Are you winning your battle?
Lets READ: Ephesians 6:10-20 (Text: v18)
Ephesians chapters 4-6 are all about "Spiritual Warfare".
The bible tells us about it and a lot of people think that because the battle is on when we are on our knees praying God does not hear because the devil is yelling and screaming while we are.
Not at all when you are praying the devil is silent and we are the victors.
When you knocked on the Lord’s door and ask Him to open it and come into your heart, the door is never shut.
You don’t have to knock anymore.
And when we come to Ephesians 6:10-20, the famous passage on the armour of the believer, it’s speak of how we ought to stand arrayed IN EVERY PART AND ARENA OF LIVING OF OUR LIVES! It’s all spiritual warfare - and the armour never comes off!
BUT HAVING SAID ALL OF THAT, please understand that prayer IS VITAL in our warfare as Christian soldiers. With prayer we "buckle on" our other armour; it must undergird our whole fight. If we think we’ve put on the armour of God, but we’re not PRAYING - we’re kidding ourselves: we are leaving ourselves with defenses down. Your relationship with God, your spiritual walk, your Christian experience, will never rise higher than your prayer life. Prayer is of the utmost urgency for every believer.
Paul comes to the end of his list of the Christian soldier’s armour, and he writes (verse 18) ...
"... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints; ..."
Do you realise how important "communications" are in any battle? If an enemy can cut off a battalion’s communications, they become immediately isolated, helpless and alone.
Now for the Christian, PRAYER is our line of communication with our Commander-in-chief. God knows our situation (better than we do) - and He knows the enemy’s position too - but God moves in response to prayer. If the enemy can deter us or distract us from PRAYING, then he has us where he wants us. We quickly become isolated, helpless and alone, WITH ONLY OUR OWN RESOURCES. And God does NOT intend for us to fight with our own resources - they’re of no use in a spiritual fight.
2 Corinthians 10:4 says: "For the weapons of our warfare are NOT carnal, but they are mighty through GOD to the pulling down of strongholds".
If we’re not vitally in touch with God - what are we fighting with?! Our weaponry? Our own resources? GOD HELP US!
And so the enemy is very concerned to keep us involved in any other thing, as long as he can keep us from prayer.
"Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees!"(W.Cowper/J.Newton)
All right, today talking about this Prayer of Christian Warfare, I want us to consider three simple things:
1. The PRIORITY of Prayer
2. The POWER of Prayer
3. The PERSEVERANCE of Prayer
Firstly then:
1. THE PRIORITY OF PRAYER
In verse 18 there is one very important little word that we should observe. It’s obviously very important because it appears several times in that one verse. You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to work out that the Apostle Paul is trying to make a point. The word I’m referring to is the word "ALL", and it’s associated word "ALWAYS":
"Praying ALWAYS with ALL prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with ALL perseverance and supplication for ALL saints;"
Here we see the PRIORITY of prayer. We are to ALWAYS be giving ourselves to prayer, in ALL its forms, with ALL our energy and diligence, in ALL situations, and for ALL people. PRAYER MUST UNDERGIRD EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES! Now, let me ask you the question: does prayer undergird everything YOU do? Is communion with God that kind of a first priority in YOUR life?
[PAUSE.]
Church, the battle is ALWAYS raging. The enemy is desperate, for he knows his time is short - he’s not going to call any "time-out" for rest and recreation; the battle is on in earnest! And if that’s the case, then our armour must ALWAYS be in place, and we must remain alert - watching and praying. Listen to the words of 1 PETER 5:8: "Be sober, be vigilante; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour".
I ’m urging right now, by the compulsion of the Holy Ghost, that we get our spiritual eyes opened to see what’s happening in the heavenlies, and to get serious about this battle we’re in. It’s not a day for complacency; it’s a day for the church to be on her knees (for OUR church to be seeking God), and holding on to Him in fervent prayer until He rend the heavens and come down among us. And oh, He longs to. We cry out, "Where is God? Why don’t we see more of His hand at work among us? Where be the God of Elijah?", and He answers us: "Here I am, but where are the Elijah’s? Where are the people who will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and repent of worldliness, and laziness, and sin, and hold on to Me until I rain blessing down upon them?!"
Oh, do you hear Him?
Why do we settle for mundane religion, without any fire, without any throb - why do we settle for it when the only life we seem to have is our own enthusiasm, the only resources we have are our own talents and abilities - when all the time the Spirit of God is here at the altar calling: "Come, come unto Me. Let Me fill you, let Me empower you, let Me work the revolution in your heart!"
We need to keep coming back here to the altar, friends. Pressing in to God. Getting hold of Him for ourselves. Doing business with God, for the Lord’s sake, for our sake, for the churches sake, for our family’s sake, for this community’s sake. I don’t know about you, but I want our kids to grow up in revival - not just going to meetings week after week!
[READ AGAIN Ephesians 6:18 (emphasizing "ALWAYS" and "ALL").]
Note the words "Prayer AND supplication". This word "prayer" comes from a more general word for "praying". It speaks of the necessity of always being in an attitude of prayer, of having a consistent prayer life (and how essential that is).
But then the word "supplication" comes from a Greek term which relates to special times of need. If Christians truly practice prayer as a way of life, then when the special times of need come along they will be prepared for them - to make "supplication"
(URGENT REQUEST) before God, and see Him move into the situation.
Oh, the priority of prayer. Calling out on God in the battle.
It’s time folks. It’s time! (If not NOW ... when?!)
PSALM 102 - listen to verses 12-16 [READ].
The time is always "come" with God! It’s been the day of grace, the time for revival for the past 2000 years since Jesus ascended into Heaven and filled His church with the Holy Spirit! He only awaits a people who will cry out to Him in prayer and supplication, and surrender their whole lives before Him.
Here, then, is the PRIORITY of prayer, Spiritual war is always declared, initiated, and undergirded by the prayer of God’s people.
I must move on. The second thing I want to draw to your attention is:
2. THE POWER OF PRAYER
We see where the POWER of prayer lies in that phrase: "IN THE SPIRIT". "Praying always with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT." If you have a K.J.V. you’ll notice that "Spirit" has a capital "S". It’s speaking of the Holy Spirit. Powerful praying is praying "in the Holy Ghost".
If your prayer life has become dry, lifeless, boring - you need to learn from scratch how to PRAY THE SPIRIT. Invite the Holy Ghost into your prayer time.
What does it mean to "pray in the Spirit"? Well immediately four things come to mind:
i.) The Holy Spirit’s fellowship is the "ENVIRONMENT" of the Christian’s life. We talk of "walking in the Spirit" (which is a Scriptural term - GALATIANS 5). Walking in fellowship with Him, our lives filled with His guidance and power. If He is in our lives He will enable us to watch and pray. There will be a growing desire for prayer, and a growing perseverance in prayer. We are being led by the Holy Spirit into the place of prayer. Praying in the Spirit.
ii.) If we develop a sensitivity, the Holy Spirit will lead us WHILE we are praying. He’ll put a burden upon you for someone, some situation, and have you pray it through. That’s praying "in the Spirit". D.M. Lloyd-Jones said: "This means that the Holy Spirit directs the prayer, creates the prayer within us, and empowers us to offer it and to pray it". So He’s leading us to pray the very will and purpose of God. We become partners with Him in His plan and purpose. And the promise of 1 JOHN 5:14 is that "... if we ask ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, He heareth us". So, if the Holy Spirit leads you to prayer for some matter, then it’s the will of God, and THAT prayer WILL be answered.
iii.) The Holy Spirit gives a whole new language for prayer! When a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, they can pray in other tongues. The Bible says that when we pray in tongues by the Holy Spirit we "speak mysteries to God" and "we edify ourselves". This is another means of praying in the Spirit. (Perhaps the most obvious).
iv.) Finally, when language is exhausted and will not do any longer, He intercedes for us with "groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).
So, praying in the Spirit involves a whole range of things. But the important thing I want to stress is this: that we MUST have the Person of the Holy Spirit actively involved in our prayer life - leading us, energizing us! If your prayer life is lacklustre and dry - ask God to fill you with the Spirit anew - invite the Holy Spirit to come and fellowship with you and have His way in your life! We need Him!
The third and final point I have for you is:
3. THE PERSEVERANCE OF PRAYER
Come back to our text again, and note what it says: "... and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints".
How many know that in this Christian warfare, "praying through" requires PERSEVERANCE?!
The Bible is filled with accounts of people who PERSEVERED, holding onto God - sometimes when He was all they had left to hold on to - and God answered them in supernatural ways.
It’s JACOB at Peniel (Genesis 32), holding on and wrestling with the Angel of the Lord - "I will not let you go until you bless me". PERSEVERING!
It’s ELISHA raising the Shunnamite woman’s son from the dead (2 KINGS 4:8-37). Elisha sends his staff on ahead with his servant Gehazi - "lay it on the boy"s body". Nothing happens. So he comes to the boy himself and stretches himself out upon him. His body warms, but that’s all - he’s still unconscious. Elisha paces back and forth. He perseveres. Once more he stretches himself out on the boy’s body; this time the boy sneezes seven times and then opened his eyes. PERSEVERING!
It’s JOB in the midst of tragedy and overwhelming grief. He declares: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!" "I know that My redeemer lives, and He will stand at the latter day upon the earth". PERSEVERING!
It’s BLIND BARTIMAEUS crying out to Jesus in the streets of Jericho (MARK 10). The crowd tell him to be quiet; for a while even Jesus doesn’t seem to hear him or pay him any mind - but he keeps crying out! PERSEVERING! Until finally Jesus restores his sight.
Again, it’s the story that Jesus told of the importunate WIDOW (LUKE 18) who comes before the judge - begging for him to uphold her cause against an enemy. And he won’t have anything to do with her for a while. But she is not deterred, she keeps on pleading her case - she won’t leave the judge alone - until finally he relents and takes up her case. PERSEVERANCE!
Jesus said, when telling that particular story, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint". Not to give up. Not to be dissuaded. PERSEVERE!
"Pastor, we’ve been praying in our evening services for the whole month - are we done yet? Aren’t we going to move on to something else? Are you going to give ANOTHER altar call?"
CONCLUSION:
Oh, how we need some people who will PERSEVERE in prayer! Who will make prayer the great PRIORITY that it deserves to be, and to pray with POWER - energized by the Holy Spirit.
I said earlier on that I really believe we need to continue here at the altar, pressing in to God - taking hold of Him. I need it - as a church WE need to do it. A fresh touch of God in our midst.
If you know that your prayer life has been lacking - come and seek Him afresh tonight.
If you desperately want God’s power in prayer, and in your life. You long to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Come and ask God to fill you afresh.
And if you’re just hungry for more of God, will you come to the altar now. Let’s cry out to the Lord together.
GOD SAYS: "My house shall be called a house of prayer".
If you need prayer.
I encourage you to come forward right now and let us pray together.
