Prayer is how we communicate with God
YOu may have heard somethign along the lines of “well all we can do is pray” when someone seems to be facing a hopeless situation. I myself have been guilty of this but the Lord convicted me that this approach of “well all we can do” is all wrong. Prayer should be our first response. Yes, we can act and do things that God has empowered us with, to solve a problem, or help someone. But the right posture is to pray first. Our first response should be to communicate with God, for help direction, guidance, blessing. We should be seeking His will for every moment.
So often we try to do things in our own power, when God really just wants us to come to Him first and let Him help us.
Our relationship with God, just like any other relationship in our life can only grow and thrive with communication. When he fail to pray we are essentially shutting out the Lord in communication.
Warrior
I love the imagery of a prayer warrior. We think of the word warrior and we think of someone suited up, ready to protect and defend. Ready to fight for what is important.
In the Bible we see in Ephesians 6:10-20 about the armor of God.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
I want to focus in on verse 18 and let’s look at it in the CSB – Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
As followers of Christ we have the Holy Spirit within us. We at any time can draw on His power. So we are at ALL times pray in the Spirit, with every prayer and request. Not just some, not just when we need extra help. With every prayer and request.
How are we to do this? By staying alert. Let’s go back to our soldier imagery. A soldier that not alert is going to be taken down pretty quickly. So without being alert and always in prayer the schemes of the devil can take us down very quickly.
We are to persevere. God always answers prayers even if its not the way we want Him to. He always answers them in the best way. Either a Yes, a No, or a Not right now or even an “actually I’ve got something better for you. So when He doesn’t seem to be answering our prayers we are still to persevere. If the answer is No, eventually He will give us a sense of peace to go along with that No. We are not to just pray about something once. God wants us to come to Him over and over. And He does not just want us to pray for our needs but to intercede for others.
I know I have felt the prayer power of other people praying in my life. When we intercede for the saints, we flood our prayers to the Lord on a specific need. There is such strength in prayer in numbers.
How do we practically develop becoming a prayer warrior?
First I think we need to develop a posture of worship. In moment-to-moment gratefulness for the beautiful life, He has given us. He created us, without Him we are nothing. So often our pride rises in our own accomplishments and I think heartfelt worship really comes down to knowing without him we do not exist. Praise Him for who He is and what He has done. Ask yourself, are you seeking to glorify the Lord in all you do? Are you working hard to His glory? Are you parenting to His glory?
God first. In our prayer, In our everyday. Are we seeking Him? Is He the centre of our relationships? Of our work or ministry or interactions with a stranger? The people I know who live this way seem to always be smiling. They know deeply the joy of the Lord.
Are we following the two greatest commandments? Do we love God with everything we have? To love Him means to know Him. Are we hungering for His word? Are we seeking his guidance? Are we loving others as much as we love ourselves? Are we dying to our flesh? Are we going against the world to be a light for Him? I often find when I am sad, or feeling anxious that the very best remedy is to serve someone else.
Often our sadness and anxiety come from being so focused on our own needs. 9 times out of 10 when you serve someone else, our sadness disappears. There is almost always someone in a worse-off situation than you. And this is not to play hardship Olympics but simply to love others well, helps us to walk in the righteous matter that He calls us to.
Maybe you can’t help them physically in whatever current situation but you can pray. You can be empathetic and compassionate to your brother or sister’s needs and bring them to our Lord.
Have the heart to look for ways to pray for others.
4 Ways to Become a Prayer Warrior
Develop a Prayer Habit – I highly recommend starting your day with time with the Lord. Use a journal to record prayers. Sometimes we don’t know what to say or what to pray for but if we have a written record we can remind ourselves to be faithful in prayer. We can also look back and see how God has answered our prayers. I use my Faithful Motherhood Spiritual Study and Prayer Journal
Sometimes I will write prayers right into my Bible. A really cool story that happened was when we were praying about moving from our home country to pursue missions overseas I wrote a prayer for the amount of money we wanted to sell our house for. I totally forgot about it, to be honest, and then several months after we had sold the house I was looking through my Bible and I saw the exact amount that we sold for written there in the pages. It was a sweet reminder of how God is in all the small details.
Work prayer into your routines. Say a small prayer every time you open the door to your house or turn the keys in your ignition. Every time you brush your teeth before bed or when your feet hit the floor in the morning on the way to make your morning coffee. Saying small prayers in our everyday moments helps us to make prayer a priority.
Start or join a prayer group. Praying with a small group of people is powerful. This has looked different for me over the years whether it was prayer time after a ladies’ Bible study or a specific prayer meeting. Some churches even have a midweek service dedicated to prayer. Not only does joining a prayer group keep you accountable and committed but you are able to be an intercessor in prayer more than on your own.
Dedicate a Space or Time. If you have a closet or small area that you can dedicate to your war room then do it. Not everyone has this space but maybe you can put a bulletin board or whiteboard up where you attach written prayers to. The whole idea of this is having a dedicated, visual spot where you can come before the Lord in focused prayer. If you can’t dedicate a specific slot then try to dedicate a specific time to prayer. My church has a prevailing prayer wall, where members of the church sign up for a specific weekly 1-hour time slot so 24/7 a member of our church is in dedicated prayer. Be faithful in that time slot.
Grow in Confidence
1 John 5 14-14 says
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
God hears us. We can have confidence in that. Infact God already knows all of our needs, all of prayer requests and even all the things we will pray about in the future. Again it is about communication in this sacred relationship. We need to grow in our confidence that he hears us, he loves us, He responds to us.
A great way to grow in confidence is keep a record of answered prayers. I mentioned this earlier but recording answers to prayer or just stories of how God has moved in your life can be such a great testimony to others. When we record and share these things we give God all the glory.
Things to Pray for in order to become a Prayer Warrior
Becoming a prayer warrior and seeking that for your life can start with some very specific prayer requests. How do we make it a lifestyle to turn to the Lord first. To have prayer be our first line of defense? How do we learn to be confident that He hears us and to wait expectantly for His answers?Here are some things to pray for.
Ask God for a hunger for His word. This is something I had been praying about more and more in recent months and then all of a sudden one day I just found I couldn’t get enough of scripture and just wanted to spend more and more time in His word. I mean I have always dedicated a good chunk of my morning to Bible Study but it was like I was reading it all again with fresh eyes. His word really is a living source. More of Him is what we need in this world. Pray for that hunger.
Pray to be surrendered to His will. Ask God to use you how He wants to use you. Be open and willing to accept His plans for your life. His plans are always better than our own. Ask God to align your heart with His in how you are to walk out each and every day. Be sensitive to the Spirits leading.
Ask God to show you who He wants you to pray for specifically. Ask Him for opportunities to serve and pray with people. Ask him for a sensitivity to be compassionate and empathetic.
Ask God to remind you and to prompt you to pray. Something I often pray is Lord I believe help my unbelief, it’s right in line with Lord I believe in the power of your prayer, help me not to forget its importance.
Pray back Scripture. Taking scripture and praying His words back to the Lord is powerful. Sometimes we don’t have the words to pray. Maybe we are faced with a difficult situation and our own words seem inadequate. Praying back God’s own words means we are praying in His will. After all the words are His very own.
Pray for Wisdom – Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom to not only face what you need to face today but surrounding a specific circumstance. How can you face a situation or a relationship with the wisdom the Lord gives. We ask and He will give it to us.
Pray Our Father – Jesus tells us this is the way to pray.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name;
Praise.
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
His Will.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Daily Provision
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
Confess and Repent from Sin
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
Draw upon the strength of the Lord and ask for protection from the enemy
You Can Be a Prayer Warrior
As you start implementing these things into your life you will see a shift. The closer we are in communication with God, the more we hear from Him. He is not a far away God. He is our loving father, who desires intimacy with us. So, what can you do today to increase your growth in your prayer life? God will honor our faithfulness and willingness to develop this area of our lives. Whether we want to be or not, every day we are facing a spiritual battle. So we need to suit up. Engage and be intentional in the way we battle.
Ephesians 6:12 says For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.