The Ultimate Weapon
Fully dressed, ready to go, heading out onto the battlefield. The soldier is all equipped with all the latest technology and ready to go out and defeat the enemy. He’s ready to head out and gain the victory. He’s ready to head out and do all he can do for his Lord and King. As he joins his comrades, he lines up on the field and stand shoulder to shoulder with the one next to him. The orders come down and the battle is about to start. The soldier takes a breath and realizes that there’s just one problem, fear is starting to creep in. Doubt is starting to take over. Anxiety is making it hard for him to breathe. He knows that if he can’t get it under control, there’s going to be a major problem in defeating the enemy. What is he going to do? Where is he going to get his power?
Have you found yourself in this situation? Maybe this is you. Temptation is coming at you. Trial is overcoming you. Bad news is coming from the doctor. All the sudden your world is falling apart. You walk onto your job and your boss comes to you and says that he wants to talk to you. As you walk into his office he says, “I’m really sorry, but we have to lay you off. We’re experiencing large cutbacks.” The armor that you have on suddenly doesn’t seem like it’s enough to handle the battle that you’re in at that moment. What did you forget? You’ve had great success over the sinful habit that you’ve been struggling with for years. Victory after victory. One day, you’re going along and BAM! There is that temptation, that sinful habit comes back into your life. It’s right there in front of you. Doubt creeps in. Fear creeps in. Anxiety creeps in. “Can I really do this? Have I really overcome this habit?” What do you do? How do you handle it?
One of the greatest, no strike that, the Ultimate Weapon that we have is prayer. In order to have a great spirit of confidence and courage, you have to have a strong prayer life. We have to be soldiers of prayer. If we’re not praying, we’re not assured of God’s protection. We MUST pray all the time to maintain a constant unbroken consciousness of God’s presence and care. Such infuses the needed assurance, confidence, and courage to face the enemy. Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you” Matthew 7:7. Did you catch that? What you need in battle, what you need in life, what you need in your situation, Jesus said, “Ask, Seek, Knock.”
As a part of our prayer life, we must pray “in the Spirit,” that is, in the Holy Spirit. Prayer to any other god or to our own thoughts or to come other manmade god is empty and useless. We have to remember that there is only One who will sustain you. There is only One who knows you. There is only One who knows what you’re facing. There is only One who knows what you need. There is only One who has already provided what you need to be victorious. Also, the Spirit knows your heart and will communicate that to God and will interpret what you’re asking to God. Listen to what Paul says in Romans, “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” Romans 8:26-27.
In order for us to be victorious on the battlefield we have to be sleepless in prayer. We must concentrate and persevere in prayer. We must go to the point of being sleepless in prayer—sometimes so intensely involved in prayer that we actually go without sleep in order to pray. Isn’t this what Jesus was wanting the disciples to do the night He was betrayed? “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:41. Paul makes it very clear, “Pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
We also have to realize that we’re not in this battle alone. There are many who are engaged in the same warfare. The outcome of the battle is determined by the welfare of all who are involved. As soldiers, we must pray for those who fight with us. As soldiers we must pray as much and as intensely for our fellow soldiers as for ourselves.
Lastly, and this could be the hardest in some situations, we must pray for our leaders. Leaders, their decisions, and example often determine the outcome of the battle. Christians soldiers have leaders who teach and preach and administer throughout the church and around the world. Boldness and decisiveness and purity are needed to put the enemy to flight and to capture souls for the gospel. We read throughout the New Testament where the Disciples and church leaders asked for prayer. We should be praying not only for our Christian leaders but we should also be praying for all those who are in authority over us.
Fully dressed, facing the enemy, facing those trials, don’t walk out on the battlefield without your Ultimate Weapon…PRAYER. Prayer taps into heave. When you pray, God moves, demons tremble, and the battle is won. Soldier, take the field, pray, defeat the enemy.
Until next time,
Pastor Rob
