The Mighty Weapon of Prayer

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

2 Corinthians 10:4

Let us believe in our weapons. Let us take renewed confidence in what God has given to us. It is the only way we can be strong again in the strength and the power of the Lord. Let us remember that faith-prayer is a mighty weapon, directly attacking the source of the problem, bringing into play spiritual forces superior to those dark spiritual forces that are behind the manifestations of evil in our day. Remember the many exhortations and promises in Scripture that relate to this matter of prayer. You do not have to understand all about prayer in order to pray — you learn what prayer is by praying; you learn as you go. It is only as you obey what God says that you begin to grasp what God means. As you begin to pray, you will learn to pray. To that end we have great exhortations and great promises to encourage us.

The Lord Jesus said, And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13). The Father loves to be glorified in the Son, and the Son's whole purpose in coming is that he might glorify the Father. And, Jesus says, this is the way it is done: You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (John 14:14). He said, too, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move (Matthew 17:20). Those are great words, great promises. If you have faith… It must be faith in response to what God has said, not merely a blind leap in the dark. Faith is never a groundless hope that God will do something. That is not faith. Faith is based upon what God has said he will do, and consists of our counting upon it. If you have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed, you shall ask what you will and it will be done unto you!

All the apostles also confirmed these promises. The Apostle John says, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him (1 John 5:14-15). The Apostle Peter says, The end of all things is near. If Peter could write that two thousand years ago, having begun the last period of history before the Lord was to come again, how much more can we say it of today, when we see so many prophetic aspects of the Scriptures being fulfilled? The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. (1 Peter 4:7). Prayer is the weapon by which things are kept in line until God's purposes are fulfilled.

Also, how many examples we have in the Scriptures along this line, examples of how the prayers of God's people have actually intervened directly in the affairs of government, politics, or normal life, the working out of the normal operations of a nation. Father, help us to take these things seriously. Surely we can see how seriously the apostles and the early Christians took them, and what mighty results were obtained as they believed and acted.

Forgive my unbelief, Father, and forgive my refusal to take seriously your encouragement to pray and to act upon them. Amen.