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Why The Devil Fears Your Prayer
VIOLENCE – has a negative connotation throughout God’s word
· Genesis 6 – 2X – “The earth was filled with violence”
· Psalms – several times – “violent man” or “violent men”
· Ezekiel 18 – 4X – spoiled by violence
· Proverbs 16:29 – VIOLENCE BRINGS INFLUENCE & CONTROL!
“A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.”
It’s all bad, until one verse in the early pages of the New Testament …
Matthew 11:12 (KJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 11:12 (NIV) From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.
VIOLENCE: highly excited action, impetuosity, force, injury done to that which is entitled to respect, infringement, assault, a wild or turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction.
· The studies prove it – MEN ARE PRONE TO VIOLENCE. It’s in our nature to fight, to hunt, to conquer and to win. One of the problems of modern Christianity is that it has tried to FEMINIZE men until they are just like women. That’s why dead denominationalism struggles to maintain its male population, and why many Christian men are just plain BORED!
· There is a bad violence, yes – but there is a good violence!
· That’s why the devil works overtime to get us to turn our violence against each other – instead of against him!
· I believe in the holiness standards the Bible teaches for women, because they create much of the DEFENSIVE POWER of the church.
· Apostolic women will generally stand out in the way they APPEAR, while Apostolic men will generally stand out in the way they ACT.
· The Bible’s holiness standards for men are equally important, because they create much of the OFFENSIVE POWER of the church.
· 1 Timothy 2:8-10 8I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 9In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
· The standards for women are plain, modest apparel and adornment and a submitted spirit. But the standards for men are equally plain:
o Pray everywhere!
o Lift up holy hands!
o Put away wrath!
o Put away doubting!
· Men, these are your holiness standards – don’t criticize the women until you have lined up to God’s Word!
· You are to be the leader of spiritual matters in your home, using your “battle skills” to fight the devil, not to fight your family! In fact, when you get married, a condition is placed on your prayer life – you will never again be able to pray as a single man.
· Malachi 2:13-15 13And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
· 1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
· In a very real way, God sees us through the eyes of our wives! Genuine spirituality is marked not by the quality of our accomplishments but by the quality of our relationships!
· How does your wife see your relationship with God? The best wedding gift you received was the full-length mirror God gave you called your spouse! If He had enclosed a card it would have read, “Here’s something to help you discover what you’re really like!” Marriage holds up a mirror to my sin!
· Howard Hendricks told about a time he had just completed a sermon and an eager young man came up to him and called him a “great man.” On the drive home, Hendricks turned to his wife and said, “A great man. How many great men do you know?” She answered, “One fewer than you think.”
· As our marriages reveal our weaknesses, the temptation is to resent the spouse who is doing the revealing! Couples don’t fall out of love, they fall out of repentance. Behind every case of marital dissatisfaction lies unrepented sin! That’s why one divorce often leads to another one – sin is still there!
· THE DEVIL WANTS TO KEEP APOSTOLIC MEN DISTRACTED FROM FIGHTING HIM BY CREATING “WARS” IN OUR MARRIAGES AND HOMES!
Luke 19:12-13 12He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
· The word “occupy” does not just mean to fill a place (that’s what the servant with one pound did!); instead it means “to carry on business.”
· Men, we are to do more than just fill a place in God’s Kingdom; we are to carry on “spiritual business” for the King!
Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
· SUPPLICATION (Greek – “deomai”) has to do with ASKING, but extends the idea further. Asking means to merely make our request known, but supplicating is to ask with PASSION, PERSISTENCE and FOCUS.
· The root word is “deo” which means “to bind something up or tie something up.” This is speaking of our authority in the Spirit!
Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
· WHAT THINGS DO I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BIND UP? We are to intervene in any situations that are not what Heaven intends them to be and see them through in persistent prayer until they are what Heaven intends them to be!
· Supplication moves into the confusion caused by the fall of man (broken heart, broken home, broken health, broken relationship) and begins to bind up broken things, bringing them back to God’s original intent.
· THE PRAYING CHURCH HAS BEEN EMPOWERED BY CHRIST’S PROMISE TO PRAY IN WAYS THAT STOP WHAT HELL’S COUNCILS (GATES) ARE TRYING TO ADVANCE.
· Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
· Binding is not limited to our conception of something being tied up; it is also based on the concept of a “binding contract.” Holding a contractor to a contract is possible because its terms are BINDING. But by the same token, this will only happen if the purchaser insists on the clauses of the contract! His PASSION, PERSISTENCE and FOCUS ensures that contested or neglected features of the project will be finished as they ought to be, according to the will of the owner.
· In this world, Satan is trying to construct things that are totally out of line with God’s blueprint. WE ARE THE ON-SITE OBSERVERS, OCCUPYING UNTIL THE OWNER RETURNS!
· That’s why we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven!” Jesus, what you paid for at the cross isn’t being done on earth! Let Your ruling power flow through my prayer to accomplish Your will!
· As Your agent assigned to this case, I say STOP THE ADVERSARY’S ADVANCE! According to Calvary’s terms, I BIND THE ENEMY FROM SUCCESS! I loose on earth what You have already loosed in Heaven!
· Our binding and loosing only accomplishes on earth what has ALREADY been willed in Heaven.
· WE DON’T MAKE THINGS HAPPEN; PRAYER RELEASES THEIR HAPPENING. It is His power, but our participation.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 1I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
· The directive here is to pray for issues that are grander and broader than our own immediate points of personal concern or involvement! Prayer is not to be a preoccupied, self-centered concern. We are promised influence that can affect the climate of a culture (“that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life”) and thus create an atmosphere where people can more readily “come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
· In many churches, the prayer requests make more announcements than the announcements; they basically explain why so-and-so isn’t here today! MEN GET BORED WITH THAT KIND OF PRAYING! GIVE US A CAUSE TO BE PASSIONATE ABOUT!
· We call prayer with PASSION, PERSISTENCE and FOCUS “intercessory prayer.” The Bible words for this kind of prayer are “entychano” (Greek) and “paga” (Hebrew), and they both have essentially the same peculiar meaning: “to light upon, come upon by accident, or strike unpredictably like lightning”).
· WHY IS THE BIBLE TEACHING “PRAYER BY ACCIDENT”?
Genesis 28:10-11 10And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11And he lighted (PAGA) upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
Genesis 28:16 16And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
· To Jacob’s eye this was a random place of stopping, but in God’s plan it would become the milestone of His life! Therein lies the idea of intercession – what seems random, catching us unexpectedly in time and circumstance and commanding our attention, is not accidental but providential!
· Every day of our lives, we step into apparently random situations. If we perceive that they are ordained of the Spirit, we will learn to respond to them, knowing God has brought us to them “by accident”!
· LEARN TO RECOGNIZE SEEMINGLY RANDOM THOUGHTS, FEELINGS OR EVENTS INTENDED BY GOD TO PROMPT US TO INTERCEDE! YOU MAY BE THE ONLY REPRESENTATIVE OF HEAVEN GOD HAS ON THE SCENE TO ENFORCE HIS WILL!
· God wants us to invade our churches, families, workplaces, neighborhoods and cities with people who have sufficient spiritual sensitivity to understand that they are present to travail in prayer for a world that otherwise would experience only sin’s consequences without hope of Divine intervention.
· Intercession occurs when people realize God has ordained BOUNDARIES OF BLESSING for human experience, and – UNLESS SOMEONE PRAYS – Satan will try to violate the boundary line! We are appointed to monitor the situation for God.
· I STAND HERE ARE HEAVEN’S AMBASSADOR ON THIS PLANET. AND I SAY, “GOD’S KINGDOM COME HERE IN THIS SETTING, AND GOD’S WILL BE DONE NOW!”
· Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
· Speak Heaven’s covenant – pray the Word of God!
Psalm 103:1-3 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Isaiah 43:5-7 5Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
