Does prayer intimidate you?  Perhaps you don’t know what to say…or perhaps you feel like your words are clumsy before a holy God.  These are perfectly naturally feelings, but be encouraged that the more you do it, the more natural it will feel, eventually becoming your “default” way of processing your circumstances, emotions, and responses.

Some sermons or studies about spiritual warfare conclude with the sword of the spirit — the final piece in the armor of God. Or if prayer is included, it’s mentioned almost as an afterthought.  While not listed as an “official” piece of the armor, prayer is absolutely essential to victoriously engaging the enemy in battle.  Prayer is the communication system that keeps the soldier connected to the Commander-in-Chief.  Without it, chaos ensues.

This is why Paul instructs the believers in Ephesus to pray in the Spirit on ALL occasions with ALL kinds of prayers and requests for ALL the Lord’s people.  Notice the trend?  In other words, we should keep an open line of communication with God.

Prayer is simply conversation with God.  Share the details of your day throughout the day and always be listening for His guidance and direction.  Praise God in your prayers, acknowledging His character and thanking Him for His faithfulness.  Unburden your soul by releasing your anxieties and worries to Him.  Give Him your yoke and take His, finding peace and comfort in Him.  Ask Him for wisdom and guidance.  Lean into Him for strength.  This is what it means to pray always.  It’s a two-way communication — open 24/7 — that deepens your relationship with God.

Think about it — What’s the first thing you would do to get to know a new acquaintance?  You would talk with them…spend time in conversation.  Likewise, prayer helps us get to know God better…to see His hand at work in the intricate details of life.  Prayer also helps us get to know ourselves better as we hear what overflows from our heart and process our thoughts about life.  You may find that — over time — your prayers change, revealing how God has changed your heart about something significant in your life. Prayer is a powerful, supernatural resource that is essential in spiritual warfare.

Jesus demonstrated this truth throughout His ministry time on earth.  He often pulled away from the crowds and prioritized time in prayer with His Father in heaven.  Jesus drew strength from His time in prayer, and He also demonstrated to His followers what a conversational relationship with a holy God looked like. 

Keep in mind that prior to Jesus, the high priests held the role of representing the people to God.  Apart from specific instances where God spoke directly to individuals or sent His message through angels or prophets, the structure was in place where only the high priest could enter into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies at the Temple.  But at Jesus’ death, that veil of separation was torn from the top down, signifying that because Christ was now our High Priest, we could enter into the presence of God directly through faith in Jesus.

So by exemplifying prayer, Jesus was preparing His followers for this new type of personal relationship with the Father that they would have after Jesus ascended into heaven.  And the disciples seemed to realize how important prayer was because in Luke 11:1, after witnessing Him praying, they asked Him to teach them how to pray.  So next time you feel intimidated by prayer, be encouraged that His disciples didn’t know either!  You’re in good company! 😉

In response to their question, Jesus gave a model for prayer in what is now often referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer.”  Then He taught them the importance of persistence in prayer by giving an analogy that would have really resonated with them at the time because hospitality was so ingrained in the Jewish culture.   In His analogy, Jesus invited them to imagine themselves in the story and I encourage you to do the same…

Suppose you had a friend unexpectedly arrive on your doorstep at midnight, looking for a place to stay.  You respond, “Yes, of course, come on in…”  You make up the couch for them and head to the kitchen to fix them a meal, only to discover your fridge is empty — you had planned to go grocery shopping today, but you got so busy you postponed it.  Now what?  It’s the middle of the night and you’ve got a hungry friend in need of a meal…so what do you do?

Well, they didn’t exactly have door dash back in those days, so imagine that your only option was to go to a neighbor and ask for some food to serve your unexpected guest.  You walk to the entrance of their home and cautiously knock on the door, explaining your need.  They respond by telling you to go away because they are already in bed and don’t want to be bothered.  But you know that if you’ll persist, they’ll eventually give you what you’re asking for — if nothing else, just to make you go away 😉

As Jesus painted this picture for His followers, He drove home His point with these words, “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need” (Luke 11:8, NIV).

I love the description given there — “shameless audacity”…the dictionary defines “audacity” as: “boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.”  It was courageous for the host to bug his neighbor in the middle of the night, but he was more concerned about his friend’s need than about his own reputation or his neighbor’s irritation.  So he did it anyway — unapologetically.  He even asked for three loaves!

You see, when you are doing the work God wants you to do…when you are stepping forward into the opportunities He has for you to accomplish for His glory, you need only ask Him for the resources you need to do so.  God will always provide for His plans.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10, NIV).

Have you ever seen a need and thought to yourself, “But I don’t have the resources to address that need” so you walk on by.  God will still meet the need, but you miss the opportunity to be a part of His plans.  Ask. Seek. Knock.  With shameless audacity!  Lord, if you’re bringing this need across my path, then I’m going to need You to provide the resources to help me do Your will here.  I give You my willing heart and my open hands…reveal to me how to take a step forward by faith in this situation.

A word of caution before we proceed — sometimes this verse gets taken out of context and used to justify giving a “wish list” to God of everything your heart desires…that could include material things, physical health or healing, a wayward child coming home, etc.  If you just “ask, seek, knock, & believe,” then you’ll get everything you ask for…right?

Not exactly.  That is twisting the Scripture to fit our own desires, which is a dangerous thing to do.  Note that the host in this story wasn’t asking in the middle of the night because he was looking for a midnight snack for himself.  No, he was trying to fulfill his host duties well and provide for his friend…he was serving someone else.

It’s fine to pray for your needs and even for your desires, but don’t take God your “wish list” and expect Him to grant them like a genie in a bottle.  He knows your needs and your heart — and He knows what is best for you.  Trust that He is the Giver of good gifts and be content with His response to your prayers, even when His answer is “no” or complete silence — sometimes it’s simply not His timing.

Notice in Paul’s request for prayer at the end of Ephesians 6, he didn’t ask for prayer for his freedom, for easier circumstances, for favor from the Roman government, etc.  He only asked them to pray for God to give him the words to proclaim Jesus boldly and without fear!  That’s humbling.

When was the last time you prayed with shameless audacity?  When was the last time you prayed for something so big, you knew it would take an act of God Himself to make it happen?  Have you become so complacent and comfortable with life that you’ve stopped making bold requests?

These are questions I’m asking myself as well…to be honest, apart from emergency situations, my prayer life over the years has been pretty stable and consistent — and I’m embarrassed to confess this, but almost boring.  Just the last couple of years, I’ve started to ask God to draw me (through prayer) into something so much bigger than I am…something that requires complete dependency on Him alone to bring about.  May He stretch my faith and grow my trust in Him through this journey.  I long to see the types of answered prayers that leave me speechless and awestruck at who God is.  That’s a little bit scary, but also exciting!

Perhaps you’re already there and your prayer life is deep and challenging.  If not…if you can relate to what I’m saying, then I encourage you to ask God to reveal Himself to you by growing your prayer life.  He desires to have that type of intimate relationship with each one of us…He is such a personal God1

One more story to consider before we close today.  As I mentioned, Jesus regularly demonstrated the importance of making prayer a priority.  In John 15-16, He stressed the need to abide in Him and to pray in the power of His Name.  Then in John 17, He prayed out loud so they could hear His petitions to His Father for Himself, for His disciples, and for all future believers.  Throughout this prayer, the theme of fulfilling God’s will at any cost comes through loud and clear.  And He proceeded to demonstrate this at the high cost of the cross.

After the last supper, Jesus and His disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him and told the other disciples to sit and wait while He prayed.  As the weight of the coming suffering loomed, Jesus grew sorrowful and troubled.  He told the three men, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me”  (Matthew 26:38, NIV).

Then we read that Jesus went a little further into the garden by Himself, falling face-down to the ground and praying, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Then He returned to His three friends, finding them asleep instead of keeping watch as He’d requested.  He asked Peter, “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” Then He again instructed them to keep watch, and this time, He adds the instruction to PRAY so they won’t be tempted because “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus again left them and prayed to the Father, asking Him to take away the cup that lay before Him, but again, accepting it as God’s will if there was no other way.  When He returned to the three men the second time — you guessed it — they were asleep again!  So He left them and prayed a third time for God to remove the cup if possible, but if not, then Jesus would submit to His Father’s will.

When He finished, He woke up the disciples to face the hour of His betrayal.  At this point, Jesus was bold and confident — no signs of sorrow or trouble…no overwhelm…just acceptance of God’s will.  Jesus was ready to move forward, no matter the price.  So why the change in Him?  That’s right — through Jesus’ prayer time, He had been supernaturally infused with strength from God.  He was ready to do battle…to defeat death and crush the head of the snake.

In contrast, when the enemy arrived, His disciples scattered in fear.  They had been sleeping rather than praying.  And they went into battle not fully prepared so they retreated.

How often do I do that exact same thing?!  I prioritize earthly needs or wants ahead of eternal ones.  I watch a movie instead of spending time in prayer…I scroll social media instead of reading His Word…I listen to talk radio instead of worship music.  It’s not that any of those earthly things are wrong — neither was sleeping, for that matter!  But if my time and energy are wasted on earthly things, then I may not be fully prepared when the enemy comes my way, looking to attack.  We must be alert…awake and sober…and aware of the times in which we live.

One final word of warning before we close today.  If there is anything that may be hindering your prayers, confess it immediately.  Is there any sin in your life or unresolved issue with a fellow believer?  At the beginning of the book of Isaiah, God spoke harshly to His people for their hypocrisy.  They were lifting prayers and offerings to Him, but they were living lives that were disobedient, dishonoring, and displeasing to the Lord.  In Isaiah 1:15, God said, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.”

Also, in Matthew 5:23, Jesus taught His followers to reconcile with fellow believers who have something against them before bringing offerings to God. And in 1 Peter 3:7, husbands are instructed to treat their wives with respect and to be considerate to them, “so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”  Yikes — these are very sobering Scriptures.  God does’t want our prayers as lip service…He wants our prayers as an overflow of a genuine relationship with Him.

As we conclude this year-long series on Armoring Up to engage in spiritual battle, here are a few questions to consider:

• Are you educated on the topic of spiritual warfare?
• Do you know your enemy?
• Do you know your God?
• Are you putting on His armor each and every day, prepared to face whatever comes your way so that you can stand firm against the enemy in the mighty power of the Lord?

The war in the spiritual realm is very real and we see glimpses of it in our families, our churches, our communities, our country and in the world as a whole.  For far too long, we have lived in an attempt to stay off of the enemy’s “radar,” but the time has come to acknowledge the fight and engage in God’s mighty power.  Let’s do it together and encourage one another…ever more as the day draws nearer.