Biden Takes Power, Let Us Remember Our Armor

[Roughsoul1991]

Combat Support
(18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.)

As we pray, we are reaching out for God to guide us, protect us and help us in all occasions. We are confident and relying on His support in whatever battles we may face. The Roman foot soldier had calvary support that would move quickly to protect their sides and rear from enemy flanks. They also had air support through the use of archers and catapults. This support depended on communication being relayed on horseback from the front lines to the commanding officers. The foot soldier depended on these support roles and had faith that they would respond and react to defend them from any disadvantages.

In a similar way God is our support, He is our artillery, our air support, and our Calvary. We as the foot soldier can relay the information to God and trust He will respond.



Above we see a picture of General George Washington kneeling in prayer. That winter depicted in the picture was severely rough during 1777 and 1778. The conditions of the Valley Forge military encampment were very poor, and the situation was becoming worse every day. The story behind the painting was that an eyewitness overheard General George Washington in prayer and went to see who it was. The man’s name was Isaac Potts. Isaac later reported that Washington was praying to God, pleading with God to interpose with his divine aid because they were in a crisis, for the cause of the country, of humanity and the world.

Isaac, who was a British loyalist, became an American loyalist as he admitted that a man who prayed like that had the will of God and America would prevail.

George Washington was a strong example of an individual who was historically known to be praying all throughout the day. Praying in the Spirit on all occasions is critical to the life of a Christian. In many ways this is how we get our support, and guidance in every situation of life.

To understand prayer, we must first understand which support we are needing. Here are a few that can guide us in our prayer life.

Intelligence: Psalm 31:3 (wisdom or guidance)
Resupply: Philippians 4:6 (prayers in need of self-strengthening, energy, motivation)
Failures: Support when you have failed the task given to you. 1 John 1:9 (Confession and repenting)
Reinforcements: 1 Timothy 2:1 (The asking to support others)
Communication of Victory: The favorite of any commander. Matthew 6:9-13 (prayers that glorify God and tell God of all his promises, victories, and the greatness of our God).
Artillery: Psalm 7 or 2 Kings chapter 18 and 19 (for God to disrupt the enemy forces creating confusion and halting the enemy’s movement)
Intelligence- Prayers for wisdom or guidance

Intelligence
The petitioning prayers are for the individual who needs help with discernment or direction in life. These types of prayers are when we are needing guidance on how to handle a certain situation or what direction to take that is in the will of God. We may be lost or clueless how to respond to certain situations and we need higher intel from upper command. Knowing the will of the Commander is crucial to completing the mission.

Resupply
This also part of a petitioning prayer as the individual prays for encouragement, strength, energy, health, motivation, or faith. When we are starving, needing ammo, water, and the necessities to live and continue our mission. Then we call in for resupplies. These types of prayers help us to remain spiritually healthy and alert for our daily battles.

Failures
These prayers lead to confession and repenting. They involve integrity which is one of the highest of values for the soldier. When we fail, miss the mark, or sin, it is crucial that we report it and do all we can to help correct it. This involves us admitting to God we messed up. This integrity doesn’t benefit God because God already knows. But instead it keeps us humble and in reminding of God’s grace. Through this we seek repentance. Not to gain salvation because that was already promised. But to help ourselves get back to the closeness of God. Sin separates us or makes God distant. Repentance is the way to allow God to operate without the barriers we put in place. These barriers may be guilt, shame, anger, or resentment. In repenting we are reminded that God has forgiven us for past, present and future sins. But this forgiveness came with a price. The price of a sinless, divine, fully human, sacrifice. So, we are forgiven not to keep on sinning but to reconcile us in our still sinful nature. Being a Christian is a journey and through this journey we should see us sin-less and become more like Christ every day.

Reinforcements
This is the type of intercession prayer that when we see trouble or hear the troubles of others, we pray that God reinforces their life. A call in the calvary or call in reinforcements. This can be God’s movement in the church to stir others to help or through church programs to respond and nurse the wounded individuals back to health physically, spiritually, financially, psychologically, etc.

Communication of Victory
These types of prayers are loved by our great Commander God Almighty. These are the praise and thanksgiving type of prayers. Out of honor and respect we praise God for how he affects our lives, how he works, and acknowledge all the good that God provides us. And out of this acknowledgement we become thankful in what God has given or provided us, we learn to trust God and out of this trust we grow deeper in our perspective on life. We learn to become more thankful in all things because in the right perspective we have much to be thankful for.

Artillery
This type of prayer that is basically praying for God to respond to the evil that may surround you. God hates evil and is known to judge evil both here on Earth and in death. It isn’t unbiblical to pray for God to annihilate evil in the spiritual forces or that God protects us from physical evil also. In 2 Kings chapter 18 and 19 we see king Hezekiah of Judah being thrown in a very life-threatening situation both for him and his kingdom. He instantly turned to prayer and prayed a very powerful prayer reminding God of his promises and for God to hear his pleas. After he prayed, God did indeed hear his prayer and responded in a supernatural way to disrupt and destroy the enemy. Let us keep in mind that Romans 12:19 says,” Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” In this type of prayer, we are asking God to deal with evil within his will and his power. After we have done all we can by our will, we are told to stand firm and let God be God.

 

[Roughsoul1991]

Prayers that God will not listen to!

What do you do when you call in for support and the line is disconnected or has some sort of interference? We must do a self-check or location check in order to see is our communicator is broken or if our location is in a bad reception area. There are a few prayers that God will not hear or listen to because of the methods or reasons for the prayer.

But first I would like to describe an illustration. When we dial 911 here in America, we will be directed to a dispatcher. This dispatcher will ask you a series of questions that are very important. There is a guideline and a structure that they are bound to and must follow in order to get as much vital information as quick as possible. If we the caller begin to disrupt these guidelines by being over emotional and telling them all this info they do not need or want; then the dispatcher will not take note of the information until we have given them what is within their will of importance. Once received then the dispatcher dispatches support.

If we are not praying in the will or guidelines of God, then our prayers may be hindered or even ignored! Here is a list of scriptures in detail on which prayers are ignored and why.

The Lord is far from the wicked. (Proverbs 15:29)
The shedding of innocent blood. (Isaiah 1:15)
The willingness to ignore God’s commands. (Proverbs 28:9)
If we ignore immorality in our hearts. (Psalm 66:18)
We ask with corrupt intentions (James 4:3)
If husbands dishonor their wives (1 Peter 3:7)
Use prayer as a theatrical performance (Matthew 23:14)

As you can see, before we go to prayer, we must first make sure we are in the will of God. Are we within the dispatcher’s guidelines in order to receive support? After we self-check ourselves and we conclude that we have done something sinful or living in some sort of way that is not in God’s will. Then we should confess and repent in order to reestablish the disconnected relationship. This fixes our comms unit aka prayer and puts us in the right location for perfect reception aka being in the will of God.

Be Alert!

Ezekiel 33:1-6 New International Version (NIV)
Renewal of Ezekiel’s Call as Watchman
33 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. 5 Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

This goes right back to the watcher on the watch towers. We must constantly be on the alert and spiritually informed to the enemy’s movement and tactics. As we come aware of the enemy’s movement, we immediately sound the alarm and continually pray for our fellow warriors in Christ Jesus. We may not always be able to pray for ourselves during a battle. But we can depend on the Spirit praying in or place (Romans 8:26) and can count on our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to be praying for our support, guidance, and protection.

Discussion Questions:
1. On a scale 1 to 10. 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. How would you rate yourself in your prayer life? If you are 5 and below then what is possibly the interference? Sin, rebellion, wrong intentions, treating your spouse poorly, lack of faith, lack of obedience, etc.?
2. Are you taking and utilizing all your combat support so that everyday you may be fully prepared, motivated, and protected?
3. As you watch the world, the culture, our leaders, your neighbors, friends, family, and even people who act as your enemy, how often do you pray for others? Is this your first resort or your last when things seem to be chaotic or not as ideal?