Sermon Central
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Satanic Activity Series
Contributed by J. Brad Campbell on Jun 15, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: this is the seventh sermon in a series dealing with things that will keep your prayers from being answered
HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
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LESSON #7 SATANIC ACTIVITY
TEXT: EZRA 4:4-6
REVIEW:
What was our lesson on last week?
Carnal motives.
Is it possible to pray for something righteous and according to Gods will and still have our prayers unanswered?
Yes if we ask with the wrong motives.
God wants to bless us but He will not bless us at the cost of our soul.
What is the danger of praying with wrong motives or a wrong attitude?
The devil will try to answer your prayers just to lead you into bondage.
God desires to meet with us and answer our prayers but it must be according to His will.
READ TEXT:
4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
5 And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
When looking at the Word of God we find.
The old testament gives us living pictures of new testament truth.
Example:
The exodus from Egypt is a picture of salvation
- The blood on the door post is a picture of the blood Jesus shed for us
- Manna from heaven a picture of spiritual food
- Etc.
With this in mind we look at our text
Before you were saved your life was
- Torn apart
- Family in ruins
- Marriage coming apart
- Finances a mess
Most of us were at the bottom
- The end of our rope
Our lives were in ruins
Our spiritual lives where torn apart
- The walls of our minds
- The walls of our morals
- The walls of our character
- The walls of our spirit
All of these were in ruins
They had been torn down or were non existent
But the moment we got saved
- Repented from our sins
- Asked Jesus into our hearts
- Asked Him to be Lord of our lives
We came under “construction”
A building project was begun
He began to reconstruct some of the walls in our lives
- Lay some foundations
- Prepare some soil
These walls are constructed in many ways but one of the key ways is through prayer
The devil wants to weaken your hands
Weaken you spiritually
Demonic forces at work to hinder your prayer life
- They don’t want you to pray
- They don’t want you to cry out to God
When you pray you are saying I trust a higher power with my life.
You are saying
- I trust God
- I don’t trust my own ability
- I don’t trust my own understanding
The devil wants to
- Weaken your trust
- Weaken your dependence
- Weaken your reliance
On God
So the devil sends his fallen angels to oppose us.
To oppose our prayers in an attempt to weaken us.
Eph 6:12
12 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.
Satan will begin to say things like
- God doesn’t hear your prayer
- He isn’t listening to you
He doesn’t care about
- Your family
- Your problems
- Your life
- Your kids
- Your finances
Satan wants to stop the building process at work within you
and will try to frustrate you in an attempt to stop your prayers
He will bring accusations against you
He will bring accusations against God
All in an attempt to frustrate you
Zech 3:1
1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
(KJV)
Satan is out to resist us, he doesn’t like what we are doing.
He doesn’t like
- Soul winning
- Faithful
- Praying
Men and women of God
24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
(KJV)
If you will listen to the devil and allow him to frustrate and discourage you the work in your heart will cease.
I have seen Christians get frustrated with God
Begin to think God doesn’t hear them
- That he doesn’t care about them
- That he isn’t listening
The moment this happens the work in their heart stops
For years they sit at the same place spiritually
- No spiritual growth
- No advancement spiritually
It is like their entire spiritual life is put on hold