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