In these days of perilous times, the instruction from scripture continually reveals itself\u00a0 to be the wisdom and power of God! \u00a0 In the book of Ephesians, in the sixth chapter, Paul was instructing the church at Ephesus to be clothed in the garments of the Christian warrior.\u00a0 Many of those articles of\u00a0 armor we have heard from childhood, but the most important portion is always left out!<\/p>\n
We have heard of the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of GOD!\u00a0 Look at these verses again…<\/p>\n
13 <\/span>Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,<\/strong> that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.<\/a><\/p>\n 14 <\/span>Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;<\/a><\/p>\n 15 <\/span>And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;<\/a><\/p>\n 16 <\/span>Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.<\/a><\/p>\n 17 <\/span>And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:<\/a><\/p>\n 18 <\/strong><\/span>Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Paul does not finish his thought of being clothed in the WHOLE armor of God, without putting on the finishing touches of prayer!\u00a0 Prayer must accompany your salvation, your entrance into truth, your covering of the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Savior, the whole counsel of God which is our sword of truth, and the everlasting Gospel, the author and finisher of our shield of faith!<\/p>\n Prayer is so important that a picture of it was made into the pattern of the old testament tabernacle.\u00a0 The foursquare altar of incense, which is a picture of the prayers of the saints, reveals this truth to us.\u00a0 And as God’s word was given by inspiration of God, and is profitable, we see a mirror image of prayer revealed in the New testament covenant!\u00a0 In the book of Timothy we catch a view of the four corners or types of prayers.<\/p>\n 1 Timothy 2:1<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks<\/strong>, be made for all men;<\/p>\n Paul wasn\u2019t telling Timothy that we should be praying for all men\u2026but that all believers should be making these types of prayers.\u00a0 As the picture in the old testament tabernacle of the altar of incense, the word prayer in the Hebrew has the same foursquare meaning, and each has its place in the life of the believer, an indicator of our maturity in the LORD JESUS CHRIST.<\/p>\n First, there is the see-khaw<\/em><\/strong> prayer.\u00a0 This is the prayer of meditation and thanksgiving.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is the type of prayer when we sit together and before a meal we pause for a moment to meditate upon the goodness of the LORD and to give HIM thanks for the provisions that HE has provided!\u00a0 It is not intended that this be the only type of prayer that we engage in.\u00a0 We must always be ready to give thanks to the LORD for HIS providing power, but must be willing to move on to another portion of prayer.<\/p>\n Secondly, there is the law-keesh\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>prayer.\u00a0 It is the whispered, continual prayer that we should perform\u00a0 in our heart.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is the type of prayer that is mentioned in the book of Thessalonians.<\/p>\n 1 Thessalonians <\/strong>5:16<\/strong> \u00a0 Rejoice evermore.\u00a0 5:17<\/strong> \u00a0 Pray without ceasing. In this type of prayer you can continually be in meditation upon the LORD JESUS, and be in the\u00a0presence of the LORD as you talk with HIM.\u00a0 This wonderful portion of prayer can be feasted upon regardless of where you may be.\u00a0 It can be enjoyed in the middle of a crowd of people, in the workplace, at the store, and while performing your daily duties.<\/p>\n Thirdly, there is the aw-thar <\/em><\/strong>prayer.\u00a0 This is the prayer of supplication, when the hour of prayer seems to call you to find that private place of pouring out your heart unto LORD.\u00a0 It is the intense prayer of crying out to GOD in petition for needs that you have.\u00a0 This prayer is the deep developing of your personal relationship with JESUS, as you acknowledge to HIM all of your weaknesses and in finding the low, humble place of supplication, realize to a greater degree HIS complete power to make you whole and complete in HIM!\u00a0 It is in the aw-thar<\/em><\/strong> prayer that you will find JESUS to be that lily of the valley, the rose of sharon, the bright and morning star!\u00a0 JESUS was that example to us, as HE prayed.\u00a0 Hebrews tells us of HIS aw-thar<\/em><\/strong> prayers…<\/p>\n Hebrews 5:7<\/strong> \u00a0 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears<\/em> unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; <\/strong> The fourth corner of prayer is tefil-law <\/em><\/strong>prayer.\u00a0 This is intercessory prayer.\u00a0 It is just as intense as the aw-thar prayer, but in this prayer you are not praying for yourself or for your personal needs.\u00a0 You are in intercessory prayer, calling out to the LORD for the needs of others.\u00a0 We must be as intent for the needs of others as we are for our own.\u00a0 Only in the tefil-law<\/em><\/strong> prayer can we look beyond our own problems and through the SPIRIT be able to cry out for the needs of others with the intensity that we would for our own needs.\u00a0 When you can cry to the LORD with strong crying and tears for others to be saved, to be healed, to be provided for, then you have found that full stature corner of prayer in the LORD JESUS CHRIST that he wants us to experience!\u00a0 Many Christians have never left the first or second corner of their prayer life, and do not think it necessary to engage in such deep prayer for GOD to hear them!\u00a0 He does hear the prayer of thanksgiving, and the quiet whispered prayer, but calls us to the garden with HIM, where we find the deeper portions of intense prayer, where we KNOW that we have had a time of communion with our LORD, and have supped with HIM and HE with us!<\/p>\n For the\u00a0last two corners of prayer, in these prayer closets there are boxes of tissues, because as you begin to cry out to the LORD with strong crying, rivers of tears will flow, cleansing from your hearts the thoughts, attitudes, and perceptions that are unlike HIM.\u00a0\u00a0 The same tears will water the dry grounds of our souls, sprouting fresh new LIFE and inspiration in the LORD JESUS CHRIST!\u00a0 New heights of revelation, new depths of humility, new lengths and breadths of HIS mercy and love,\u00a0await those who will avail themselves of the four corners of prayer!<\/p>\n James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.<\/p>\n Find these places of prayer and be clothed in them!\u00a0 It is in the places of supplication and intercession where we touch the throne of grace!\u00a0 We need these portions of prayer more than ever before!\u00a0 As we look around us and see the end of all things drawing near, how precious it is to find that place of sweet relief and communion with the Lord, growing in grace and in the knowledge of him, and finding him to be our ALL in ALL!<\/p>\n Seek the Lord Jesus today while he may be found!<\/p>\n Pastor Stephen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In these days of perilous times, the instruction from scripture continually reveals itself\u00a0 to be the wisdom and power of God! \u00a0 In the book of Ephesians, in the sixth chapter, Paul was instructing the church at Ephesus to be clothed in the garments of the Christian warrior.\u00a0 Many of those articles of\u00a0 armor we … Continue reading The Powerful Spiritual Weapon of Prayer!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-and-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5941"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5946,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions\/5946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchforbibletruth.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n5:18<\/strong> \u00a0 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0concerning you.<\/p>\n
\nLet us be willing to find that aw-that corner of prayer where we with strong crying and tears call out to JESUS who is able to save us from death! The enemy of our souls comes to steal, kill and destroy. We face the death of the enemy of our souls daily, and need fresh aw-thar<\/em><\/strong> prayer to lift us up above the valley of shadows of death. The enemy comes to steal our joy, kill our faith, and destroy our relationship with our bridegroom, JESUS. He attempts to do all of it by keeping us out of the deeper portions of prayer.<\/p>\n