My Impressionistic Life: prayer

Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts

Friday, February 12, 2016

War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare

(reposted from my other blog - My Crazy Faith)

I strongly believe that there are angels and demons. That prayer matters. That there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time ... and that we need to get involved in it, actively and consciously. (Something I haven't been doing lately.)

Regardless of if we want it or not, we are constantly facing spiritual battles. But if we don't acknowledge them - if we stick our head in the sand and refuse to get involved, to put on our spiritual armor, to use the spiritual weapons that are available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one.

What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Room (or War Journal).

Have you ever seen War Room?

You should. It's a great movie. And it is so relevant to real life. To the life that is most real - the spiritual life.

"Can" or "Will"

“When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. . . .

Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’

‘From childhood,’ he answered. ‘. . . But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’

“ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.’” (Mark 9:20-24)

“A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’” (Matthew 8:2)

“If you can” verses “If you are willing.” These are two very different things. One comes from a place of doubt, wondering if Jesus is really that powerful and if He can do what we are asking Him to do. And one comes from a place of hope and trust, knowing that He can do anything we ask but that He might not and we will have to trust that He has His reasons.

Jesus tells the first man that “Everything is possible for him who believes.” If we don’t believe that Jesus can do something, we don’t ask. We don’t persevere in prayer. We don’t take any steps in faith. Because we’ve already decided that it’s not really possible for Him. And our unbelief prevents us from getting His help.

The Heart of Prayer

“I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)]

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46: 10)

A couple months ago, I was struggling with prayer, with laying requests down at God’s feet, with asking Him for more. I just couldn’t bring myself to “ask for more” when He’s already been so good to me. I felt like an ingrate who wasn’t satisfied with what He gave me, like asking for more would be showing that I didn’t appreciate what He already gave me, like it would say that I wasn’t content or joyful with my life.

I found myself tripping over the words in my prayer.

“Lord, You have been so good to me. And I am thankful for what I have. I’m not asking for something else or something more because I am not thankful, I’m just trying to be honest with what’s going on in my heart. We are supposed to be honest and lay our requests before You. But I don’t want to seem like I’m not thankful or content. You know that I am. Or at least I really try to be. But I still think it’s right to go to You with all wants and needs. So I’m not coming to You with my requests because I’m not thankful. I mean, You have proven to me how good You are by blessing me so much in the past, by always answering me, even if it’s not the answer I expected or wanted. But You always listen, always answer, and have always been good. And so I feel bad bringing another request to You, but . . . it’s just that . . . it’s just that . . .”

18 Questions I Don't Have Answers For (Yet!)

As I begin reading through the Bible for the 5^th or 6^th time in my life, I am once again struck with certain questions that I don’t have adequate answers for. I guess you could say these are the things that make me go “Huh?” Things such as . . .

1. In Numbers 22, we read about how Balaam was riding his donkey, trying to make it go down a certain path. The donkey had seen an angel standing in the road and wouldn’t go forward. So Balaam beat the donkey. Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth and the donkey said, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

"Don't Be Such a Chicken"- December

(If you want to do this Challenge in order, start in January! It’s where the introduction is.)

December

1. Ask God to help you find a new “verse of the month” and a new “word of the month.” Post it where you can see it. And ask Him to help you apply it. (And/or ask Him if there is any task/challenge He wants to give you this month.)