9. That Which Guarantees Victory
chapter nine
That Which Guarantees Victory
I remember a point in my life when I realized I needed to pray more. An hour seemed like a good place to start.
Early the next morning I woke up and, after making sure I was awake, knelt by the side of the bed and started to pray. I poured out my heart to the Lord, praying about everything I could think of. When I had finished, I figured at least 45 minutes had gone by, if not the whole hour.
I looked at my clock. I had prayed for only four minutes! But I had prayed about everything I knew. What would I do for the next 56 minutes?
Suddenly prayer was not as simple as it seemed. Have you ever felt that way?
Yet I cannot stress enough how vital it is to develop a consistent prayer life. Without prayer your walk with the Lord will lack substance and credibility. With prayer your walk with the Lord will be victorious, since prayer is the weapon that guarantees victory in this spiritual war.
And in prayer you will find God’s heart for the more than 2 billion lives who are still unreached with the Gospel. God created every person in His image with an eternal soul, yet everyone who does not know Jesus is bound in chains of sin heading toward hell, many not even knowing there is a name to call upon for salvation. God is searching for those who will stand in the gap on their behalf and intercede for their souls.
What Does Prayer Do?
When was the last time you considered the implications of what serious prayer will accomplish in your life?
Prayer Gets You Alone with God
Unless we are spending time with the Lord, we cannot understand what it means to follow Christ. We are easily deceived into thinking that a few good choruses and hymns, a dynamic sermon and an outstanding church program are where it is at.
We are wrong. One of the highest items on God’s agenda throughout the Bible is to get His people alone with Him. Jacob ran from God for 20 years or more before God met him alone. Only then could He make him Israel.
When you spend time alone with the Lord, you cannot be a phony. When it is just God and you, you come face-to-face with yourself and your sins. With everyone else you can argue sin away, or smile and cover it up. Only when you are alone with God can cleansing and purification take place.
You may say, “Me—pray for a few weeks or days, or even for an hour? You’re joking, right?”
But God is in the business of making His children into the likeness of His Son. Romans 8:29 says, “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” But He cannot do this until He has some time with us.
When you have truly given your life to the Lord, it no longer belongs to you. You have died to yourself. Now Jesus can live His life through you, and you can take every concern straight to Him: “Jesus, I need to talk to this person about You, but I don’t know what to say. Could You please help me?”
It is simple when you are in tune with God. You will find yourself like the man who dug deep and anchored the foundation for his house on bedrock. No matter what circumstances may bluster your way, you are solid because you are anchored to the Rock.
And if you fail to lay that foundation? You may have the most attractive house in the neighborhood, but if serious winds and rains come, it will be gone in a moment. “That idiot!” the neighbors will say. “He built his house with no foundation.”
Please do not misunderstand me. Even if your prayer life is inconsistent and you cry out to the Lord, He is merciful and will hear you. But if you develop a habit of praying and spending time with the Lord, you will realize how precious that cord of communication is. Getting to know Jesus and loving Him are not one-day things. The more you know Him, the more you will love Him. And the more you love Him, the more He will revolutionize your life, and the more you will live in the light of eternity.
Prayer Moves the Hand of God
Prayer is one of the most difficult jobs you will ever undertake—but it is the quickest way to get anything done. What would otherwise take 50 years of struggle can be accomplished in five, if the battles are first won in prayer. I have seen this happen over and over on the front lines of the mission field.
When you read about the lives of the New Testament Christians, you find that when they were threatened or harassed, when they faced struggles or problems, they met immediately for prayer. And the book of Acts records this about their prayer meeting: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).
These believers rooted their every action in prayer. They were filled with power to do the impossible and affected their community radically. Even though they were unlearned and uneducated with no special training, everyone knew they had spent time with Jesus (see Acts 4:13).
Do you ever say to yourself things like these:
“I’m so tired of the way my husband lives his life. I thought all these years that he was an honest man, but now I’ve found out his private life is not so wonderful.”
“I’m frustrated with my wife’s unwillingness to commit her life to the cause of God’s kingdom. I wish she wouldn’t resist my efforts to pray and give to the Lord. I wish things would be different.”
“I’m tired of trying to witness to my co-worker. All he does is make fun of my faith and deliberately try to trap or test me. I wish he would change—or just leave.”
What is your next step? Run out for the newest self-help book that will tell you how to make it work? Throughout the Bible one thing moved the hand of almighty God: prayer.
On many occasions Jesus spent an entire night in prayer, often after a day of hard work. The next day He would go out and minister to people in the strength of the Spirit. The dynamite power that flowed through Him was a direct result of His contact with the Father.
Prayer Equips You for Battle
When I urge you to intercede for the lost, you know I am not talking about the phrase you may have added to your prayers at the dinner table as you were growing up: “Lord, please bless this food and bless our family—and save the heathens in Africa.” No, I am talking about entering an incredible spiritual battle, making a deliberate choice to wage warfare against the powers of darkness for the release of souls who have no one else to fight for their deliverance.
Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 6 to use prayer as a weapon:
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God. ... And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:12–13, 18
We face tremendous opportunities today on the mission field. People’s hearts are open to receive the Gospel, and we are able to send workers into the most unreached areas. At the same time we face a great increase in opposition and persecution on the mission field. We also face self-centeredness and misunderstandings within the Body of Christ, which often hinder the willingness of the Church to give to missions.
We need to unite together to pray against the powers of darkness. They will not be defeated any other way. Spiritual breakthroughs will come not as we sit and wish for them to happen, but as we are on our knees.
Prayer Changes the Course of History
Do you realize that some of the history-changing revivals took place not through a massive effort of hundreds of people, but through a small handful who prayed and fasted? Whole nations have been changed because three, four or five people were willing to get on their knees before the living God.
I know of a community where more than 60 percent of the people came to Jesus Christ because a group of men prayed and fasted for two weeks before they opened their mouths to utter one word in the village. Prayer is what changes people, circumstances, nations and even history.
You may say, “I am not a mighty man or woman. I’m a weakling when it comes to prayer. What can I do?”
I will offer some suggestions in a moment, but first let me tell you this: When you are weak, when you stumble and fall, the cross of Christ becomes powerful! Jesus has told us, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The men and women of God whose stories are recorded in the Bible are men and women who changed their circumstances. Realize that you are able, by God’s grace, to change your circumstances.
Often we have a tendency to wait instead for our circumstances to change: “I’ll be able to do something for God when my ship comes in.” Did you send a ship out? You cannot guarantee that one will come in!
You may say, “I would fast and pray for Tibet if I had a little more physical strength.” Or, “I’ll think about ministry after I get married.” Or, “I can focus on doing more when my problems at home are solved.” Or, “I’ll sell out everything to serve the Lord after my retirement.”
You cannot live in the light of eternity with this attitude. But if you do not have a consistent prayer life, you cannot know the resources God has already given you. He has given you power, but the key to power is prayer “on all occasions” (Ephesians 6:18).
Cultivating a Richer Prayer Life
As a ministry Gospel for Asia is fairly young; at the time of this writing we are just past the 15-year mark. But wherever I go people ask me the secret to our growth. One organization even sent a delegate to our Dallas office to find out what was behind it. I walked with him through our office while we talked.
“Tell me, Brother K.P.,” he said. “Which agency does your fundraising?”
“We have no agency,” I replied, “although we’re not against them. Some agencies are made up of godly people called by the Lord to help build His kingdom.”
He was a little confused. “Well, then, what do you have?”
“At the very beginning of our ministry, we started a Tuesday evening prayer meeting that has been going on ever since. We meet from seven until nine every Tuesday night. Also, our office staff arrives half an hour early three mornings a week to pray before the day begins. And on the first Friday of each month we meet for all-night prayer, which lasts until three or four in the morning. We spend more time praying than planning. We simply pray for everything that happens. If we have a need for something, we just pray.”
We are not throwing out logical thought, of course. We need planning and budgeting. We need the best brainstorming sessions to learn how to share the message more effectively. But neglecting to bathe the ministry in prayer leaves us just workers, not worshipers. When we unite in prayer, there is incredible power.
It is not my intention to intimidate you into a prayer life or put you on some guilt trip. Prayer is not something we can legislate. It has to flow from each believer’s heart to the Lord. At the same time, I cannot overemphasize how important prayer is. It is such a vital part of our lives as followers of Jesus that no excuse is good enough to keep us away from it!
Is prayer mandatory? It is not. We cannot create spirituality or put our brothers and sisters under bondage of guilt and legalism.
Is prayer mandatory? It is! How can we stay away from it if we are to follow Jesus seriously?
If you desire a fresh prayer life and are wondering how and where to start, let me offer a few suggestions that might help you find your way:
One, take some time to pray right now. Humble yourself before the Lord Jesus. Tell Him of your desire to spend more time in His presence. Ask Him to help you know how to pray and what to pray about. This is the first major step you must take before anything else can happen.
Two, as you begin to spend more time in prayer, allow your heart to open up in worship to the Lord. You need an individual life of worship, not just during the corporate worship time of your church.
What is worship? Literally it means to fall down prostrate before the Lord. When you begin to understand who God really is, you will worship Him. Find Bible verses that mention His names and what they mean. Use Scripture to pray, including many of the beautiful expressions in the Psalms. Sing songs to the Lord. If you do not know any songs or the ones you know do not seem to fit, make some up.
Three, use some common resources to give you items for prayer. Watch the news on TV if you do not know what is going on in the world. Get hold of a major newspaper and read the international section. Scribble down some notes about what is happening in Myanmar, Afghanistan or China. Begin to pray for the needs of these nations. Put up a world map in your house. Get a copy of Operation World by Jason Mandryk, which gives a tremendous amount of information on the spiritual condition of every country in the world. Subscribe to the newsmagazine published by Gospel for Asia, GFA World, and other missions publications. Make every report a matter of intercession.
Soon you will discover that 30 minutes, an hour or even two hours will not be enough to scratch the surface.
God in His incredible wisdom has ordained prayer to be the most powerful weapon of the Church. If He had chosen anything else, like preaching, singing, money or education, many of us could not participate in this war. But prayer requires none of these things. It can take place anywhere, anytime and can be done by anyone. A housewife, a child, a grandfather, a corporate executive—all are able to impact the world and help change the destiny of millions.
It is to the personal price of reaching those millions that we now turn.