Focus on the Fundamentals预览

Fundamental 7—Prayer (Eph 6:18)

Paul summarizes the armor of God, not with a “piece of armor,” but with an admonition to pray. Prayer is an important part of our spiritual armor because it activates everything.

“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 Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18 NIV)

Without prayer and communication with God, we have no ability on our own to battle against the Enemy. Prayer is a fundamental of the faith. If we truly believed in the power of prayer, we would probably do it more often. Prayer is not a checklist of what we can get from God, it is what builds our relationship with Him and allows us to mold our will to His.

If you use the ACTS model (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), you will notice that asking God for things comes at the very end. Too often prayers are just a laundry list of what we want from God. Prayer is not an avenue to get what we want; prayer builds our relationship with God. It is how we can mold our will to His.

Prayer breaks strongholds. In 2 Samuel 21, there is a 3-year famine. David sought the Lord and realized sacrifice and vindication were needed. After that, “God answered prayers on behalf of the land.” Don’t wait that long to pray and seek God. The things you don’t see as strongholds are often spiritual in nature. Prayer is how we wage war against our enemy.

Did Jesus need the fundamentals? After all, He was God and He could have skipped over them, but no, He modeled them for us. He went away to pray, spread the Good News, used the Word of God to combat Satan, and stood for truth. Jesus showed us a perfect life, which we maintain as our goal, knowing that we will never be perfect.

Don’t neglect the fundamentals, you never graduate past them. You never arrive in a position of authority as a Christian where you don’t need them.

A mature Christian will find value in the fundamentals because of the fruit that has come in their life from them. If you want to prepare for the big game or the battle that you need to face, focus on the fundamentals!

Fundamentals and repetition can be tiresome and boring in many disciplines, but ask God for His joy in doing them!