Is There A Limit To Prayer?

What kind of warriors are we? A good warrior never quits, even if it costs him his life. There is a persistence and determination in their actions because they have been ordered into action. Imagine if every army that went to battle were filled with the likes of us? Would we be those who flee when faced with insurmountable odds or those who held their ground even to death? The only difference is that we go to war, not with swords and shields, but on our knees. How persistent are we?

If we want to consider examples of prayer warriors there are a few of them in the Scriptures to admire. Just consider Elijah. We are told that he was a man just like us, as normal as we are, but he understood his responsibility and the place of prayer:

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:17-18)

James was making the point that our weapon is prayer:

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (v. 16)

The thing is that Elijah had to persist in prayer just as much as we do. He prayed what he was told to pray. He knew it to be Yahweh's will and still he had to persist in prayer:

And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.”

So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” (1 Kings 18:42-43)

James words to describe prayer were "effective, fervent". Fervent, intense, enthusiastic, persistent. How quickly we forget the lessons Jesus taught on persistent prayer, not giving up, continuing until it happens. Many believe that praying once is enough and if it doesn't happen it wasn't Yahweh's will. But Jesus taught us to pray until something does happen or we get a clear answer. Remember the persistent widow and the judge who finally gave in to her because of her persistence. Listen carefully to Jesus' conclusion:

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:6-8)

Will he indeed?

People use Paul's thorn as an excuse not to be persistent. They consider that since he prayed three times they can draw the conclusion that we should limit ourselves to praying three times. Such people fail to understand that it was after Paul prayed the third time that he got a response. You don't keep praying after Jesus has responded. For Paul it was only three times, for Elijah seven, for you maybe 100 times. There is no set number, just the instruction to be persistent until we have the answer.

What strikes me in this is that Elijah prayed what he knew to be Yahweh's command and still he had to persist until something happened. So what kind of warriors are we on the battle field? Do we throw our weapon down when we meet with resistance, or do we persist and stand on the ground we have been given to keep? Your family and friends are your responsibility, for whom you fight and protect. You are to cover your leaders. You are to fight for the weak. Remember at all times, you are a prayer warrior: "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." Never give up. Pray on until something happens.

The World Hates Me. And?

Have you noticed the great falling away yet? Have you noticed that those who profess Jesus as Lord are now moving into a minority? Have you noticed the morality that has governed the western world for hundreds of years is being thrown off and the true heart of man is being revealed? It's because the facade is being removed and everything is being exposed.

There is no good thing in a man or woman who are without Christ. Those who are without Christ are governed by their sinful nature so they end up doing things that they may not even want to do. And the depravity is increasing. Well, maybe not so much increasing as the fear of letting it be exposed is being removed. I tell you now, watch how quickly things begin to decline in the next year.

So you as a Christian are beginning to find yourself in a hostile place. People don't like you because of Jesus and some will even hate you. You could be the nicest person, do the greatest good works, be the friendliest person but they will still hate you because of Jesus. It will become more dangerous to point out the depravity of their thinking and actions. They will try to do everything in their power to shut you up.

It's funny though how the Spirit is encouraging the followers of Jesus, the warriors of the only legitimate Kingdom. As I scrolled through the social networking sites this morning there is one verse that kept showing up:

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

This is not saying that no one will be against us but instead, no one of any significance will be against us. In other words, who is there compared to God? This is important and encouraging and we will need to remember it over the next little while as things get uglier, but there is something even more important to hold on to in all of this mess.

This world will de-value you. People will make you feel stupid, ignorant, uneducated, and useless. You will be accused of being a blight on the peace of this world and you will be blamed for all the wrong things in society. It is as this world tries to make you feel like garbage that you need to remember something fundamentally important:

Yet some people accepted him
    and put their faith in him.
So he gave them the right
    to be the children of God.
13 They were not God’s children
by nature
or because
    of any human desires.
God himself was the one
    who made them his children. (John 1:12-13)

Above anything else, you are a child of God. You are not a child of God because you willed it but because God made you his child. Now, understand the depth of the previous verse; If our Father is for us, who can be against us?

Everything this world values is going to come to an end. These poor, sad people really think that in the end they are achieving something. They think they are captains of their own destiny. They think that by sheer will they can transform this hate-filled planet. They are not to be feared, they are to be pitied, prayed for, and rescued from themselves.

We don't have time to be worried about how the world sees us or feels about us. Community churches need to stop trying to win the world over by being user friendly. It's not about numbers, programs, or entertainment value. It's not about "feeling". It's about seeing the power of the Spirit released in every believer to do the will of the Father. We need to dig in and fight for the lost like never before. We need to stand united in the Spirit, encouraging one another as long as it is called "today". The only way to help this world now is by the Truth and his name is Jesus; no greater name in all of time. So, make sure your armour is in place mighty warrior-child of God, and stand your ground.

Someone Is Lying To You

You are being lied to and the liar is yourself. You have convinced yourself to stay in a weakened condition when in actual fact you are more than a conqueror. You are a giant on this earth. You are a mighty warrior. But you lie to yourself and keep yourself in a small and insignificant role in this world. You allow yourself to be defeated day after day and you fight a fight that wearies you.

The lie is a simple one. You tell yourself that you are powerless against sin. You don't say it in words but you say it in action. You are too easily defeated by temptation because you do not know Jesus and what he has done for you. Certainly you know about Jesus. You hear about him all the time. You read about him. You even sing about him but if you really knew him temptation would have no power over you because sin has no power over you.

Here is the fact about what Jesus has done to defeat the power of sin over you:

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ ... (Colossians 2:11)

If you know what circumcision is you know that it is a cutting away of part of the body so it is no longer part of the body. It was a mark of belonging to God. Now a greater circumcision exists; one that is of greater value. It is a cutting away of our sinful nature, removing it so that it no longer is part of us. This means that sin has no power over us because it is no longer part of us and this is a mark of belonging to God. This is significant because it means we are no longer powerless against sin.

You need to see that action in your mind, actually picture the cutting away of your sin nature. It is a fact that you need to act on each day. Jesus said it now you have to walk in it. Take him at his word. He promised and like every other promise we receive it and cause our actions to reflect that we have received it. We say no to sin.

Sin is now a choice whereas once we had no choice. If you sin now you do so willingly, consciously, with purpose. If any sin has rule over us, which are those things we can't seem to stop doing, it is because we have given it power over us. Sin is what destroys us, keeps us weak. Praise Jesus for the grace ushered into our lives but sin will rob us of our place and purpose, not allowing us to take our rightful place in God's plans. Instead of a mighty warrior we are those who grovel on the street corner, looking for scraps of grace. This is not how it is meant to be.

It is time to mature in this thing. It is time to put it to bed. We have not been circumcised by some mere symbolic act of man, but by Jesus Christ, Son of God, ruler of all things. He is not weak in what he does. When he said he has done it then it is done. Don't make him out to be a liar. Do not rob him of his glory. Live your life as a hero of the faith. Walk this planet as a giant. Take your place as a mighty warrior in the King's army. Have nothing to do with sin no matter the cost and you will discover the power of God increase in and through you. Fight on my friend in the strength of our King; fight on! 

The Armour Of God - Essential

We are far too independent. It's not a good thing. We were created to be dependent on our Father. Unlike human fathers who's purpose is to help train their children for independent adulthood, our heavenly Father never wants us to become independent from him. In fact, he has made it impossible for us to be independent.

We died with Jesus on the cross. It is the only way that we could be separated from sin, breaking our slavery to it. In dying we had to be raised to life again so we were raised in Jesus. There is life as long as we stay in Jesus. Away from Jesus there is only spiritual death. We are absolutely dependent on him for life and everything we need to be victorious.

There is nothing in us that is of any use except the Holy Spirit. We have nothing to offer Jesus except our emptiness. It is our emptiness that he can use and that he gladly excepts from us. If we think we have anything to offer God we have not yet matured to the point of understanding this relationship. This is a truth that is important for us to understand if we are going to be effective warriors.

The armour of God is not natural to us. There is no part of it that comes from us. All of it is provided by God. Underline this fact in your thoughts so you will understand that fighting the darkness of this world is not natural to us and in our flesh we would rather just hide under the covers. But in Jesus we rise up as mighty warriors, heroes of the faith, putting on the full armour of God. From Ephesians 6:

- belt of truth: it holds everything together. If we allow falsehood to be part of us it unties the belt and everything falls apart. We cannot fight without truth. Not ours. God's.

- breastplate of righteousness:  God's righteousness has been declared over us. It is ours and it covers our heart. Regardless of what the enemy may accuse us of, truth or fabricated, it is covered by this breastplate. Learn to depend on that fact and let the sins of the past go. Do not allow those things to cripple you when God has declared you clean and innocent. This needs to be settled in you or the enemy will squash you in an instant.

- gospel of peace:  which keeps you ready to move, to take action. This peace is not world peace but is the declaration of what Jesus has done in bringing peace to us in our relationship with God. That is the good news that we hold out to the world and you must be prepared to share it wherever the Spirit sends you. As a soldier is ready to move out in an instant when the signal is given, so must we be prepared to share as the Spirit signals.

- shield of faith: protects us from all those flaming arrows flung at us from the enemy. Arrows of fear, doubt, anxiety. The shield is our declaration of trust. Jesus said it so it is. This is what so many potential warriors try to go out into battle without. It's crazy. We are open to every attack of the enemy when we leave behind our shield. Faith must be with us daily. It is given to us by God, not natural to us at all.

- helmet of salvation: covers us. It protects us. It keeps our head in place. It protects our mind which gives us perspective. We do not get lost in the perspective and values of this world. Our salvation reminds us that we belong elsewhere and that we get our values from a different source. Salvation keeps us grounded in God's perspective, especially as we are reminded of his love, mercy and grace.

- sword of the Spirit, the Word of God: which we use to strike back at the enemy. Remember what Jesus did when faced by the enemy. The Word of God was his defence. It is our defence. Philosophies and clever ideas from our own mind already belong to the enemy. It is only the Word of God that has any effect on our foe. Know it well. Learn to use it. Become an effective warrior.

I will talk about prayer in all of this tomorrow.

For today, if you have any desire to stand for Jesus, to take your stand, to be the mighty warrior you have been called to be in the army of Jesus Christ, then you better understand God's armour well. You better make sure it is in place every day. Without it you will not succeed as you have been called to succeed. With it, no evil force or influence can come close to touching or harming you. With it, you are a giant walking on the face of this earth. Make sure you have it in place before you start your day. Rise up mighty warrior of God.

You Are Not A Victim, Warrior Of God

I really dislike it when people teach that there is nothing for us to do, that we must just sit back and allow God to do it all. Funny, when I read the Bible and listen to the Spirit I hear God calling me to join him in his mission. I hear Jesus telling me to GO! I hear him telling me I will DO greater things than he did. I hear God calling me to action, not slumber.

First perceptions are sometimes hard to overcome and so we must examine by the Word of God what we have perceived as truth in the Church. Sometimes the way we were raised in the Church was according to man's interpretation of God's Word and not by the Spirit of truth. Stop going by hearsay and check into it yourself.

First of all, we are not victims.

Right now ask Jesus to deliver you from that victim mentality. Stop blaming others and stop looking for excuses. You have been chosen as a warrior of the Kingdom of Jesus not a citizen of this world. Nothing can harm you or come against you because of Jesus who is in you. Nothing can overwhelm you and what looks like defeat God uses to glorify himself and he does huge things with it.

What you have been chosen for by the King is to be the warrior who stands and represents him! Yes, you stand and keep the ground you have been given. You have been chosen as a warrior, not to defend yourself and look after your own needs but to represent the King and fight for the lost and weak.

We do not defend those God loves for ourself but because of who we represent. No foul beast or mangy spirit will come against those whom God loves because he has put the Spirit of God in us so that we can defend them as warriors of the Kingdom. Yes, God is the defender but he has raised up an army to work through. We seem to fail to understand this simple fact. He left us here for a reason. There is purpose in our staying. We have been called so he can fight through us.

You disagree? You think we are suppose to just sit around reading our Bibles and singing songs? Then you need a paradigm shift.

You need to hear Jesus' command again. You need to see the King with fresh eyes. While walking this earth he was a man of action through the Spirit and he sent that same Spirit on us so that we may be men and women of action. He defended the weak. He sought those who were lost. He fed those who were hungry. He put the enemy to flight as he sent demons scurrying. He brought the light to people's thinking and perception. He rescued them from the darkness. He defeated death.

You need to hear apostle Paul's battle cry as he called us out as warriors of love, equipped by the Spirit to fight and defend the weak and the lost:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)

Does that not stir the spirit inside of you as God calls you in that deep place and you respond: deep calling to deep? You are not a victim. You have no excuses. You are a warrior sent by Jesus to speak and act in the authority, in the name, of the King. You do not fight for yourself, you fight for the King. You do not defend yourself, you defend others in the authority of the King. How dare anything come against what belongs to the King of kings!

We do not do such things for our glory but for the glory of the King. Ours is not self-ambition but our motivation comes from a deeper place, from the greatest motivation of all:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

When we know this love we know our place. When we know this love we know our strength. When we know this love we know the truth of our existence and purpose.

We are not victims. We are warriors who gladly bear the scars and burdens of our calling, who are not ashamed to be the King's representatives, and who joyfully lay down our lives for others in the name of the King. We have been chosen for this by the King himself. It is who we are and what we do in the authority of the King. Get off that bed of self-pity. Get your armour on. Get back in the battle!

How Are You Doing With Sin?

How are you doing with this whole sin thing? It's not the easiest thing to avoid, considering how long we have bathed in it. Sin was as natural to us as breathing. It is not something we had to think about as we did it without a thought about what we were doing. Oh certainly there were certain sins that our parents had warned us about that we had to consciously make a decision to enter into, but most of the time they were little things, like hating someone. Even wanting what someone else had, being envious, prideful, boasting, a small lie, a lustful look, an unjust decision, all seem so little and did no real harm and yet are still held in the same category as murder according to God's law. Sin is sin and the only way that its authority becomes less is when Jesus becomes more.

First of all, Jesus died to break the hold that sin had over us. We have to accept that sacrifice, repent of our past, and declare Jesus as Lord of our lives. This means that we die with him on the cross and are raised to life with Jesus. We are dead and the only way we can live is through Jesus. Without him we are just dead. He is our life today and in the next life to come. Now, because the power and authority of sin has been broken and we are no longer slaves to it we are free to make a choice. We can choose to live according to the righteousness of Jesus, becoming a slave to it, or we can consciously decide to submit ourselves once again to sin. This is the reason the writer of Hebrews exhort us to:

... throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)

I really get inspired by this passage. Throw it off, the writer tells us. Make that decision to cast it aside, not to get entangled in it any more. We can't do this by ourselves because we don't have the ability so it is a good thing we died and are now living through Jesus because he does have the power. He not only overcame sin, he empowers us through the Spirit in us to do the same. The Spirit is our source of life, the source of God's power that enables us to do all things through Jesus. It is this that the writer continues with:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)

Fix your eyes on Jesus who has beaten sin and has empowered us, who have died and been risen with him, to do the same thing. We have the resurrection power pumping through us by the Spirit of God in us. "None of us and all of Jesus", has to be our every waking thought. Paul also encouraged Timothy in this:

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:11)

Notice the action and effort in all of this. We have to actively "flee" from sin. We know what causes us to fall. We know our own weakness. We know how to "flee" from sin, so now we need to put all our effort into that and the power of God will strengthen us to overcome. Flee from everything that is not of the character of Jesus Christ and instead actively pursue right living, the character of Jesus, faith, love, the ability to go the distance with Jesus and gentleness. It is great to love Jesus and to worship him but actively pursue to live your life for his glory. Throw off the stuff that robs him of his glory, that denies his power in us, that sucks the love out of our life and instead fill your life with the pursuit of all things Jesus.

That means you may have to decide to cut certain things out of your life, things you enjoy but things that rob you of God's power and your love for Jesus. An athlete may really enjoy candy but candy will not enable him to win the race. The desire to win that race will cause that athlete to cast aside his enjoyment of candy. Perhaps for us it is certain music or bands we need to flee from, or perhaps certain TV shows that promote sin instead of righteousness. It might even be some parts of social networking like Tumblr, which has no filter for righteousness and is filled with tons of things that can destroy a man's resolve to go all the way with Jesus. I don't know what it is for you but I do know that the enemy has made sure that it is close enough to attract you. Throw it off, flee from it and make your life focused on Jesus. Paul writes:

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12)

Fight! Fight the good fight of faith. It is all about faith, trusting God, trusting the promises of Jesus. He has promised that you have been set free from sin. Don't listen to your flesh, put it under the authority of your spirit. You may be weak in the flesh but you are not weak in the spirit; you are a mighty warrior. You are strong in the Lord, empowered by the Holy Spirit, a child of righteousness, wholly saved and given the task to glorify Jesus before the nations. Sin is never worth it but Jesus is. Fix your eyes on him and run the race that is marked out for you with all your passion and strength. Do nor grow weary because the Spirit will enable you when you are weak. It is in your weakness that you will find God's power shining through. Go for it!

Ascribe To The Lord The Glory Due His Name

So how was your day yesterday? And the day before that? How about the one before that? Sometimes we don't think about it as much as we should and other times we think about it too much. But here we are on another Sunday, a day of reflection, of thanksgiving, of celebration as we worship Jesus our Lord. We have arrived on this day with all the baggage we picked up over the last week and probably with some we have been carrying with us for a long time. We need to do something with all this baggage because it is weighing us down.

It is a perfect day to deal with it because it is a day we are focusing on the greatness of our God. It is important that we deal with it because it is getting in our way. We are not here for ourselves. Our stuff was taken care of on the cross; the day we accepted Jesus as Lord all our "things" were swept away. We were told not to pick up any more "things", that we no longer belong here but we have been left here to serve God's purpose. So we are servants and servants don't take care of their own needs, their master does that for them so they are free to serve. That is exactly what Jesus promised us. He told us not to worry about our needs, that our Father will take care of us, but we are to  seek the things of the Kingdom. That means serve.

If we have all this baggage we keep picking up and carrying around with us we get to the point where we are too busy managing it to be able to serve. Serving is when we are occupied with other people, being part of their life. If we don't love people we need to question our love for God. Worshiping, learning and growing are important parts of our lives which keep us focused and healthy but if that is all there is then we are in the wrong. We are here to be an influence for Jesus in people's lives. Plain and simple. So let's take care of this baggage.

We do that by remembering who we serve and giving all the baggage over to him. We probably can't find solutions to them anyway and it is the reason we are carrying them around in the first place. Jesus can find solutions and restore our peace. So, let's remember who he is. The psalmist wrote:

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, 
   ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; 
   worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. (Psalm 29:1-2)

Ascribe means to say that it belongs to the Lord, it is his character, to credit him with this thing. The psalmist is saying realize this is who our God is. So, as you stand there with all that baggage confess with your mouth the glory and strength of our Lord. Allow him to be as big, as large, as mighty, as powerful as he is. As you allow him to be that powerful in your life your baggage begins to look pretty small. Compare it to his largeness instead of to your smallness.

We glorify God for everything he has done in the past, for everything we read in the Word, for what he has done in other people's lives but we often fail to glorify him in ours. What has he done in our lives? What has he done for me? How has he helped me in the past? How many times has he rescued me? How faithful to his promises has he been in my life? I need to credit him with these things. I need to credit him the glory due his name because of the many things he has done for me. As I do this I begin to know I can trust him with this baggage I have refused to let go of because he has been faithful with so many things in my life. I now feel overwhelmed with the need and desire to glorify him by trusting him with everything. That's what happens when we truly worship our Lord.

I really like how the psalmist refers to us as "mighty ones". That is very insightful into what we become when Jesus is truly Lord over us, when we trust him with everything and glorify his name in our living a life of trust. We become mighty ones because nothing can shake us or cause fear to reduce us. We are like mighty warriors who are not afraid of the battle because we are confident of the strength of our King. We serve in his army, glad to lay down our lives because it no longer belongs to us. We realize that our lives are for the glory of our King, that we are here to serve and our service is to others. Jesus said that no soldier gets involved in the affairs of civilians. In other words, the normal affairs of this life are no longer the baggage we carry around. We are warriors and we only carry what is necessary for the fight. Let's enter into worship today recognizing all that God has done for us, ascribing to him the glory due his name, and allow him to take the baggage from us so we can be refreshed for the battle.