We Need To PUSH

Pray until something happens. Do not give up on prayer. The kind of prayer Apostle Paul talks about in Ephesians 6:19-20 is a passionate, pushing kind of prayer that doesn’t take no for an answer or leave things to chance.

Ephesians 6:12-20, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places… that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak”.

Sometimes War Is A Necessary Evil

Nobody wants war but it happened in Heaven. When evil rose up in Heaven, God did not just wish for it to go away.

Evil does not go away and cannot be reasoned with; it can only be stopped. Click To Tweet

In Romans 7, the Bible says there is a war going on in our hearts between the flesh and spirit. The flesh doesn’t disappear because you became born again. In every shape and form, we support war against evil so that good will prevail on the earth.

PUSH Against Principalities

Principality is a class of spiritual being. These structures of the kingdom of darkness do not originate in the kingdom of darkness; they are a copy of the Kingdom of God. Principalities are not the average demon roaming around on the earth. They are spiritual territorial spirits.

Principalities are given a status in the heavenly realms by the people and their sin. When Jesus spoke regarding the issue of principalities, He said pray and preach because when we pray for people and preach the Gospel, we have less people serving the principality over our region and we weaken that stronghold thereby.

Apostle Paul’s Spiritual Strategy

1. According to Apostle Paul, our first responsibility is not to fight but to stand our ground in this spiritual war. We are to stand in who we are in Jesus Christ, what He did on the cross, what He says about us. You’ve got to stand.
2. Get suited – put on the armor of God and take up spiritual weapons. You don’t buy it or get it; you just apply it to your life.
3. Pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit for ourselves, all the saints and for opportunities for the Gospel to be preached.

Interceding for the lost is the heart of spiritual warfare. Click To Tweet

Prayer Attacks Sin

Prayer attacks sin, therefore, sin attacks prayer. Since the beginning of this world, once man committed sin, he hid from God. One of the reasons people don’t pray is not because they don’t have time but because they have sin. If you allow prayer in your life, the first thing prayer does is go after your sin. . A sinning man will stop praying but a praying man will stop sinning.

1 Samuel 12:23 shows that prayerlessness is sin. Church, the only way to combat sinful tendencies, desires and passions of our flesh is to pray. Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart.

Prayer Attacks The Enemy

Prayer attacks the enemy, therefore, the enemy attacks prayer. Prayer is a direct assault, a specific strategic assault against the enemy, even if you are not praying directly against him. The devil cannot stop God from answering our prayer. Therefore, he will try to stop you and I from praying them.

Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for.

John Piper

Prayer Attacks The Flesh

Prayer attacks the flesh, therefore, the flesh attacks prayer. One of the reasons some of us don’t pray is that we don’t feel like it. Pray when you feel like praying for it is sin to neglect such an opportunity. Pray when you don’t feel like praying for it is dangerous to remain in such a condition.

Prayer Attacks Bad Circumstances

Prayer attacks bad circumstances, therefore, bad circumstances attack prayer. Some people do not pray because the experience they had with prayer was so disappointing that they gave up on prayer. Don’t let your bad experience stop you from praying. When God doesn’t answer your prayer, He still gives you His presence and He still changes things in your life, whether you realise it or not. Don’t give up on prayer because God wants to move in your life.

Prayer attacks Passivity

Prayer attacks passivity, therefore, passivity attacks prayer. As Christians, we do not have a passive stance towards life. Passivity is dangerous. Passivity gives up but the Bible says pray with perseverance. Intimacy with God has to lead to intensity. Fervency is expected if answers are to materialise in the physical world. Pray, preach and practise your faith until something happens. Push!

Prayer is the earthly license for Heavenly interference.

Myles Munroe

Our advantage against the enemy’s tactics in our family and business is prayer. Prayer is not the only thing but it’s the main thing. Prayer leads to preaching, and practising our faith. If there is no prayer foundation in our family, everything we are doing is being done in the flesh. We are fighting a spiritual battle with physical methods.

Prayer

For some of us, as Russia is invading Ukraine, drugs are invading our family, unbelief and atheism are invading our children, cancer is invading our health, depression is invading our minds. I want to encourage you, there is hope for you. God says call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things.

Come into God’s presence and say “God, I need You. I need Your help”. If you can, get on your knees and ask for God’s intervention in the crisis in your life and in the crisis in the world.

Sermon by Vladimir Savchuk; blog by Edward Gardiner