“the Joy Of The Lord Is My Strength!” Series

Introduction: As most of you know, over the last month or so, we have been doing a series on prayer based on the movie “War Room”. With all the different things going on in the world, and with all our unique struggles and difficulties that we go through just as people, one has to ask, what can we do to enable or empower ourselves to deal with it all? And the answer to that is prayer!

The movie “War Room” focuses on this couple… Tony and the Elizabeth Jordan… Their marriage was struggling as well as their spiritual walks.

An elderly lady named Ms. Clara… Reached out to Elizabeth and began to mentor her… Specifically in the area of prayer. Elizabeth first had to examine her own heart and life concerning prayer… And realized that she wasn’t right with God herself.

She began to understand that she couldn’t really focus on her marriage if she wasn’t first in a good place herself with God. Once she got her own heart right with God… then she was able to pray for her husband Tony.

And then the rest of the movie is basically showing or revealing how God answers their prayers… by working deeper in her own life, in Tony’s life and in their daughter’s life… Until ultimately they as a family were completely restored.

Then at the very end of the movie… Ms. Clara prayed an amazing heartfelt prayer… That I think truly represents the whole drive behind this movie. Which I believe was to inspire and hopefully encourage people to rise up… and become prayer warriors for the Lord.

Here is the prayer that Ms. Clara prayed at the end of the movie… I hope it will inspire you.

Clip

Isn’t that an inspiring prayer? I think so. Every time I hear something like this… my heart says yes. As you listen to and watch this clip… did you catch that there was actually two messages going on?

Of course the first message is contained within the prayer itself. Ms. Clara was asking God to rise up an army of believers who… In her own words… Would stand upon God’s word above all else. She also prayed… Rise up warriors Lord who will fight on their knees, who will worship you with their whole hearts. Lord call us to battle that we might proclaim you king of kings and Lord of lords!

Now adding to that… as she was praying that prayer… we got little flashes of words… Communicating to us another message. And that basic message was this… If we are going to rise up and learn what it means become warrior in prayer…

Then we are all going to have to create our own war room… that place where we can pray without interruption. This is vital because wherever that place is, it will become the place where we not only discover courage, but also renew our faith.

This of course is a direct reference to something that Jesus said on his Sermon on the Mount. Matt 6:6 But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, (KJ uses the word closet here, the literal Greek implies a secluded room where you can’t be interrupted) and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. AMP

As for me… I have a prayer chair which I use for personal prayer when no one is around.

Point being…Our war rooms… Actually become very symbolic… Because they represent our belief in the power of prayer!

Now after hearing this, some of you might be asking…

What battle are we talking about here?

Exactly what kind of war are we talking about? I don’t remember signing up to be part of any kind of army? The word “war” implies a conflict of some kind… So what’s the conflict?

Col 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

According to this… there are two kingdoms… There is the kingdom or dominion of darkness… that manifests itself through hate, death, disease, violence and every other imaginable evil thing that brings destruction.

And there is the kingdom of light… The kingdom of God’s son… That manifests itself through love, joy, peace, righteousness, healing, and freedom.

And these two kingdoms are in constant conflict with one another. We see that clearly illustrated in the life of Jesus. Wherever he went, he displayed the love of God that destroyed strongholds of the enemy.

He brought joy and peace to people through healing, and delivering people from their demonic bondages. He taught truth that set people free. He walked in compassionate righteousness… That represented the lifestyle completely different than what was the norm of that day.