WHY IS THAT A MISTAKE? Because when you talk about putting on the whole armor of God, you need to include the weapon of PRAYER in verse 18.
In our study of the armor of God we have seen that we must ...
• TAKE THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH
• TAKE THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
• PUT ON THE SHOES OF THE GOSPEL
• TAKE UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH
• TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION
• TAKE THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
As Paul closes this section on the armor of God, he talks to us about all the weapons God has given us to DEFEND OURSELVES, but also he mentions two weapons that God has given us to DEFEAT THE DEVIL WITH.
• THE WEAPON OF GOD’S WORD
• THE WEAPON OF PRAYER
Prayer is that glue which binds all the armor together. Without PRAYER, we will be too weak spiritually to use the armor.
We must PRAY ALL KINDS OF PRAYERS:
• SECRET AND OPEN PRAYERS - There are prayers we share with others, and prayers we keep in our hearts alone
• SOCIAL AND SOLITARY PRAYERS - We pray in public gatherings and we pray alone in our private places
• SOLEMN AND SUDDEN PRAYERS - There are prayers that are very deep and thoughtful, and there are prayers that are uttered in a moment of need.
If we are going to be victorious over the devil we must pray ALL KINDS OF PRAYERS.
We must PRAY AT ALL TIMES:
• WHEN THINGS ARE GOING WELL
• WHEN THINGS ARE NOT GOING WELL
• WHEN WE ARE ENCOURAGED
• WHEN WE ARE DISCOURAGED
Illus: Sportscaster John Madden tells a humorous story. He was in Denver to cover a football game, and down by the Bronco's bench he saw a telephone and he asked the head coach what it was for, and the coach said, "That's a hotline to God." Madden said, "Can I use it?" and the coach said, "It'll cost you $100." Madden scratched his head and said, “Ok,” and he paid the $100 and used it.
Next weekend Madden was in Green Bay, and there was another phone just like the one he'd seen in Denver, down by the Packers bench. And he asked the head coach what that phone was for, and once again he was told that that was a hotline to God, but if he wanted to use it would cost him $100. This time Madden gladly forked over the $100 and again his picks that week were perfect.
The next weekend he was in Dallas at Texas Stadium to cover a Cowboys game, and noticed another one of those phones right by the Cowboys bench. And so Madden went up to the head coach, Chan Gaily and said, "Is that one of those hotlines to God?" Gaily said, "It sure is; but if you want to use it, it'll cost you 35 cents." Madden was stunned, and he said to Gaily, "I had to pay $100 in Denver and Green Bay to use that phone." And Gaily rather matter a factly said, "Well of course. We're in Texas. That's a local call."
But the fact is, every child of God has a direct line to heaven if they will use it.
As we consider prayer today, this weapon that God has given us to defeat the devil with, I want us to look at two things about our prayers. We need to -
I. PRAY FOR OURSELVES
The thought that we pray for ourselves first may sound selfish to some people. BUT IT IS NOT!
WHY IS IT NOT SELFISH? Because we cannot pray effective prayers for others until we PRAY FOR OURSELVES and make sure our heart and our life is where it ought to be with the Lord. If my heart is not right with the Lord, there is no need for me to pray for others.
Illus: That is, if I cannot swim, I certainly cannot help someone else who cannot swim.
We have to get our heart right with the Lord before we can help someone else. This is why in James 5:16, we read, “The effectual fervent prayer of a RIGHTEOUS man availeth much.”
But as we pray for ourselves, we need to pray in a certain manner, such as, we need to -
A. PRAY FOR A TENDER HEART
2 Kings 22:19, “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.”
Notice, because the king’s heart was tender, God heard his prayer. It is a wonderful thing when a person has a tender heart.
Illus: One of the reasons that George W. Bush is receiving such a high approval rating in 2002, anywhere from 80% to 85%, is because we have all watched him on several occasions as he stood beside catastrophes wiping tears from his eyes.
• Many women know that they can get a lot more from their spouse with tears then they can with their arrogance.
• You will get a lot more from God with a TENDER HEART THAN WITH A HARD HEART
When Job was in his trouble, he realized that God was working in his heart. Job 23:16, “For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:” (soft = tender)
God also wants to make our hearts soft.
WHY DO WE NEED A TENDER HEART? Simply because God can not work in a hard heart.
We need to have a tender heart in several ways, such as, we need to have a tender heart-
(1) TOWARD THE WORD OF GOD
One of the things God accused Israel of time and time again was that they were HARD HEARTED when it came to the receiving of God’s Word!
The Israelites had the greatest prophets that ever walked on this earth, but as these courageous men stood before them and told them the message God wanted them to hear, they rejected it over and over again. They hardened their hearts against the Word of God.
It wasn’t the MESSENGER they rejected it was the MESSAGE!
Many ministers across this nation need to recognize this as they faithfully preach the Word of God. Being a minister of the gospel today can be very discouraging if a Bible-preacher does not recognize this problem.
For example, he can see some television preacher preaching to thousands, and hear some ridiculous things, such things as:
• Hear the very popular message that it is God’s Will for everyone to be wealthy. But yet the greatest apostle that ever walked on this earth, the apostle Paul, was not wealthy
• Hear the very popular message that it is God’s Will for everyone to be healthy. But yet one of the greatest servants that ever walked on this earth, Job in the old testament, was eaten up with sores and suffering
• He can see television preachers claiming to blow the Holy Spirit out of their mouths, knocking people down when there is no scripture to support such teachings
• He can see television preachers claiming to place the Holy Spirit in the palm of their hands and throwing Him at the congregation, knocking down rows of people like they were bowling pins in a bowling alley
• He can see three television preachers who traded their wives in for younger women, still preaching to thousands
And he can be preaching the Word of God, and all he is getting from the preaching of God’s Word is hard times. He can be thoroughly confused about all this, until he realizes that people are not rejecting the MESSENGER, but the MESSAGE.
2 Tim. 4:3-4 speaks of this age, we read, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
One of the sure signs of the Lord’s soon coming is the fact that we live in the age when we have professing Christians who HAVE HARDENED THEIR HEARTS TOWARD THE WORD OF GOD.
They could care less what this Bible teaches:
• They watch television all week to be entertained, and when they come to church they still want to be entertained
• They do not care if the preacher gets up and preaches out of a Sear’s and Roebuck catalog THEY DO NOT CARE
• There are some folks that you can preach the Word of God to and you might as well be preaching to a brick wall
• There are some folks who used to hear the Word of God and it would bring tears to their eyes. But now their hearts have gotten hard, and they are waiting for the last prayer to be said, so they can get out of church and do what they really want to do
Many today have hardened their hearts to the WORD OF GOD. We read in Psalm 95:8-9 “Harden not your heart...”
In this age when there are so many professing Christians who have hardened their hearts when it comes to the preaching of God’s Word, we need to pray and ask God to give us a TENDER HEART TOWARD THE WORD OF GOD. But also, we need a tender heart -
(2) TOWARD THE PEOPLE OF GOD
Eph. 4:32, we read, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
One of the reasons today that many in our churches can not grow spiritually is because they have gotten hard hearted toward other Christians. Listen, you can not defeat the devil when you have a hard heart for other Christians.
Rom. 12:10, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.”
What a shame it is to see believers who are hard hearted toward each other. How many Christians do you know who are this way?
• They hold a grudge against another Christian
• They speak evil against another Christian
• They snub another Christian
They despise those who are made in the image of God and then they have the gall to say they love the Lord.
Listen, it is impossible for God to move by the Spirit of God in a church service where people are hard hearted to each other. If you love the Lord, you will love His children and be tender hearted toward them.
We need to pray for God to give us a tender heart TOWARD HIS WORD, TOWARD HIS PEOPLE, and a tender heart -
(3) TOWARD THE THINGS OF GOD
It is obvious today that many have lost their love for God’s Church.
• They get mad at the preacher and quit coming to church
• They get mad at someone in the church and smear the whole church as a bunch of hypocrites
• They get mad at the finance committee and they quit tithing
• They get mad at the choir director and they quit the choir
It is obvious they did these things because they never loved the Lord to start with.
IF THEY LOVED THE LORD THEY WOULD NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE CHURCH. This is why I say that it is obvious today that people have lost their love for the church that Christ died for.
If we are going to put a whipping on the devil in this spiritual battle that we are in, we are going to have to have a tender heart toward His church.
Psa. 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.”
Notice, David tells us why he enjoyed attending church. Why? He said he went there to “…Behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”
That is, David was saying the reason he attended church was:
• To worship this great God
• To inquire how he could learn some more things about Him
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone came to church for this reason?
Many people who profess to be Christians seem to have a hard heart toward the CHURCH. They do not want to attend services, fellowship, support the work of the Lord, etc. How hard hearted they have become, and drifted so far from the Lord.
(4) TENDER TOWARD MISSIONS
Matthew 28:18, we read, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
This is the great commission that God has given to the church. It excludes no nation, not one! But yet there are Christians who are hard hearted, they are saved and they do not care if all nations die and go to a Christ-less eternity. They get mad when money is received for people in other nations or in home missionary projects. The devil tries to harden men’s hearts toward missions so the lost will not be saved!
We should PRAY FOR OURSELVES, and then we should...
II. PRAY FOR OTHERS
2 Timothy 2:1, we read, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”
That is, we are not only interested in God supplying our needs, we also pray for God to supply the needs of others.
HOW DO WE PRAY FOR THEM? We need to pray a -
A. PERCEPTIVE PRAYER
Ephesians 6:18, we read, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
The words “Watching thereunto”, mean we are ALERT.
We are not asleep when it comes to our needs, nor are we to sleep when it comes to the needs of others that we love.
And when we see these needs, Paul said, we are to get on our prayer bones and pray, “..with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
That is, when we have the whole armor of God on, and we are walking in step with the Lord, there are people that we know and love that He will lay on our hearts for us to PERSEVERE ON THEIR BEHALF IN PRAYER.
We need to be able to see the needs of the brethren. Often their needs are overshadowed by our own.
Illus: A man's car stalled in the heavy traffic as the light turned green. All his efforts to start the engine failed, and the honking behind him made matters worse. The driver behind him was in a big hurry to meet an appointment. He finally got out of his car and walked back to the driver and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get my car started. If you'll go up there and give it a try, I'll stay here and blow your horn for you.”
It is sad when Christians are hurting and others can’t see the hurt .
Illus: Politicians will get on television and look us in the eye and say, “I feel your pain,” and then they raise our taxes so we have less money to pay our bills.
Before we can pray for others, we must first be able to see and feel their pain. We must pray PERCEPTIVE PRAYER for others. But as we pray for others, we need to also pray-
B. PERSISTENT PRAYER
Notice, the Bible says we are to pray for them, “with all perseverance” This is talking about continuing prayer. Persevering until the answer comes!
How often have you been asked to pray for someone and you fulfilled your commitment to pray? When you prayed for that person:
• Did you pray once
• Did you pray twice
• Did you pray many times
• Did you pray until the answer came
Illus: An explorer named Fridtjof Nansen was lost with one companion in the Arctic land. By miscalculation they ran out of all their supplies.
• They ate their dogs
• They ate the dog's harnesses
• They ate the whale oil for their lamps
Nansen's companion gave up and lay down to die. But Nansen did not give up. He told himself, "I can take one step more." As he plodded heavily through the bitter cold, step after step, suddenly across an ice hill he stumbled upon an American expedition that had been sent out to find him.
I wonder how many times we have stopped praying when the answer to our prayers was just over the next hill. If we are going to defeat the devil we are going to have to pray PERCEPTIVE PRAYERS, and PERSEVERING PRAYERS.
We are kidding ourselves if we think we can defeat the devil if we do not use the weapon of PRAYER each day.
Illus: Someone gave this good advice: "If you can't sleep, don't count sheep. Talk to the shepherd."
Conclusion:
We need to PRAY for OURSELVES and for OTHERS!
• Have you put on the armor?
• Are you ready to face the enemy?
• Will you continue in prayer?
If our answer is YES, then WE WILL HAVE VICTORY IN OUR DAILY LIVES!
