Tag: Prayer

Battle Ready: The Occasion of Battlefield Prayer

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Highlight:

(18)  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Ephesians 6:18

Explanation:

Paul is bringing the paragraph, and even the book to a conclusion. The context is still in regard to spiritual warfare.  The sentence continued in verse 18 started in verse 14 with “Stand therefore”. The way to stand has been explained by things that should be put on- the armor of God, and things that should be taken up- the helmet of Salvation, the Shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. He continues to explain how we make a stand by stating that we ought to be “praying”.

Here he gives the occasion of praying. In Paul’s mind, praying is part of the activity of spiritual battle. When is spiritual battle happening?  All the time. This is why he uses this important word, “always”. When is the believer to pray?  The answer is “always”. He even gives the kind of prayer that should be prayed at all times with two different words for prayer.

The first word is “προσευχομενοι” “prosuechemenoi”. This is a general word for prayer that definitely includes the idea of worship as part of the prayer.  It is a worshipful prayer where the person praying understands the God He is going to.

The second word is “δεησεως” “deseos”.  This word has the idea of a prayer request or petition.  It is translated here as supplication.  This is all about asking God to supply the needs that we have.

Application:

Think about the occasion of these two aspects of battlefield prayer. When we are in spiritual battle there are two things we need to remember through the action of praying.

In worshipful praying, we must remember who God is.  He is worthy of our worship.  He is greater than we are, and He is certainly greater than our enemy.

(3)  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

(4)  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:3-4

In supplication, we are remembering that everything we need comes from God.  He is the one who will supply the victory.  He is the one that will supply our needs.  He is the source of strength in the middle of the battle.

Response:

Lord, God, would you please help us to pray as if the victory depends on you today.  We are here confessing that it does depend on You.  God give us victory through worshipful, and supplicative prayer.  Amen

Luke- Week 22- Day 1

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional, Luke SeriesLeave a comment

(39) And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.  (40)  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 

Luke 22:39-40

Explanation:

In this pivotal moment Jesus goes to the mount of olives.  This is a place that he had been to many times before.  There is a clue to this truth in verse 39 where it says he went “as he was wont”.  This is an old english way of saying that this was a familiar pattern with Jesus.  Jesus had often gone to the mount of olives.  He is referred to as being in the mount of olives in every Gospel, and is placed there multiple times.

Matthew and Mark contain what is called the Olivet discourse where His disciples ask Him about the end of the age:

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Also in Mark:

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

Mark 13:3

We have already seen him in the area in Luke at the beginning of the triumphal entry.

And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

Luke 19:37

In the Gospel of John you’ll find this verse:

Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

John 8:1

It’s at the end of a discussion that the people were having about the identity of Jesus.  Right after he goes to the mount of olives in John 8:1, he comes back to the temple. 

He had gone there for a reason, and I conjecture it would be to get alone with God.

The specific place on the Mount of Olives that Jesus went to was a gareden called Gethsamene.  We know this from parallel passages in Matthew and Mark.

Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

Matthew 26:36

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

Mark 14:32

Jesus often would get alone to pray.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

Matthew 14:23

And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

Mark 6:46

And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

Luke 9:28 

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Luke 11:1

When Jesus taught about prayer, He said this about having a place to pray:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:5-6

Application:

Prayer was so pivotal to Jesus.  He had a place to pray.  He made time to pray.  My question for us is quite obvious.  Do we have a place to pray?  Do you have a place?  Do you have a time?  Do you have somewhere you go to pray?  Is it part of your schedule?  How can we expect the rewards of God apart from the presence of God?  Why should we expect the blessing of God when we do not spend time with God?

Response

Pick a place and a time and get to praying!

Isaiah- Week 7- Day 5

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

Isaiah 37:33-35

Explanation:
In yesterday’s verses we found out that God will take care of His people. He would sustain them in difficulty in response to Hezekiah’s prayer. In this passage He gives detail as to what he would allow Senacharib to do and why he would deal with him this way.

Senacharib would not be allowed to come into the city. He would not be able to shoot an arrow, come at it with shields, nor “cast a bank against it”. To cast a bank against it spoke of the practice of digging up dirt and making a ramp towards a wall to be able to go over it. God confirmed that Senacharib would go the way he came. He had already said this in a message to Senacharib in verse 29:

Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

Isaiah 37:29

He also said why he would defend it. He was doing it for his own sake. God has reasons that he wants to defend Israel. He is also doing it for David’s sake. This is a reference to the Davidic covenant. God told David that his house would be established forever.

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

2 Samuel 7:16

The ultimate fulfillment of this promise comes to bear when Christ sits on the throne in Jerusalem to rule and to reign. God keeps his promises.

Application:
We see in this passage that God was keeping his promise to Israel, to Hezekiah, to David, and ultimately to us. We know that God was working through redemptive history to bring about the salvation of not only Israel, but the whole world through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. God answers our prayers according to His will, and there is a sense in which prayer helps to align our will with God’s. We must pray as Jesus taught us, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When we pray according to God’s will and rely on His promises we cannot go wrong.

Response:
What do you need to pray about today? What would it look like to pray according to His will?

Isaiah- Week 7- Day 2

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

Isaiah 37:17-19

Explanation:
Notice how Hezekiah continues to pray. In verse 17 he asks God to pay attention to the words of Sennacherib (King of Assyria) which were a reproach to the character of God.
In verse 18 he lays out the problem. Assyria did have a history of the military conquests. He pointed to their practice of destroying the idols of their conquered enemies. This would have been a picture of their opinion of the weakness of these foreign Gods. But in verse 19, Hezekiah points to the fact that the gods do not exist. They are just the work of men’s hands and have no power. This is why they can be destroyed.

Hezekiah was displaying great faith by going to God. He saw his problem in light of the God creator God of the universe. He saw the situation in light of the reputation of God, the truth about God, and the truth about the false idols of the nations that had been destroyed by the Assyrians.

Application:
We saw in the scriptures previous to this that Hezekiah thought accurately about God Himself in His prayer to God. In this part of the prayer He thinks rightly about His problem. This is instructive to us. A right response includes thinking about our problems and our God with great faith.

Response:
Pick out a problem or trial that you are experiencing and ask: What is the biblical and right way to think about this problem?