Wanted: Prayer Warriors

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Ephesians 6:18

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

NKJV

After putting on the whole armor of God, Paul tells the church in Ephesus to be watchful with all perseverance and supplication in prayer for all the saints.  The very fact that we must put on the whole armor of God is because we are in a battle, not battle with flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10-17).  However, just as the armies of Israel only prevailed in battle when Moses arms were raised, soldiers engaged in today’s spiritual battles need to support of our prayers of support to succeed in battle.

We need prayer warriors not afraid to enter into their war room of prayer praying for,

1)      Removal of obstacles in their own lives that may hinder the effectiveness of their prayers offered unto God.  These obstacles may come in the form of marital strife (1 Peter 3:7), not living in unity, or unforgiveness towards our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord (1 Peter 3:8-9).  Sin also represents an obstacle to effectiveness in prayer (Psalm 66:18). 

2)      Our church leaders – Our church leaders, like us, are sinful flawed individuals in need or our prayers.  Church leaders are also on the frontlines of the spiritual battle for the souls of lost men and women.  Our church leaders are also the shepherds over the flock and if the enemy can strike the shepherd, the sheep will scatter (Zechariah 13:7, Matthew 26:31). 

3)      The leaders of our nation (1 Timothy 2:1-2) – We must also pray for these leaders for they too are flawed sinful individuals who can be corrupted by the tremendous power available to them as leaders of our nation, states, and local communities.  We must therefore pray they remain humble and follow the Godly Principles of the Word of God and do not become corrupted by power.

4)      Our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord – Since we are all sinful individuals saved by the grace of God, we can all succumb to the temptation to return to our sinful lives.  Even the Apostle Paul experienced this struggle in his life and wrote about it in Romans 7:13-20.  We therefore must pray for strength to resist temptation for our fellow believers in order to insure they too can be effective prayer warriors.  Jesus reminds us that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is there with them (Matthew 18:20).  There is also strength in numbers in the spiritual battle we are engaged in (Leviticus 26:8).

Like it or not, we as believers find ourselves in a spiritual battle.  As we are reminded in Ephesians 6:12, it is not a typical battle with flesh and blood but a spiritual battle requiring special weapons (Ephesians 6:13-17) and requires constant prayer (Ephesians 6:18).  We therefore all must become prayer warriors spending time daily, maybe even several times daily in prayer as the Spirit of God leads us. 

Please comment to this blog if you are volunteering to become a prayer warrior in this spiritual battle.