To post the next two messages no surprises I went through much warfare! I believe both should be read regularly as positive reminders of why we pray& understanding spiritual warfare. I would recommend using the link at the end of the message to go & read the full hand book -Enjoy!
Power of Prayer
(From Spiritual Survival Handbook - (Part Message) Chapter 4: )
The safe place for your heart. "Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks." Luke 11:9-10
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A young missionary on furlough told this incredible story while visiting his home church in Michigan. "While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later, I repeated my journey.Upon arriving in the city once again, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known that I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by twenty-six armed guards." At this, I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young manpressed the point, however, and said, "No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here inthe sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day please stand up?" The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary was not concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were twenty-six.
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Be a prayer warrior, not a prayer worrier. A prayer warrior walks in the authority of Jesus.
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1. What is prayer?
Prayer is the simple act of "talking with God" and opening our minds to receive His point of view on a matter. Prayer is a hotline to God. Each time we pray, we will not receive a busy signal, and we can spend all the time we want talking to God.
How can this be? Because God is never too busy to speak with us. He always welcomes our calls and we do not need to be concerned about any phone charges, because Jesus already paid our bill in full.
Whenever God is our focus we are praying. More specifically, prayer is:
~ Our S.O.S. signal to God in times of crisis. Prayer is one of the most important instruments in our spiritual survival arsenal as it stops the strategy of the enemy.
~ The key that unlocks the miraculous.
~ Where we become spiritually recharged.
~ Talking to God with a trusting heart.
~ Asking God for guidance.
~ Listening for Gods voice.
Is not listening one of the qualities we look for in others? This is the same in our relationship with God. He is looking for us to not only talk to Him, but care enough to spend time listening to him.
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Prayer is the safe sanctuary where you can open your heart to God.
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Praying when everything is going well is really great, but when pain and crisis hits prayer needs to be a "knee jerk" reaction. Talking with God about our problems and then giving our burdens to Him is a great benefit.
Undoubtedly, there will be times when we are too emotionally overwhelmed to find the words to pray, this is when we can rely on the Holy Spirit to intercede on our behalf. Romans 8:26-27, "The Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will."
* Due to length (also similar messages already in Archives) points 2-8 9-11 & 12 have not been included in this post - It is strongly recommended when you have time that you use the link at the bottom of this message to complete the study.
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God understands your prayers even when you can not find the words to say them.
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8. What happens if I don't take time to pray?
Satan will try everything in his power to keep you from praying by keeping you busy. Because he knows neglecting to pray produces doubt, weariness, discouragement, disillusionment, and vulnerablity to the devil's tactics.
Eventually discernment is destroyed, our heart becomes hardened, and it slowly brings spiritual disaster. So it's no wonder when we make it our goal to pray that distractions come our way. This is one of the devilss most obvious strategies in his attempt to keep us from a deep ongoing relationship with the Lord. When faced with distractions, the best response is sheer determination to make time for the Lord in prayer
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Seven days without prayer makes one weak.
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11. Why do we need to pray Gods scriptural promises?
Praying the promise, not the problem is simply using biblical scriptures in our prayers as a way to be confident that we are praying according to the will of God. For God faithfully watches over his Word for it to perform what he wants to see happen in any given circumstance.
He intervenes in answer to our prayers no matter how bleak things may look. In order to pray this way, we first need to search the Bible for the verse that is the antidote to our problem and then boldly pray it.
Here are some verses to help you get started:
When all looks hopeless: Matthew 19:26, "Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible."
When feeling trapped with no way out: 2 Corinthians 3:17, "...the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom."
When grieving: Matthew 5:4
When in sorrow: John 14
When you worry: Matthew 6:19-34
When you are in danger: Psalm 91
When God seems far away: Psalm 139
When your faith needs stirring: Hebrews 11
When you are lonely and fearful: Psalm 23
When you grow bitter and critical: I Corinthians 13
When you feel down and out: Romans 8:31
When you want peace and rest: Matthew 11:25-30
When you leave home: Psalm 121
When you want courage: Joshua 1
If you are depressed: Psalm 27
If you are discouraged: Psalm 126
For dealing with fear: Psalm 34:7
For security: Psalm 121:3
For reassurance: Psalm 145:18
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Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening itspower. A childlike and abiding trust in God is its best preventive remedy.
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13. Why is prayer so important?
God is a builder. Through prayer He gives plans, strategies, patterns, and schemes to shape more of His kingdom within the world. For absolutely nothing good is accomplished on earth without it first being accomplished in prayer. This is one of the reasons prayer is so vitally important to our spiritual well being and our positive impact on others.
In fact, there will not come a time in our spiritual growth when we can say we have arrived and no longer need to broaden our prayer experience. Learning about prayer is a life long process.
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Delay never stops Gods purpose, it only polishes you His instrument.
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The final step in prayer is to trust God as we wait patiently for His answer. The key word here is patiently. A Spiritual Survivor is a person who learned to be prayerful and patient.
"Spiritual Survival Handbook Chapter 4 used with permission: Copyright (c) 1999-2007 Spiritual Survival Handbook by Rev. K. A. Brown. All rights reserved. To view complete 'Spiritual Handbook please go to the following link: http://www.spiritualsurvival.org
