How To Become A Prayer Warrior

How to Become a Prayer Warrior

Ephesians 6: 10-20

In reading this passage, we’ll see these three principles:

I. Command to be a Prayer Warrior

II. Condition of a Prayer Warrior

III. Concentration of a Prayer Warrior

3) I. Command to be a Prayer Warrior

“praying always with all prayer and supplications … being watchful to this end with all perseverance…”

First, is this command. This command is found alongside the description of a Christian’s armor and spiritual warfare. The command to stand, repeated 5 times, in chapter 6 is joined with a command to pray. God emphasized the importance of standing strong in His strength and in order to do that He commands us to pray as part of that.

No Christian will ever rise above the level of his/her prayer life. No church will ever rise above the collective strength of the prayer life of its people.

This military analogy is vital for us to understand. We are at war! One reason we have such wimpy Christians today is we do not pray as if we are at war. That is why we are in the mess we are in culturally. The seriousness of praying like a warrior is highlighted in the “all”s contained in the command:

Always

All prayers

All perseverance

“All prayers” is combined with two different greek words for prayer. This is to emphasize using each kind of prayer. Here we use this acrostic to define the basic types of prayer:

P raise

R repentance

A sk

Y ield

We must use them all. Be engaged in them all. They are all necessary and a part of fighting and standing. Where would your Christian life be without any one of these types? Another method for prayer is fasting. We have done this before as a church and we are doing it again as a church this weekend. The reason for fasting is to add intensity and focus through the use of a fast. It is a way to become warrior like in our prayer intensity.

II. Condition of a Prayer Warrior

“in the spirit”

Included in this command is the condition necessary to be a prayer warrior. You cannot just decide to be a warrior, but you must be prepared to do so.

Let’s define what “in the spirit” means. Ephesians speaks often of the Holy Spirit and helps us understand this phrase properly.

A. Saved – 1:1-14 : You must be saved. In chapter 1, we saw last week we are only saved in Jesus. When we are saved, He gives us the Holy Spirit as a seal.(1:14). If you have not trusted Christ as your savior, then the only role the Holy Spirit has in your life is to convict you and tell you of your need to be saved.

B. No unconfessed or harbored sin- 4:17-30 – Sin in the life of a Christian does not cause us to lose our salvation, but it interrupts our relationship with God. Psalm 66:18 – “if I hide sin in my heart, God will not hear my prayer.” John Bunyan said, “prayer will make a man cease from sin, but sin will make a man cease from prayer.”

Spurgeon: For God to accept our devotions while we are delighting in our sin, would be to make Himself the God of hypocrites, which is a fitter name for Satan than for the Holy One of Israel.

See 4: 30, after a list of sins we are to remove, God says, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” That is done by willingly sinning in this fashion- not confessing and then removing that sin from our lives. The whole point of putting on the armor of chapter 6 is to stand clean and strong in the Lord. The breastplate of righteousness represents a Christian’s steadfast commitment to obedience.

C. Yielded – 5:8-10 We must be yielded to the Spirit. What good does it do to pray for God’s will if we are not willing to follow it. Would God even reveal His will to you? We want to pray like this: “Lord, show me your will and then I’ll decide if I have the faith or desire to pursue it.” Why would Holy God answer such a prayer and such an offensive spirit? We are to follow God wherever He leads and trust Him to be at work. We do not need to demand a roadmap, but instead should follow His light trusting that wherever He leads will be wonderful because He loves us.

D. Filled – 5:18 Being filled with Holy Spirit. 5:18 means to surrender your mind and heart to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

This is being “in the spirit.” When you are this focused in your spiritual walk, then you will be conditioned to be a mighty prayer warrior.