Our children have reminded us of what we must do when the days of evil come. As Christians today, how are we doing in taking our stand with the attacks of the devil?
We are to put on the Full Armor of God on a daily basis for the days of evil are upon us! How do we do this on a practical basis? What is the first thing we need to put on??
Do you remember what the Belt of Truth is?
Or more appropriately, who is the Belt of Truth?
The Belt of Truth is Jesus Christ Himself, who we need to embrace us and hold everything together! Can you picture that?
What’s the second thing we must do?
Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness!
Can you picture this? - Is Jesus Christ the only one sitting on the throne of your heart? We are to ask God to check our hearts for any unconfessed sins. Let us do this right now. Right where you are, quietly ask God to cleanse your heart and allow no one else and nothing else but Christ to sit on the throne of your heart……….
The third thing we are to do is to put on the Shoes of The Gospel and be ready to share. In other words, think about when and why you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and be ready to tell your salvation story!
Next, take the Shield of Faith.
Tell yourself that you will completely trust God and His Word!
How big is your shield?
Next, grab hold of Scripture passages which is the Sword of The Spirit. Think of a Scripture verse right now, meditate on it and believe it with all your heart!
And before prayer, what are we to put on??
Put on the Helmet of Salvation! How do we do this?
Say it to yourself, I believe in Jesus Christ and I am a Citizen of heaven; I belong to God!
Now, let us open our Bibles to Ephesians 6.
Read along with me the verses 18 to 20………
The seventh piece of the Full Armor of God is Prayer. And since prayer can create for us this protection which envelops us, using today’s vernacular, I suggest we call this a “Forcefield” of Prayer!
But according to v18, what must we do first before praying??
We are to be alert!
Being alert means to be watchful and have an understanding of the situation.
We read in v18, we are to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests! And according to v18-19, who are we to pray for??
We are to pray for:
- all the saints (other Christians)
- Paul who is a Missionary
What makes Paul a Missionary?
There are three things we can note from v19-20:
• asks for words from God!
• desire is to fearlessly make known the Gospel!
• sees himself as a representative for Christ
And so, based on these biblical truths, we can note how we are to pray for other Christians and Missionaries!
We are to ask God to give Christians and Missionaries the right words to say; we are to pray that all Christians have the confidence to share the Gospel; and we are to pray that every Christian take the responsibility of representing Christ wherever they are!
Let us now put into practice what we just learned. We will spend time in prayer for different parts of the world, concluding with our community here in South Milwaukee.
And so, let us alert ourselves of some of the things happening in the world; then we will pray for the Christians there and especially the Missionaries! Let me start with Africa.
An Evangelist Pastor in Kenya (show map of Kenya) emailed me last year to tell me that he appreciated the messages on the Internet and he asked if I could pray for the ministry there in Kenya. We have been emailing and praying for each other for a while now. I have been encouraged & challenged with the work going on there.
Here’s Pastor Gideon’s report of the current situation there:
It hasn’t rained in 2 years (drought & famine is prevalent)
Pastor Gideon says, Thanks so much for praying for us, the journey to north eastern of Nairobi was so hard yet fruitful; having stuck on the road due to floods that washed away the bridge, having had the problem with the safe drinking water and food, having fallen sick, most of the team members having had the problem with their stomachs, we could not let that hinder what God was about to do in those regions.
The Islam faith is very strong in the region.
Pastor Gideon states, Kenya is trying to get the new constitution which is going legalize abortion and introduce the Islamic courts which is a big threat to the body of Christ in Kenya. Kenya has been the base of many ministries in Africa and this will give an upper hand to Islamic nations and introduce socialism in the nation. It is my prayer to go across the nation organizing and leading prayer meetings for the nation and alert and educate people why the proposed constitution is dangerous and people should reject it at the referendum in July.
Famine is prevalent.
Pastor Gideon wrote, Famine is still so high and still claiming lives especially for the children. Pray that this will soon come to an end. Water is the main problem over the area and people go far to get water.
But here are some great news!
Hundreds of Pastors are uniting in the Name of Christ!
It recently rained as they were praying!
Many in the schools (students & teachers) are praying.
At the meetings when we were praying for those who wanted prayer we had people who openly confessed they were the agents of Satan send to attack the pastors and other strong believers around. We prayed for them and they were freed. There was such a great presence of the Holy Spirit felt upon the people over there, More than 1000 people confessed having given their lives to Jesus at the end of the meeting.
Let us now spend some time in prayer as we huddle in groups of 4 to 6 people. Let us pray for Africa and the Christians there, especially for Pastor Gideon and his family in Kenya…….
About 8 years ago I spent 3 weeks in India (picture) where I dedicated a church building which my previous church built. There I met Pastor Kawla who now oversees many churches. Kawla and his family (wife and 2 kids - picture) live in Northeast India where there is no running water and much of the offerings at church is rice and other food items.
In the midst of Hindu and Muslim prayers over the loud speakers in the village, the Christians meet early in the morning at church to pray for their day!
There are over 1 billion people in India (1/6 of the world population) and there is much spiritual warfare!
Many in India are turning to Christ, but many are also turning to drugs, and communism.
Please take a moment now to pray for India and the Christians there (about 2%) especially Pastor Kawla and the needs of his family. Pray also for the possibility of a team from our church to go there in 2 years……
At this time, Joe Morris, who is a Missionary to the Philippines with New Tribes, will share with us some information, then he will leads us in prayer.
Let us now briefly focus on Latin America (show picture).
The spread of the gospel in Latin America is unprecedented, from 16 million evangelicals in the late 1960s to over 60 million today. Yet there are over 800,000 Latin pastors and leaders who have little to no training. The impact of this serious: doctrinal error, burned out leaders and damaged believers.
Ministry in Latin America is vital to the world. It is a great potential source of global missionaries, not only because of the growing number of believers and leaders, but also because of their ability to enter parts of the world that others can not so easily enter. Pray for Latin America….
We will pray for America during our Concert of Prayer this afternoon at 115pm. But let us note now that America needs every Christian to be praying for this country. Much in this country needs godly intervention: the government becoming more and more socialist, the Supreme Court will have 3 new Judges in the next few years, the economy, immorality, lukewarmness of the church, and so on. Join us back here right after lunch to pray for America.
We have a special guest today who will share with us what’s going on locally. Officer Nate, please come up and share with us, then we will pray.
Let us pray for Police Officer Nate Siefert, other City Leaders, and the City of South Milwaukee………….
