And so we pray...Prayer is an amazing and elusive topic. It can be misunderstood, misapplied, misused, and just plain...missed. Too many precious believers either underestimate its power or overcomplicate its practice. And while there are many layers and levels of prayer in which we can learn to operate and grow, even the most elementary prayers, in Jesus Name, carry amazing authority. So, why is prayer so squirrely a subject? Why do so many of God's kids struggle to press into a real and active prayer life?
The answer is two-fold: 1) there is a hateful enemy who is painfully aware of prayer's power and is purposefully committed to limiting its expression, and 2) there are many who have believed the enemy's propaganda and are holding (or being held) back or have "over-religionized" the practice of prayer. Let's look at each of these, in turn, focusing today's nugget on "the enemy's propaganda."
- THE PROPAGANDA: Listening to satan (lower case on purpose...he doesn't deserve capitalization) influences us toward doubting that we actually dialogue with God in prayer.
- The enemy would have us believe that God's sovereignty makes prayer somewhat irrelevant. This is a distortion of sovereignty. God instituted prayer as an intimate relationship-builder that activates our partnership with God for doing amazing things.
- The enemy wants us to believe that we are too spiritually dirty to expect God to hear our prayers. This is a distortion of holiness. The blood of Jesus erases the devil's plans for your life.
- The enemy wants us to believe that it would be arrogant of us to pray strong commanding prayers. This is a distortion of true humility, which is expressed through obedience, not self-deprecation. God has given us the privilege of finishing the work of Jesus. That means we get to help Him destroy satan's works!
- The enemy would love for us to consider his power too great for our prayers to be truly effective. This is a distortion of both his and our authorities. Not only are we always free to remain faithful to God, no matter how bad things may seem around us, but we have also been given the necessary authority to resist his efforts and take care of Kingdom business.
- THE PRACTICE: That will be our next "blogetized" nugget.
I look forward to getting into our practice of prayer next time. One final encouragement, dear ones: DON'T BELIEVE THE eNEMY'S PROPAGANDA! he lives to lie and can only flex his muscles around us if we let him. Don't give him the chance. With him is only the appearance of a brilliant, strong angel. The truth is much further from that: he has been demoted to the weak darkness of his own heart. Our prayers are powerful and important and authorized and commanded and effective...and so, we pray!
Forever panning for gold,
Chris Liotta
Lead Pastor
Rivergate Church
Chris@WeAreRivergate.com
© 2016 Chris Liotta
No comments:
Post a Comment