Weapons of war: Prayer as a weapon

19 June 2011

Brent Brading

Acts1:14 Constantly in prayer
Acts2:42 Devoted to prayer.
Acts4:24 Cried out to God in prayer.
The early church was gripped with a passion to pray. They were earnest, attentive and vocal in prayer.

As a church our revelation of prayer seems not to be to strong. To see more of the power of God in the church we need to be convinced of the power of prayer and get praying. Acts12:1-7 Peter in jail as the church was earnestly praying for him. He was facing persecution but the church was praying.

We are surrounded by needs in our families and city, what if the church was earnestly praying for them? Elijah was a man who understood prayer. James 5:16-18, 1 Kings18:42-45 prayer with his head between his knees continually till he saw God’s will coming into being.

Three things that build our revelation of prayer:

1) The disciples became earnest prayers after the Holy Spirit was poured out. Before that they feel asleep when they should have been praying. Eph 6:18, Rom8:26 the Spirit helps us to pray. It is about offering ourselves a vessel of prayer for the Holy Spirit to use.
2) Effective prayers cheat. They only ask God for things that they already know God wants for them to pray. They pray for God’s will to be done. James4:3 we will not get what we want when we ask with the wrong motives. Earnest prayers ask for what God wants. Spiritual warfare is the clash of two wills. Earnest prayer is faith based prayer. Mat21:22
3) Effective prayers never stop praying till the job is done. For Peter they never stopped praying till God opened the doors for him. For Jesus three hours till he was convinced of what he had to do, total surrender. Mat26:44. Dan10:12-13 continued 21 days till the angel was released to come and help. Persevere till the prayer is answered. Luke18:1-8 the widow looking for justice from the unjust judge. Her persistence gained her justice. Earnestly pray till we see the break through.

Earnest prayer is powerful and effective and if we want to see more of God’s power released we need to avail ourselves to being earnest prayers for the King and His Kingdom.