The Power of Prayer
To be able to serve God wholeheartedly
and be victorious over Satan,
we must seek His help through prayer.
Here's Gene:
Look at 1st Samuel 7:8 and 9:
The Israelites said to Samuel, "Don't stop
crying out to the LORD our God for us...
They really recognized in Samuel, in a sense,
their spiritual leader.
And in a sense, their human redeemer,
not as Christ is our Redeemer but as a spiritual leader:
...Don't stop crying out to the LORD our God
for us, so that He will save us from the hand
of the Philistines." ...
See, they're still deeply troubled by their enemies.
... [And] then Samuel took a young lamb [and] offered it
as a whole burnt offering to the LORD.
He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel,
and the LORD answered him.
Isn't that a beautiful statement?
He cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel,
and the Lord answered him.
Incredible statement.
Look at this verse, 1st Samuel 7:13:
So the Philistines were subdued
and did not invade Israel's territory again.
The LORD's hand was against the Philistines
all of Samuel's life.
While he prayed for them and they responded.
And the Lord answered his prayer.
And so we see an incredible correlation here,
in this sense, that as believers today
we're in a battle.
We're not so much in a battle against the Philistines.
This was a flesh-and-blood battle.
We see these throughout the time of Israel.
But for us, we're in a spiritual battle.
And we are to put on the full armor of God,
according to Ephesians, so we can defeat Satan.
But notice the capstone at the end
of that paragraph in Ephesians 6, verse 18:
Pray at all times....
He leaves the metaphor of the belt of truth,
and the breastplate of righteousness,
and the helmet, and the feet shod with the
Gospel of peace, and all those
metaphorical pieces of armor
which have spiritual meaning.
He leaves the metaphor and
he becomes very direct.
And here's what Samuel did for Israel:
...Pray at all times in the Spirit [Paul wrote]
with every prayer and request, and stay alert
in this, with all perseverance
and intercession for all the saints.
And my question is:
Why is it so easy to neglect seeking
God's help through prayer?
Boy, that's a convicting question.
I know it is for me.
First of all it takes discipline.
And it's so easy to lack discipline.
I know that's true in my life.
It's easy to rely on our own strength.
When things are going well,
to rely on our own strength.
To forget that we need God.
And I think another thing we can say is,
we don't take Satan's cohorts--and him
as the evil one--as seriously as we should.
I had an experience just a couple of days ago
as I was sitting in a men's conference
where I was speaking.
And as I was sitting there beginning to worship
with these men, I began to just sense this
--what appeared to be a force--that was
surrounding me.
And again, I just sensed that Satan was
trying to discourage me--to impact me.
And it made me aware of the fact
that I was in Satan's territory,
teaching the truth.
Helping men to come to grips
with what God wanted in their lives.
And my first inkling is to say:
This can't be Satan--that's just me.
But the fact of that matter is,
as I begin to pray.
As I began to claim the power of God.
As I began to think through the armor of God.
As I began to worship the Lord
and remind the Lord of what He said in James:
Draw near to Me and resist Satan, he'll flee.
And that happened.
I just sensed the peace of God.
And it just made me aware of the fact
that as Christians living in our culture,
we don't take Satan seriously sometimes.
This is not in our fabric of our minds.
We teach it.
We speak it.
And yet sometimes I don't think we believe it
until we're faced with a crisis.
Or we're faced with the fact that we really need Him.
And when we take that seriously, God responds.
God answers just like He answered Samuel's prayer.
And that's why He says here in this passage:
We're to pray and be alert at all times.
Praying in the Spirit, which means
according to the will of God.
And God will respond and answer our prayers.