Your Spiritual Warfare Secret Weapon
We concluded a six-week series on spiritual warfare called The Battle Plan on March 17. If you missed any of those messages you can go to our website and watch any or all. To do so click here. I loved that series. I do have one regret though. I regret not speaking about prayer within the series. Here’s why. The Apostle Paul said this starting in Ephesians 6:13:
Ephesians 6:13-20 (NIV2011) 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Paul reminds or informs us to pray in the power of the Spirit. Pray all kinds of prayers and requests. Paul gets personal. Pray for me. Pray that God gives me the right words. Pray that what I say I say fearlessly. Pray for other believers. Prayer is our spiritual warfare secret weapon. I would put fasting right up there too. Prayer and fasting go together, but that’s another blog.
There is power in prayer. James said it’s effective. I have found it’s only effective if you pray based off relationship and not as a religious requirement. Don’t just rattle off a bunch of “I wants.” God already knows what we want. Pray from your heart. Get personal with God like Paul did. I was challenged recently with this question:
What happened as a result of your prayers in one day?
Let me provide a few sarcastic examples.
• You found a parking spot
• You located your keys
• You made it work or school or church on time
• Your team won. My brackets were a disaster☹
• You asked out a girl
• You passed the test
• You got the job
I am not saying those are not worthy prayers. What I am saying is – they are “kingdom of me” focused prayers. The impact is slight. The focus is on us.
Can you imagine praying these prayers in the power of the Holy Spirit:
Father God...
• Help all those who came to Easter to now hunger for you
• Help anyone who is doubting your existence to actually see you for the first time
• Help my friend see that Satan is preventing him from trusting you
• Help my son overcome his addiction to alcohol
• End the war between Russia and Ukraine
• End the war between Israel and Hamas
• Break the grip that porn has over my mind
• Rescue friends and family who are being held hostage by Haitian gangs
• Help me to be bold in sharing my faith. Not obnoxious. To be in tune with what people are saying around me. Help me through your Spirit to turn the conversation to include Jesus
• Give my friend hope. Hope that doesn’t disappear. One that’s living and eternal
• Guide Westerville Christian to locate their next Lead Minister
These prayers are “kingdom of God” focused prayers. The focus is on God. I’m not saying it’s wrong to pray for an open parking spot. I’ve done it before. It just lacks a divine boldness. Think about this. You go an entire 24 hours and the only result of your prayers to God were – I found a parking spot. That’s just lame. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit and watch God move in your life. Prayer is your spiritual warfare secret weapon. Use that weapon to defeat Satan and to honor God. I will do the same.