Eph. 6:10-18 -Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the
devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this
dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done
everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil
one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with
all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and
always keep on praying for all the saints.
Prayer works and should never be consider the "last resort", "When all
else fails pray". Prayer is our continual communion with our God. Its our
spiritual link to His heart.
God has said, "My house will be called a house of prayer." I'm not sure
that anyone fully understands why prayer is so important to the Lord.
After all, He knows everything about everything before it ever happens,
so why pray? Prayer isn't something God needs, it's something we
need. We need to spend time in the presence of the Lord.
It's very interesting that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to
include prayer in his teaching on the Armor of God. If we look at the
spiritual giants, the great men and women of valor, in the kingdom of
God, they are all people who have made prayer a major part of their
continued fellowship with the Lord.
I would like to suggest that if we were to prioritize the Armor of God,
prayer would be number one. Jesus' earthly life was saturated with
prayer and when the disciples experienced a defeat when they were
confronting the powers of darkness, Jesus said, "this kind does not
go out except by prayer and fasting." Prayer is the major element in
spiritual victories.
( 1 ) Prayer Works
( a ) Jer. 33:3 -- Call to me and I will answer you and tell you
great and unsearchable things you do not know.
( i ) It's been said that if God had a telephone number,
it would be JER. 33-3.
( ii ) The Word of the Lord is filled with God's extended
invitation to people to seek Him, to call upon Him. How
do we do that when God is a spirit and when the Father
is in heaven? How do we make contact? How do we
communicate? We do so, through the avenue of prayer.
( iii ) Interestingly, when considering God's invitation to
us to pray, it is not one sided. We need to be fully
aware that prayer is not just us calling out to God,
but prayer is to include God answering, God speaking
to us.
( iv ) The promise of God is that if we call upon Him, He
will answer us. Heb. 11:6 encourages us to believe.
"And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe that
he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly
seek him." If we are earnest in our seeking of God, the
Lord will reward us with an answer.
( b ) Jms. 5:16 -- The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and
effective.
( i ) Pray can be very powerful and very effective. It can
change things. This is very evident in the context of
Jms. 5:15-18. Elijah was a man "just like us" and when
he earnestly sought his God, the Lord answered him
and that prayer effected the physical elements.
( ii ) In Jms. 5:15, we are told that the prayer offered in
faith will be so effective that it will cause the sick to be
healed. Jesus spent a lot of His earthly ministry healing
the sick. Christ came to destroy the works of the
enemy and He wants that His people would be involved
in the same kind of ministry. Prayer is a very powerful
and effective way to do spiritual warfare and to see the
enemy driven out of people's lives.
( c ) Amp... Deut. 4:29 -- But if from there you will seek (inquire
of and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find
Him, if you (truly) seek Him with all your heart (and mind) and
soul and life.
( i ) It is very important to understand God, when it
comes to prayer and receiving answers to our prayers.
If we really mean business with God, then He'll do
business with us. Have you ever wondered why you
don't always get answers right away? Could it be that
God is simply checking out how earnest we really are?
How much do we really want the will of God to be
done?
( ii ) In a parable, Jesus taught the need to be
persistent and determined (Lk. 18:1-8). It's right for us to
seek the Lord until we get an answer. Jesus prayed
three times for the same thing. The Apostle Paul
prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh would be
removed. They prayed through; they prayed until they
got the answer. It's important that we pray in faith until
we hear from God. He will answer. He has given His
Word. It's absolutely sure.
( d ) Lk. 11:9, 10 -- So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to
you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened
to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
( i ) Humanism would want to teach us that there are no
absolutes. Well, we know where that concept
originated because, with God, there are absolutes.
When He gives His word, there simply are no variables.
It's absolute truth. God says that if we ask, it will be
given to us; if we seek Him, we will find Him; if we
knock, we have been promised that the door will be
opened.
( ii ) You might ask; "Why don't I get answers when I
pray? Why don't I hear from God?" This is a very
important issue that must be addressed! We,
personally, must find answers to these often asked
questions. Satan will play games in this area of
unanswered prayer. The enemy will seek to discourage
us and cause us to doubt the Word of God. We must
find the scriptural answers to these questions.
( iii ) There are a few absolutes that we need to
consider while trying to find our answers to unanswered
prayer. First --it is impossible for God to lie. Second --
the Lord never changes. Third --the Word of God never
changes.
( iv ) The only variable in unanswered pray, is me and
you. The weak link in this prayer chain is not God, it is
us. Somehow we are not holding up our end of the
communication channel. We will now look at four
possible reasons for unanswered prayers that we know
to be scripturally in the will of God.
CONCLUSION:
( 1 ) Are we seeking God will All our heart, soul, mind and life? Let's not
deceive ourselves at this point. It is too important. All means all. How
much does this really mean to us. Does hearing from God, concerning
the prayer, mean All my life? Is it an absolute necessity of life for us?
God has said IF we seek Him with All our heart, mind, soul, and life,
then we will find him. We must mean business with God. Think of the
Apostle Paul, a man of faith; a man mightily used of God. He prayed
about something that was really troubling him. The Scriptures tell us
that he sought God three times. Now, I personally believe that he
prayed in faith. It wasn't until the third time that he actually heard God
speak to him. The point is, he did hear from God. Now, he didn't hear
exactly what he wanted, but he did hear. We need to keep seeking,
not half heartedly, but whole heartedly. Life depends on this.
( 2 ) Could it be that there is sin in my life? Getting victory in our prayer
life gives us victory in spiritual warfare. I must honestly consider all the
possibilities. Remember, the problem isn't with God. He's not gone on
a holiday. His love for us hasn't grown cold. Somewhere, somehow, the
problem lies with us. Could it be sin? Jms. 5:16 say, The prayer of a
righteous man is powerful and effective. Note: it says, "righteous". The
Psalmist said, in Ps. 66:18 "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord
would not have listened. " Should this be the problem, it's not the end,
because we are told that, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness." Glory!
( 3 ) Another area to consider is our hearing. Could it be that God is
speaking and yet we are not listening? And if we are listening, are we
actually hearing? Could it be that we are only listening to what we want
to hear? Paul wanted immediate deliverance from his thorn in the flesh,
however, what he heard was: "my grace is sufficient for you." Numerous
times, in the book of Revelation, we read: "He who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Have we resigned ourselves
to hearing -- not so much what we want or expect-- but what God has
to say?
( 4 ) This is by no means an exhaustive study on why, at times, there
seems to be no answers to prayer, however, we will consider one other
area and that is the aspect of "impatience". We live in a society of
"instant" things. We live lives that are geared for the immediate:
immediate response, immediate action, immediate attention. Are we
prepared to wait on the Lord? Are we prepared to give Him His
sovereignty over us? Do we barge in screaming and yelling and
demanding God to do this or that, after all, we are King's Kids. King's
Kids don't act like that! They know better! They know they will be heard
and that their father will give them a response. We need to show some
respect to the King of kings. We need to learn to wait on Him in hope,
in joy, and in faith.
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( 2 ) Praying In The Spirit
( a ) Jude 20 -- But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in
your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
( i ) 1 Cor. 14, 14, 15 says, "For if I pray in a tongue,
my spirit prays, but my minds is unfruitful. So what
shall I do? I will pray with my spirit." In our last sub
section, "Prayer Works", we were dealing mainly with
regular prayer, or as the Apostle Paul would call it,
"praying with my mind" (1 Cor. 14:15) Jude 20 talks
about a different kind of praying-- "pray in the Spirit".
( ii ) Jude, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
instructs us to pray in the Spirit. Now some may
question the whole area of the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit and speaking in other tongues, however, we are
encouraged by the Lord to pray in the Spirit. This
method of prayer is not man's idea; it's God's idea. If
we want greater spiritual victory in our lives, it's wisdom
to do it God's way, after all, He's the all knowing God.
Even if I don't understand, I can still obey and trust
God.
( b ) Lk. 11:11-13 --Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a
fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will
give him a scorpion? If you then though you are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
( i ) John the Baptist said, in Lk. 3:16, "I baptize you
with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the
thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." The
gift of the Holy Spirit is one of those good and perfect
gifts that comes from the Father. What God has
purposed for His people is only good and is designed to
be perfect for them.
( ii ) When engaging in spiritual warfare, the gift of the
Holy Spirit will manifest Himself through speaking, or
praying in other tongues, in a language foreign to us,
tongues of men and tongues of angels (1 Cor. 13:1).
There's an interesting verse in Isa. 28:11, 12 -- "Very
well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will
speak to this people, so when he said, "This is the
resting place, let the weary rest;" and "This is the place
of repose" -- but they would not listen. Sad to say,
some of God's precious people will not listen, even
today, concerning the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and
speaking in tongues. This in itself is a work of the
enemy. The gift of the Holy Spirit is our resting place.
Numerous times, in our spiritual warfare, we seem to
get drained. As we resort to the Lord in praying in the
Spirit, strength is renewed.
( c ) Eph. 6:18 -- And pray in the Spirit on all occasions...
( i ) It's spiritually important to pray in the Spirit on all
occasions. If we incorporate praying in tongues as part
of our regular prayer life, it will help to keep us from
becoming weary.
( ii ) We shouldn't wait for only those seemingly
important times to pray in the Spirit. It is always "in
order " to pray in tongues, which is the prayer language
of the Spirit. 1 Thes. 5:17 says, "pray continually."
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( 3 ) Praying For Others
( a ) Lk. 22:31-32 -- Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you
as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may
not fail....
( i ) Jesus used prayer, not only in his own personal
spiritual war against the powers of darkness, but He
used prayer to engage the enemy forces in battle on
behalf of others. We need personal victory in order to
help others. Our goal, or objective is to be used of God
(for Christ's sake) to help others.
( b ) Jms. 5:16 -- Therefore confess your sins to each other and
pray for each other so that you may be healed.
( i ) God wants us praying for one anther
( c ) Lk. 22:40 -- "Pray that you will not fall into temptation"
( i ) Jesus instructed His disciples to pray concerning
the area of entering temptation.
( ii ) Jesus prayed so earnestly, in the garden, that he
sweat great drops of blood.
( iii ) Satan tempts us. His idea is to get us into sin. If
he can do this, he knows that he renders us ineffective.
We must learn to pray through our temptations. Not
only do we need to pray for ourselves, but we need to
uphold each other concerning the area of entering
temptation. This is an area that we can be effective in
supporting one another.
