Teach Us To Pray - Prayer Warriors

Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiply Church Podcast.

Each week we open God's word together to help you meet God and multiply good in your everyday life.

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Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.

I've been thinking about this last installment of Teaches to Pray.

I asked myself this question: if this was the last sermon I ever preached on prayer, what would I say?

And so that's where I'm coming to you today with this word, and it's been on my heart.

The title of today's message is Prayer Warriors.

See, a lot of times when we hear that word, prayer warriors, we think of a little old granny sitting in a chair somewhere with a Bible across the lap.

And yes, there are a lot of prayer warriors that look that way, but I also want you to think about prayer warriors as school teachers, or a truck driver, or a teenager, or construction worker, or a nurse, or a businessman.

All of them can be prayer warriors accessing the power of heaven from the Lord of heaven's armies.

See, the last uh uh I'm just a few days away from reading through the whole Bible again, and I've been so enjoying going through the one-year chronological Bible.

I've been loving it because it puts all of the books and the chapters and the timeline in the chronology and order of the scripture, and it's just so amazing to see the different portions and different parts of the Bible that were happening in the same years.

And as over the last three months, as I've been coming to the end of the Old Testament, God is referred to most frequently, it feels like and seems like as the Lord of heaven's armies.

And what that means for us today is that God is a general who's ready to dispatch an army to us if we would simply ask.

See, so oftentimes we're satisfied with what I'm calling lame duck prayers.

God, help me have a good day.

God, be with us.

And God's like, I covered the be with us part in the very beginning when I created you and everything in this world.

And I'm guilty of this as well of praying weak prayers at times, but we're not coming to the Lord with weak prayers.

We want to come to God with warrior prayers.

And I know, you know, we all have our struggles in this life, we all have sin and things that we deal with, and my poor wife has to listen to me complaining at times when I'm not believing in faith, around the house, the things that are going on, and every so often she hits me with a have you prayed about it?

And I'm like, Have you praying about it?

No, I haven't actually prayed about it, but now I'm going to pray about it because you said that.

See, there are so many things that are keeping us from being prayer warriors: unforgiveness as a block and a barrier between your relationship with God, divided loyalties, having one foot in and one foot out of your walk with the Lord, relational dishonor, misdirected warfare.

We're gonna we're gonna cover all of these and we're gonna talk about all of these as we talk about what it is to be a prayer warrior and where we're going today, and what my goal is today is for us to understand that prayer warriors move mountains when they ask in the authority of the one who actually can and align their hearts with his heart.

So, what I'm gonna do today is a little bit intense, and so if you're new, welcome, welcome to multiply, glad you're here.

We're gonna go through some of the most hardcore verses on prayer today that are calling us to forgiveness, to praying for our enemies, for doubting our doubts.

And so, are y'all ready to go?

In the New Testament, we're gonna be going through New Testament scripture today, starting with Jesus' example in Mark chapter 11, starting in verse 22.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

If you have your Bibles, please turn there.

If you've got your phone app, pull it up.

It's gonna be on the screen as well.

Jesus is talking to his disciples and he's giving them instruction on prayer, and he says this.

Then Jesus said to the disciples, have faith in God.

I tell you the truth.

You can say to this mountain, you may you be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and it will happen.

But you really must believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.

I tell you, you can pray for anything.

And if you believe that then you'll receive it and it will be yours.

But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.

Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he tells them that if they pray that they could see mountains moved.

Now, Jesus is in Israel, and he's telling his disciples this with the background and the backdrop of Israel.

And I've been there before, and one of the one of the marvels of the Roman military and their occupation of Israel at the time is that the Romans knew how to build.

And the evil king, uh the evil king, Governor Herod, had built several fortresses.

One that I've been to at Masada, which is built all the way at the top of this mountain where they cut the top off this mountain and put this palace of Masada, where literally there were like pools and bathhouses at the top of a mountain that somehow they got that up there.

I don't know how they did that.

There also was the Herodium, which was a uh a palace that was built for King Herod, that literally cut off and cut it, carved into the side of a mountain, and they built a palace.

And so Jesus is telling his disciples, you can move mountains with knowing that an evil king had already moved earth and mountain into the sea.

And Jesus is saying, How much more can the king of the universe move mountain is in your life?

If you would just not doubt and if you would believe in faith.

And then he says, for them to forgive and not hold a grudge.

See, as we talk about these scriptures today, I want us to look at the whole counsel of God and for us to have a right and correct theology when it comes to our prayer life.

He says, Don't hold a grudge, but instead forgive, so then you will be forgiven.

And Jesus is talking about forgiveness.

Jesus gives this other hardcore instruction about loving and forgiving our enemies and praying for them.

In Matthew chapter 5, verse 43, Jesus says, You have heard the law that says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

Matthew 5:43

But I say, love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you.

In that way you will be acting as true children of the of our your Father in heaven, for he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he rent and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

My uh six-year-old Ember, she uh got baptized this year and it's this uh this summer, and it's uh it's an absolute joy.

And she's just now learning to read, and she can read just a little bit, a few words on a page.

And so, what that means is that everything that Ember knows about Jesus, we have either taught her, she's learned at church, or she's learned in the TV show Superbook about Jesus.

That's what she knows about Jesus.

And so uh we were having lunch together as a family after church one day, and we were talking about the week, and she was telling us about what was going on at school, and she was talking about at the playground some boys that have been chasing her and being mean to her, and she said, They're my enemies.

And I was like, Well, you know, sis, that's kind of intense for the playground, but um I want to I just I want you to know this.

It actually Jesus tells us that we should love our enemies and that we should pray for them.

And she said, What?

Impossible.

That's what she said.

I was like, no, sis, literally, literally Jesus said that we should love our enemies, that we should pray for them.

She's like, Jesus did not say that.

He could not have said that.

See, sometimes I find myself frustrated with people, but then I remember that I haven't even prayed about it.

And maybe for you, you're praying for some kind of relief in your life from a coworker or a family situation or something that's going on, but you've not yet released the grudge that's blocking forgiveness in your heart.

And so, what where we start is with Jesus coming to us and asking for us to pray to move mountains and truly believe it.

And then he goes on to tell us that we should love people that are unlovable, that are our enemies.

What Jesus is calling us to is to a prayer life that is much more intense than the weak lame duck prayers, but instead for us to actually pray prayers that He will move and hear and want to hear us moving in faith, these big things over our life, which is for us that we would pray dangerously.

That's my first point to pray dangerously.

Somewhere in this building, when we moved into this building a month before our second birthday, which is a miracle in its own right, we came into this building and we wrote scriptures and prayers all over this room.

One of them on the floor.

This one's still here.

It says clean hands, pure heart.

And and somewhere in the room, I don't know where it is, but really big, somebody wrote something that we say a lot around here, which is dream big, pray bigger.

Before his prayers are supposed to be reverent, hands clasped, head bowed, using these and thou's language.

Have you even read the scripture?

Have you read Job and what he called out to the Lord as his family was being destroyed?

How about Jeremiah, who was praying for an entire nation to turn back to God and they didn't?

How about David when he was pleading with God for him to save him from death of King Saul and a contrite heart after he committed adultery?

Let me ask you this.

If you were to have kept a prayer journal for all the prayers that you prayed over this last week, if they had all come true, how different would the world be?

Different at all?

Or were they filled with help me have a good day prayers?

Would your family be any different?

How would your family's life look?

How would your children's life look?

How would your grandchildren's life look if all of your prayers came true over the last week?

In the last two weeks, somebody has uh somebody somebody in a situation that somebody broke my trust and hurt me.

And it took me a couple of weeks of praying about it and praying for them.

But this last week we got on a phone call and I forgave that person before they asked for forgiveness.

Now I don't say that to puff myself up, I'm saying this to tell you everybody deals with this.

We're all dealing with this.

And it's so painful and so hurtful.

But this this week was an opportunity for me to grow.

See, everyone says that they want spiritual growth.

But look at what James, the half-brother of Jesus, tells us that the path to growth truly is.

James chapter 1, verse 2.

James 1:2

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

For you know that when your faith is tested, everybody say tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

So let it grow.

For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

If you need wisdom, act ask our ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.

He will not rebuke you for asking.

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.

Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalties is as unsettled as a wave in the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they're unstable in everything that they do.

See the word, this word from James, it it rhymes with the instructions that Jesus gave us in Mark chapter 11.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

That we would pray to move mountains, that we'd we would have faith in God.

And James says, in God alone.

And Jesus said, Have no doubt in your heart.

Here's the thing about doubt.

See, we we we all have at times, we have doubts that pop into our minds and we have questions about God.

Even like right now, I feel like it's kind of uh this is a big theme that's going on in Christianity because there's so much access now to Bible information and social media and people who are telling you, oh, these are the hidden truths of of God, and well, actually, this is you know, the the Bible's not true because of this, and all these different things, and people are going down these rabbit holes and there's drumming up these doubts in your life.

Can I tell you that God is not offended by your doubts?

He can handle them.

His shoulders are broad enough for your questions and your doubts, so bring them to the Lord.

But I will tell you this if you wallow and if you just live in your doubts, there will be consequences for it.

James says that if you have doubt in your heart, you're like a wave that's being tossed back and forth.

And then a person who's just living in these doubts that they should not expect to receive anything from God.

See, over the last couple of years, I've focused less on getting all the words perfect in my prayers and more on actually believing it will happen.

And maybe for you, you've got into a situation, and maybe you're feeling this way right now, or have you felt it in the past where your prayers are just hitting the ceiling?

And God hears us, but he also tells us that we should push into our faith and into our doubts that we should grow, discover, learn, address the things that we have doubts in our lives because he can handle them.

And then, even more than that, God hears us, but there are some exceptions, and I'm gonna give right now a scripture that is hardcore, that barely ever gets preached, and it's calling our husbands in the room up to the next level.

Are y'all ready for that, guys?

This doesn't get preached very much, but I want to teach this to you.

In 1 Peter 3:7, Peter tells husbands, he says, In the same way you husbands must give honor to your wives.

1 Peter 3:7

Treat your wife with understanding as you live together.

She may be weaker than you are, but she's your equal partner in God's gift of new life.

Now look at this.

Treat her as you should, so your prayers will not be hindered.

Do I need to read it again?

Treat her as you should, so your prayers will not be hindered.

I I think about this passage like this.

If my daughter was to marry a man who was mistreating her, and then he came to me and asked me to bless him, I'm gonna have some things to say to him, but they're not gonna be blessings.

And I would be a good father.

And we have a good father and our father God.

So, men in the room, treat your rods, not harshly, but with love and cherish and respect.

That doesn't mean that you just, you know, fold to every single thing that your wife wants, but you're gonna treat her with honor and with respect so that your prayers and your relationship with God is not blocked.

That your prayers don't just hit the ceiling.

See, because you can't live like the devil and then expect God to bless everything that you do.

You reap what you sow.

It's all through the scripture, huge thing.

You reap what you sow.

So, what should we do?

We should pray the warrior way.

This warrior way, what what what what is a warrior, if a warrior goes into battle expecting to lose, he probably will.

So the doubts, dishonor of your wife, it's like it's like a kink in the hose, or like you're straddling the fence, one foot in your relationship with God, one foot in the world.

And what we have from God is this gift that He's given to us in prayer, that we would come to God and the authority that He's given to us by His power and His blood, that we would align ourselves with God's will for our life.

See, because as we pray, maybe the answer sometimes is yes, sometimes it's no, sometimes it's later, and sometimes in heaven, it will happen in heaven.

But it's definitely gonna be no if you never ask.

The Bible says, you have not because you ask not.

And so we align ourselves with God's will and we pray as prayer warriors, this warrior way to align ourselves with God's will, his great and pleasing and perfect will for us.

We even see Jesus do this in this famous scene that all of you know of Jesus the night before he's betrayed and arrested, is in the Garden of Gethsemane, he's praying.

And he's praying and sweat is pouring from his brow and blood is falling to the ground and his sweat.

And Jesus is praying to God and he asks God, if this cup, this cup of wrath, this cross, that God, if there's any other way that you can save the world, all of these children that I love, if there's any other way, let this cup pass.

Do it some other way than the cross.

And then he says, But not my will, but yours be done.

Even Jesus himself submitted himself to the good, pleasing, and perfect will of the Father.

And that plan ended up being the salvation of the entire world for you and for me.

That Jesus would be crushed, so that the curse would be broken of sin and that we could walk in new life.

You know, the enemy tells you, well, you know, if if you're not getting a yes to your prayers, well then God just doesn't care about this situation.

Or God doesn't care about you, or his plan isn't good, or I can't trust him.

Can I encourage you?

Can I encourage you to doubt your doubts?

When they pop into your mind, for you to ask yourself, is this coming from God?

Is this coming from the Holy Spirit?

Or is this coming from the enemy?

Because in Christ I have authority to take every thought captive and to pray and to seek God and to grow and to learn with Him.

And the authority that Christ gave to us on the cross.

See, authority is an interesting thing because you know a police officer doesn't have authority because he yells, but it comes from the badge that's on his chest.

And we have the seal of the Savior on our lives.

If we are in Christ, if you're a follower of Jesus, if you have been saved, you have been sealed and set free, and now you have the authority that God's given to you by his power on the cross and his blood for you to come to God with your doubts, with your anger, with your fear, and speak it out to him and have him show you, teach you, and heal you.

Paul understood this.

The apostle Paul wrote most of the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul understood this even when he was in chains.

When he writes to the Ephesians, he tells them how to battle in prayer.

The prayer of the warrior, in the warrior way.

And I want to go through this passage in Ephesians chapter 6 as Paul gives this battle plan and how to battle the forces of darkness.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Now, this section of scripture I'm about to read could be a whole sermon, multi-week sermon series in its own right, okay?

But we're gonna go through it right now together.

Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10.

Ephesians 6:10

A final word be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on all of God's armor so you'll be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world.

World and against evil spirit spirits in the heavenly places.

Verse 13.

Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you'll be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.

Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm.

Stand your ground.

Put on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness.

For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared.

In addition to all these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

Verse 17, I'll go on.

Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.

Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere and pray for me too.

Ask God to give me the right word so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the good news is for Jews and Gentiles alike.

I am in chains now.

Still preaching this message as God's ambassador.

So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him as I should.

Sometimes I'm so guilty of thinking just about the here and now, the problems that I'm experiencing in life.

It's just, it's just, oh, this person that's offended me or this thing that's happened, and not thinking about the spiritual battle that's being waged around us.

This is what we see in verse 12.

If he can pull it back up, he says, for we're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Maybe you're not being aware of the fact that there's a battle going on in the spiritual realm, and that's a factor in what's happening in your life.

And that you're fighting people instead of fighting powers of evil.

When you're in the kitchen and you're fighting with your spouse and you're just upset and you're fighting over the same thing you've fought off a thousand times before, and instead of having a heavenly mindset and thinking, my enemy is not this person that's in front of me, it's the enemy, it's Satan who's trying to divide my household.

It's the powers of darkness that are trying to come against my family.

And so I'm gonna pray, devil, be gone from this house, be gone from this relationship, be gone from this division.

This is my home in Christ.

Be gone, devil.

Are we thinking about what's happening in the spiritual world?

Fighting people instead of fighting the powers of darkness.

What should we do?

We should pray this plan that Paul has given us.

I should pray it.

You should pray it.

Pray your battle plan.

We do not fight against flesh and blood.

Maybe what you're doing is you're attacking people instead of attacking the powers of the darkness.

Maybe you're attacking your wife instead of attacking the devil.

Well, you know, the world says, well, you're just, well, it's just you're over-spiritualizing, okay?

You're over-spiritualizing this.

You know, behind that person that's bad mouthing you behind your back at work is a power of sin and darkness.

And they're letting the devil do his work.

So listen to me.

We don't fight people, we fight for people in prayer.

There are some things that are going on in our lives, and we perceive and think, oh, this is this is this person's the enemy, or this thing is going on, but we're where our minds are just being clouded and shielded from the spiritual battle and the realms of darkness that are going on.

Because here's the thing: it's because of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross that we can now have access to a spiritual power that we never have without Christ.

We have salvation, we have healing, we have our hearts that have been transformed and made new in Christ.

And in doing so, we have access to God's mighty power.

That we would arm ourselves and put on the armor of God and be ready for battle.

Because even as believers, there are times where there's sin that creeps into our life.

And it goes from just uh something that happens on an occasion to a true stronghold, something that has engulfed you and entangled you, and you need to step forward in prayer and confession to God, maybe even fasting, so that God would you, as you receive from God his forgiveness, because listen to me, listen to me, forgiveness comes from confessing our sins to God, but healing comes from confessing our sins to our brothers and sisters.

That's just what we learned in like the first or second week of the series.

That we should in the battle plan, that we should be praying and just looking at all these scriptures.

And so if you haven't written this down, I want you to write down what this battle plan is.

From the first passage we went through.

That number one, this battle plan is forgive and bless from Mark 11 and Matthew 5.

The second thing is to ask for wisdom, is what James chapter 1 said.

James 1 · chapter mention

That if you ask for wisdom, God's not going to rebuke you.

He's a generous God and he wants to help you know what to do in every situation that you're in.

He wants to give you the wisdom, so ask for it.

You have not because you ask not.

The third thing is that we need to have mountain-moving prayer.

That we would pray like warriors, asking God to move.

And the fourth thing is that we would armor up and that we would pray in the Spirit on all occasions in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

See, the authority that we have, it doesn't come from how well we pray, but it comes from the authority of the cross of Christ.

See, it was on the cross and out of the grave that Jesus destroyed the power of sin and darkness and conquered it, so that we could then be in right relationship with Him, that we could receive salvation in His name.

And the scripture says that the same power that raised Christ from the dead, now, if you are in Christ, now lives inside of you, coursing through your veins, if you just will receive it.

Jesus on the cross, he died and he broke the authority of the evil one by conquering death in the grave.

And one day he's coming back.

And all of powers are gonna be erased, but right now, what God has done has created an opportunity, an opportunity for you and me to be rescued, to receive his finished work on the cross for our salvation so that we would have be able to walk in his power, forgiven and set free.

But one day he's gonna return.

And the time of choosing will be over.

We have this power.

We have to receive it, we have to access it, we have to pray the warrior way.

Can you imagine, church?

Could you imagine if we all prayed this way in belief, not doubt?

What would happen in Frankfurt by Christmas?

What would be different if all of your prayers came true?

What are you praying for?

We started this whole series by talking about Jesus and his disciples and him teaching them how to pray.

And they asked him how to pray, and Jesus responds with the Lord's prayer, and he says, Our Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, and we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for that is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Every single line of that prayer, we've like dug in so deep over the last five weeks of each one of those things in that prayer, how we should pray.

And I I cannot tell you how ex happy, how thrilled I am that from this Sunday going forward, we're gonna have the opportunity for people to be prayed for in our services.

Starting this Sunday, you're gonna have the ability on either side of the room here.

There's gonna be people who are stationed there to pray for you in this closing song.

For you to be prayed for if you need to confess sin, if you need healing, if you need a financial breakthrough, if something has happened during your week, and these people who are praying, they're gonna pray in faith over you, they're not gonna counsel you, it's not all that it's it's literally they want to pray for you.

And I I just wonder the miracles that we have already seen in our church, what more does God want to do going forward?

We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message.

At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone.

If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey.

Visit multiplyky.com to let us know.

We love you and we'll see you again soon.