Spiritual Warfare – Part 9

If you haven’t yet read Part one of this study, please click here.

THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE

We have looked at 4 major battles of the Old Testament:

Gideon, Jehoshaphat, David and Elisha.

What are the common points in the battles?

What spiritual weapons can be identified?

Do you know of other spiritual weapons not mentioned in these Biblical stories?

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The weapons Paul is speaking about here are those you have probably found in the preceding pages as we looked at 4 Old Testament battles.

• Prayer
• Praise
• Righteousness
• Authority
• Fasting
• Obedience
• Proclamation

Let’s look at each of these in greater detail.

THE WEAPON OF PRAYER

Have you ever been tempted to think that prayer doesn’t work?

If your answer was “yes”, what was your attitude at times like that?

• To give up on God?
• To decide to pray only for things you are sure He will do?
• To try to find out why the prayers were not answered?

Maybe a study of some of our “unanswered prayers” would be a good idea!

In the meantime you might be interested to read these next verses…..

James 4:1-3

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

A personal note….

When I was 56 and had a serious gall bladder problem I prayed and prayed. Many friends and family prayed too, all of us fully expecting the Lord to heal me, but He didn’t. I am so glad He didn’t!

It was not that we prayed with the wrong motives as suggested in the verse above, James 4:3. He didn’t heal me because He had a much bigger plan, a plan to heal much more than my gall bladder! A plan to give me a new future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11) that I could not have imagined. You can read about that in my book TRANSPORTED BY THE LION OF JUDAH available from this page in Europe, and from www.elijahshopper.com in USA.

So much has been written about prayer that I hesitate to add to it here, but I offer the following points for your consideration and meditation.

If you keep a journal, write these verses and your comments ….

We are called to pray……

1. from a position of abiding in Christ. (John 15:5) (Note the “if”)
2. according to the will of God. (1John 5:14) (Note another “if”)
3. in faith. (James 1:6-7, Mark 11:22-25)
4. in Jesus’ name. (John 14:13-14)
5. in the Spirit. (Jude 20, Romans 8:26-27)
6. in unity. (Matthew 18:19)
7. specifically. (Mark 10:51)
8. with an audible voice. (Luke 11:2)
9. with humility. (Matthew 15:25)
10. earnestly. (Acts 12:5)
11. constantly. (1 Thessalonians 5:17, Colossians 4:2)
12. thankfully. (1 Thessalonians 5:18, Philippians 4:6)

Can you “home in” on 2 or 3 of these characteristics in order to improve your prayer life?

Remember that satan in his power will do all he can to stop you praying. List below some of the ways he has tried to stop you from praying.

If you are doing this study in a group share with the group some of your frustrations about prayer and how you are trying to overcome the enemy’s tactics.

Remember that God does not give us credits for the way we pray. As long as our intentions are good he is listening and ready to answer. He knows our thoughts even before the prayers have been formed in our minds (Hebrews 4:13, 1 Chronicles 28:9).

Sadly, many who have used the “right words” will not be acknowledged by God. (Matthew 7:21)

When we get it wrong, and all of us do from time to time, the Spirit is there to help us.(Romans 8:27) and Jesus is interceding for us before the throne of God. (Hebrews 7:24-25)

What more can we ask???

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