Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
9/19/2022
Life and Death. Prosperity or Frustration. A Servants Call.
Ephesians 6:18, 19 The Christians' power, the Christians wrestling… putting on his armor, and his wielding the sword of the spirit is all about unceasing dependence upon God. It cannot be accomplished apart from the believing confidence in his all-sufficient grace.
Have you ever wondered about the years or the decades that’ll just never came together for you? If it wasn’t one thing it was another, always setting you back. There seems to be this proverbial elephant in the room keeping you from fully achieving a closer relationship with God.
A life of unceasing prayer is the secret to a life of victory.
Praying always in the spirit is the mark of a normal spiritual life.
As unceasingly as my lungs are kept breathing by divine power, the Holy Spirit must continually breathe into me that prayer life by which the powers of divine life in the heavenly world are maintained.
Just as salvation is not by works, or effort, or struggling.
Each of us is God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works that are already prepared for us.
Have you considered that being a divine creation, we are not left to ourselves? Think about it. Like the air we breathe, we are moment by moment upheld by the word of his power.
Unceasing prayer it’s about an unceasing relationship. It is not just possible, it is commanded. As his word grows in us, the eternal spirit ever maintains the spiritual breathing of the soul. Prayer.
We have fallen short so many times in our lives because our prayer carried such a preponderance of selfishness, of what we wanted and what we needed. We just couldn’t seem to get away from wanting to sit at the head of the marriage table… you know,.. to be recognized first in our prayers. (Whatever happened to the first will be last and a servant to all).
"Praying at all times" is never to be selfish in nature.” Watching therefore with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”
In Ephesians, Paul teaches the importance of the truth of the unity of the body of Christ in love. 2:13–20, 3:16, 4:1–16, 5:22–33.
We remember Ephesians 6 talking so much of believers called to fight the powers of darkness. But here he speaks of the unity of the Saints as forming one great army, as the host of the Lord, living by one spirit, all striving together for the establishment of his kingdom in the world. Continual prayer for all believers is not only the duty of each member: it is the essential factor upon which the welfare and victory of the whole depend!
Look at Ephesians 1: 15–23 and Paul’s prayer on behalf of those who had already been sealed with the spirit. He asked God to give them the spirit of wisdom and divine understanding so they may know the exceeding greatness of his power in all who believe.
Oh, how believers need this great truth as an anchor in their hearts to thoroughly empower them! How we need to be reminded and to teach others of their calling to pray for those who have not received it.
This isn’t just some metaphor but they are the anchor points that hold The armor together and the army of the church together. The spiritual strength of individual believers and the church depend upon unceasing prayers and all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 3:14–21 cries out for something special, “we according to the riches of his glory.”
His prayer for others is that the spirit of supplication would be given to them! That spirit and power would fill their whole inner man, that Christ may dwell in their hearts and that they be rooted in love.
We are to be praying for our children, our neighbors, our small groups, and our church so that God will bring into reality this inner divine strength for EVERY believer.
The power to prevail in prayer is not the senseless striving but rather complete surrender upheld by his divine word.
The heart of this type of prayer is the continual devotion to God. It is, in its effect, open communication with God. It is divine intimacy with God. Are you beginning to see the piece that has illuded you? The Peace that comes through this command…to pray?
This is the lifeblood of every community, of every family, and is the strength of every church. It is the indwelling of His Spirit, like the fresh air that we breathe, circulating through the whole body as it maintains unity through that love offering of prayer. It changes them… It changes YOU!
This vital power of the spirit of prayer breathes life into the atmosphere of our lives on behalf of the whole body and every member.
The ministry is to train believers to pray like this as one of their highest privileges. The work of missionaries, like Paul, who carry out the gospel to the lost depends upon it. Growing the spiritual life within our families depends on it. Our small groups and church Will never reach their potential without it. When we pray for His Holy Spirit to increase this in us…He will.
In our devotional life, we need a vision of the work to be done. We also need a vision of the host of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, and of Jesus Christ exalted over all of them, caring out the triumph of the cross! We need a vision of us as ministers and members of Christ laboring together to both teach and preach and pray for the conquest of the world. With that kind of vision what a new meaning and purpose our devotions would have! This is the life that Paul speaks of. An efficient life, strong in the Lord and the exceeding greatness of his strength within us.
Each of us must give ourselves as a sacrifice and an offering to God for the building up of the body of Christ. We must "grow up" to the fact that we can no longer live for ourselves and our selfish religious hopes and efforts, but to live in love, for the strength and unity of the body, even as Christ loved us.
I pray today that God will give us all a glimpse of the inspiration of the "true standard" of life that Ephesians has held out to us. We need an unwavering and an undoubting confidence that God will make this life a reality, even a life of unceasing prayer, in the spirit, for all the saints.
Lauren Daigle Dry bones come alive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XAeyFagceQ
Excerpts are taken from Andrew Murrays "The Believers Call to committment.
