INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Spiritual warfare is something that can drain the life right out of us, spiritual warfare can really take a toll on us. Sometimes there are so many small skirmishes going on that we get drained because we have so many little battles to fight.
• It can be discouraging to know that we are in for a lifetime of battles with the enemy. It is a never ending war that requires us to be in a state of readiness at all times.
• When we put soldiers in Iraq, the military briefs them on who they are fighting, they teach them how to use the protective gear they are given along with a lot of training on how to use the weapons they are given to fight the battle.
• Does it end there? What happens when the soldier is in the midst of the battle, or when he is preparing to do battle? Is he on his own? No! The soldiers are in constant communication with Head Quarters.
• HQ helps develop the battle plan, and assists the soldier when he is in the battle.
• If a group of soldiers are pinned down, they will contact HQ and request assistance or they will ask for air support or possible advice on a change of tactic.
• The last message in our Preparing For Battle series deals with something that is just as important as knowing you enemy and knowing you equipment. Today we are going to look at staying in contact with headquarters.
• When we are preparing to do battle with the enemy or if we are in the middle of the battle, we have been given a wonderful tool, prayer!
• Prayer is something that will help us to win the spiritual battles we fight. Today we are going to look at four aspects of our communication with Headquarters, or put another way, four aspects of our prayer life with God!
• Let us not neglect one of the most important things that will help bring us victory in our spiritual battles!
• The outline for today’s message is based on the four “alls” found in our passage, Ephesians 6:18-19.
• Let us read our passage.
• SLIDE #2
• Ephesians 6:18 - 19 (NASB) 18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, (Emphasis added)
• The first issue we want to examine in reference to prayer is:
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. WE HAVE SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS WITH HQ.
All Prayers and Petitions
• The first of the four “alls” we see is “with all prayer and petition.”
• This first “all” gives us the types of communication we are to use.
• There are two different words used here for two different levels of communication with God.
• The word “prayer” is a very general word used to represent cries for help, confession of sin, profession of faith, adoration, thanksgiving, and intercession.
• This word covers our general prayer life. This would be like calling in an air strike to a large area. We are not extremely focused. In other words, we might say a general prayer for the missions we support.
• We might pray a general prayer for a brother or sister in Christ. We might say a prayer of thanksgiving that deals with our attitude of thankfulness in a general sense.
• Prayer is an important part of our armor.
• SLIDE #4
• 1 Timothy 2:8 (NASB), “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”
• All over the scriptures we are encouraged to pray. Jesus was a man of prayer.
• For many of us, this is where our prayer life stops. We are kind of vague, we kind of throw up these very broad prayers.
• Now, this type of prayer is part of our prayer life, but there is another type of communication mentioned in this verse, the petition.
• A petition is a specific need prayer; it is a prayer for specific benefits.
• Remember the recall election California held for governor a few years ago?
• One of the first things that had to happen is that enough voters had to sign a petition requesting a recall of the Governor. This was a specific document that dealt with the specific question of recall.
• It did not deal with all the general problems of California, but one question, “Do you want a recall of Governor Davis.”
• Our prayer life needs to be abounding in specific petitions to God. How many of us ask God to forgive our sins. This is what I call a shot gun approach. It covers a lot of ground, but it is not aimed at anything specific. How many of us start NAMING the sins we want to be forgiven?
• How many times have we asked God to help us to deal with temptation in general?
• How many times have we asked for help with specific temptations?
• Petitions are powerful. This would be like being surrounded in the battlefield, then making a call to HQ for help. When they ask what you want, where you are and what you are dealing with, you respond by saying you do not know. This makes it tough to get the help you need.
• Now God does know what you need, but if we cannot or are not willing to admit it, we still have a lot to learn.
• Our communication with God should cover the general broad topics, but it should also be specific. If we are going to pray for the missions we support, follow that up with specific prayers for our Missions.
• If you do not have a lot of specific petitions to God, your prayer life is lacking and you are cheating yourself and others.
• SLIDE #5
II. WE ARE TO BE IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH HQ.
All Times in the Spirit
• The second “all” in our passage deals with the frequency of our communication with God.
• The second “all” says, “pray at ALL times in the Spirit.”
• SLIDE #6
• 1 Thessalonians 5:17(NASB) “pray without ceasing;”
• “All times” means that we are to be in communication with God as we prepare for the battle as well as when we are engaged in the battle. It is obvious to many that during difficult times we are to pray, but we are to say prayers of thanksgiving when things are going well also!
• John MacArthur Jr says, “To pray at all times is to live in continual God consciousness, where everything we see and experience becomes a kind of prayer, lived in deep awareness of and surrender to our heavenly Father.
• To obey this exhortation means that, when we are tempted, we hold the temptation before God and ask for His help. When we experience something good and beautiful, we immediately thank the Lord for it. When we see evil around us, we pray that God will make it right and be willing to be used of Him to that end.
• When we meet someone who does not know Christ, we pray for God to draw that person to Himself and to use us to be a faithful witness. When we encounter trouble, we turn to God as our Deliverer. In other words, our life becomes a continually ascending prayer, a perpetual communing with our heavenly Father. To pray at all times is to constantly set our minds “on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). (MacArthur NT Commentary- Ephesians)
• To pray in the Spirit is to pray in the name of Christ, to pray consistent with His nature and will.
• To be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18) and to walk in His leading and power makes us able to pray in the Spirit, because our prayer will then be in harmony with His will.
• As we submit to the Holy Spirit, obeying His Word and relying on His leading and strength, we will be drawn into close and deep fellowship with the Father and the Son.
• In Acts 2:42 we find the early church was devoted to prayer.
• When we pray in the Spirit we are not speaking of some language we cannot understand, but we are speaking of being in communion with God through the Spirit.
• The Spirit can help us when we do not know what to be in prayer for. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by what is happening around us we get paralyzed by it.
• SLIDE #7
• ROMANS 8:26 (NASB) In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
• When we are told to pray without ceasing, it means we are to keep the line of communication open all the time.
• SLIDE #8
III. WE ARE TO BE PERSISTENT IN OUR COMMUNICATION WITH HQ.
All Perseverance
• The third of the four “alls” speaks of the approach we should use in our communication with HQ. How are we to approach the throne of God with our petitions and prayers?
• “Be on alert with all perseverance and petition…”
• To be on alert means that we are not to fall asleep at the wheel, we are to stand firm and stand guard. It is easy to get lulled asleep by a period of inactivity by the enemy.
• If we are listless and indifferent to what is going on around us in the world, our prayer life will not be sharp and it will be lacking because we do not see the needs around us. I used to lament the fact I did not have chances to share Jesus with people at work. One day I started praying about it and low and behold, opportunities started to open. The fact was the opportunities were always there, I just was not alert to them.
• If we do not understand God’s will, we will devote very little time to praying for it, if we do not understand the promises open to us, we will spent little time claiming them and praying for them for others.
• Our approach to God should be bold, but respectful.
• Among those in the court of Alexander the Great was a philosopher of outstanding ability but little money. He asked Alexander for financial help and was told to draw whatever he needed from the imperial treasury. But when the man requested an amount equal to $50,000, he was refused--the treasurer needing to verify that such a large sum was authorized. When he asked Alexander, the ruler replied, "Pay the money at once. The philosopher has done me a singular honor. By the largeness of his request he shows that he has understood both my wealth and generosity." Today in the Word, MBI, August, 1991, p. 19. http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=p&whichFile=prayer
• Our approach should be one that never gives up, we are to persevere!
• In Luke 18:1-7 we have Jesus encouraging us to pray persistently.
• Once again we have this word “petitions”. We are to approach God with specific prayers and we are to do it constantly.
• SLIDE #9
• JOHN 14:13 (NASB) "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
• God wants to us to ask Him, He wants our prayers and petitions.
• Our greatest needs are spiritual, our prayers need to focus on the spiritual battles we face. We need help with victory over temptation, we need spiritual protection and strength!
• SLIDE #10
IV. THE OBJECTIVE OF OUR COMMUNICATION WITH HQ
All Saints
• The final “all’ in this passage deals with the one of the objects of our communication with HQ.
• Our payers are to be “all saints.”
• Elsewhere Paul commands us to pray for unbelievers, for government leaders, and for others, but here the focus is on all the saints. It is only saints, Christian believers, who are involved in the spiritual warfare for which God provides the armor Paul has just been describing and who are able to pray in the Spirit.
• When one member of the Body is weak, wounded, or cannot function, the other members compensate by supporting and helping strengthen it. Samuel said to the people of Israel in 1 Samuel 12:23
• SLIDE #11
• 1 Samuel 12:23 (NASB), "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.
• John MacArthur Jr writes, “The spiritually healthy person is devoted to the welfare of others, especially fellow believers. On the other hand, the root of both psychological and spiritual sickness is preoccupation with self.
• Ironically, the believer who is consumed with his own problems—even his own spiritual problems—to the exclusion of concern for other believers, suffers from a destructive self-centeredness that not only is the cause of, but is the supreme barrier to the solution of, his own problems. Usually such selfishness isolates him from the other believers, who if they were intimately involved in fellowship with him, would be regularly praying for his spiritual welfare.” (MacArthur Commentary on Ephesians)
• In verses 19-20, Paul does finally start to ask for some prayers, but notice he is not asking to be freed from prison, he is asking that his life make a difference in the world for Jesus. Did you realize during his first Romans imprisonment, Paul wrote Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians. Paul’s focus was on the spiritual!
• It is so important for us to focus in on the spiritual battles others are fighting. I need to know there are others in then church who are praying for me!
CONCLUSION
• The battle is raging, are you ready to win? We have had many young people lose their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. One person really strikes me because of my love for football. Pat Tillman gave up a multimillion dollar contract in the NFL to join the Army Rangers. He saw what happened on 911 and wanted to make a difference. He fought and died for his country when he did not have to.
• We are in a battle that is more dangerous than what is happening in the Middle East. Are you moved to the point that you want to join in and help win?
• In order to win the spiritual battle we are engaged in, we need to know our enemy, know our equipment and we need to keep in constant communication with Headquarters!
• Are you a part of God’s family? If not today is the day to change that. I think the marines had a slogan that said they were looking for a few good men. God is looking for all people to join with Him!
