| Ephesians 6:18-20
Prayer
Ephesians 6:18-20. "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. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth,
words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known
the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in
chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."
Prayer is a weapon, and intercessory prayer even more so.
Jesus outlines a basic prayer outline on how we should pray
in Matthew 6:9-15. Each point mentioned is something we should
include in our daily prayers to God, in our own words, not
repeated word for word vain repetition. When I say prayer
is a weapon, quite literally, prayer has the ability to pull
down all the firepower of the Lord that we need to help us,
no matter what our situation. [If you doubt that, you need
to read "Of Whom The World Was Not Worthy", by Marie Chapian.
It is a story of powerful intercessory prayer in action the
likes of which I dare say almost none of us have seen or experienced.]
The Psalms of David are full of such prayers to the Lord God.
Psalm 68:17,20. "The chariots of God are tens of thousands
and thousands of thousands [millions]…Our God is a God
who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death."
Psalm 144:4-10. "Man is like a breath; his days are like the
fleeting shadow. Part your heavens, O Lord, and come
down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. Send forth
lightning and scatter the enemies; shoot your arrows and rout
them. Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue
me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners whose
mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful…I
will sing a new song to you, O God…who delivers his servant
David from the deadly sword."
In modern warfare, from World War II onward, air power has
been used and recognized as a very effective form of aerial
artillery. David wrote many Psalms of calling out for the
Lord God to come to his rescue. In Vietnam the U.S. Army would
call for air support from the Air Force. Jet fighters, termed
fast movers, would come screaming in at treetop level
and drop a bomb-load on the enemy as called in by a radio
operator who would give the coordinates for the air strike.
His cries into his radio were a form of intercessory prayer
for deliverance from a very real enemy. Without that air support,
in most cases, they were as good as dead. As you saw in Psalm
68, the Lord has thousands of thousands—millions—of
flaming chariots, angelically manned and at his immediate
disposal, ready to deliver us at any time of day or night.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5. "For though we live in the world, we
do not wage war as the world does. 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."
One final note. The Presbyterian Church in Soul, South Korea
rings it's bells at five am every morning, calling faithful
believers to hours of intercessory prayer every day. They
are praying that there would be at least one Christian nation
in this world by the time Jesus returns. South Korea
now has 12 million born-again Christians in a nation of 38
million people!!! That is intercessory prayer in action!
[For an interesting description of intercessory prayer turn
back to the link titled: "What Is Evangelism?", go to the
middle article titled: Evangelism in Action! and read
that article. You will come away with a very clear understanding
of moving intercessory prayer that will accomplish things
in your spiritual battles against the enemy. Be sure to order
pastor Cymbala's book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, to continue
your study about intercessory prayer. I also highly recommend
pastor Chuck Smith's The Effective Prayerlife, available
online from http://calvarychapel.org
]
Here are some thoughts on why prayer--intercessory prayer--must
accompany the preaching of the gospel (as Paul brings out
in Ephesians 6:18-20):
- One third of all the created angels--now demons--are restricted
to the planet earth, where they can wander at will--where
they control mankind and all his governments and false religions
(some even masquerading as Christian). Humans, next to the
power of any angel, fallen or otherwise, are nothing. These
guys probably blew up whole star systems, and even a planet
on their way back to being thrown to earth.
- Satan's deception over the world of humans is great. Revelation
12 says he has deceived the whole world! His
control over man's governments and religions--unseen--is
great, not weak.
- Satan broadcasts his evil attitudes into the world. Galatians
5:19-21 describes these attitudes.
One good book which shows a prayer warrior
in action is "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by pastor Jim Cymbala.
Another is Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy by Marie
Chapian (published by BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS, 6820 Auto
Club Road, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55438. ISBN# 0-87123-417-3.
Both of these books are available at: http://www.amazon.com
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