Spiritual Warfare, part 4.2

On Sunday, I concluded our Armor All series on spiritual warfare. To listen to the series online go to www.lifepointeindy.com then click on the sermons button at the bottom of the home page. To order a box set of CD’s of the Armor All series, contact Jenstormes@lifepointeindy.com.

Warfare Prayer, part two

Prayer is your final and most powerful weapon in spiritual warfare. Prayer is talking to God. God is the undefeated champion of the universe. So, talking with God and asking for His intervention is a smart move!

As we began seeing last week, the apostle Paul revealed seven warfare prayer secrets in Eph 6:18-19. We already studied the first three:

Pray in the Spirit
Pray on all occasions
Pray all kinds of prayers

Today, we continue with a study and application of the remaining four:

Be alert in prayer.
Be persistent in prayer.
Be praying for all believers.
Be praying for the advance of the gospel.

BE ALERT

Jesus and the apostles urge you to be watchful, alert and awake in prayer!

Getting a little sleepy, having your mind wander is an easy thing to have happen in prayer, just ask Jesus’ closest friends! He took Peter, James and John with Him to the the Mount of Olives on the night that He was betrayed. There Jesus was going to have an intense prayer time with His Father. Jesus wanted these three men to be supporting Him in prayer. Specifically, He said to them, “watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation.” Unfortunately for them, they fell asleep on the job. Three times!

Sometime later, the apostle Peter (no doubt still well remembering that fateful night on the Mount of Olives) wrote these words,

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Being awake and alert is important to your success in spiritual warfare prayer. Why? Because you become aware of danger or even attack by observing people. You know how to do this in the physical realm. You know how to look around before you walk into a parking lot at night. You know how to see and avoid people that look to be up to no good. The same principle applies in spiritual things. You can see and hear when something is not exactly right. You can hear it the voice, see it in the expression of a person. You can sense that your child is in danger or is involved in something that isn’t quite right. You can see when your spouse is changing somehow. With practice, you can even sense in your own spirit the still small voice of God giving you insight or instruction.

Here’s an example from the book of Genesis:

Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected. He asked Pharaoh's officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house, “Why are your faces so sad today?" Then they said to him, "We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it " Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please." Gen 40:5-8

It was by simply observing then asking a caring question that Joseph opened an opportunity to use his ministry gifts.

Jesus once said this to his disciples:

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.” John 4:35

We even have a saying, “wake up and smell the coffee.” It usually means in part, you need to open your eyes to something obvious about your situation.

The scripture says that you can have God-given ‘discernment’ about spiritual matters.
You have not because you ask not. Ask the Lord, “help me understand what is going on here.” Ask Him, “help me understand what I am seeing/hearing AND how I should be praying about this.” The point of knowing about it is that you can pray about it!

Jesus wants to say to you what He said to His followers, “wake up!”

BE PERSISTENT

The Greek word used for “keep on” or “continue” is only used here in the New Testament. But it comes from a word that is often used directly in relation to devotion and persistence in prayer.

Why do you need to “keep on praying?” Why not just pray once and be done with it?

A most insightful passage is found in the book of Daniel. Daniel was a major prophet who lived in what is now Iran. The people of God was being held captive there. One time, Daniel was given a prophetic dream but did not fully understand it’s meaning. He prayed and mourned and entered into a limited fast. Still he had no answer. This went on for three weeks. At the end of three weeks, an incredible angelic being appeared before him to bring him the message of God found in the dream. Here is part of what the angel said to Daniel:

“Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.” Dan 10:12-13 (NLT)

The Lord allows us in this passage to look beyond the visible. Here we see that there is more happening than meets the eye. There is an unseen realm and a fierce battle rages there. The angel says that the answer to Daniel’s prayer was help up in transit for 21 days by a demonic force.

If I had to guess I’d say that Daniel, a major prophet, had major prayer power. Yet it took 21 days of persistent prayer and fasting for answer to come through.

Like you, I know people who have prayed for months and years for loved ones and close friends who need a touch from God. It’s easy to finally give up. Don’t give up!
Be persistent! The word of God gives this promise:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9

PRAY FOR ALL BELIEVERS

It’s too tempting for all prayer to be focussed on our own needs and our own families. These are priorities for sure. You are the spiritual stewards of your own souls and the shepherds of those for whom you have been given responsibility. Of course you should pray for your needs and those of your family. But it’s too easy to stop there.

In the realm of spiritual warfare especially, it’s important to know that we are in this together. We have to have each others’ backs, spiritually. You might think of prayer as having expanding circles, like ripples in a lake. It starts at home but it reaches out to friends, neighbors, fellow church members, work associates, those in the community and beyond. Many people subscribe to missionary newsletters or to Voice of the Martyrs newsletter (found at www.persecution.com). These can give you names and insight into how to pray. You may be aware of missionaries that your church supports. Or you may know of an area where you church does missions work. Even if you do not know the names of people there you can still pray for God to be preparing hearts there.

PRAY FOR THE ADANCE OF THE GOSPEL

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Eph 6:19-20

The ultimate issue in spiritual warfare is the souls of people. It’s about heaven and hell. It’s about life and death eternally. There may be a lot of battles and skirmishes along the way in spiritual warfare, some of them quite fierce, on a variety of fronts. But the war is about the advance of the gospel. It’s about taking territory that rightfully belongs to the King but has been stolen by the evil one. This territory involves culture, education, government, religion, entertainment, medicine, and worldview. It involves portions of your life, emotions, lifestyle, finances, marriage, children and more. The devil is out to steal it all. The territory even involves your spiritual life and spiritual development, maturity and discipline. The devil want it all stopped. Battles are to be waged on all of these fronts and many others. But they are all about the ultimate prize: the souls of people.

Note this important passage on warfare prayer:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim 2:1-4

The ‘net net’ of this prayer is this: God, get the government off of our backs so we can preach the gospel and people can be saved.

I’ll not go into politics here except to say that this prayer is as important to pray today in America as it was in the Rome of Nero’s day.

IF WE WILL PRAY, GOD WILL HEAL

The bottom line take away from these past two weeks on warfare prayer is quite simple: you need fight in prayer for what matters most.

One of my favorite prayer promptings is this:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14

You, my friends, are fully blessed, completely secure, totally equipped and destined to win in this fight over spiritual progress and the success of the gospel. I pray that you will fight the good fight with all spiritual confidence that you are more than a conquerer in Jesus Christ our Lord!