Click to subscribe to PresidentialPrayerTeam –
A Yahoo Group for Intercessors Praying for the Nation,
its Leaders, and for Peace and Freedom around the World
Posted on 01/01/2004 11:16:47 PM PST by My2Cents
Intercession is the way the church conducts spiritual warfare. As this nation enters an important election year, what victories are won this year will be dependent, more than ever, on the spiritual battles Christian intercessors engage in. This series constitutes a summary of key points on the topic of spiritual warfare from the book BORN FOR BATTLE, by R. Arthur Mathews, a missionary who was with China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship).
Because of the devil's hostility, the work of conforming the members of Christ's body to the likeness of the Head's soldier image is high on the priority list of the Holy Spirit. As believers we are in Christ and he is in us. This means that his aggression against Satan must be expressed through us. So we are no longer free to play the role of civilitians, living as if there were no war....
At this point, let us ask ourselves some serious questions:
Am I expressing the enmity God put between the devil and the church's Head?
Or, am I seeking detente, coexistence, and peace through compromise?
Am I available to my Lord as a willing instrument, ready for his use in hiswarfare? Am I aware of the teaching of Scripture about my part in the spiritual conflict?
...The Soldier of the Cross [Jesus] had taught his disciples the need to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The obvious inference is that God has limited certain of his activities to responding to the prayers of his people. Unless they pray, he will not act. Heaven may will something to happen, but heaven waits and encourages earth's initiative to desire that will, and then to will and pray that it happens.
The will of God is not done on earth by an inexorable, juggernaut ominpotent "out there" overriding or ignoring the will of man on earth. On the contrary, God has willed that his hand be held back will he seeks for aman, an intecessor to plead, "Thy will be done on earth," in this or that specific situation...
The Soldier of the Cross won his battle in the praying field of Gethsemane with only a sentence prayer, but it involved his life. There, the embattled Savio knelt and "fired the shot heard round the world" -- "Thy will be done."...
The one who wills with God will pray and find God fights his battles through self's resigned will.
(From BORN FOR BATTLE, R. Arthur Mathews, OMF International Press, 2001
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.