Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18

HIT OR MISS

Why did Jesus pray? Was it simply to change Himself? Or did Jesus know that prayer was the way His Father had chosen to work on this planet? Jesus didn’t waste time doing things just for religious show. Jesus prayed because prayer was His way of staying in touch with His Father and it demonstrated His dependency upon His Father. When Jesus prayed, He expected God to act. His great high priestly prayer in John 17 demonstrated that He expected the Father to do things in response, both in His prayers as well as the prayers of His disciples.

Another one of the main reasons why so many Christians fail to pray or believe the wrong things about prayer is the seeming “hit or miss” aspect to much of our praying; sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it doesn’t, at least from our fleshly perspective. So we develop a bad theology to cover our misses and turn prayer into something it was never meant to be.

This problem happens when we look at prayer as a way of getting things from God. If we pray long enough, have enough faith, and get enough people to join us in prayer, maybe we’ll get what we want from God. But prayer is not our way of getting things from God; prayer is God’s chosen way of accomplishing His will on this planet. Our job in prayer is to draw near in intimacy. As we begin to understand a bit of the Lord’s heart on a matter, then we begin to ask Him to accomplish what is already His will. It is at that point that prayer becomes a powerful change agent to achieve the Lord’s purposes.

In spiritual warfare, it is prayer that keeps us connected to our commander-in-chief. Consequently, prayer becomes strategic in warfare. It is prayer that gives us our supply line of provisions for the battle. It is prayer that unleashes the power of God’s Word to accomplish its purpose in overcoming the enemy. John Piper said it this way:

“Until you know that life is war, we won’t know what prayer is for.” ²

WEAPONS OF WARFARE

In one of his sermons, the late great preacher Charles H. Spurgeon preached:

Like the Spartans, every Christian is born a warrior. It is his destiny to be assaulted, his duty to attack. Part of his life will be occupied with defensive warfare. He will have to defend the faith once delivered to the saints. He will have to resist the devil. He will have to stand against all the devil’s wiles, and having done all, still to stand. He will, however, be an ineffective Christian, if he acts only on the defensive. He must be one who goes against his foes, as well as [one who] stands still to receive their advance. He must be able to say with David, “I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45).

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary: they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). ³

To Be Continued

² John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad! (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003).
³ Charles Spurgeon, “The Shield of Faith” (sermon, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, UK, October 27, 1861).
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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