“Prayer is that mightiest of all weapons that created natures can wield.” Martin Luther

“Intercessory prayer is our most powerful and strategic corporate weapon in spiritual warfare.” Chip Ingram

“Prayer should bring us face to face and eyeball to eyeball with God in an intimate relationship.” Rick Renner

“We lose battles when we fight them with our own strength, in our own manner. But when we learn to fight (pray) as God does there will never be a lost battle ever again.” Eric Ludy

“God must love the game of chicken because He plays it with us all the time. He has this habit of waiting until the very last moment to answer our prayer to see if we chicken out or pray through.”

“Here is an incredible thought: Long before you woke up this morning the Holy Spirit was interceding for you. And long after you go to bed tonight, the Holy Spirit will still be interceding for you. That ought to change the way we wake up and fall asleep. That ought to give us the courage to chase lions.” Mark Batterson

“What happens when you pray? The Holy Spirit knows what God has for you! The Holy Spirit’s task is to convince you to ask for it. What will happen when you ask for things God already wants to give or do? You will always receive it. Why? Because you have asked according to His will.” Henry Blackaby

One of the most important requirements for success in all wars, in addition to defensive and offensive weapons, is communications. God has chosen prayer as His desired method of communications.  Not in the form of a General commanding his army but a person to person conversation.

The armor of God does not end with the sword of the spirit but, continues:

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20 NASB)

God needs men and women who can wrestle with the powers of darkness and not shy away. God is looking for soldiers who don’t buy the enemy’s bluff, but rather, are wholly convinced that the blood of the cross is able to defeat every foe.

• With guidance from the Holy Spirit we will know what to pray and when to pray it, with His super natural powers backing it up.

• With the Word of God dwelling in us, we are much less likely to pray prayers that are out of line with God’s plan. Thus, when we pray, our prayers will be accurate and in line with His predetermined plan for our life. We will be praying God’s will.

We will probably never experience more opposition than when we pray consistently and intensely under God’s leading. There are reasons prayer doesn’t always come easily for us. We have enemies that want to make it difficult.

Daniel experienced this:

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” (Dan 10:1-2, 12-14 NASB)

What we need to remember is that prayer is powerful. In fact, it is probably much more powerful than you or I have ever imagined. They shudder when God’s people begin to pray. The reason we aren’t convinced of that fact is that we usually fail to pray consistently, intensely, and strategically.

• In ‘Extraordinary’ John Bevere states:

“Often there’s a time period that begins when we originally believe God for something specific and continues until the work is completed or manifested. I call this time the ‘critical belief period.’ It’s the period when what you are ‘believing for’ hangs in the balance; it can go either way, and it’s all according to your faith. I say to the people who are questioning why God ‘did not come through’ for them, ‘somewhere in the critical belief period, you believed more in the adversity than in God’s Word.’”

• In the ‘Circle Maker’ Mark Batterson words it this way:

“Just like the sound barrier, there is a faith barrier. And breaking the faith barrier in the spiritual realm is much like breaking the sound barrier in the physical realm. If you want to experience a supernatural breakthrough, you have to pray through. But as you get closer to the breakthrough, it often feels like you’re about to lose control, about to fall apart. That is when you need to press in and pray through. If you allow them to, your disappointments will create drag. If you allow them to, your doubts will nosedive your dreams. But if you pray through, God will come through and you’ll experience a supernatural breakthrough.”

True prayer is confident in the power of prayer.

• It issues forth with assurance, knowing that when prayer is done in alignment with the will of God, then it will be effective and it will be mightily answered.
• Never underestimate His ability to show up anytime, anyplace, anyhow. He has infinite answers to our finite prayer. If God has put a promise in your heart (the answer to a prayer) continue to believe it until it comes to pass.

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:10-14)

Too often our prayers revolve around asking God to reduce the odds in our lives. We want everything in our favor.

• Maybe God wants to stack the odds against us so we can experience a miracle of divine proportions.
• Maybe our impossible situations are opportunities to experience a new dimension of God’s glory.

To the infinite all finites are equal. There is no big or small, easy or difficult, possible or impossible.

• When it comes to God, there are no degrees of difficulty.
• Living in prayer mode is the difference between seeing coincidences and providences.
• Prayer has a way of helping us recognize that what we might dismiss as human accidents are really divine appointments.

Here are some examples:

Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jahar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. (Joshua 10:12-14 NASB)

Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go back” seven times. It came about at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’” In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:41-45 NASB)

Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” So Hezekiah answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn backward ten steps.” Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. (2 Kings 20:9-11)

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:38-44)

Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn’t offended by our boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less.

• If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don’t require divine intervention.
• The goal is glorifying God. Our problems are never bigger than God. God is always bigger than our problems. Our biggest problem is our small view of God.
• It is a high view of God that is the solution to all our problems. The size of our prayers depends on the size of our God. And if our God know no limits, then neither should our prayers.
• The enemy has nothing to counter with when we pray knowing God has no limits.

When we have stored in our hearts a strong foundation of accurate knowledge based on God’s Word, we can be very bold and courageous in our prayer life.

• God desires that we move forward boldly and courageously in prayer in order to seize His will for our life and bring it into manifestation.
• In praying we need to trust that God will fight our battles for us. It’s the way we take our hands off the challenges we face and put them into the hands of God almighty. And He can handle them.

The hard thing is keeping our hands off. Our most powerful prayers are linked to the promises of God. When you know you are praying the promises of God, you can pray with holy confidence. God promises our victory over the enemy, we need to believe that as we pray boldly and courageously.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank You for entrusting me with all the weapons I need to keep the devil defeated in my life. I repent for not always taking advantage of the full weaponry You have provided. Prayer is powerful – yet I admit that I have neglected this piece of weaponry in my life. Instead of ignoring this vital piece of weaponry, I want to learn how to use every form of prayer that is available to me so I can stop the devil from making up-close attacks in my life. Thank You for this vital weapon of warfare. Please teach me to use it powerfully, forcefully, and effectively against the works of the devil. I pray this in Jesus Name.

I confess that prayer is a vital piece of my spiritual weaponry. Because I use the strategic piece of weaponry I am able to stop the enemy from attacking me. I pray with authority and that authority gives me the ability to strike the enemy form a distance while maintaining a victorious position in my life. With the power of prayer at my disposal, I can be sure of absolute and total victory. Although the devil tries to attack me, I overcome each of his attacks by striking from a distance with prayer and supplication. I commit myself to using all forms of prayer and supplication. As I do, I will continually reinforce Jesus Christ’s triumphant victory over Satan in every area of my life. I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!