Prayer and Spiritual Warfare

Introduction:

1. Pray Persistently

Christians Should always be praying

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Christians should pray according to the petitions laid out in the Lord’s prayer Matthew 6.

Hallowed by thy name

They kingdom come

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

give us this day our daily bread

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. **** (This one is of particular note here)

3. Pray in the Paraclete

John 14:25-26 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

Romans 8:26-27 “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

4. Pray in Perseverance

5. Pray for God’s People

Paul is constantly praying for God’s people:

Philippians 1:9 “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,”

Colossians 1:3 “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,”

Colossians 1:9 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,”

2 Thessalonians 1:11 “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power,”

He’s also constantly asking God’s people to pray for him:

Ephesians 6:19 “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,”

Colossians 4:3 “praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;”

1 Thessalonians 5:25 “Brethren, pray for us.”

2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you;”

Now, I want you to notice something about every verse I just quoted:

Every single one of these verses had to do with either personal spiritual growth on behalf of the person being prayed for OR,

For the advancement of the Gospel through the faithfulness of that person.

So either for the spiritual flourishing of the individual or for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

This is why prayer, in Ephesians 6 is correlated to spiritual warfare.

When Christians faithfully walk with the Lord, and when Christians faithfully advance the Kingdom they come against the opposition of the enemy.

And prayer is a powerful weapon both to protect the Christian, and to attack the enemy, in context of spiritual battle.

We don’t pray this way any more dear friends. We don’t!

Our prayers are reduced to pray for the sick, or praying for the ailments that we see with our eyes. Very rarely do we go before the throne of God’s Grace and do spiritual battle by praying for the advancement of His Kingdom through the growing faithfulness and obedience of His people.

I’m *CONVINCED* that this is the primary reason hat we do not see the kind of spiritual opposition now that Christians saw in the New Testament.

When the Kingdom of God is advancing, and the Spirit of God is working in the lives of Christians to conform them to the image of Christ in our midst, the demons manifest themselves in opposition to the advancement of that Kingdom.

But we aren’t praying for the Kingdom to advance, and it’s not advancing, and therefore we see very little in terms of spiritual warfare, because we simply are not a threat to the enemy.

Once you cross that line of obedience, and you stop playing games with God, and you take your faith seriously, you strive to have victory over sin, you strive to commune with him in prayer, you strive to be in His word, you strive to advance His kingdom point earth, the ENEMY WILL ATTACK YOU.

When that happens in your life dear friends, that’s a hellish compliment.

Conclusion: