( The following is but a testimony of a personal daily victory in Jesus and how this victory is won on a daily bases. No effort of homilitical rule is employed, but a simple telling of a daily battle that is won through the weapon of prayer. My prayer is that all who read this battle report shall find courage and rejoice in victory through Christ Jesus Who intercedes for us even now.)
I have an enemy. My enemy is Satan. He is also the enemy of my Lord Jesus. His opposition is to keep me from living the life I have in Jesus, a life that is contrary to the old sinful life I once knew before accepting Christ as Saviour. I have another enemy. My enemy is self. I was born with a sinful nature that would also keep me from living the life I now have in Christ Jesus. Since the day I received Christ and was personally transformed by the power of God (John 1:12); The Holy Spirit indwells me. There is now an inevitable war going on in my daily life, like unto the conflict Paul describes in Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." This spiritual warfare is a daily battle with a daily victory.
The Spirit and the flesh are in constant conflict. Because God chose to leave my fleshly nature within me at the time of my new birth, I am continually dependent on Christ as my Priest and Advocate. Choosing to leave my fleshly nature within me, God gave me His own Holy Spirit to live in me. God's Spirit and my flesh are in a perpetual war that will continue until I am taken out of this world to live in Heaven.
This warfare is a personal battle that goes on within me daily that demands daily prayer and gives daily victory. Paul gives a very serious exhortation concerning this daily fight, "Be strong in the Lord . . . and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:9). I must be conscious of my own weakness and realize my inability to war with evil. I must cloth myself for this daily battle. I must put on the whole armor which God provides or else I will lose the fight against the Satanic evils of the day _____ discouragement, frustration, confusion, moral failure and even misinterpreting the will of God, these are the "wiles" of the devil. This is a daily personal battle against various points of weakness. Satan knows my weakest point and he directs daily destructive powers against me. If he cannot disable me by one method, he will try another.
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood." (Ephesians 6:12). This daily personal battle is not against human Godless philosophies and fleshly craftiness. My battle is against fallen spirits of evil that processes tremendous power; principalities that rule the darkness that surrounds me.
The whole armor of God, especially the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit are not enough to give daily victory. Daily victory in Christian living comes only through daily prayer. (Ephesians 6:18) . Prayer is not named as a part of the armor but indeed is a weapon that must be used even as the sword and shield.
Prayer is the atmosphere that surrounds the heated spiritual battle that allows me, as a soldier of the cross to breath freely and keep a keen, clear mind in the thickness of the smoke and debris of the battlefield.
THE WEAPON ON WHICH EVERYTHING DEPENDS
Prayer is my number one weapon in this daily struggle against the relentless, fleshly efforts to carnal control of my born again life. Christ is my only hope of glory. My victory is secure in the One who is in God the Father; the One in Whom I abide. (John 10:38). My beautiful abode is found in the "We" of John 14:23, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and "We" will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
My daily victory and success in Christian living is dependent on prayer. Prayer is my dependable weapon in every battle. Mary Warburton Booth wrote, "Depend upon it, if you are bent on prayer, the devil will not leave you alone. He will molest you, tantalize you, block you, and surely find some hindrances, big or small or both. And we sometimes fail because we are ignorant of his devices . . I do not think he minds our praying about things if we leave it at that. What he minds, and opposes steadily, is the prayer that prays on until it is prayed through, assured of the answer."
Andrew Murray tells of reading this story in a prayer periodical of his day: Two persons quarrel over a certain point. We call them Christian and Apollyon. Apollyon notices that Christian has a certain weapon which would give him a sure victory. They meet in daily strife, and Apollyon resolves to take away the weapon from his opponent and destroy it. For the moment the main cause of the strive has become subordinate; The great point now is who shall get possession of the weapon on which everything depends? It is of vital importance to get hold of the one weapon that gives sure victory. Murray continues: "Happy is the prayer hero who, through it all, takes care to hold fast and use his weapon."
PRAYER OF EVERY KIND
Prayer is the weapon to be used after we don the armor and face the foe. As a soldier in the army of God, I must use all sorts and kinds of prayer . . . public and closet, deliberate, spontaneous, intercession, supplication, confession and humiliation, praise and thanksgiving. As a soldier I must be an all out prayer warrior.
I must persevere in prayer. I must keep on and on asking and seeking and knocking. I must supplicate for others who are in the same conflict. I need and must give support to fellow soldiers. Paul, writing these words in prison, did not ask for early release; his request was for boldness to utter the gospel.
As a soldier in the thick of battle, I have the one weapon that guarantees victory. Not to use this weapon is to fail our Lord and Master and go down in shameful defeat, bringing reproach on our King.
May I say to all children of God that we give to the world a testimony of His grace that is more than enough to see us through each battle. Giving report of our battles is to say, "I prayed and He delivered me!"
( W. Clyde Martin editor and founder of THE PRAYER LIFE magazine first published in 1988, can be reached by e-mail godcalled@webtv.net)
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