CONQUER OR BE CONQUERED- PART 2~~PRAYER

In Part 1 I spoke on the very fact that Satan is waging war on the Church and that Christians must be engaged in the battle. We can not be passive and simply hope for the best. We must prepare and we must fight the good fight of faith with the spiritual weapons that Christ has given us through the Holy Spirit.

 

Today I want to talk about what it takes to win these battles. We must have a "strategy". The business world will tell you that to be successful you must have a plan of action- a strategy. Even some churches make up strategy plans. And in our own individual lives- we must have a strategy to win over the enemy. But in that plan, in that strategy-- we must allow room for God to move. We can't put a box around the things we want to see happen and not allow God to move.

 

 

1. PRAYER

First, part of our strategy has to include prayer. We can't live a day without it and we cannot be victorious in our fight against Satan without it. We must remember that Jesus is on our side. It is vital that we pray BEFORE we make decisions instead of just asking God to bless us after we have made the decision. We must get the mind of the Lord first. The thing that we want to see accomplished may not be wrong, but it may not be the timing of the Lord. We must know His timing. We must INQUIRE  of the Lord. In Joshua 7:1-11 is the account where Israel had sinned and the great leader, Joshua, after that glorious victory at Jericho, decided to do something without asking of the Lord. He just went ahead and attacked Ai and was defeated. He did not seek counsel from the Lord. Many churches put people into positions, who may be qualified, but they are not faithful in their walk with the Lord. As leaders, we must seek the counsel of the Lord for these decisions. When their is "sin in the camp", the "camp" will never be victorious. No- we can't control everyone's lives, but we can go to the Lord, seek Him as we make these decisions. He is the One who knows.

 

Once again, that great leader Joshua messed up. You would have thought he would have learned his lesson back at Ai. But in Joshua 9:14-16- once again- he did not seek counsel of the Lord and made a treaty with the deceptive Gibeonites. These were people that the Lord told them NOT to make any  treaty with but Joshua believed their lie and made that treaty WITHOUT asking God.

 

PRAYER- helps us to overcome. We need to find out what God has to say about the important decisions in our lives. Pray much over your decision for the person you are going to marry; the car you are purchasing, the home and the neighborhood you want to move to, your next job-even seemingly minor decisions about purchasing a new washing machine or lawn mower- nothing is too little for God. After all- we are stewards of our money-and we need to include God on our decisions on how we spend that money. From experience I know for a fact that it is much better to ask God first-- then to have to deal with a bad decision later!

 

We get the mind of the Lord when we seek Him in prayer for decision making. Also, anytime spent in prayer draws us closer to Him and that is the main thing that is going to keep the enemy at bay.

 

Next- we will look at another part of our strategy-- LISTENING! It isn't enough to pray- we must LISTEN to what God has to say back to us!

 

 

(Taken from Pastor Keith's message 6/2/2013)