Ron Dunn Podcast - Our Spiritual Warfare

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

The Christian life is a life of warfare. We need to be aware of the battle around us. As a child of God we are personally involved.

Now would you open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. The book of Ephesians, chapter 6, and follow along as I read verses 10 through 18. Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 18. We are continuing and concluding tonight our series on the ministry of intercession. Ephesians 6, beginning with the tenth verse and reading through the eighteenth. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Verse 8, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your lawns girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." The place of intercession in the spiritual warfare. The Christian life is a life of warfare. It is imperative that every Christian understand this and be aware of the conflict that is around him. He needs to be aware of the battle. The old ship of Zion is not a luxury liner on which we sail leisurely into heaven's harbor. It is a battleship, it is a man-of-war in which we engage the enemy. God says we come out victoriously. The Christian life is a life of conflict, of opposition. Five times in this passage, the apostle uses the word against.

The Christian is against something. The word wrestle is a Greek word that means hand-to-hand combat. It is a personal battle. It isn't something that you view from afar. You're not the general standing on yonder mountain watching everybody else do the fighting. If you are a child of God, you are personally involved in this conflict whether you know it or not. And the sad state of affairs is that many of us don't know it. And we have been captured by the enemy and tonight are in his prison camp

simply because we were not aware of a conflict, we were not acquainted with the enemy, and tonight are in his prison camp simply because we were not aware of the conflict, we were not acquainted with the enemy, and we weren't armed for the battle. It's a personal, intimate conflict in which every Christian is engaged. The spiritual warfare, and I want you to notice that this is a battle against supernatural forces. It is a spiritual warfare. One of the most important verses in all the Word of God is that twelfth verse, Vs. 12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Right there is where many of us have been missing the boat and have been being defeated because we have

thought that our conflict was with flesh and blood. And we have been fighting the battle on a physical plane. We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It is a spiritual battle. I have discovered why the church has been losing this battle so often. You know why we have been losing the battle? We haven't even been showing up for the war. That's what's wrong. There is just no way that you can win a war if you don't show up for it. We have been losing by forfeit. We're no shows. You know what's wrong with us? We've been going to the wrong theater of war. Now, I want

you to know it's hard put to win a battle if the war is going on in the Pacific Ocean and you're over here fighting in the Atlantic Ocean. We've not even been showing up for the war. We thought the war was waged on flesh and blood scale, and we have been using flesh and blood weapons all the time. The war has not been there at all. It is a spiritual warfare. It is fought with spiritual weapons. The enemy is not flesh and blood. That person that you can't get along with, that is not your conflict. Your conflict is with the power behind that. You remember when Jesus was confronted with Simon Peter,

and Simon Peter said, Lord, you're not supposed to do this, and you're never going to the cross, and you're never going to die. Jesus didn't talk to Simon Peter about it. He said, Get thee behind me, Satan. Jesus recognized that his conflict at that moment was not with flesh and blood. There was no use arguing with Simon Peter. There was no use appealing to Simon Peter's rationale and logic and trying to show him and convince him that it was wrong. Jesus recognized that he was wrestling not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual

wickedness in high places. And he said, Get thee behind me, Satan. In Acts chapter 16 and verse 16, when Paul and Silas were on that missionary journey in the city of Philippi, and they were being trailed by a fortune teller. And after a few days, Paul said, I don't have to put up with this, following us around and giving us testimony, saying these men are servants of the Most High God. And by the way, the Lord doesn't like the devil to advertise his business. Finally, the apostle Paul turned to that woman. He didn't try to convince her of the evils of fortune-telling. He did not try to convince her to give up her evil ways. The Bible says he turned and he spoke to the spirit within her and said,

in the name of Jesus, I command you to come out of her. Paul had enough sense to know that our battle was a spiritual battle. I heard a great testimony this morning. A member of our church, a young lady, met me afterward and she said, I led my first person to Jesus this past week. She was so thrilled. I wish she was able to be here tonight and give her this testimony herself but she said you know as i began to witness to i prayed first and i just bound the

devil like you said like the bible said just used all that good stuff and uh i just rebuked the devil and i bound the devil and i didn't think any more about it and after she was saved she said you know in your prayer when in the name of jesus you commanded Satan to be balanced, all of a sudden something happened inside me. Just something happened inside me. Now that young lady had enough sense to know that our wrestling is not with flesh and blood. The war is on a spiritual level. And the reason the church of Jesus Christ today is being defeated by the devil is, we've not even been showing up for the war. We've been fighting the battle on a fleshly material plane, and that's not where the battle is fought at all. You don't win the battle with buildings and budgets. You don't win the

battle with organizations and programs. I'll show you in a minute where those things come in. They're important, but that's not how you win the battle. We thought if we had big enough buildings and a high-powered preacher and the right kind of facilities and all these good organizations and programs, we could just completely wipe out the devil. Well, we haven't done it. He stood back and laughed at us because we're not even in the theater of war. It's a spiritual battle.

And I want you to know you're going to have to find out what are the spiritual weapons that God has placed within your hands. So Paul says, wake up to this battle. Be aware of the war. Be acquainted with your enemy. Be armed for the conflict. Notice in verse 13, if you are going to fight a spiritual battle, you are going to have to have spiritual armor and spiritual weapons.

Verse 13, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Now beginning in verse 14, he describes the armor with which the Christian is to clothe himself for the war. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. Have on the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God."

Now I want to share with you one of the greatest discoveries I have ever made in the word of God. Paul says there is a war, it is a spiritual war, now you get ready for it. Put on the whole armor of God. Arm yourself, equip yourself, take your weapon, the sword of the Spirit. All right, here I am, Paul, I'm all ready to go. Got the helmet of salvation on. Got this big old body shield of faith. I've got the belt girt tight around me to secure me and to hold every other weapon in place.

My feet are shod with the preparation, with the readiness to obey the will of God. I've got the sword. Where's the war? Point me to the war. I'm ready to fight. Now I want you to notice something. What does Paul tell us to do after we've made this minute preparation? What does he tell us to do in verse 18?

Praying always with all prayer and supplication. Can you beat that? After I have made this intense preparation and I put on me the whole armor of God, I've got the sword, I'm ready to go, all he tells me to do is to pray. He doesn't tell me to go out and build a building. He doesn't tell me to go out and witness. He doesn't tell me to go out and preach. He doesn't tell me to organize a visitation program. He simply tells me to pray. Did you know that the warfare is prayer? That's the warfare. The warfare is prayer.

That's the warfare. That's why we've been missing it. That's why we've been losing. That's why we've been missing it. That's why we've been losing. That's why we've been suffering defeat. We thought the warfare was my going out and locking horns with some sinner and trying to convince him to believe what I believe, building up this program and doing this and doing that. The warfare is not that at all.

The warfare is prayer. Everything that Paul is telling us to do in preparation in verses 10 through 17 is so that we'll be able to pray. After you put on all this armor, then you're ready to go into battle. Where do I engage the enemy? Where is the enemy? Where is the war? The war is prayer. The war is prayer. Do you know what evangelism is? Do you know what witnessing is? Do you know what soul winning is? Soul winning and witnessing and evangelism is going out on the field of battle and picking up the spoils of victory that have already been won by the cross of Christ, my appropriating that cross through prayer.

You know what the place of buildings is? You know what the place of organizations is? Do you know what the place of programs is? Programs and organizations and all of this, they are the trucks that we drive out to the field to load up all the spoils of victory. Those are the methods, those are the machines, those are the trucks that we use to pick up the spoils of war. Jesus already did it all on the cross 2,000 years ago.

I appropriate that, make it real today through the ministry of prayer and intercession, and then I can go out and witness, and then I can stand up and preach, and then we can build our buildings and promote our programs and go up and just pick up the dead bodies off the ground that Jesus has won. That's what evangelism is. Evangelism isn't trying to win the battle. Evangelism is going out and picking up the spoils of a battle already fought and won by Jesus, appropriated by me through the ministry of intercession. You remember over in Exodus 17 when they met Amalek, who was always the enemy of God's people. They met him there in the valley of Rephidim.

And here's what Moses did. Moses said, Joshua, I want you to go down in the valley, and you meet the enemy. And I'm going to stand up here on the mountain. I'm going to hold up the rod of God. And I love that passage. I wish we had time tonight to read it. I just love it. Once in a while, I'll just turn over there and read that.

And like a friend of mine says, I just read myself happy just reading that. Exodus chapter 17. And so Moses stood on the mountain. He held high the rod of God. And when he held up the rod of God, Joshua down in the battle prevailed, prevailed. The battle went with Israel. When Moses lowered the rod,

the battle went to the enemy. And after a while, they caught on to it. And they said, listen, as long as that rod's in the rod, the battle went to the enemy. After a while they caught on to it. They said, listen, as long as that rod is in the air, we can beat him. So Aaron and Hur got on either side, one held up one arm, one held up the other, and they propped up his arms until the going down of the sun. Israel prevailed because the rod was held high. What won the battle? Was it Joshua down in the valley? No, it was Moses holding up the rod. Friend, that is the principle of intercession. What was Moses doing up yonder? He was interceding for Joshua. He was winning the battle for Joshua. What was Joshua doing? Joshua was the quarterback called in at the last quarter when they were ahead 100 to nothing,

and it was easy just to go ahead and complete the victory. That's what Joshua was doing. He was just out there on the field entering into the victory that was being won by God through the ministry of intercession. In Romans chapter 15, verse 30, Paul says, Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Strive together. Romans 15, verse 30, Paul says, Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Strive together. Romans 15, verse 30.

There again, the word to wrestle. Paul recognizes that prayer is a warfare. Prayer is the warfare. In Colossians 4, verse 12, Paul says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently, the same word again, striving, wrestling for you. You see, it's intercession. Wrestling for you, interceding for you, but it's a warfare, a hand-to-hand combat. The Word of God teaches me that the battle, the warfare, is in the realm of prayer, and

my experience teaches it too. Because there is no area of my life at which the devil tries to get the victory in the area of prayer. It seems to me I have time to do everything else but to pray. Have you ever noticed that? I have time to read my Bible, I have time to study, I have time to visit, I have time to do this, I have time to do that, I have time to visit my friends, I have time to go here and to go there, but I never seem to have time to pray. And when I get on my knees, that's when the phone rings, that's when somebody knocks on the door, that's when

all of these thoughts crowd into my mind, that's when I'm in a wrestling match with the devil. I heard Stephen Alford, that great preacher of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City, say, the most horrible times I have, the most evil thoughts that ever come to my mind, are when I'm on my knees in prayer. Well, no wonder. That's when you're engaging the enemy. And this ministry of intercession, Paul says in verse 18, "...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

Prayer is the warfare. And when you are praying and when you enter into the ministry of intercession, you are going to be entering in right at the front lines of the battle. And you are going to be standing and wrestling with the devil in this matter of intercession. Now, we touched on this a few weeks ago, and I want us to go back to it for just a moment tonight. In Daniel chapter 10, we have one of the most unusual accounts in all the Word of God of prayer. In verse 3, Daniel says, I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

Now, Daniel begins to pray and to fast. And this prayer and fasting period lasted for three weeks, for 21 days. Now let's look into verse 9. Verse 10, Yet heard I the voice of his words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

Now listen to the message of the angel. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard. Notice from the first day. From the first day God heard. And I am come for thy words. The angel says, I'm here in answer to your prayer. Isn't that great? I bet you never knew that, that the angels move at your prayers. Did you know that? You read Hebrews 1.14, and it says the angels are ministering spirits to minister for those of us

who are the heirs of salvation. And this angel says, I am come for thy words. From the very first day you began to pray and to fast, I left the throne of heaven to come and meet your need. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, twenty-one days, three weeks. The prince of Persia is the devil. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, the archangel, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now am I come to make thee understand, etc., etc. Now I want you to get this.

Daniel praying and fasting, needing a message from God for the people, interceding. His prayer puts God to work. That's what Jesus said, If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. And from the very first moment that Daniel began to pray, the angel left the throne of God. But there was a battle. There was a traffic jam up there. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. The devil will always oppose the movement of God. The devil will always try to stop the message, the word of God, from reaching the heart and the mind of a person

who is in need. There was a battle for 21 days, and for 21 days Daniel prayed and fasted. And when Daniel prayed and fasted for 21 days, Daniel was getting the angel through and withstanding the devil, and standing against. Daniel was wrestling not with flesh and blood, but with the powers of darkness and wickedness in high places. That's why when you begin to intercede and you pray that God will run and meet the need of this person, and this person may hear the word of God, and this person may have his need met,

and this person's eyes may be opened to the word of God, and his mind may be made receptive to the word of God, the devil immediately begins to withstand. The devil immediately begins to oppose and to fight. And that's why you must continue to stand praying. That's why you must continue to stand waging that warfare. You make up your mind to it tonight, Christian. If you are serious about entering into the ministry of intercession, you're going to have opposition from the devil. And that opposition is going to come in two ways. First of all,

it is going to be opposition Godward. The devil is going to do everything he can to keep the Word of God from reaching that lost person. He's going to do everything he can to oppose the power of God meeting the need of that lost person. And so you need to stand constantly against the devil in that man's life. The attack is going to come in a second way. It is going to come to you personally. The devil is going to assault you. He is going to try to fill your minds with doubts and uncertainties.

As you kneel to pray, he is going to cram into your mind all sorts of evil thoughts. He is going to cause this thing to happen and this thing to happen. He is going to raise up this obstacle. He is going to do everything he can to discourage you and defeat you personally. Now does that discourage you from entering into the ministry of intercession? It is a warfare. It is a warfare. So Paul says, if you are going to stand praying, then you had better put on the whole armor

of God. Now I want us to look at this passage in Ephesians 6 tonight and just briefly glance at the armor that's going to be necessary for you to put on if you're going to be able to pray and intercede successfully. Everything Paul talks about in this passage is to prepare ourselves to pray. Now I want to say three things. First of all, in this spiritual warfare, we are to pray standing. Notice the many times he uses the word stand.

Now in verse 4, he uses the word stand again, and that word stand there applies to everything else that follows in that passage. You're to stand with the lawns girt about. You're to stand having on the breastplate of righteousness. You're to stand with your feet shod. You're to stand with the Spirit of God. You are to stand praying. The word stand is a military word that means to hold your ground. That is significant. The word stand means to hold your ground. What ground? The ground Jesus won two thousand years ago when he died on

the cross. He has called you into the battle. You just hold the ground. You don't have to win any victories. You don't have to win any ground. You don't have to win any victories. You don't have to win any ground. You don't have to obtain any ground. You just hold the ground that I have won two thousand years ago by my death on the cross. You stand against the devil. And if you are going to stand against him in prayer, first of all, you must have your lawns girt about with truth.

This was a wide belt. And the purpose of this belt was twofold. First of all, it was to give support to the soldier so he wouldn't grow weary in the battle. And secondly, it secured the other pieces of armor, and the sword hung from that belt. He says, having your lawns girt about with truth. Now, what kind of truth is he talking about? There is no definite Greek article here. He doesn't say, having your lawn lawns grilled about with the truth. So he's not talking here about the body of revealed truth. He's not talking about doctrine, but he's talking about the character of truth.

He's talking about loyalty, sincerity, serious loyalty. Seriously loyal is the way I would phrase it. And I want you to know that if you are not sincere about this matter of entering into this ministry of intercession, if it's just a lark to you, if it's just something you want to try, if it's just another thing you're interested in momentarily, you'll never last. The devil will shoot you down right off the bat. If you're going to refuse to grow weary, if you're going to be supported from getting weary in this ministry of intercession and keeping it all together. You're going to have to make certain that you are dead serious about this and you come to it with serious loyalty to this matter

of intercession. The truth there has the idea of sincerity and integrity and truthfulness. Then notice next, he says, having on the breastplate of righteousness. Now this does not refer to the righteousness of God which is given to us when we receive Jesus Christ as Savior. It is referring to personal righteousness, the personal character of the prayer.

Listen, every unconfessed sin in your life is a chink in your armor. The breastplate was that piece of armor that covered the vital spots of the chest. And if the soldier didn't have that, he didn't stand a chance. Because the largest area, the most vulnerable spot was covered by the breastplate of righteousness. Remember what James 5, 16 says, the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. If you're not righteous, just forget it.

Don't bother to pray. Don't bother to intercede. If there is not personal holiness, and if you are not personally right with God and right with other people, forget it. You'll never last. Because, you see, as we said last Sunday morning, every sin in your life that is unconfessed and undealt with

is an area in which the devil has you in his grip. And every sin in your life tonight that you have not confessed and dealt with in Jesus Christ is a vulnerable spot. And any time the devil wants to, he can defeat you from that spot in your life. David said, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. I think it's important to notice he says, if I regard iniquity. That means if I take notice of it and leave it there. If I look upon iniquity and give it a place in my life, the Lord will not hear me. You may as well forget about your praying. And you know the thing is that many of you would love to pray and

you want to pray, but you know of sin in your life. And here is the tragedy. You are letting some little sin, some habit, some failure, some area of defeat in your life rob you from the blessed ministry of prayer and intercession. Having on the breastplate of righteousness, notice verse 15, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That word preparation in the Greek means readiness. The Roman soldiers wore sandals that had hobnails on them to give good footing so you could move out quickly.

And it was said of the Roman legionnaires, they were always ready to move. You didn't have to give them a 24-hour notice. They were always ready to move. And if you're going to be successful in the ministry of intercession, you must always be ready to obey the will of God. Always ready to do what God tells you to do. Because the very moment God, as you pray, says, All right, you've been praying for this lost person, now I want to use you to go in him.

Or you've been interceding, but I want you to go and make this reconciliation of this person. Or you've been interceding, but there's this thing in your life I want you to take care of. And when you hesitate and you're not ready to move out to do what God tells you to do, all the power of God is withdrawn from your prayer life. You must be ready to obey his will at an instant. Unhesitating, unquestioning obedience. Notice verse 16, And above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Now this shield of faith was a body shield.

It was as large as the soldier. And the enemy would take arrows, and they would dip it into pitch and set it afire, and they would shoot it at the soldier. And the enemy would take arrows and they would dip it into pitch and set it afire, and they would shoot it at the soldiers. And these soldiers would kneel behind this shield of faith, and those fiery arrows would hit into the wood of that shield and be extinguished. And I want you to know the devil is going to throw his burning arrows at you. He's going to assault you. He's going to attack you.

He's going to try to make you miserable. He's going to take you. He's going to attack you. He's going to try to make you miserable. He's going to take away your good feeling. He's going to cram your mind with doubts and uncertainties. How are you going to be able to stand against it? Faith. Faith in God's Word. I don't feel like praying. That's a fiery dart of the devil.

I don't feel like praying. It doesn't make any difference. God says if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Thank you, Lord, I know you're hearing me whether I feel like feel like praying. It doesn't make any difference. God says if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Thank you, Lord, I know you're hearing me whether I feel like it or not. And he's going to come to you and assail you, and you're going to have to stand in faith, faith in God's word, not faith in your feelings, not faith in circumstances. You know, some of you have been wanting to pray for somebody, but the devil said, listen, that old boy is too hard.

You'll never reach him. Why, he couldn't be saved. You know how he is. You know what kind of life he lives. You know how stubborn he is. Man, when people go see him, he slams the door in their face. You'll never reach him. And you listen to that, and you listen to that,

and your prayer and intercession grows weaker and weaker and weaker. And you need to stand and say, Faith is anything too hard for me, saith the Lord. And of course the answer is no. With God all things are possible. You must stand behind that shield of faith, just faith in God's Word. And notice the last thing, the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation. The helmet fits over the head.

There must be, my friends, the consciousness and the assurance of your salvation. Because I want you to know that one of the first lines of attack the devil levels against the Christian is in this area of doubt. He'll try to get you to doubt your salvation. It's pretty hard for you to pray for somebody else's salvation if you're not sure of your own. The helmet of salvation, I know I'm saved, I have the assurance that I'm saved because the word of God says so and so.

I put on that consciousness, that assurance, that awareness that I'm saved, and I'm able to pray. That's the armor. Friend, if you're going to pray and intercede, you're going to have to do it in truthfulness and sincerity. You're going to have to do it with personal holiness and righteousness. You can't have any sin separating you from God. You're going to have to do it with obedience, always being obedient to the revealed will of God. You're going to have to do it trusting the Word of God, the naked Word of God, in cold blood just trusting His Word,

regardless of what circumstances and feelings tell you, and you're going to have to be aware and assured of your salvation. You must pray standing. Secondly, you must pray with the sword. And we're going to just have to run through this and briefly say, the sword is the word of God. Friend, you better know how to use your sword. You better sharpen up that sword. You learn the word of God, and you do two things with the word of God when you pray, when you intercede. You do

two things with the word of God. First of all, you hold the word of God up to the Lord. That's his IOU signed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And you say, now, Father, I come to you in Jesus' name. And you've said in 1 John 5, 14, that if we ask anything according to your will, we have this confidence. And you've got to pray with confidence. We have this confidence, this boldness that you hear us. And so you learn the word of God and you hold that word of God up to the Father because he is bound, he is obligated to keep his word. He watches over his

word to perform it. And then secondly, you know the word of God to hold it up against the devil. When the devil begins to attack you with that fiery dart of doubt, you say, Satan, Jesus said, he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I came to him, he hasn't cast me out. The Bible says in Romans 10, 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I did that, I'm either saved or God is a liar. You learn to use the word of God against the devil. When he fills your mind with worry and anxiety, you quote Philippians chapter 4, Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. And the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. When the devil fights you, you quote Isaiah 54, 17, No weapon that is formed against thee

shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. You quote the word of God to the devil. You quote to him Psalm 60, verse 12, Through our God we shall do valiantly, for it is he that shall tread upon our enemies. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.'" You learn the word of God and you beat the devil down with the word of God like Jesus

did in Matthew chapter 4. You must pray with the sword. And I want you to know something that will open up your prayer life. Some of you have a little trouble getting going, getting started. You start to pray and there is just so much heaviness and so much deadness and so much oppression. Do you ever find that when you begin to pray? I'll tell you how to get that prayer moving. You start quoting the Word of God. Just quoting the Word of God. Now, somebody might overhear you and think you're crazy. That's all right. You start quoting the Word of God. You

turn over there to the book of Psalms. Read that 46th Psalm. Our God is a refuge. You read Psalm 106, Psalm 107. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. Just read the Word of God. Quote the Word of God. Just quote the word of God. And I want you to know your prayer will lift up with eagle wings. Paul knew what he was talking about when he said, you take the word of God. That's the sword. That's the only offensive weapon that God gives you. Now, the last thing. In this spiritual warfare, you must not only pray standing against the devil. You must not only pray with the sword of the Spirit, you must also pray in the Spirit. Notice verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. You either pray in the flesh or in the Spirit. You either live in the

flesh or you live in the Spirit. What does it mean to pray in the Spirit? First of all, it means to be filled with the Spirit, I believe. I don't think you can pray in the Spirit if you're not filled with the Spirit. We're getting ready to have a deacon's election here before long. I want the church to be reminded that no man is qualified to serve as a deacon who's not Spirit-filled. If we don't have any men that are Spirit-filled, we won't have any deacons. But we do have men that are Spirit-filled. If we don't have any men that are Spirit-filled, we won't have any deacons. But we do have men that are Spirit-filled. But you read Acts 6, they must be men full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost, full of wisdom. Now when they are full of the Holy Ghost, they will have the faith and the wisdom. The Spirit-filled life is prerequisite to

victory. Does the Spirit of God have absolute control of you tonight? Can He do anything He wants to with you? To pray in the Spirit means the Spirit of God directs my prayer and energizes my prayer and motivates my prayer. It's so important when you begin to pray to submit yourself to the control of the Holy Spirit, knowing that He is the Spirit of prayer and supplication. And you know what will happen? The Spirit of God will give birth to prayer in your life. The Spirit of God, maybe not while you are on your knees, but maybe while you are washing dishes someday or driving to work, all of a sudden you feel this need to pray for a certain person.

Now, friend, that's the Spirit of God. And I want you to know the Spirit of God always intercedes according to the will of God, and every prayer according to the will of God is heard and answered. Every prayer the Holy Spirit originates in your life will be answered if you pray believing. Oh, I thank God for that. I want to pray in the Spirit. I want to pray in the Spirit. You can if you want to.

God knows your frame, and God will meet you at the level of your desire. When you come to God in prayer, you realize that He is the Spirit of prayer and supplication. You make certain that every sin in your life that you know anything about is confessed and dealt with. Get everything out of the way. Submit yourself to His Lordship, to His will. Ask the Father to let the Holy Spirit lead you in prayer. And then just wait. As the Spirit gives utterance, you begin

to pray. Those people he lays on your heart, you write them down on your prayer list, in your prayer book. You hold them up to God, and you stand against the devil. As the Spirit of God gives you utterance, and as the Spirit of God impresses this thing upon you and this thing upon you, you pray. And every time you feel that impulse to pray, you pray, because that's the Spirit of God calling you to pray. Praying in the Spirit, in recognition that He is the only One who can pray. You know what praying in the Spirit is? Romans 8, 26, 27, this is really simply what it means. The Holy Spirit literally does the praying using your available body.

The Holy Spirit who is within me, he it is that lifts up the petition. I yield to him my body, and he uses my available humanity to offer up the petitions to the Father. Prayer is warfare. That's the battlefield, friends. And I want you to know, as God leads our church to this minister of intercession,

and as we have 160-some people in a few weeks praying around the clock every day, 24 hours a day, you are going to see that we will be able to go out on the battlefield and just pick up the spoils of war. The battle is going to be waged and won in prayer, in intercession. But you've got to qualify. You've got to pass not the physical. You've got to pass the spiritual. Do you pass it tonight?

Do you pass it? Everything right between you and God? Everything right between you and your fellow man? Did you do what it says in 1 John 3, go to him tonight with perfect confidence, your heart not condemning you? Let's get on praying ground tonight, if we're not. Let's bow for prayer.