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The news has long provided fodder for prayer and the last couple of weeks have been abundant with prayer issues.  During one such prayer time, I began to see how the current world situation is, at least in one way, a snapshot picture of God’s church.

The United States of America is often referred to as a world ‘super power’ because of the nation’s economic and military prowess. The economic power of U.S. sanctions and tariffs have been used to bring many nations to the negotiating table when other means failed. The pin-point precision strikes of the U.S. military have proved the technological and intelligence advances that have kept the boldest enemies in check. The U.S. has demonstrated this in real-time by taking out a car loaded with bombs or a terrorist leader on his way to lunch with virtually no unintended casualties.  And when the U.S. has joined with numerous allies, defeat is virtually impossible.   But recently we have seen an ill-equipped, poorly organized, internationally unrecognized group telling the U.S. military and it’s allies how things are going to be. This small, relatively powerless group with no international standing or allies is calling the shots and running the show.

This is like God’s church.  The church is the most powerful force on earth; it is through the ’human temple’ that God has chosen to exercise and demonstrate His love, grace and power.  The power of God is not just slightly greater than the power of Satan, it is immensely greater; and the power He has made available to His people is also greater than the power of anything in the world.1 God’s church is the powerhouse that is supposed to advance and prevail against the gates of hell.2 This righteous army is not supposed to be endlessly defending their own front porch or taking orders from the enemy; they are supposed to be taking the battle to the enemy’s stronghold, the very gates of his kingdom.  The church wasn’t designed to retreat, it is birthed to advance and watch “Satan fall from heaven like lightning!”3

If you have been a church attending person even just a short time, you have probably heard about the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6. Armor protects soldiers, and any soldier who is in a battle needs protective armor.  Armor isn’t a weapon of destruction though.  Paul tells us the armor is so we can “make your stand against the devil’s schemes.”4 This armor is vital and every soldier must know how to fight in their armor; the soldier must train and become so comfortable in the armor that it becomes un-natural not to be in the armor.

However, every soldier also needs weapons, and God has given His church the best! There are two offensive weapons mentioned at the end of Paul’s list of defensive armor that often get overlooked, and there are several other weapons that we must learn to use effectively if we are to be successful. Paul lists the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” and then tells us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”.4 There is much to say about just these two weapons; Jesus used these two weapons to defeat Satan in the wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He built Himself up regularly with ‘prayer in the Spirit’. We should too. These are no doubt two of the most powerful weapons of our warfare that “have divine power to demolish strongholds”.5 The word of God cannot be overestimated, and the word of God coming out of our mouths is no different than when Jesus quoted the word of God from Deuteronomy or Psalms or Isaiah. What comes out of our mouths is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon we have, whether we use it to agree with God and overcome or oppose God and help Satan.

• God has given us a great deal of detail about the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. The promises of God are a special type of God’s word. Peter tells us “He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.”6 These particular promise words are very great and precious and have a special purpose in that they enable us to participate in the divine nature.  Jesus said that God has put His glory in us; His glory is equated with His goodness and part of His divine nature.7 God’s promises are for our use to activate His glorious nature in us.  What could be more powerful than this? Participating in God’s divine nature, having His nature become our nature, letting His love, grace and power flow through us, is exactly what the collective church and individual believers need if we are going to see Satan fall and retreat behind the gates of hell.

Various scholars count between 3,0008 and 8,8109 promises in the Bible. Obviously, many of those are duplicates, nonetheless, the Word says that “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.”10 These are our great and precious tools, mighty weapons. Our weapon, the sword-word of God, is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”.11  Another translation of that phrase is “two-mouthed sword”* meaning we come into agreement with God and also speak His word and the word becomes a two-mouthed sword. The converse is also true—if you come into agreement with the opposition and speak his words of fear, doubt, disaster, sickness etc., you are speaking against God and will receive nothing from Him.12 If we are to move past defending our front porches and advance the kingdom of God, we must become skilled and disciplined at using God’s word effectively, speaking His promises and bringing them back to God.13

The weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of strongholds.

• • • 2 Corinthians 10:4• • •

• Praying in the Spirit builds up your spirit and “your most holy faith” and it is a pure communication with God.14 Paul used this weapon privately “more than all of you” to overcome incredible perils, evangelize vast regions in his lifetime and he is still being used mightily by God through his writings. Communication is a critical component of any strategic battle. Praying in the Spirit is uncompromised communication with our Commander. If this isn’t part of your prayer life, ask God to help you to become adept at releasing your prayers to the Holy Spirit.15 This is a gateway gift that allows the power of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate more fully in the believer’s life. Like the other “word of God” weapons, your voice is required; however, this requires a surrendered mouth.

• Did you think it would be easy? It won’t. This is why we need the this particular “word of God” from our mouth, the “sacrifice of praise”.  “Through Jesus, let us always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His Name.” 16  It is easy to praise God (or ourselves!) when everything goes smoothly and the outcome is good. It is a whole different game when the outlook is dark and things are not going well.  It can be challenging to be at peace, thanking and praising God when things go terribly wrong. But the lips of people who confess God’s Name—believers—should be exhibiting the fruit of faith always. 17 There is no greater display of faith than to thank God for an unseen outcome that appears impossible. If we are people that truly believe in a God who takes things intended to harm us and turns them into a benefit, a God who works all things out for the good of those who love Him, we can let His praises flow from our mouths regardless of our circumstances. 18 This is a display of our faith in God’s goodness and His justice. 

These are three mighty “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” weapons that every believer needs to be able to use skillfully. We are to arm ourselves with the same attitude Christ had19 and be disciplined, not like those who are not in battle order or don’t show up to the war at all. 20 The time is short and the writing is on the wall, 21 get your prayer life and speech in battle formation. We are on the way to the gates of hell and each and every part of the body is needed. 22

1. Ephesians 3:10; 1 John 4:4
2. Matthew 16:18                                 
3. Luke 10:18
4. Ephesians 6:11, 17-18
5. 2 Corinthians 10:4 
6. 2 Peter 1:4  
7. John 17:22; Exodus 33:18-19, 22 
8. https://www.ezbible.org/how-many-promises-in-the-bible/
9. https://www.clintbyars.com/blog/2017/12/12/browse-a-list-of-gods-promises-from-each-book-of-the-bible
10. 2 Corinthians 1:20
11. Hebrews 4:12; Strong’s Greek Concordance 1366 distomos
12. James 1:7-8; Luke 19:22; Numbers 14:28
13. Isaiah 43:26
14. 1 Corinthians 14:4; Jude20; 1 Corinthians 14:2, 14
15. Luke 11:13; Romans 8:26 ; 1 Corinthians 14:5
16. Hebrews 13:15 
17. Psalm 100:4, 50:14, 95:2, 107:22, 147:7; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Colossians 2:7, 3:17;
18. Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 15:57
19. 1 Peter 4:1 
20. 2 Thessalonians 3:6,7,11 
21. Daniel 5:5
22. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

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