Prayer – The Most Effective Weapon in Spiritual Warfare

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” – James 5:16 (NLT)

Many Christians have a misunderstanding of the power of prayer.  A lot of people view prayer as the last resort or as a passive way of responding to the evils of this world. In the verse above, it says the power of a righteous person has great power.  2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”  Prayer is one of those spiritual weapons that helps us demolish strongholds.  

I think one of the biggest challenges we face as Christians in today’s world is one of pride.  Sure, Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that it’s by grace we have been saved, that it’s a gift of God, that no one should boast, but we have to have SOME responsibility right?  Or when Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it’s impossible to please God, we think, “But if He’s pleased with faith, then He’ll be impressed by what I’m doing.”  Or when Romans 5:1 says having been justified by faith we have peace with God, that it doesn’t really mean that.  That it means we have to do something to be justified. It all comes down to grace versus works and if you’re saved by grace or works. Listen: You are 100% saved by God’s grace, by what Jesus did on the cross.  He came and lived the life you couldn’t live and sacrified Himself so that we could be righteous through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21).  Because of what Christ did, we work from that righteousness, not to achieve that righteousness. 

So instead of using prayer as our primary weapon, we try to pray a little prayer and then we go out in our own strength to fight battles in the world.  Read Joshua 6 about the walls of Jericho falling.  God gives clear instructions to Joshua and says He will deliver their armies into His hands.  What responsibility did Joshua have?  Obedience.  Read the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. David decided to stand up for the Lord against Goliath because he defied the armies of God.  Sometimes God tells us to take a stand for Him, but that doesn’t mean you go out hunting for a fight to pick.  The Lord delivers them.  There are tons of examples we could go through in the Bible that illustrates that the way battles are won are through the Lord and not our own efforts.  I’ve been reading the book “The Life of Radical Faith” by Jeff Keaton of Renewanation, and he said, “When we obey God, supernatural things happen.”  

Do we believe that?  Do we really believe that God can accomplish the supernatural?  How do we see it on our lives?  By being connected to Him and obeying what He tells us to do.  Henry Blackaby in his excellent study “Experiencing God” says that God speaks to us in four primary ways: Through His Word, through circumstances, through church, and through prayer.  It is vital for us to remain in His Word (John 17:17), to understand that God can use our circumstances for His purposes (Romans 8:28)​, that being connected to a body of believers is important (Hebrews 10:25), and finally, by communicating with God through prayer.  Remember: Communication isn’t just one way – it’s not just us gushing and talking to God about our gripes and struggles.  Communication requires listening.  We have to listen for God to respond and Jesus tells us that His sheep, His followers, hear His voice and they follow Him (John 10:27-28).  If you want to see victories in your life, if you want to see strongholds being pulled down, if you want to increase the praises in your life, be deligent in prayer and recognize what God is doing all around you.

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