All in Prayer, Armor, and Wrestling
Where do you turn for help with your children when you are out of answers yourself? When you are at the end of your rope, and hanging in the air, unable to save them, what do you do? Who do you call on? Whether we are talking about faith, physical sickness, addiction, or mental health, where do we go for assistance when every effort of our own has failed? Well, there is only one answer, and Jesus provides it!
Do you have a project at work that isn’t going very smoothly? Is there some task you are working on at home, or elsewhere, that is causing you trouble? There are so many sources of bad news and difficulty in our day to day lives, but as Christians how are we to approach them? What sets us apart from the unbelievers, and what are the consequences when we approach trouble as the worldly do?
What do we do when we are happy, and filled with joy? What bubbles Forth from within us almost uncontrollably, and with such amazing creativity, and diverse scale and measure? Music, and song spring from us in praise, and when we are solemn, and worshipful the music and sound of our souls raises up in honor, adoration, and respect. No matter the occasion there is a song. Melodic is the language of our soul, and of God. We are created in His image, and music is the outpouring of our spiritual feeling, emotion, and of love.
Do you pray for your pastor, reverend, priest, or other spiritual leaders, and do you make intercession for them on a regular basis? We are inclined to think that by their position in the church, and the fact that we so often seek their guidance and prayers, that they are above the need for the pitiful prayers of someone such as us... but nothing could be further from the truth.
Are you reluctant to pray because you feel that your ability to express yourself is lacking, and that you are unworthy to participate in a conversation with God... within whom all knowledge exists? Are you a pastor who feels more comfortable speaking with the well educated in his church than the childlike? Well, our God hears our words, but hears first from our hearts; not our mouths.
Do we rejoice when God moves in our life? We say yes, but are we looking for His hand in all the everyday occurrences? We give thanks for the dramatic movements of God’s hand, yet we are inclined to attribute the small and seemingly insignificant happenings in our everyday existence to either ourselves, or to the natural occurrence of life. Let’s look at our days through fresh eyes, and search for God there in new ways; then, when we see Him, let’s thank Him for His presence.
When you have conversations with God, how do you pray? Do you have long and repetitive talks where you repeat yourself over and over again, do you concoct an ornate prayer, or perhaps you use demanding language as if trying to corner God by using His own word and promises as legal documents? My advice this morning is to be humble, considerate of who we are talking to, reverent, concise, and most of all do not turn your prayer into a show.
Did you awaken this morning and immediately thank God for this day? Perhaps you thought to yourself “I am not a morning person, I will pray once I get fully awake”, or then again, maybe everything was good in your life right now, so you didn’t think of praying at all. What if you knew someone that came to you only when they needed something from you, would you be glad to see them at your door? Probably not, and yet God welcomes each of our prayers as if it were our first. He wants to fill the time between disasters with relationship.
Do you get what you pray for? Does God answer you word for word in all those things that you would have Him do in your prayers? Our prayers and God’s will do more than just go hand in hand; their fingers are interwoven so tightly that these two hands are inseparable. This determines the success of our prayer lives. So how we pray should be exactly as we should live... in the will of God.
Is there an open road between you and God, or must you traverse the wilderness each time you want to visit, or speak with Him? When we become a frequent visitor somewhere, we look to make a straight road to our destination, and pave it with smooth stones. This is what incessant prayer does for us... it takes a rugged and wild way, and builds a road through that wilderness of sin; it makes our traveling towards God, and His return visits to us smooth and easy.
How strong is your faith? You might pray for a miracle, but without faith it stalls before it can rise before the throne of God. No prayer is heard and acted upon without the wings of our faith having been attached to it. Are we like Peter in our prayers? Do we begin to walk on water, but look around us, falter in our fear and wavering faith, and then begin to sink?
Do you put your trust in the council of God? Do you ask once, twice, or every time a decision needs to be made? So often we attempt to face life alone, and when our plans don’t go as expected we cry out “Lord, how could you allow this to happen!” The depth of your faith is gauged not in fathoms, but in trust.
Do you wear the armor of God when you go out into the world? Do you put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of readiness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit? When you put these on do you consider yourself fully clothed and ready to face whatever evil the day brings? Well my friend, although we count our armor as complete, there is one piece lacking that is crucial, and we seldom list it as being part and parcel of our armor.
When did you begin to pray? Can you remember, or was it so long ago that it has been lost in the mist of your memory? Did you begin praying at the moment you confessed God as your creator, Jesus as your savior, or even before you understood who they were and you cried out in the darkness of your night for help... not knowing exactly who would come, but knowing someone greater than yourself would respond? Prayer, it begins with a cry, and ends in a conversation of love and eternity.
Do you make intercession for your family? Do you pray for your wife, your children, your parents, and others in your house? Sometimes we think that we are only responsible for our own salvation, and only have the power to save ourselves, but in fact we have the ability, and even the obligation, to lift up our family before God.