us the power of faith...
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:23-24)
In Luke 4:1-12 we see the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. There is something that believers need to see that is very important...
Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
(Luke 4:13)
Believers need to understand that after Jesus’ 40 days of being tempted of the devil the devil did not throw up his hands and say, “Oh well I guess I’ll leave Jesus alone, He defeated me through all that I could tempt Him with.” No! The devil looked for other opportunities that he could use to tempt Jesus. If Jesus personally defeated the devil but the devil continued to look for an opportunity to tempt Him, do not think that he will somehow stop attacking believers even after they have won a victory over him.

Believers are to never let discouragement cause them to give in and confess doubt and unbelief; Never think that we can take on the devil without faith and staying in contact with heaven. We also must keep in mind that the believer is seated together with Christ far above principalities and powers; believer’s have authority over the Devil and His gang and are called to enforce and carry out Christ’s plan in our daily lives expanding His kingdom over all the earth