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from The Prayerline Newsletter by Darrell C. Porter

"A Warrior's Prayer"

July - September, 2003

It is not a luxury. Prayer is a necessity at all times, in every situation, in the Spirit of God.

The ways of the world press on every side upon Christians to loosen their hold onto Christ. The messages of the world are mixed, colorful and corrupt, with evil intent and seductive intelligence. Only the most stable-hearted in Christ, can remain faithful to God and not be overly swayed by this world.

In the last few decades there has been a widespread release of demonic forces across America and around the globe like has never been seen in the history of mankind. Movies, music, media, video games, the Internet have become morally lethal, broadband, carriers of iniquity of the most vile kind. Sadly, there are no moral agents in authority in any nation with the spiritual footing in Christ, widespread authority and the courage to stand up against this acid vomit upon society.

Haplessly, we watch America, year after year as it plummets deeper into a mindless celebratory glea over darkness, voodoo, witchcraft and the dank and death spirits of Halloween and its Fall Festival. A national day of thanks is no longer looked upon or relished. Rather, people’s homes, lawns and businesses are giddily decorated with things that invite even more demonic spirits into their lives.

Mixed in this caldron of the macabre is a lewd and insatiable lust for every sexual perversion imaginable. This has become our world.

Strangely mixed into all this are dumbed-down doctrines of what is called Christianity and the apathetic lives of its “children” who offer no real resistance to the devil.
More converts to this way of life keep coming. They are raised up having little or no discipline and respect in the home, in school or on the job. They are used to ways of sex, violence, and profanity, legal and illegal drugs as a way of life.

“Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things”. (Php 3:19)

The rapid decay of morals and integrity all around, the absence of Jesus Christ in society’s daily life, and the lurid things that tempt every saint drives home the Apostle Paul’s declaration that we ought to be “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” (Eph 6:18)

No Christian can stay in this environment day after day without the aid of heaven. None can stand by and watch their loved ones and neighbors destroyed by this world of wickedness without surrounding them in prayer. Prayer is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

Indeed it’s as if there’s a screaming declaration to all Christians everywhere to PRAY! Pray earnestly! Pray standing on God’s written Word.

It is through the Believer’s heart-felt, fervent prayer that God is able to show Himself mighty on behalf of those who trust Him. Persistence in prayer, indeed insistence on the written will of God, will impact nations.

Yet, only a warrior spirit can pray always, as the Scriptures demand. (Eph.6:18)

A warrior, by virtue of the name, is a fighter. Warriors fight for their kingdom and their King. Warriors know their weapons. Being on foreign soil, with orders to advance, places them in constant danger. Their very presence makes them subject to constant attack.

Likewise, the Christian warrior fights for God and His Truth. He can be a man, a woman, a child. The Christian warrior knows his weapon – the eternal, unchangeable Word of God. His orders are to advance God’s Kingdom and to take the land for Jesus, his King. Doing his duty, however, puts him in constant danger. Such a Christian is repeatedly under attack. The world hates this kind of man – a man whose faith is not just in his lips but in his deeds.

Jesus declared to the Father, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (Joh 17:14)

A Believer, by birth, is a warrior. He wars for righteousness. His prayer life is a war life; and his war life is prayer. No mature Christian ever walks with God without prayer, and none remains where God is without a fight. If you believe in God and what He has said then you will be found one day having to defend that position of faith. Prayers of faith in the Word of God – warfare prayers - keep you steadfast before God and His will.

The Believer who seeks Christ in every crisis of life, in the midst of every new habit the world picks up, knows this one thing, that the saints of old have always known, that “This world is not my home”. Such a Christian is not fighting for the world. They are at war for the world to come.
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”. (Mt 6:10)

The Believer learns in his walk with Christ that it is “God that teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” (Ps 144:1)
The prayers of such a Believer are a warrior’s prayers. He aims to uphold the standard of Christ and His written promises. His desire is to see God’s Word come to pass – in healings, in deliverances, in Salvations, in justice. He knows that whatever strength and victory he enjoys comes from God. He also is ever aware of his own short-comings and weaknesses, and therefore prays…

Over His Mind

He realizes there is a war against his mind (Rom.7:23). He understands that the battlefield of the devil is the mind, so he knows he must guard it daily with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph.6:17) He prays God’s Words over his own thoughts and ideas. His aim is that “this mind be in [him], which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Php 2:5) He stands upon the truth that God has given him a “sound mind”. (2Tim.1:7) He rejoices that he is constantly being“renewed in the spirit of [his] mind.” (Eph 4:23) He declares faith in the promise that God “wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on [Him]: because he trusteth in [Him].” Isa 26:3 He even covers his dreams, claiming God’s provision to give him sweep sleep in the night. (Pr.3:24)

Over His Body

Jesus took upon His own body the sicknesses and diseases of the sinner. (Isa.53:5; 1Pet.2:24) Standing upon this work of God the man of prayer realizes that by Jesus stripes he was healed, (1Pet.2:24) body, soul and spirit. Though his body may ache the knowledge of Christ continues to bring him into deliverance and healing and into new habits that promote and strengthen his health. (cf. Deut.11:15; 12:16; 14:3-20)

Over His Spouse

The Believer lifts up his or her marriage partner in prayer frequently, knowing that they are “heirs together of the grace of life” (1Pet.3:7). It is this strength that the devil wants to destroy. Warriors pray for their marriage and defend it from attack. They pray God’s peace and strength upon their spouse. They are grateful to be married and diligently protect the blessing that God has given them in their spouse.

Over His Children

Prayer warriors fight for their children’s welfare and minds and hearts. They pray for them to be nurtured by and continually drawn to the Lord. These are God’s precious heritage, which the devil wants to steal. Yet the warrior’s fervent claim upon the lives of his children, through the covenant and redemptive blood of Jesus Christ, sets a hedge of protection around them that no demon can destroy. The warrior knows the mind of God, that, “…whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”(Mt 18:6)

Over His Needs

In a world of stress and difficulty prayer warriors face their financial challenges with faith and courage. They stand resolute on the promise that God will supply all of their need through Christ Jesus. (Php.4:19). They know that “…the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”. (Ps 84:11) Their prayers of faith stands upon the fact that, “…God is able to make all grace abound toward [them]; that [they], always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” (2Co 9:8)

Over the Lost

Warrior Christians fight for lost souls through their prayers and intercessions. Knowing the desire of the Lord, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth,” (1Ti 2:4) they lift them up that they might know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Warriors pray for God’s mercy upon the lost, knowing that Satan has “…blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2Co 4:4) The love of the prayer warrior obliges them to petition God who once saved them to also, “…give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co4:6) to these in darkness and doom It is a fight of faith, to snatch a soul from hell.

Over the Land

As Daniel prayed over Persia, and wrestled in prayer many days and weeks, (Dan.10:10-13) so, too, does the Christian warrior wrestles in prayer over his own nation, for Christ.
The greatest and fiercest battles, fought with prayer and fasting are done for the nations.
The warrior Christian joins in the battle with other Christians as they uphold the Word of God with “…supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks… for all men;” (1Ti 2:1) that God’s Word and will to be done in their city, state and nation.

A warrior’s prayer never ends. It only pauses. The need for prayer in this world never ceases. Rather it persists without a pause. Here lies the reason for Paul’s words, that we must be found “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” (Eph 6:18)

A warrior prays anywhere and at anytime. You don’t have to wait till church time, or to get on your knees, to pray. These ways are fine; yet you can also pray standing up. You can pray in your car, on the airplane, in the grocery store, on your job. It’s good to be in connection with God right where you are. The Lord hears you equally well. His ability is not diminished one bit because of your physical posture. His ability is diminished when there is no faith. Believe God, and it doesn’t matter whether you stand or kneel, pray aloud or in your own heart, pray alone or with others, God will move mountains for anyone – man, woman or child, who takes up His Word, ready to fight the good fight of faith – through prayer..

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The PRAYERLINE Newsletter is a quarterly publication of Darrell C. Porter Evangelistic Assoc., Inc.

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