THE WARFARE OF PRAYER
Ephesians 6:10-12, 18
In a small Kentucky town there were 2 churches and 1 whiskey distillery which was owned by the town atheist.
Church members complained that the distillery gave the community a bad image so they unsuccessfully tried to shut it down.
One Saturday night they held a joint prayer meeting during which a terrible storm raged for hours. Lightning struck the distillery and it burned to the ground.
The next morning both pastors preached on the ‘POWER OF PRAYER’.
The insurance company decided to not pay for the damages due to the ‘act of God’ clause in the policy so the distillery owner sued both churches for conspiring with God to destroy his building.
In court both churches denied any involvement in causing the fire.
A CONFUSED JUDGE said, ‘I find one thing about this case very complexing:
The plaintiff(an atheist) is professing belief in the power of prayer and the defendants(church members) are denying that same power.
1) Undoubtedly there is power in prayer. The pages of this Bible are filled with the proof. There is proof in the biographies of many great Christians, there should be proof in your life and in the life of this church and any other that names the name of JESUS CHRIST!
2) Prayer is not meant to be one of many activities we engage in as a church of one of many ministries you as a Christian can become involved in. PRAYER IS LIKE BREATHING! It is apart of every activity we do, without it we could not continue with any success for the kingdom of God.
3) Prayer is the very power of the Christian life. It was not given to be a start or an end to our meetings.
Many people have dropped prayer from their life because it is too cumbersome an activity, demands too much time or energy.
A SOLDIER MIGHT AS WELL DROP HIS RIFLE AND AMMUNITION BECAUSE IT IS TOO BURDENSOME!
• Term Christian is an athletic term. Paul often described the Christian life as an athletic event: Runner-Boxer-Fighter-Worker. Prayer is demanding but our involvement in true, dynamic, faith-filled prayer will make or break our Christian life.
Health club near seminary in California: Muscle bound attendant. Someone asked him, ‘How much time do you spend working out?’ ‘5 hours a day’.
WoW What people will do for physical life and not for the spiritual.
What they will do for time and not for eternity.
RON DUNN: The world does not fear the church, it barely tolerates it. It considers the church no longer a player in the world affairs and only an observer.
The church is a quaint old relic of the past that lends a certain charm to a neighborhood, a holdover from bygone days, big but harmless, like a beached whale.
CHURCH IN GERMANY:
3 full-time pastors, 1,000’s of members, average daily attendance: . 30! Mandatory tithe law.
If you have ever gone to see the Harlem Globetrotters you get two teams for the price of one. The second is called the Washington Generals. They have one purpose: Be doormats for the Globetrotters. The passively get stomped in basketball. It is their job to lose.
God did not call he church to be sparing partners for the devil to bang around at his pleasure as if spiritual defeat was our job.
God called the body of Christ to be more than conquers, to tread upon snakes and scorpions, and to storm the gates of hell and to wreak the same havic in mass that Jesus and Paul did individually.
Mary Queen of Scots: ‘I fear the prayers of John Knox more than I fear all the armies on the face of the earth’.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places….Praying always and with all pray and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.(Ephesians 6:10-18
FOUR WORDS THIS MORNING: Calling Conflict Challenge Command
CALLING: We have a calling that is in crisis: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.
1. We have a calling to pray because without prayer we have no strength.
In the year 1857 America was in both an economic and a spiritual crisis. Attendance in church had dwindled.
It was during this time that God put a vision in the heart of a man named Jeremiah Lanphier. It was a vision of starting a noontime prayer meeting at a mission on Fulton Street in New York City.
He spend much time advertising the first meeting but when he showed up on September 23, 1857 no one seemed to be coming. At 12:30 one man came, then another, and another and there was a total of six that first day.
The numbers increased until by October 14 over a hundred were coming.
Other buildings were needed, churches opened their doors as thousands were now coming each day.
By March of 1858, a theater which held over 3,000 was overflowing and fire and police stations were requested to help with room.
The prayer meetings spread outside New York City throughout New England and across the entire nation.
The prayer meetings of 1857 became the revival of 1858 in which many, many thousands were saved.
3 years later war would break out and many lives would be lost from this world but because of a revival which began with prayer they would slip into eternity with a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
2. Common things about a person who is WEAK in prayer
a. They rarely pray
b. They pray faithless prayers
c. They pray without a knowledge of God’s will(no target)
Charles Stanley: We pray weak prayers because we don’t comprehend God’s promises concerning the release of supernatural power though prayer.
Prayer brings God’s power to our battles.
CHURCHES’ BEST: Not the most humanly gifted, most educated, most wealthy, but the most powerful force in the church and the saint the devil fears the most is the person who prays. MVP
Robert Murrey McCheyene(great preacher) What a man is in his prayer closet is what he really is.
The kind of church we are is seen by our prayers. It is the best indicator of our spiritual condition!
CONFLICT: Conflict which is constant. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
1. Prayer is wrestling. Nothing more tiring than wrestling. Demands strength, skill, endurance, and knowledge of your opponent.
TINY: Big Indian brother a year older than me, ‘Tiny’ was a tongue in cheek title.
Someone called me a brainiac. 250+ pounds.
Object: Me lay in a circle and he had 60 seconds to get me out of there.
Soon as my knees hit the ground on way to laying down: I prayed.
Then I watched a miracle unfold in the next minute. I braced myself and he started to pull at my legs and my arms and it was as if I was glued to the ground. I barely felt a tug.
My grimace turned into a grin as I realized I was experiencing answered prayer.
Prayer is warfare with the devil but as we become faithful in prayer we soon realize that even our ability to pray is God’s work in us. Turns our grimace of life into a grin of joy
2. You may have been born in a hospital but you were born again on a battlefield.
d. I am afraid that the last thing on most believers minds as they wake up to a new day is that this is another day of battle in which pray is the weapon of victory.
3. The church becomes powerless when it becomes prayerless.
4. FIVE INDICATORS OF A HARMLESS PRAYER:
a. An absence of love for the Word of God(instead of a home for God’s Word our hearts are like hotel’s and check-out time is 12 oclock each Sunday.)
b. A Lukewarmness for the things of God(Attendance, discipleship, giving, ministry)
c. A casual attitude towards the will of God(relationships, family, serving others)
d. An absence of a commitment to pray(spare tire, emergency flare, last resort)
e. A love for the world’s ways and an affection for the world’s things.
A pastor was describing how that when he was a young boy he was daily bothered by a bully. Each day his lunch money was demanded from him.
He decided to learn self defense and went to sign up for a class.
When he found out that the cost for each lesson was $5 he decided that it was cheaper to just continue to pay the bully.
Some have decided it is just easier to go along with the world rather than put up a fight.
CHALLENGE: A Challenge that is Current That YOU may be able to stand against the wile of the devil.
1. The Kingdom of God is like a relay race in which we now carry the baton. It is like a tag team wrestling match in which we now take on the same opponent that Paul did.
2. The wiles of the devil are constantly attacking our faith:
a. Athiesm: Evolution
b. Humanism(man reach potential outside relationship with God)
c. Modern Philosophies: Knowledge of God neglected in our schools, entertainment, government.
d. Spirit of Compromise in the church – Spirit of self-centeredness and materialism in the world.
3. Paul’s faithfulness in his day has made a difference in each of us and our faithfulness in our day will effect other generations to follow.
a. God has not left us to fight this battle without resource. Prayer is the firing the winning shot.
4. A praying church can change a nation: Revival doesn’t come because you place it on a calendar but because God puts it in our hearts as we begin to pray.
During the Welsh Revival of the early 1900’s: Strangers who entered villages would suddenly fall under conviction. Fishermen near the shore, unaware of the revival would come under terrible conviction of sin.
Judges wore white gloves which signified no cases to try
Police for lack of work formed choirs and sang at churches
Bars closed - Mine horses had to be retrained
Wonderful to see such an impact on our generation.
RONN DUNN: There never has been an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in recorded history that did not begin with persistent and prevailing prayer of desperate people.
COMMAND: A Command that Continues (18) With all prayer and petition pray at all times
Interesting that for 100’s of years missionaries working in China and reached 800,000 for Christ.
When the nation became closed to the Gospel and the missionaries were forced to leave the underground church was left with no other weapon than prayer.
During these past decades the estimated number of Christians has grown from less than 1 million to 50 to 100 million.
Turn every penny you have into a dollar and every dollar you have into a $100 then you begin to grasp the difference that prayer can make.
1. REMEMBER: Paul says prayer is not an option to consider but a command to obey. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING(1 Thes)
2. REMEMBER: Prayer is not just to someone but it is against someone:
LUKE 10:19 Behold I give you POWER to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the POWER of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
a. Two words for power: #1 Authority to treat #2 Strength over the enemy
Adrian Rogers: Josh McDowell & Bill Bright in Moscow: 30,000 waiting after much promotion - Snow & Rain mix all week. Day of Crusade it began to rain.
10 minutes before time to begin the man in charge came to the trailer where men were waiting and praying.
CANCELLED)Expensive piano/too many electrical wires. Reconsider?
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES
Went out before the crowd and prayed.
Crowd began to chant: ‘Stop the rain God, Stop the Rain’ over and over.
9 ½ minutes later the sky was as blue as if God’s mighty hand had wiped it clean.
The concert went on as scheduled.
Roger’s preached and 1,000’s of Russians came to faith in Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
1. We are in a war
2. Prayer is our weapon of victory
We need to cry out to God together: Stop the sin Lord, stop the Sin: In our land, in our church, in our hearts
