Explained: Ineffectiveness In Prayer.

Many songs have been written over the years that encourages a believer to pray. I remember fondly one of the songs I learned in my early days when I was converted to the faith. The song was titled "Prayer is the key". I memorized the song out of my love and joy for singing church hymnals.

All believers loves to pray. Hence, to a believer there is nothing more important than having a healthy prayer life. But statistics shows that the average Christian including the leaders spends less than ten minutes in prayer daily.

The act of prayers and praying is difficult to teach in any meeting. Because prayers is spirit taught. And our desire and effort to pray effectively and focused is the unction of the spirit enabling us.

However, prayer is one of the life line of a Christian. The Bible uses many figures of speech and expressions to highlight the vital role of prayer in our life. Even the Book of Psalms is rated as the prayer book of the Old Testament. The Bible recommends prayers and the Lord emphasize the centrality of prayers to the believer, even in His own earthly life.

Why then are we hindered in our prayer life? Because we lack the understanding of what we are up against when we pray. Hence, a prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. And a powerful believer is a prayerful believer. Prayer can be vocalized, or said silent, and with tears. It can be said while kneeling, standing, sitting, and lying face down. The posture is not the important fact.

For this reason, the text of our sermon is rightly chosen from the Pauline Epistle to the church at Ephesus. The Epistle is among the letters Apostle Paul wrote from the Prison to encourage the faith among the persecuted believers in Ephesus.

The core of Epistle follows the forms of all the writings of the Apostle. That is first emphasize doctrines then the application of the teachings. The epistles is divided into six chapters emphasizing the SIX DIFFERENT FACETS of the church. That is the epistle reveals in each chapter the church is the (chapter 1 :) body of Christ, (chapter 2 :) a building, (chapter 3 :) mystery, (chapter 4 :) new man, (chapter 5 :) bride, and (chapter 6 :) a military formation.

One of the most significant revelation this epistle is found in the sixth chapter where the church is known as a militant formation engaged in spiritual warfare. What a revelation! Why then is the church militant? Because of the nature of the enemy she faces. Well, that is what the Holy Spirit wants the church to know and be prepared to face.

Since the early days, the church have been engaged in a tough and deadly spiritual battle. This is a battle that began in the Garden of Eden between the first Adam and the Old Serpent. The battle is ongoing till His kingdom come. That is the kingdom of God is established on earth.

Nevertheless, the Lord does not want us to be ignorant and unaware of the devices of the virulent enemy of our soul. So in this chapter He prepares the church through the writings of the Apostle for the deadly combat along the way. Therefore, it enjoins believers to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might which include our union with Christ and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

What really stands out that may be passed over out of misunderstanding is what the Lord is saying to the church in chapter six and verses 12. There the Bible list a catalogue of the enemy of the church. A careful consideration shows that our enemy is not identified with flesh and blood, which is the constituency of human beings. But OUR INFERNAL ENEMIES is as follows:

• Principalities.

• Powers.

• The rulers of the darkness of this world.

• Spiritual wickedness in high places.

What are these arrays of spiritual forces? Where do they come from? Who are they? The answers to that question is equated to added strength to the believers. They hold the key to our victory and effectiveness in our prayer life.

The ignorance of their presence is one of the reason behind all the ineffectiveness of believers engaged in intercessory prayer. Today, we find the kingdom of darkness encroaching on the territories of the church because we refused to know our enemy and his strategies.

The Bible clearly rules out by stating that OUR FOES ARE NOT FLESH AND BLOOD. It means they are something else other than humans. And they are spiritual. They are organized in four levels. These are the FOUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRATA of the strongholds of darkness.

These are the parallel spiritual forces strategize against the church and the believers. They are well armed and stubborn in their attempt to DECEIVE, INTIMIDATE, INFLUENCE, INTERFERE, INFILTRATE, CONTROL AND WEAKEN the church. They are the fallen angels and demons organized and led by the arch enemy of God called Satan, the devil, the Old serpent, Lucifer and the ruler of this world among several other names.