WANTED: Prayer Warriors/Intercessors

Ephesians 6:12, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (NLT)

I truly believe that God is issuing to the church a "call to action" command. We can often find ourselves in a state of grumbling and complaining about the actions or lack of action of people (both believers as well as non-believers) as we survey the condition of our society. I know that the enemy seeks to get me into that frame of mind from time to time and I am learning that there is a plan behind this strategy. The enemy seeks to hinder the process of prayer from becoming our response to the sinful activities and practices of our society. But I have decided to make a counter-attack to this strategy; I am going to be even more committed to prayer both for my spiritual growth as well as for the growth and spiritual maturing of others. We can no longer choose to be non-committal to the call from God concerning prayer. 

The Spirit writing through the Apostle Paul reminded us of the enemy or should I say enemies that we are facing. We are facing "evil rulers, authorities of the unseen world, mighty powers in this dark world and evil spirits in the heavenly places." I urge you not to be discouraged by the enemy that we are facing. Living in discouragement opens the door for our adversary to play his tricks on us. Living in discouragement causes us to ignore and reject the mandate and call from God. Living in discouragement allows us to identify reasons to quit following after God. But there is hope and our hope is found in the weapons that God has provided for us. When I think of giving into the pressure of satan  when it comes to my prayer time I take a moment and look around my house at the pictures hanging on the wall and my desire to pray is revived. I look around the church on Sunday morning and my desire to pray is revived. Quickly I remember that there are people standing in the valley of decision and I am going to intercede for them even when the enemy says there is no hope. The Word of God declares that we can live in the hope and power of our Resurrected Savior.

I issue this personal challenge. Answer the call to pray! Make the decision to pray! Do not stop praying regardless of the obstacles! Pray in faith! Pray with faith! Pray boldly! Pray courageously! Pray without ceasing!