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Category Archives: Prayer

Spiritual Warfare and Unity

26 Feb

In my last post, I showed how when I pray in the spirit, I align my spirit with the Holy Spirit.  I used the illustration of a fan in a field.  This is an important concept in understanding spiritual warfare in the church.

I’ll now continue with a deeper truth.  It all begins when you come along into this illustration.  Let’s say that we’re together.  I’m praying in the spirit and then you begin to pray in the spirit.  We’re now together praying in the spirit.

At that point, I’m one with the Holy Spirit, and you’re one with that same Holy Spirit.  Our two separate spiritual “winds” are now consumed by the wind of the Holy Spirit.

So as we all come together to pray in the spirit, we create a spirit (or “wind”) of unity.  This is the unity of the spirit.  The incredible truth is that as we pray in the spirit together we align with the Spirit of God AND with each other.

Think about some of the great spiritual movements of recent history.  Moves like what happened at the Azuza Street Mission, in California.  According to the reports, rich and poor, black and white, it made no difference, as people from all backgrounds came together into unity.  This was not achieved by willpower or a decision to agree – but by the Spirit.

More recently, think about the Charismatic renewal.  Denominations that never spoke to each other came together in unity as they prayed together in the spirit.  This could only have been accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that both of these moves of God were orchestrated by Him to bring His church into unity for the end-time harvest.  I also believe that the Lord is going to do it again in the near future, only this time with a church that understands the importance.

There is, however, an even deeper work that the Lord wants to do through corporate prayer in the spirit.  The question is; how does this tie into Spiritual Warfare.  For the answer to this, we need to go back to Ephesians, chapter 6.

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 6:18

Most of us know this section of Scripture pretty well.  It’s in the passage that deals with the Armor of God.  This section literally says to pray in the spirit, sleeplessly watching, and persevere at it.  I always thought that this was an interesting verse, especially since it concluded the section on spiritual warfare.  Keep this in mind.

Now we will go to the book of Jude.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit…
Jude 20 (NKJV)

Jude is telling us to strengthen our inner man by praying in the spirit.  Here’s where it starts to get interesting.  To find the reason for Jude’s writing of this short letter we must go to verse 3.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Jude 1:3

According to Jude’s own words, he started out just wanting to write a light letter of encouragement.  It would have been a short word about the salvation that we all share.  But the Holy Spirit had other plans.

The Spirit of God moved upon Jude to change the course of his writing.  He says that he felt like he had to write about CONTENDING – fighting, struggling, wrestling – for the faith.  It so happens, that Jude uses the same Greek word here that Paul used when he said that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12).

There are also some differences between the two writers.  Paul was writing about contending against spiritual forces.  Jude, on the other hand, was dealing with the struggle against false teachers.  But it’s the similarities that caught me off guard.

Here we see two very different writers talking about the fight of faith.  In both cases, they conclude with PRAY IN THE SPIRIT.  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see that there’s a connection.  Somehow our spiritual struggle requires prayer in the spirit.

Question: Why do we need unity for the fight of faith?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2020 in Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare, The Church

 

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Spiritual Warfare – One in Spirit

24 Feb

What has to happen for the church to walk in unity against the devil’s kingdom?  I’ve been posting about it, and I think the answer will surprise you.

In my last installment, we saw that Jesus prayed to the Father, that He would make us one.  That means that it must be by the Spirit.  The church can never operate as one person in the natural; it’s a work that only can be performed in the spiritual realm.  In His prayer, the Lord gives an indication of how this process works.

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
John 17:22-23

If the unity of the church is just like the unity shared by the Father and the Son, then we must ask; how are the Father and the Son one?  Simply put, they share the same Spirit.

It sounds to me as if this is one of the most important aspects of our spiritual battle.  It’s our unity that speaks to the world and lets them know the truth about Christ.

I don’t believe that this is what the world sees in this generation.  Right now many churches have no agreement or unity.  Agreement is good; it means that we’re all being taught the truth.  Our agreement lets the world hear the Good News with one voice.

Unity is better.  It allows the church to operate as a unit.  But the real place of power is a church that’s operating in both agreement and unity together.  This means that we not only believe the same and speak the same but also operate in one spirit.  How is that accomplished?

Let me illustrate how this truth works.  Picture yourself out in a field.  The wind is gently blowing and you can see the grass swaying in the breeze.  For the purpose of this illustration, the natural wind is the Holy Spirit.

Now I come into the picture.  Compared to the wind, I’m a little electric fan.  When I pray “in the Spirit,” I align my spirit with the Holy Spirit and start to blow my wind in the same direction as the natural wind.  When I’m in the spirit, I’ve lined myself up with God’s Spirit.

Being in the spirit allows my spiritual wind to blow in the same direction as the Holy Spirit.  If this scenario were happening in the natural – a fan in a field – would you be able to tell which part of the wind came from the fan and which came from the air?  No, it would be impossible to differentiate the two.

In the same way, you can’t differentiate my spirit versus the Holy Spirit.  The wind of the Holy Spirit completely envelops my wind, it’s all ONE.  The Holy Spirit and I are in unity.  This is what Paul wrote about to the Corinthian church.

But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:17

We’re now starting to see the whole picture.  To be one with Him, I must unite myself with the Lord.  It’s interesting to note here that the word, unite is the word, glue, in the Greek.  According to Paul, being one with the Lord in spirit is being glued to Him.  This is the unity we share with the Lord.

In my next post, I’ll show how my unity with the Lord becomes unity in the church.

Question: Why is it important for us to be in unity with the Lord?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2020 in Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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Fasting and Victory over the Flesh

07 Feb

I’m posting about how to win the war against the flesh.  There’s one more battleground that we need to talk about.  It’s illustrated in something that happened with Christ and His disciples.

The disciples had tried and failed, to cast a demon out of a young man.  After Jesus was able to do it, the disciples asked Him privately why they were unable to.

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:20-21, NKJV

The disciples’ problem was unbelief.  Jesus explains to them that faith as small as a mustard seed, working all by itself, can move a mountain.  Nothing would be impossible for us if faith was the only issue.

If it were only about faith, then America should have the most miracles of any country on earth.  We know that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  In America, we have access to more of the Word than in any other country.

The problem is that we have unbelief alongside that faith.  The U.S. is also one of the most flesh-driven countries on earth.

Just driving down the street I can see a billboard that feeds my flesh.  Standing in a checkout counter, listening to the news on the radio, almost everything I do causes me to access food for my flesh.  Even though I try to filter it by “taking every thought captive,” some of this trash still gets through.

So the stronger my spirit is built up by the Word of God, the more my flesh is built up just by living in this society.  It’s the presence of these two powerful forces in my life – faith and unbelief – side-by-side, that’s watering down my spiritual strength.  What can I do about it?

The key is the statement made by the boy’s father.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24

We have plenty of faith, but how do we overcome our unbelief?  There is a solution.  Jesus tells the disciples, “This kind only goes out by prayer and fasting.”

The question is; this kind of what?  Most people say He was talking about the demon.  I don’t believe it.  A demon couldn’t care less whether you’ve fasted or not.  Look at the emphasis of the verse.  It’s the disciples who were talking about the demon.

Jesus never once mentioned the demon.  He spent the whole time talking about the problem – unbelief.  What Jesus wants you to get rid of is unbelief.  It’s this kind of unbelief that blocks the working of your faith to the point where nothing happens, even though you believe the Word of God.

Where does fasting come into the picture?  Fasting is a way to forcefully and supernaturally win a major victory against your flesh.  You’re telling it, “I don’t care what you say – I’m not listening to you today.”

When you fast, it’s as if you’re turning down the volume control to the voice of your flesh.  This allows the faith that you have to effectively become stronger.  Without the voice of your flesh talking so loud, you will be better able to hear the voice of the Lord speaking to your spirit.

This is why I often tell believers that if they want to see a great change in their lives, they need to fast regularly and consistently.

Question: How well do you hear from God presently?  Would you like to increase your spiritual sensitivity?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2020 in Faith, Fasting, Prayer, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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Victory over the Old Self

05 Feb

In my last post, I talked about the spiritual, surgical attack that puts off the old man. We saw from Scripture that this is accomplished through prayer in the spirit.

This is one of the reasons why prayer in the spirit is so important. It’s also the reason why so few believers win the battle over their flesh. They don’t realize that it can only be won in the spirit by the power of the Word of God released in us. That’s why Paul could say…

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live…
Romans 8:13

This work is only accomplished in the spirit. The misdeeds of my body will never be put to death by any decision that I make – no matter how much I desire it. I can try and try in my own strength. The work is a spiritual breakthrough and only comes as I yield my spirit to the Holy Spirit.

The reality of this is apparent as I look back over recent history. I think about my grandparents’ generation. When I hear the testimonies of how they came to the Lord, I used to get frustrated. Their lives were totally turned around. Before Christ, their lives were characterized by drunkenness, gambling, and foul language.

When I came along, I only knew them as strong believers who told everyone they met about the power of Christ. They were humble examples of the life-changing work of God. Why did this frustrate me? Because I wanted my life to line up with the Word the way theirs did.

When I asked how I could become more like Christ, I was told that I needed to be more committed.

“When those old saints of God were saved, they really submitted themselves to God’s law.”

But it seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t live like them. I was angry that God would change them so radically, while I was left trying on my own to overcome the flesh.

Now that I understand the work of the spirit, I can see what really happened in my grandparents’ lives. It was a spiritual work that changed them. Remembering back to what I saw in them, I now realize what made the difference. The main characteristic of their lives was prayer in the spirit.

They went to church meetings three days a week just to pray in the spirit. I remember hearing my grandmother (I lived with her) get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and begin praying in the spirit for hours. This was her daily routine.

I remember hearing people laughing at their commitment to this practice.

“That old Italian prayer meeting went on until midnight yesterday!”

Little did we know that it was the secret to the walk in the spirit that we could never attain on our own.  They had learned that the spiritual battle against the flesh could only be won in the spirit.

I also see the same thing happening in our generation. At one point our church began having a weekly meeting for the sole purpose of prayer in the spirit. This went on for about a year. During that year I remember commenting that those who came out and participated in the prayer were being radically changed.

At that time I didn’t know that they were putting off the old nature through prayer in the spirit. All I understood was that they were undergoing a rapid change in their spiritual walk.

The church needs to once again learn this truth. We need to submit to the Holy Spirit to perform the change in our hearts. Only then will the world see the difference that will draw them to the cross of Christ. Only then will we experience the revival that we so desperately hunger for.

Question: How committed are you to prayer in the spirit?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 5, 2020 in Faith, Prayer in the Spirit, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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A Surgical Strike against the Flesh

03 Feb

I’ve been posting about our spiritual war with our old sin-nature. In my last post, I said that water baptism was the first step in this process. Through it, we identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:11

Here Paul tells us that in the same way we trusted Christ in baptism, we must count or literally inventory ourselves dead, indeed, to sin.

This goes right along with our baptism. In verse 3 of Romans chapter 6, we were baptized into His death. Now in verse 11, there’s something that Paul is hoping you’ll move into by faith. Paul describes this step to the Colossian church.

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
Colossians 2:11-12

This is what we want to concentrate on – the putting off of the sinful nature. According to Paul, this is a surgical procedure that can only be done by Christ.  So, in terms of warfare, you could call this a surgical strike against the flesh.

It isn’t a work I can perform on my own. It doesn’t matter how much will-power I put forth. Only Christ, Himself, can bring it to pass in my life. I must submit under the blade of the divine Surgeon.

There are two prerequisites to this surgery. The first is baptism and the second is faith in the power of God. This means that I can’t look to myself and how well I can obey God. It’s all about how much I trust His power working in my life. How much am I willing to surrender to Him?

It’s the same as in the natural world. If I don’t trust the surgeon in a medical procedure, then I will not allow them to put me under the anesthesia.   I’ll only let someone I trust have that much power over my body. Do we trust Christ enough to consent to His life-changing work in us?

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
Romans 2:29

There’s another key point to this work of Christ in us. It can only be done in the spirit. It’s not something that I can physically accomplish. Neither is it a choice that I make in my mind.

The change is required in my heart. The old self has to be removed. How can my sin-nature remove itself? It would never willingly choose to do that.

To get the old sin nature out of our heart requires outside assistance. That’s why it’s a work that only Christ can do, and it must be a spiritual work.  It’s for this reason that an understanding of the Word of God as a sword is so important.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

The sword of the spirit is the scalpel that performs the work in our hearts. In the past, I’ve emphasized that the things of the spirit can only be received through prayer in the spirit. This is the work that needs to be done in us. It’s a work that must be done in the spirit. It’s only prayer in the spirit that will accomplish the change that’s necessary in our hearts.

In order for God to do this work in us, we must yield ourselves to Him. As in any surgery, we must willingly go under the knife if our healing is to take place. This is true for our spiritual surgery as well.

Question: How has Prayer in the Spirit changed your life?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2020 in Faith, Power of God, Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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Spiritual Battles – The Price of Victory

24 Jan

In my last post, I talked about what it means to bring our petitions to God in prayer. It’s all about being moved in our spirits by the same passion that stirs the Lord.

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 6:18

We must be passionate as we live in this spiritual battle zone. We need to be passionate about our duty. This is what we’re called – under orders – to carry out.

In Scripture, we’re told what’s important to our Commander. God’s people should be petitioning for workers in the field, healing, deliverance, protection, baptism in the spirit, and for God’s will to be accomplished.

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs — he wants to please his commanding officer.
2 Timothy 2:3-4

It’s clear from Scripture that there are two different mentalities. You could think like a soldier or as a civilian. Which are you?

In my last post, I used the illustration of a company of soldiers who were ordered to take a hill. They’re making a passionate call for reinforcements, air support, and medical evacuation of the wounded so that they could fulfill their orders.

At the same time, back home, there are people safe in their houses watching TV. They don’t know or care that this company of soldiers is pinned down. They don’t know or care about the objective to take that hill. They don’t know or care if these soldiers succeed or die trying.

Maybe the next day they’ll hear a news report about soldiers who were killed in the line of duty and say, “That’s too bad.”

The key mentality of battle is that each soldier knows the importance of the objective. They know just how precious every foot of ground is. They also know what the cost of advancement is.

There are people in the body of Christ right now, who go to church on Sunday. They sing, clap, and hear a message that uplifts them. Then they go off happily to their homes. Or maybe they go off to work or play. They don’t know or care that there’s a lost soul about to enter eternity that needs to hear the message of the cross NOW.

“God, send reinforcements.”

They don’t care that the enemy has trapped someone in a prison of drug addiction.

“God, send air support. Break the stronghold so we can set them free.”

That’s what this word, petition means. Knowing the objective and passionately begging for the support from on high. Not because we need to beg, but because we know the cost of failure. We know how precious a soul is to the Lord.

We know the price of victory. We have a warrior’s mentality.

Question: How do you fulfill the call to bring petitions to the Lord on behalf of others?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2020 in Prayer, Sonship, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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The Spiritual Battle – Passionate Petitions

22 Jan

I’m posting about the spiritual battle that we face in our generation. In my last article, I talked about the need to be diligent and press in past our comfort zone.

The New Testament speaks a lot about prayer. That’s what we really need to be strong toward. That’s what the enemy would like to stop. That’s where our victory comes from.

In talking about Moses, the writer of Hebrews said…

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:27

This is an important verse for us to understand in our times. Moses SAW Him who is INVISIBLE. It sounds like an oxymoron. Of course, many things in the spirit don’t make sense in the natural.

The fact of the matter is that Moses pressed in. It wasn’t easy to get the children of Israel out of Egypt. He kept running into unseen hurdles along the way.

In Moses’ original encounter with God, he was basically told to “Just do this. Go to Egypt and bring My people out.” It sounded simple enough at the time.

In order to accomplish his calling, Moses had to keep going back to the presence of the Lord. He stayed strong because, through prayer, he saw the end.

That brings us back to our original verse in Ephesians.

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 6:18

The phrase, keep on praying literally means through all diligence and petition in the Greek language. I had a problem with this – reconciling petition and life in the battle zone. I understood the need to be alert and diligent, but how did petitioning fit into all this.

It turns out that my lack of understanding had to do with being raised in the church. From what I learned, a petition was a list of needs presented to God.

“O God – bless my work, heal Joe, provide the money for this bill, etc.”

That’s what I thought it meant to bring my petitions before God. Because of that, I couldn’t understand it as a part of warfare.

The Greek word in that verse is deesis. It means begging. Literally, it’s what a beggar would do. Over time the church had turned it into a “holy” word. Actually, the root of this word is want, lack, need, desire, ask, or beg.

I began to pray and seek God’s wisdom as to what this means for us. I found that this word came from a root even further back. The root meant to bind, either by chains or duty. It spoke of someone who was duty-bound.

That’s when it clicked. When a military person receives orders, they are bound by their duty to perform it or die trying.

Here is a company of men who are told to take that hill. They’re pinned down by the enemy fire. But they have a duty to perform. What do they do?

Do they send off a list of things they need? NO! They get on their radio with a passionate call for air support. Their communication is specific, passionate, and urgent. As they make this call, they’re ready to move immediately when it arrives.

Now I know the Scriptural truth. A petition is more about our passion than the list of wants. This requires us to have the same heart as our Commander and Chief. It requires us to press in by the Holy Spirit.

Question: What are you passionate about in the Kingdom of God?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2020 in Prayer, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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The Spiritual Battle – Pressing In

20 Jan

Do you know where you are in the history of the church?  This question isn’t about a place, but time.

I’m posting about the spiritual battle that’s going on around us.  It’s vital that we know the times we live in.

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Romans 13:11

We need to know where we are on God’s timetable. I don’t like saying it, but the truth is that past generations of believers could “sleep” through their Christian walk. Not us. We live in dangerous times.

The Apostle Paul continues talking about this.

The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Romans 13:12-14

In this generation, we need to lay aside the things that are a part of the darkness. In their place, we must put on the armor of God.

We must live carefully and clothe ourselves with Christ. And as I focused on in my last post, we need to watch and pray. That’s how we keep alert spiritually.

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 6:18

This verse literally says that we must keep watch with all persistency. That word persistency means to be strong toward, to be diligent. We must be diligent in the battle zone.

When we say that we need to be strong toward something, it speaks about a goal, a direction. We sometimes use the term “press in.”

In battle, there are places that are hard to get to. There are houses you can’t enter until you bind the strong man. It isn’t easy to press into the miraculous. If it was – everyone, every church would have it.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
Acts 2:42-43

Was it any easier back then, in the early church? Did those believers have all the time in the world to do all these things? I don’t think they were any different from us. It was as hard for them as it is for this generation.

If we want God’s best, it takes diligence. It will cause us to leave our comfort zone. But the spiritual rewards will be worth it.

Question: What do you find to be the most difficult about pressing into God’s presence?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on January 20, 2020 in Prayer, Revival, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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Thinking Like a Soldier

17 Jan

Whether you know it or not, the world is a spiritual battle zone right now. Unless you have the right mentality, you could become a casualty of this war. That’s why it’s so important to know how the Bible says for us to live.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word 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 6:17-18

As I’ve posted in the past, this verse is talking about the authority and power of God. The Lord wants to work this through us.

My question is; if we know we’re in the battle zone, then how should we live? The last sentence of this passage literally reads attend to this with all persistence and petition. The fact of the matter is that there’s a battle zone mentality.

The first thing we’re told is that it requires us to be alert. The Greek word there means to be sleepless. We must be awake and alert in the battle zone.

We’re told in this same chapter of Ephesians that our enemy isn’t flesh and blood. They don’t take a day off. Does that mean we don’t need to rest or take a vacation? No, but we have to stay spiritually vigilant no matter what’s happening in our lives.

“There’s not much going on in my life right now. I don’t need to pray today.”

That kind of thinking can destroy you in this battle. Look at how Jesus put it to His disciples.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Matthew 26:41

Watching – staying spiritually alert – and prayer goes together. According to Jesus, it’s so that you will not enter into a test, a time of proving.

In the battle zone, there are traps and ambushes. You must be alert. Like someone who’s walking in the middle of a minefield. At that point, you’re in the test.

Did you know that many of the tests and temptations of life can be avoided? I wonder sometimes how many of these battles are of our own making. Or maybe we’ve just walked blindly into them.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

This is how the enemy works. In the natural, it’s the oldest, weakest lion that does the roaring. The strong, young lions wait on the other side of the prey. When the prey hears the roar and runs away from it, they run right to the lions waiting for their dinner to arrive.

It’s the same with our spiritual enemy. He’s trying to get you to head into a trap. We have to keep spiritually alert at all times. That only happens as we watch and pray. It will help us to avoid many of the problems that are before us.

Stay alert!

Question: Can you think of a time that you were tested or tempted because you weren’t spiritually alert?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on January 17, 2020 in Prayer, Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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Rhema – The Key to Victory

13 Jan

In my last post, I talked about prayer in the spirit as the key to spiritual warfare.  It’s through prayer in the spirit that we receive the helmet and the sword.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word 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 6:17-18

As we’ve already seen in this series, the helmet and sword speak of the authority and power of God working in us.  God wants to show His power through us in order to bring the Good News of Christ to the world.

We need to understand how our weapons work.  Specifically, I’m talking about the sword of the spirit – the rhema – Word of God.  For a detailed discussion of the word, rhema, click here.

Remember, we’re talking about the armor of God.  That means this is the sword of the Lord.  Our knowledge of this got watered down over time.  We have used this weapon less and less since the advent of the printing press.

You may not want to hear this, but the Bible is not our sword.  The sword is a spiritual weapon.  As a matter of fact, the devil doesn’t fear the Bible.  He has it memorized.  There are even times that he uses it against God’s people.

It’s the rhema – Word of God that’s our spiritual weapon.  But does that mean I don’t need the Bible?  Absolutely not!  We are to study in order to show ourselves approved to use the rhema.

Look at what Jesus said to the Pharisees.

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.  But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
John 5:46-47

Literally, the Lord said, “If you don’t believe what was written, how will you believe my rhema?”  The rhema is the revealed Word of God to me…and to you.  This is the greatest weapon of the church; God speaking to us.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Matthew 10:34

Christ brought us the spiritual weapons that we would use to fight the enemy’s kingdom.  The Sword of the Spirit was just what we needed for victory.

Under the Old Covenant, they had no spiritual weapons.  All their battles had to be fought in the natural.  That’s why the Law of Moses had so many death penalties.  The only way to stop the spirit of adultery was to kill those who were controlled by it.

After Christ died and rose again, everything changed.  Now there’s nowhere in New Testament that tells us that God will fight the battle for us.

We now have a weapon that the enemy cannot defend against.  He can debate the Bible with you.  But a sword that pierces the spirit, he has no defense against that.

That’s why it’s so important that we understand, not only what the Word of God is, but how we use it against the enemy’s kingdom.  God wants His people to hear His voice and act on it in obedience.  That’s the key to our victory.

Question: Why is a Word from God so destructive to the enemy’s kingdom?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on January 13, 2020 in Power of God, Prayer in the Spirit, Spiritual Warfare, Word of God

 

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