Weekly Anchor Scripture: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” – Matthew 11: 12
Wednesday 30th September 2020
Focus Scripture: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: . . . .” – Matthew 26: 41
Admonition
I bring you greetings from the Throne of Grace in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
The last of the armours of God as mentioned in Ephesians 6: 10 – 18 is prayer. And prayer is another powerful tool in the Christendom that is grossly misunderstood and misused as well as abused, especially in the developing and underdeveloped world because of the many man-made crosses we are made to bear. But the truth remains that prayer is a powerful tool.
As a way of brief introduction, prayer is a spiritual communion, a tool of conversation, between God and man. Prayer is a way or perhaps the only way by which man communicates his wishes, hopes, aspirations, thoughts, and most often, frustrations to his Maker, God. God Himself called for this conversation in the books of 2 Chronicles 7: 14 and Isaiah 1: 18. So, it is not surprising that man is a “praying mantis”. However, our understanding of this spiritual tool will determine how we use it and how effective it turns out to be in our hands, our lives, and in this race.
One thing that I will like to hammer on here however is that we should not see prayer only in the light of our meal ticket from God (Deuteronomy 8: 3; Matthew 4:4) or as a gun or bullet in our hands to put an end to enemies’ existence on earth. Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that we cannot ask for food and victory over enemies, of course, we could. However, my point is that such prayers don’t strengthen to the end at all because those requests are not spiritual. They are part of what Jesus Christ warned against in John 6: 27 that “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”
Prayers that strengthen in the Lord are heavenly-focused prayers. They are prayers that make non-carnal but spiritual requests. A cursory look into the popular “The Lord’s Prayer” opened with a very spiritual request, after honouring God’s name says “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”. Those are very heavy words that look forward to God’s purpose being fulfilled as He had planned it. The prayer also closes with a line the same line of thought, saying, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: . . . .” Unlike what obtains today, in the Christendom, the Bible reports in Acts 4: 23 – 31 the kind of prayer that strengthens. The Bible reports in verse 31 of that chapter thus: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” When you look at that prayer, you will see that their request had God’s purpose in focus (Matthew 28: 19 -20). But Christians today have become so materialistic that what dominates our prayers are always carnal with little or no spiritual purpose in focus.
As we close this morning brethren, we are enjoined to pray always with supplication. A prayer of supplication, brethren, is a desperate prayer. It, therefore, follows that we are called to pray desperately to BECOME STRONG IN THE LORD without which none would FINISH STRONG. This desperate prayer brethren will bring every other armour of God we have learned about together. The prayer must be filled with truth from our righteous hearts (Ephesians 6: 14), meaning that we must not abhor any iniquity in our hearts while praying these prayers for heaven’s strength (Psalm 66: 18). It must have elements of our desire for the fulfillment of God’s purpose (Acts 4: 23 30; Ephesians 6: 15). We must pray this kind of prayer with faith in our hearts (Hebrews 11: 6; Ephesians 6: 16), and doing all these must be after we are very sure of our salvation in Christ Jesus and the prayer MUST be well garnished with the Word of God (Ephesians 6: 17).
If you desire a PDF copy of the book, Praying the Right Prayers, breathed on me, the most unworthy of all men, by the Holy Spirit, please, comment your e-mail in the comment section below. It is a mind-blowing exposition on prayer that would set you free from the bondage into which pastors have put many people because of their ignorance in the Word of God. Yes, I am giving this, and all the other ones God had written using my hands, out for free. Jesus Christ says, “. . . freely ye have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10; 8)
Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, please, keep keeping on in Him!
N. B. We will like to welcome your feedback, either by way of comments under each daily devotional or as a private message. You could reach us through bwgospelministries@yahoo.comor via 07064694037. Please, feel free to ask any questions or add to what the Holy Spirit daily dish out to us, remember, “iron sharpeneth iron.”
Jesus loves you!