There will most definitely be things in this life, that we will encounter, that will try to come against us. We are not of this world, but we do live in it. We always need to prepare for what's to come. Verse 10,11 of chapter 6 of Ephesians tells us to "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of HIS might" and to "Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Wonder why it says the full armor? Because putting on only a portion of what God has instructed us to do will leave us vulnerable to the flaming missiles of the enemy!
The Lord explains in great details exactly what each piece of armor is, and where and how we use it. Then the Lord explains that once we put on the full armor of God and having done everything as He has instructed, then we can STAND FIRM! The battle is not ours, but we do need to stand. It takes courage and faith to stand in the midst of a battle whether one is required to fight or not. It's not the most comfortable place to be.
That's when verse 18 comes into effect. If we have done everything the way the Lord has instructed us. And we are wearing all the armor He has blessed us with. Then we only need to do what it says in verse 18... "With all prayer and petition, pray at all times, in the Spirit and with this in view, be on alert with all perseverance..." This literally means with "all kinds" of prayer. Therefore, praying with our understanding, as far as we know to do, then allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us. And how can we possibly "pray at ALL times"? This means no matter where we are or what we are doing, we can have communion with the Holy Spirit. It does not even have to be audible. We can communicate with the Holy Spirit with our spirit man and have an attitude of prayer. Praying in other tongues not only gets things accomplished because the Holy Spirit is praying perfect prayers through us, but the Word tells us that we are "strengthening ourselves in our inner man"! That's how amazing our Father God is! His instructions are always filled with multi-purpose blessings. As we go about our day acknowledging that He is there, He can then help us to persevere!
