It happened in the
spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent
Joab and his servants with him.....
2 Samuel 11:2
Most of you know the rest of the story. David did not go to war, lusted after Bathsheba,. and committed grievous sins that brought great destruction in his life and the lives of others. Years ago, I felt the Lord speak to me through this passage that many who chose not to go to war would fall into great temptation and many would be overcome by lust. One may say that we are not kings, but as we wrote a few weeks ago that we are a nation of kings and priests. That fact is established, but how do we go to war? I believe the greatest weapon of warfare is prayer. Let's look at some scriptures that validate this truth.
If you have time read Ephesians 6:10-19. Of course part of this passage speaks of the armor of God which we have on in Christ. Each piece points to Christ. Why does a soldier put on armor? Because he is about to go into battle. Paul leads us through our being suited up in Christ and in verse 18 we see what we are to be doing. "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--. We are suited up to pray. The battle is won in prayer and the going forth declaring (verse19) is the mop up operation, the claiming of the heathen for an inheritance.The gathering of the spoils, so to speak.
Look at Luke 18:1. Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. The amplified bible translates it this way: not turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up) This passage implies that there will be temptation, battles, and pressure to give up.
James 5:16b The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Verses 17 and 18 talk about Elijah and how he prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half years and he prayed and it rained. It starts by saying Elijah is a man just like us. He had a temper, he got seriously depressed, and he got fearful, just to name a few of his human frailties. In other words Elijah was not a superman. In fact you have an advantage over Elijah. He had the anointing, but you have the Holy Spirit not only coming upon you, but indwelling you. Let me say this, too, you are righteous not by virtue of what you have done, but because of what Christ has done. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Cor. 5:21 Therefore if you are in Christ you can pray with expectation. Pray also with perseverance. Elijah prayed until his servant saw the cloud coming. I won't take time to talk about the parable of the unjust judge or the friend who went to his neighbor for bread, but clearly there is a need for perseverance in prayer.
There are many passages we could look at, but we won't today. I want to get back to the word God gave me about going to war. In the model prayer of Jesus we see a number of requests made of God. The two focally I would like to mention are as follows: Matthew 6:13a And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. It is implied earlier in the prayer by the request for daily bread that this a daily prayer and Jesus says to pray that we are lead away from temptation and delivered from the evil one. When we are praying in Christ we are being guided by the Spirit and protected from the enemy. What an awesome weapon prayer is! Now, I wrote this because there is great conflict going on in the spiritual and natural realm. Personally, I can't remember when my mind has been under such assault. I know I am not the only one. I believe that this a call to war from the Lord. I heard one man say, "Pray or you'll become prey." This is the season when kings go to war.
In His love,
Herb Dean
