6 Elements To Warfare Prayer Series

3.2 Multiple Indictments

Todd Alan Stricklin had a pistol in his hand as officers showed up at his place in response to calls about a domestic disturbance. When officers demanded that he drop the weapon, he refused. As Deputy Matthew Locke approached him to put cuffs on him, Strickland fatally shot the officer. He later ran in the woods before Tennessee State troopers took him into custody a few hours later. Stricklin is now indicted with dozens of charges, including First Degree Murder, Aggravated Kidnapping, and Domestic Assault. Like Stricklin, your sin isn't just one thing. Instead, you have multiple indictments. Again, Daniel used six different words or concepts to emphasize this: "sinned," "done wrong," "acted wickedly," "rebelled," "turning aside" from Yahweh's commands and laws and had "not listened" to God's commandments.

3.3 Sex

God has given you His instructions on sex but we have binged on pornography. God tells us men are to marry women for a lifetime and we trade partners like cards in a Friday game with friends. God tells us homosexuality is wrong but our culture is redefining ourselves apart from anything God has said. Nickelodeon has released an episode of the kid's program Blue's Clues & You where the animated story is narrated by drag performer Nina West. Families are two moms and two dads, and one of the characters shows their scars where they have recently had surgery to change their gender. Kellogg's cereal put together a cereal box celebrating Pride month with the rainbow colors. The cartoon characters' associations with Kellogg's cereals teach us to change our pronouns from the traditional "he/him" and "she/her" to "they/them."

The Bible says we are bent on doing wrong. We have twisted away from the narrow road.

3.4 Greed

God's word says to be generous with the poor. Instead, we are generous with ourselves and throw meager change at the needs of those who need the most. Our senior adults are afraid to answer their phones because of the latest scam is coming to take their money. When God said to go straight, we were crooked. We have turned away and we have rebelled against God. You have "sinned," "done wrong," "acted wickedly," "rebelled," "turning aside" from Yahweh's commands and laws and had "not listened" to God's commandments. The complexity of those six phrases shows how each of us has turned aside from the Lord. You need to confess your sin to the Lord. The prayer that goes the highest stoops the lowest. I love the fact that Daniel doesn't minimize his actions as mistakes. He owned up to it. And you should own up to it.

3.5 "Our" Sin

Notice Daniel doesn't simply confess his personal sin but he confesses OUR sin. Daniel uses the pronouns "we," "us," or "our" more than twenty times in this prayer when talking about sin. Daniel doesn't pray to God in order to see the best in people. Daniel spends most of his prayer confessing the sin of the people. We need to confess our apathy and our coldness to the Lord. Confess our unworthiness and our wandering heart. You need to confess how you have backslidden.