This Means War 1
Notes
Transcript
Text: Ephesians 6:18-19
Intro: In these two powerful verses teach us the key to Warfare Prayer. Warfare Prayer is the ability of Christians to open needed doors or to protect from the enemy and to influence the situations and people around them through the only avenue given to man. - Prayer.
In a day and age where the world pushes their counterfeit to prayer - meditation. There seems to be something missing. We have place evil at the fingertips of our children. We place them on Internet without accountability, Social Media, Telephones, television, Friendships. The things that are truly needful the culture has removed from their lives. There was a study that showed the twenty year window directly following the removal of Prayer from the Public Schools. This study found that:
• SAT scores fell from an average 980 to average 890. 100 points in 20 years.
• Sexual activity among girls rose from 10% to 50%. Among boys from 25% to 50%. If you step outside the 20yr window The rates continue to climb.
• Unwed mothers went from 15,000 to over 28,000
• Suicide among 15-19 yrs has risen 44% compared with a 2.6 percent increase for the nation as a whole.
Trans: What makes the difference is that we have removed not only prayer but a great weapon in holding back the enemy and increasing the work of the Lord. This passage glimpes prayer as a weapon in the mighty battle we fight.
I. Warfare Prayer Demands Action
Explanation: A. Have you ever noticed that when you get ready to pray that there is one thing or another that will prevent you. First it is a chore just to get in prayer. Because our flesh hates holy work. Every Christian must deal with his flesh in prayer. The flesh is no ally in God's work.
Then when you do get the flesh out of the way; you think of like twenty things that need your attention right now.
Halsbey said,
"Thus our carnal nature aligns itself against prayers, day in and day out.”
Argument: But God calls his saints to about the work of Prayer. Where is the Christian that will go to his knees as if the cause or right would fail without him.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Pray...
I love that this has the same ring as verse 13...
When you’ve done all to stand then… Stand.
When you have all prayer… Pray.
Get about the work of prayer.
"Praying Always” is to live in a continual awarness of God’s presence and closeness, where everything we see and experience becomes a kind of prayer.
1) Continual prayer grows out of set times of prayer.
2) There are times when God burdens us with an intense sense of need.
3) When we are tempted - we pray.
When we see something good - we thank God for it.
When we see evil - we pray against it.
When we come across a lost person - we pray for them.
Illustration:
"Between God and the devil stands the Christian at prayer. Though weak alone, the Christian plays a strategic role in the struggle between the dragon and the Lamb." - J.Oswald Sanders
II. Warfare Prayer is Requesting in the Spirit
Explanation: Prayer is not just the laundry list of to dos or the Christmas wish list. Prayer is requesting from God that which God has already desired to Give. B. You say how is that possible. Oswald Sanders says, "The Spirit is the atmosphere for the Christian life." Therefore as we remove sin in our life and draw our affection on things above we open ourselves to the impressions of the Spirit. Therefore when we pray we can pray the requests of the Spirit. "The Spirit does this by giving clear conviction that a particular prayer request is part of God's will for us, or not." Argument: A. How do I know.
• The Spirit will never take you outside the
revealed Word of God.
• It will never serve and improper motive.
Illustration: Like a child that is waiting at the window for his
daddy. It is not if he is coming home it is when. When we pray God's prayer and his word through the spirit we can have faith that they are on their way.
Application: A.
///. Warfare Prayer is Watching in Perseverance
Explanation: A. There are three things that we must remain watchful of:
Habit: There is nothing wrong with having a habit of consistent regular prayer, but we must watch that it does stay truly spiritual not ritual. Snares: Spend time in your prayers asking the Lord to reveal any area that Satan is tripping you up or that there is danger in the road ahead.
Self-Righteousness: The exercise of prayer can lend to the Christian the desire to pat yourself on the back. Resist such an urge and seek God's grace through humility.
A.
Warfare Prayer is Intercession for Saints
A. Interceding on behalf of a brother and sister in Christ is one of the most important ministries we have in this world.
I am afraid however, that we have come to the point where we say "I'm praying for you" without ever really praying.
A. Intercession is temporarily restraining Satan's influence in another person's life so that they are free to respond to God's truth. - Bill Gothard
No man left behind.
A. Warfare Prayer is Co-laboring for the Gospel
A. The Great work of Christ was reaching the lost. He set it as a sign that you truly followed him. He set it as his purpose statement. Shouldn't his saint set themselves to pray for the already revealed will of Christ.
A. "All around us are people bound in sin, captives to the devil. Our prayers should ascend not only for them, but against Satan, who holds them as his prize. Satan must be compelled to relax his grip, and this can only be achieved by Christ's victory on the cross." JOS illustration: Lee E. Thomas outlines six strongholds used by "...the god fo this world hath blinded the minds fo them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ...should shine unto them." These six are:
1. Greed
2. Control
3. Lust
4. Bitterness
5. Religion
6. Pride
Each of these keep people in the real bondage fo unbelief. And when we pray for them we are putting them inside the sphere of God's influence. Application: A.
Conclusion:
CIT - Paul encourages the Ephesian believers to pray vigilantly for opportunities for him to effectively share the Gospel.
Proposition - Christians today must be vigilant in prayer if they are to victorious in spiritual warfare.
Purpose - I want to deepen my congregation’s understanding of prayer and their commitment to prayer.
Prayer is the energy that enables the warrior to wear the armor and to wield its sword. The old hymn tells us to take up the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer.
Those who would engage in spiritual warfare must engage in prayer. The Christian soldier fights on his knees!
AS Edward Payson said: ‘‘Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third necessary to minister. Pray, therefore, my dear brother. Pray, pray, pray!
So powerful is prayer in spiritual conflict that many commentators consider prayer the second weapon that the Christian has at his disposal.
John Bunyan called this weapon ‘‘All Prayer.’’
Prayer is our nuclear bomb. Going onto the field of battle without it is like going onto the battlefield without your most effective weapon or running on the field without your star player
.
B) PRAY DEPENDENTLY - ‘‘In the Spirit.’’ This means to pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It me ...
