Pray Through 4

Pray Through

Part 4

"Warfare Prayer"

Eph. 6:12, 18-20 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore...18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Now here, Paul is telling us that Christians are at war, but not with human beings...

We are in a cosmic struggle--as "co-warriors" with Jesus Christ--against an evil, unseen, satanic hierarchy that is dedicated to attacking God's children, and to silencing the spread of the gospel...

Sandwiched in-between vs 12 and vs 18 is Paul's famous armor of God illustration, which I skipped over just to highlight that included with that armor is the admonition to pray "with all prayer and petitions at all times..."

As important as the armor is in winning the victory over our foe is the practice of warfare prayer...

"Pray, petition God, and pray some more at all times for all the saints...pray for boldness, pray for strength, pray for wisdom, pray for open doors, pray and then pray some more..."

You may have been born in a hospital but you were born again on a battlefield!

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With the arrival of Jesus to earth, war was openly declared against the devil and his forces.

JESUS cast out demons everywhere He went---in the synagogues, in all Galilee, outside, amongst the multitudes, in houses, at the seashore, in a ship, in the plain, in every city and village.

Around 1/4 of His ministry involved engaging the powers of hell and casting out demons.

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Then when you move into the book of Acts you find the disciples and the brand new church doing the same thing.

They were keenly aware of the reality of spiritual warfare and knew who their real enemy was.

Paul the Apostle told the Thessalonian church, "...we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan HINDERED us" (1 Thes. 2:18).

He didn't say, "Circumstances hindered us," or "people hindered us," or "bad luck hindered us."

He discerned what had really happened and said, "Satan hindered us."

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The Bible presents the world-view of an earth under siege; it says "the whole world lies in the hand of the evil one" (1 John 5:19).

It also informs us that the prince of the power of the air (the devil) is "the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2).

No matter how nice a person is, if he is not born again, the spirit controlling him is the "spirit of the prince of the power of the air."

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Paul wanted the Ephesian church to understand that we're "wrestling" with spiritual beings..."

He reveals the devil to be an intelligent strategist and an obstinate fighter.

His demonic kingdom is structured in a hierarchy starting with lower level Principalities and Powers, then escalating to Rulers of spiritual darkness, and finally the upper tier of demonic power--spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

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The word "wrestling" that Paul uses refers to a common first century contest between two opponents in which each one sought to throw the other down, and the victor was able to hold down his opponent with his hand upon his neck.

By the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul informs us that the church of Jesus Christ is in a wrestling match with Satan where someone is going to win...the victor holding his incapacitated opponent down with hand upon his neck.

And one of the great weapons in spiritual warfare, says Paul, is prayer--warfare prayer.

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Now, One of the great examples of warfare prayer is found in the book of Daniel.

Daniel, along with all of Judah, has languished in Babylonian captivity for 70 long years.

But Daniel is fully aware of the Prophet Jeremiah's prediction that 70 years would be the extent of their captivity.

Yet he doesn't see much happening in terms of Judah returning to Jerusalem.

Many of the people have made the transition from farming to hanging a shingle and opening a Babylonian fast food restaurant!

They have embraced Babylon and grown comfortable there.

This is deeply troubling to Daniel who wants to see the people return to their inheritance and to the plan of God for them.

So he goes into fasting and prayer...

And on the 21st day of his fast, he writes:

"...as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude" (Dan. 10: 4-6).

This was clearly one of the three mighty Archangels, likely Gabriel.

"Then he (said), ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them."

Now watch closely what the angle says next:

"But the Prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days [We are not talking about a human prince here but a fallen angel–a demon]. Then Michael, one of the chief princes [a good angel, in fact, the archangel], came to help me, because I was detained there with the King of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come…" (10:12-14)

Daniel not only received here a word about his own situation, but a word that reaches down to our own time, the latter days.

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So, let's stop here and look at what Daniel teaches us about WARFARE PRAYER.

Warfare Prayer...

Begins with a burden...

Daniel was burdened about his people, burdened about the future of Israel, burdened about their captivity...

Are you burdened about America today?

Does your heart break over the direction of our nation?

A burden from God is something you can't shake, deny, or talk yourself out of....it wells up within your heart and captures your whole being...

It is God sharing HIS burden about a thing with you so that you will PRAY.

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Second, Daniel teaches us that warfare prayer...

II. Perseveres till the answer comes...

Daniel prayed and fasted 21 days...

Daniel doesn’t just pray once and say, “There, I’ve done my duty I’ve talked to God about this problem.”

Instead, he humbles himself before God, and experiences a heavy spirit of mourning for three weeks.

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Now, the incredible thing about Daniel's experience is:

The angel pulls back the curtain between this world and the unseen spiritual world to reveal what had actually transpired while Daniel prayed.

He reports to Daniel that his prayer had been heard since the first day he prayed! (10:12)

And on the FIRST DAY the angel had been sent with the answer!

But Daniel had experienced a delay because Satan’s forces had fought against the answer to his prayer.

Daniel is told that the "Prince of the kingdom of Persia" had intercepted him and fought back his coming to Daniel with the answer.

The Prince of Persia was literally a demon spirit assigned to Persia....He had a satanic assignment for the nation of Persia.

Daniel now realizes what Paul already told us in Eph.6----that behind the affairs of earth is an invisible hierarchy of evil.

They are assigned various countries to be under their control.

So the evil angel who had authority over the kingdom of Persia came and withstood the angel who had been sent to Daniel, and held him back for twenty-one days!

Why? Because he wanted God's children to remain in captivity---he didn't want them fulfilling God's plan!

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No doubt there is today an evil angel assigned to the United States to stir up trouble, rebellion and chaos.

And there is one also assigned to Russia, and to China, and to all the other countries of the world.

These evil angels somehow relate to and influence the countries of the earth.

That is the revelation Daniel was shown.

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And there are also angels who are ministers of good, of justice and truth, and they are in constant conflict with the dark side.

LISTEN: I believe that if Daniel’s persistence in prayer had not outlasted this period of delay, he would have been defeated.

The deciding factor was his perseverance and his determination to keep on praying until the answer came.

So WARFARE PRAYER teaches us that the reason to persevere in prayer is not to overcome God’s reluctance but to prevail against Satan’s opposition.

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And finally, we see from Daniel that...

III. Warfare prayer is an OFFENSIVE weapon

In Eph. 6, all of the armor of God except the sword of the Spirit is defensive in nature...

But the "sword of the Spirit--the Word of God", and warfare prayer are offensive, aggressive, and attacks the enemy to overthrow him...

II Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

"Stronghold" is a military word meaning “a fortress.”

It refers to an area where the enemy is entrenched in our lives.

In spiritual terms it is an area of your life where the devil has built an outpost, a fort, or a stronghold around some weakness.

A stronghold may be an obsession, a fixation of thought, or some deep-set attitude or thought pattern keeping you from experiencing spiritual victory.

It may be an unreasonable fear, worry, temper, hate, lust, aggression, or unrestrained urges and appetites.

Addictions are the result of a stronghold the devil has erected in your mind.

But the TYPE of stronghold isn’t nearly as important as HOW you can demolish it...

We are told in this verse that we have DIVINELY APPOINTED WEAPONS that will pull down strongholds and the two great offensive weapons are the Word of God and Prayer.

The primary place SPIRITUAL WARFARE is fought is in the prayer closet, in your spiritual war room.

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Warfare prayer:

Begins with a burden

Perseveres until the answer comes

Is an offensive, strategic spiritual weapon that tears down strongholds.