Be Alert And Pray! Series

Our children have reminded us of what we must do when the days of evil come. As Christians today, how are we doing in taking our stand with the attacks of the devil?

We are to put on the Full Armor of God on a daily basis for the days of evil are upon us! How do we do this on a practical basis? What is the first thing we need to put on??

Do you remember what the Belt of Truth is?

Or more appropriately, who is the Belt of Truth?

The Belt of Truth is Jesus Christ Himself, who we need to embrace us and hold everything together! Can you picture that?

What’s the second thing we must do?

Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness!

Can you picture this? - Is Jesus Christ the only one sitting on the throne of your heart? We are to ask God to check our hearts for any unconfessed sins. Let us do this right now. Right where you are, quietly ask God to cleanse your heart and allow no one else and nothing else but Christ to sit on the throne of your heart……….

The third thing we are to do is to put on the Shoes of The Gospel and be ready to share. In other words, think about when and why you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and be ready to tell your salvation story!

Next, take the Shield of Faith.

Tell yourself that you will completely trust God and His Word!

How big is your shield?

Next, grab hold of Scripture passages which is the Sword of The Spirit. Think of a Scripture verse right now, meditate on it and believe it with all your heart!

And before prayer, what are we to put on??

Put on the Helmet of Salvation! How do we do this?

Say it to yourself, I believe in Jesus Christ and I am a Citizen of heaven; I belong to God!

Now, let us open our Bibles to Ephesians 6.

Read along with me the verses 18 to 20………

The seventh piece of the Full Armor of God is Prayer. And since prayer can create for us this protection which envelops us, using today’s vernacular, I suggest we call this a “Forcefield” of Prayer!

But according to v18, what must we do first before praying??

We are to be alert!

Being alert means to be watchful and have an understanding of the situation.

We read in v18, we are to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests! And according to v18-19, who are we to pray for??

We are to pray for:

- all the saints (other Christians)

- Paul who is a Missionary

What makes Paul a Missionary?

There are three things we can note from v19-20:

• asks for words from God!

• desire is to fearlessly make known the Gospel!

• sees himself as a representative for Christ

And so, based on these biblical truths, we can note how we are to pray for other Christians and Missionaries!

We are to ask God to give Christians and Missionaries the right words to say; we are to pray that all Christians have the confidence to share the Gospel; and we are to pray that every Christian take the responsibility of representing Christ wherever they are!

Let us now put into practice what we just learned. We will spend time in prayer for different parts of the world, concluding with our community here in South Milwaukee.

And so, let us alert ourselves of some of the things happening in the world; then we will pray for the Christians there and especially the Missionaries! Let me start with Africa.

An Evangelist Pastor in Kenya (show map of Kenya) emailed me last year to tell me that he appreciated the messages on the Internet and he asked if I could pray for the ministry there in Kenya. We have been emailing and praying for each other for a while now. I have been encouraged & challenged with the work going on there.

Here’s Pastor Gideon’s report of the current situation there:

It hasn’t rained in 2 years (drought & famine is prevalent)

Pastor Gideon says, Thanks so much for praying for us, the journey to north eastern of Nairobi was so hard yet fruitful; having stuck on the road due to floods that washed away the bridge, having had the problem with the safe drinking water and food, having fallen sick, most of the team members having had the problem with their stomachs, we could not let that hinder what God was about to do in those regions.

The Islam faith is very strong in the region.

Pastor Gideon states, Kenya is trying to get the new constitution which is going legalize abortion and introduce the Islamic courts which is a big threat to the body of Christ in Kenya. Kenya has been the base of many ministries in Africa and this will give an upper hand to Islamic nations and introduce socialism in the nation. It is my prayer to go across the nation organizing and leading prayer meetings for the nation and alert and educate people why the proposed constitution is dangerous and people should reject it at the referendum in July.