Recently, I’ve had reason to refocus on that sometimes habitual thing that I do known as prayer. Be it morning prayer, evening at church or, on behalf of a friend or seeking guidance in and out of a difficult situation, I have come to realize my prayer life could and should be much better. I am reading an old fashioned good vs. evil novel where the good is actually all about angels and the bad about demons. Their battle is all about controlling us for the victory where their allegiances lay, ultimately God or Satan. The revelation about my prayer life comes with an enlightenment of where our focus should be. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the world rulers of this present darkness…” Ephesians 6:12. Now this is not a doom and gloom column making a statement about today’s politics. It is merely a commentary about the things I pray about.
I usually don’t pray about governments, world leaders, the coming of a new age and so forth. My prayer life tends to be a little more close to home and more about the people I love. To make my point, let me use the term prayer cover. In this book, the angels are constantly asking each other can they win the next battle and the answer is always not unless they get more prayer cover. They need more people praying in order to achieve victory. And the specifics of the needed prayer revolve around folk calling upon the name of Jesus. You see, everything changes, the tide gets turned, and the odds get stacked up for the pro Christ gang. Now whereas I know for a fact that many a friend, family member, church acquaintance and others have provided me with plenty of prayer cover. I also know it was and has been my intent to provide cover for those closest to me. You just pray for people you love and all they are going through.
We hear the phrase “our thoughts and prayers go out to…” to many times these days for people caught up in nonsensical violence, terror, war and my favorite, man’s inhumanity to man. And it doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all. Now, back to my prayer point. If I look at prayer as a weapon in the eternal life and death and life struggle, then I am arming myself and others who are caught up in the eternal challenges of the day. I am providing cover. It’s a military term. Scripture says it’s not always about flesh and blood but things some of us don’t pay too much attention to. Principalities, local, state, national and world leaders; some, might need some prayer cover. Others just need prayer. The way I’m thinking now is that prayer just might be my daily weapon of choice.
It’s kind of a new perspective to think your prayers are ammunition for the work God wants done by you. Prayer makes you stronger and the enemy weaker as a result. The interesting thing about the book is that it forces you to look at the enemy in a different way. The enemy is doubt, fear, apprehension, crimes against your person, complacency, fear of success, spiritual poverty, apprehension about the world and its direction. So for me, tomorrow I’m arming myself for the battles of the day and the days after with a good dose of prayer and will happily share a few bullets for you. The victory is ours and Jesus has already won this thing. He provided all the prayer cover we need. All He has ever asked is take that knowledge with you and share it with the world.
James, jaws@dallasweekly.com