Introduction: As most of you know, over the last month or so, we have been doing a series on prayer based on the movie “War Room”. With all the different things going on in the world, and with all our unique struggles and difficulties that we go through just as people, one has to ask, what can we do to enable or empower ourselves to deal with it all? And the answer to that is prayer!
The movie “War Room” focuses on this couple… Tony and the Elizabeth Jordan… Their marriage was struggling as well as their spiritual walks.
An elderly lady named Ms. Clara… Reached out to Elizabeth and began to mentor her… Specifically in the area of prayer. Elizabeth first had to examine her own heart and life concerning prayer… And realized that she wasn’t right with God herself.
She began to understand that she couldn’t really focus on her marriage if she wasn’t first in a good place herself with God. Once she got her own heart right with God… then she was able to pray for her husband Tony.
And then the rest of the movie is basically showing or revealing how God answers their prayers… by working deeper in her own life, in Tony’s life and in their daughter’s life… Until ultimately they as a family were completely restored.
Then at the very end of the movie… Ms. Clara prayed an amazing heartfelt prayer… That I think truly represents the whole drive behind this movie. Which I believe was to inspire and hopefully encourage people to rise up… and become prayer warriors for the Lord.
Here is the prayer that Ms. Clara prayed at the end of the movie… I hope it will inspire you.
Clip
Isn’t that an inspiring prayer? I think so. Every time I hear something like this… my heart says yes. As you listen to and watch this clip… did you catch that there was actually two messages going on?
Of course the first message is contained within the prayer itself. Ms. Clara was asking God to rise up an army of believers who… In her own words… Would stand upon God’s word above all else. She also prayed… Rise up warriors Lord who will fight on their knees, who will worship you with their whole hearts. Lord call us to battle that we might proclaim you king of kings and Lord of lords!
Now adding to that… as she was praying that prayer… we got little flashes of words… Communicating to us another message. And that basic message was this… If we are going to rise up and learn what it means become warrior in prayer…
Then we are all going to have to create our own war room… that place where we can pray without interruption. This is vital because wherever that place is, it will become the place where we not only discover courage, but also renew our faith.
This of course is a direct reference to something that Jesus said on his Sermon on the Mount. Matt 6:6 But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, (KJ uses the word closet here, the literal Greek implies a secluded room where you can’t be interrupted) and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. AMP
As for me… I have a prayer chair which I use for personal prayer when no one is around.
Point being…Our war rooms… Actually become very symbolic… Because they represent our belief in the power of prayer!
Now after hearing this, some of you might be asking…
What battle are we talking about here?
Exactly what kind of war are we talking about? I don’t remember signing up to be part of any kind of army? The word “war” implies a conflict of some kind… So what’s the conflict?
Col 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
According to this… there are two kingdoms… There is the kingdom or dominion of darkness… that manifests itself through hate, death, disease, violence and every other imaginable evil thing that brings destruction.
And there is the kingdom of light… The kingdom of God’s son… That manifests itself through love, joy, peace, righteousness, healing, and freedom.
And these two kingdoms are in constant conflict with one another. We see that clearly illustrated in the life of Jesus. Wherever he went, he displayed the love of God that destroyed strongholds of the enemy.
He brought joy and peace to people through healing, and delivering people from their demonic bondages. He taught truth that set people free. He walked in compassionate righteousness… That represented the lifestyle completely different than what was the norm of that day.
Jesus then went on to indicate… how this conflict would continue right up to the day he returned.
He said… Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
In other words… God’s kingdom will continue to expand and increase… Throughout the whole world… Until everyone has heard the message of the kingdom…
John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Of course the enemy will do everything he can to prevent this from happening! He and his cohorts are doing everything they can to not only to keep people from coming to Christ… But do whatever they can to cripple Christians from being able to participate in seeing God’s kingdom expand.
At this point it becomes a fair question to ask, if indeed there is a war like this going on…
How is the war going?
Well, I’m glad you asked…Latin America… back in 1900; there were only a handful of evangelical churches. They estimated that there was less than 250,000 Evangelical Christians. By the year 2000, there were 60,000,000!
Just in Brazil alone… the spread of Christianity is so rampant that they are starting 3000 new churches every year! That is more than any other country in the world!
Africa is no different! In 1900 there were 3 million Christians… or about 3% of the total population! By the year 2000… there were 351 million Christians… or 48% of the total population.
Some of these numbers become even more amazing when you actually break down Africa by individual Countries. For example… Kenya only had 2000 Christians in it in 1900. By the year 2000…it had 25 million! Now that’s evangelism!
Did you know that more Anglicans attend church in Nigeria each Sunday than in England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, and all the Episcopalians in the US combined?
In just 10 years… from 1990 to 2000… one nation… the Democratic Republic of Congo has grown from 1.4 % Christian to over 95% Christian! That’s huge!
Then you have Asia! Did you know that there are twice as many Evangelicals in Asia (130 million) than in North America (70 million)? In 1900 there were less than four million Asian protestant believers. Today, in 2000, there are over 193 million!
And of course part the Asia story is what is going on in China! Prior to the Communist takeover in 1949… less than one percent of China’s population considered themselves Christian. Today, in spite of a vicious 10-year cultural revolution that sought to extinguish Christianity… there are an estimated 80 million Chinese believers meeting in more than 20,000 house churches.
The expansion of Christianity in China simply boggles the mind… They are were seeing 10,000 new converts every day!
Prof Yang, a leading expert on religion in China, believes that number will swell to around 160 million by 2025. That would likely put China ahead even of the United States, which had around 159 million Protestants in 2010… but whose congregations are in decline.
By 2030, China's total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the United States as the largest Christian congregation in the world.
When you put all this together… that means right now… there are 3500 churches born every week between those three continents! That’s 182,000 churches a year!
And yet there are still parts of the world that have not yet heard the gospel. But there are now tens of thousands of people working together to ensure that not only does every people group hear the gospel, but that every people group would have a Bible written in their own language.
Now in view of all this, it is interesting that at the same time as all this explosive growth is happening around the world… here in America… most of the main line churches are dwindling! Thus the big question here… is why?
It is my personal belief that the missionaries sent from the United States throughout the last couple hundred years… have played a large part in the explosive growth of Christianity across the world.
The United States has been a constant source of missionaries of all ages, finances, and material goods to those in need. No other country in the history of the world has been as generous as the United States.
So is it any wonder that the enemy would be working overtime to cut off the supply at its root! As we have seen over these last few decades… The enemy is doing everything he can to remove Christian influence from our public schools, colleges, courtrooms and our government.
Satan has been working hard over the last 50 years at removing Christianity even from our history through reconstruction. So that now when you read most of our history books… all Christian references had mostly been removed… giving people the understanding that Christian faith played no part in the founding of our country or our Constitution or our Declaration of Independence.
So whether you like it or not… we all are involved and engaged in a battle of warfare for the heart of this nation.
So with all that in view… I would like to do one last message on prayer titled… “The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength!” But first let’s pray…
The key to enduring any type of battle or struggle is strength!
So where do we find the strength to wage war? Where do we find the strength that enables us to endure our most difficult situations? Answer:
Neh 8:10 Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
A more literal translation of that for us reads like this… In the midst of sorrow, the joy of the Lord can be our strength
The Hebrew word strength literally means: Place or means of safety, protection, stronghold, and fortress. Furthermore, this word is attached to a verb that carries the concept of taking shelter quickly!
So literally the truth that this verse conveys… Is that whenever you find yourself assaulted by sorrow, or pain or heartbreak… run quickly to God and let him fill you with his joy… For that joy will become your strength, it will protect you and become a fortress against everything that is assaulting you right now!
In other words… that joy will enable you to do things that ordinarily would be impossible. A classic example that is Macedonian churches. They were going through a very difficult time where they found themselves in extreme poverty… Nevertheless, because of their joy… they were able to generously respond to a need of another church that Paul had made them aware of. Listen closely to this verse…
2 Cor 8:1-3 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
Are you catching what Paul is saying here? Despite their dire circumstances, because their hearts were overflowing with joy… they were able to respond with incredible generosity! Meaning… their joy was their strength! That being a people filled with the joy of the Lord was essential to them finding the strength to live the Christian life!
Now let us apply this to our prayer life. Where can we find strength to pray? The same place that the Macedonian churches found their strength to be generous… From their joy!
Unfortunately joy seems to be very lacking quality in so many Christians these days. In fact, I wonder how many of us would describe our faith today. Would we say yes, I am really a person of joy… who is really enjoying God.
Or if we were honest would we say… I am enduring God rather than enjoying God. My faith has come a bit of a chore. It is something that I do out of duty, not real delight.
Can anybody relate to that? In all honesty, there are times in my life that I can. That somehow my Christian walk gets reduced down to the list do’s and don’ts rather than a dynamic relationship with the King of the universe!
It’s in moments like that that I think it’s important to remember this grand truth… That Christianity is not about following a bunch of rules, but rather a dynamic interactive relationship with Jesus who desires that our lives be joyful.
John 15:11 I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing. AMP
Did you catch that? Jesus wants our lives to be full of joy to the point of overflowing!
In fact, according to the Westminster shorter catechism… that this is one of the main reasons we were created by God for! Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
I don’t know if you are aware of the history behind this famous quote… It’s kind of cool. It was compiled by a group of Puritans in the 17th century in Westminster London. It was then approved by Parliament in 1648. It was intended to be the teaching of the land.
Interestingly… this catechism begins with the all-important question… What is the chief end of man? In modern English we would say… What is our primary purpose? Or why were we created?
And the famous answer provided by the catechism is… Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
Just think about that for a moment… We were created by God… to enjoy God!
Isn’t that amazing? But what does that mean? Usually when we think of the word enjoy… We think of things like enjoying a good meal or enjoy a good book or a good movie. Some of us enjoys a good football game… or we enjoy going out on dates!
Now these are all great examples of enjoyment. But according to the catechism… all those joy don’t compare to the joy they are talking about. You see all things that we enjoy here on the earth are temporary They come and go.
But the joy we’re created for… when it comes to enjoying God… Is an eternal joy… meaning that will last forever!
Thus the $60,000 question… how do we enjoy God? How do we enter into an experience where we are really enjoying God? Where we are experiencing his joy, that becomes our strength and our fortress of protection during hard times?
The first answer to that question lies within the catechism itself.
The order of catechism is important.
We must first glorify God before we can enjoy him.
You see… if we put our enjoyment first, then we would be in danger of thinking that God exists for us and instead of us existing for God. A subtle but vital distinction!
Reality is this… Joy is always a byproduct of our obedience. We cannot seek joy for itself… But rather we see God and the joy follows. You see, part of our joy comes from being in a right relationship with our Creator.
But it doesn’t stop there. There are other things we can do to release God’s joy in our lives.
Let me suggest three things that we can do according to Psalm 139.
Psalm 139 is a song written by King David… Who knew how to enjoy his God!
For example, the first thing we notice is that…
1. Enjoying God begins by recognizing God’s presence.
That is what David is doing here in this Psalm… He acknowledges that God is not far away or some distant place but rather constantly with him.
Psalm 139:1-3 “you know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”
God’s presence is so intimate that God knows David’s words before those words on his tongue. Indeed, there is nowhere David can go where he can go to escape God’s presence. So David asks…
Psalm 139:7-8 “where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you were there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
Thus the very first secret we learn about enjoying God… Is found in the grand truth that… God is always with us!
Now to some of you this might be obvious, but unfortunately I think most of time we forget it! And when we do forget this amazing truth, we do so at great cost. We lose some of our joy.
You see… when we can’t see God… we imagine he can’t see us. Because we imagine we are distant from him… we think he is distance from us.
But that’s not the case… We are never out of God’s sight or out of God’s mind. So David here is delighting to know God’s presence. He is a man absorbed by God.
In an earlier Psalm he declared… Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me.” That is… his goal for his life… is to always have God before him! And as a result of that… He can claim… Psalm 16:11 “you will fill me with joy in your presence.”
Once again… we see the same order as we saw in the Westminster catechism… Seek God first and the joy follows. Now if we can grasp this reality that we are always in God’s presence it will transform our life.
For one thing… we never need to be fearful! Why? Because if the God who created the world and the whole universe… is present right now in your life… loving you and caring for you and watching over for you… why on earth should we be afraid?
Rom 8:31-33 If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Add to that… you don’t have to worry… Because this God who knows all about us… Knows our need and he is more than capable of meeting that need.
Adding to that… Being ever aware of his presence will also enable you to resist temptation.
Think about it… if God is ever present… that means while no one else might be around watching you… He is. And not only that, he hears what you’re saying and he knows what you’re thinking. So just being aware of his presence is going to encourage you to live a greater life of purity and honesty.
So take delight in God knowing he is with you always, and no matter where you go, no matter what’s going on around you, he’s aware of it all! And he has promised that he will never leave you or forsake you.
We also can find joy in God by…
2. Enjoy God by taking time to Rejoice in His works
David tells us… Psalm 139:14 “your works are wonderful.” And then David goes on to praise God for some of these wonderful works…
He recognizes he was created by God… Psalm 139:14-16 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made… My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place… Your eyes saw my unformed body.”
You see… David is marveling at God’s foreknowledge! Nothing in our lives takes God by surprise. So David acknowledges that… Psalm 139:16 “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Reflect for a moment what God has done for you. Look back over your life and see the great work he has done.
When I look back at me salvation experience… and the all things he saved me from… Concerning my old life and all the idiotic things I did. Quite frankly, I’m not sure I would be alive today that God hadn’t rescued me!
Also, when I consider all the things he did to draw me to himself… All the right people he sent my way… Who said exactly what I need to hear… Still astounds me to this day.
And then when I think of all the wonderful experiences he has given me throughout the years… I find myself overwhelmed with joyful gratitude.
When I think about all the ways God was involved… and all the circumstances God arranged in my life to bring Shelley and me together… I can do nothing but smile.
And then when I think about the birth of my children… and their years growing up… or all the ways he has provided for our family… time and time again… sometimes in the most supernatural ways… it just makes my heart sing.
And it’s not just the good times… when I look back the most difficult and painful experiences of my life… those times where my life was turned upside down… and remember how somehow he got me through them all… my heart just melts. His joy begins to just bubble up and flow out of me.
So, how about you? We all have similar stories. Look back in our life where you saw that bend in the road… and thought it was going to be disastrous… yet you got through. God knew exactly what he was doing! For many of us… Those times of crisis actually became launch pad to propel us in a totally new direction and purpose.
3. Enjoy God By cherishing how much concern he has for you!
David goes on to say… Psalm 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
When you think about this… This is really one of the most amazing verses in all the Old Testament. The simple recognition of how much God actually thinks about us as an individual is staggering.
Do you know how many grains of sand there are just one beach? And He thinks more about you than whatever that number is! Incredible! How does he do that? While obviously, he’s God!
So how many of you have really meditated on just how much God loves you… How much he thinks about you… From your very conception… Till the day you die. Believe it or not, God is ever mindful of you!
Psalm 40:5 Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
What makes this even more amazing… is when you consider just who we are… with all our flaws and failings…
Psalm 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You see… it doesn’t matter me to failed or have filtered. God loves us despite ourselves. If fact, according to
Isaiah 49:16 … he loves us so much that he has… inscribed us on his psalms. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;.
In other words… God is trying to communicate to us… that He knows and understands every aspect of our daily lives and walk with Him. He knows the trials, the heartache, the confusion, the sickness and all the pain that many of us are currently facing.
Add to that… Jesus is continually interceding on our behalf before the Father in heaven… so that all things work together for our good.
Consider once again… Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
In other words… He doesn’t sit in heaven thinking of ways to take us out because of all the things we’ve done wrong in our lifetime. On the contrary… he thinking positively about your future. He is thinking about things he is going to cause you to grow into… And accomplish despite your weaknesses and frailties
Reality is this… He has forgiven you, he has saved you, and he has filled you with his Holy Spirit for a purpose. Add to that… that he is currently in the process of working in your life right now, whether you see him or not, in such a way to give you a hopeful future.
Now if all this is true… which I believe it is, then just simply knowing all he has done for you and is in the process of doing… Regardless of how dire your circumstances are right now… should begin to fill your hearts with great joy!
In conclusion: I have said all this in hopes of communicating to you that our prayer lives and personal relationship with God have to go beyond just a sense of duty and obligation. Our lives are meant to be marked by joy.
That as Christians… we should be known not only for our deep love for one another and devotion to God, but also for our joy! And not just when it comes to God, but to our ability to enjoy everything that pertains to the life that he’s given us.
That means enjoying all the people God brings your way… and it means enjoying all the beauty that this world created by our God has to offer.
It means enjoying our work, and enjoying our time off and enjoying our families. It means learning how to enjoy all the different seasons of life, both the hard times and the good times. Joy, like love, should be the constant state of a believer who is seeking to glorify God with their life.
Have you ever thought that this might be what Paul was getting at in his letter to the Philippians when he said… Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
In the movie “War Room” Ms. Clara was a very joyful person. And it was this joy that actually fueled the passion and zeal of her prayers.
You see… I believe some of the most powerful, passionate prayers that had ever been uttered… have sprung out of Hearts filled with the joy of the Lord!
So let me finish this series by going back to the question that Ms. Clara asked Elizabeth in the very beginning… “So if I asked you what your prayer life was like, would you say that it was hot or cold?”
Or maybe a more relevant question for some of you might be… What can you do to turn the heat up concerning your prayer life? If passion and joy and zeal are the things that are needed to fuel our prayers…
Then what’s robbing you of your joy right now? What’s robbing you of your passion? What’s robbing you of your zeal when it comes to prayer life? If you would like more passion, joy and zeal in your life… That I want to invite you to come up and get prayer. Let’s pray…
OUTLINE
“The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength!”
Part 5: War Room: The Power of Prayer
Neh 8:10 In the midst of sorrow, the joy of the Lord can be our strength
What battle are we talking about here?
How is the war going?
The key to enduring any type of battle or struggle is strength!
Westminster catechism: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
How do we enjoy God?
The order of catechism is important!
1. Enjoying God begins by recognizing God’s presence.
2. Enjoy God by taking time to Rejoice in His works
3. Enjoy God By cherishing how much concern he has for you!
Final thoughts: what’s robbing you of your joy right now?
