Sharpening Your Weapon of Prayer
As a Christian, we are automatically enlisted in the battle of spiritual warfare, as Pastor Dan taught on Sunday. We are each given various tools for our individual mission, but we are all given the same weapon of prayer as we move through our various assignments and encounter evil. However, this weapon is unfortunately not used as often or as well as it should be. It grows dull, and we’ve lost touch with how to use it. Thankfully, our misuse of the weapon of prayer does not render it useless or invaluable, we just need to sharpen it so it’s ready for effectual use. Here are my four tips on sharpening your weapon.
1. Know to Whom you are praying. You are praying to the Lord Almighty who made the entire universe with a spoken word. Jehovah who created His crowning jewel, His Imago Dei…man made in His image. The King who thought so highly of lowly man that He put us over all His creation, and He crowned our mortal head with glory and honor. The Messiah who loved us so dearly that He saw it fit to sacrifice His own Son’s life so that we might have redemption, and sin’s wages of death banished forever. Delve into the Bible to learn and acknowledge our Savior’s attributes, holiness, promises, and love. Learn through Scripture and observation of His creation who your battle captain is, then you will know for whom you are using your weapon. When you know who you are fighting for, then your fighting will no longer be docile, but zealous!
2. Learn how to pray. Prayer does not have to equal perfection and eloquence, that’s not what I’m referring to here. I’m referring to the process of prayer, the linear methodology of praying. Using this method can guide your weapon of prayer when you are unsure, and even compel you to use it more often and more confidently. In Daniel 9, Daniel’s process of prayer went as follows (and parallels the same elements of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13): he first praised the Lord for His attributes and glory, then confessed of his and the peoples’ sins, and finally made his request for mercy known to the Lord. When we know how to use our weapon, we can smoothly put it into action and teach others how to also use this weapon of communication.
3. Record your prayers. I hit a rut about a year and half ago when I realized my prayer life was greatly lacking and stale, so I determined to find a better way to pray by making my prayers tangible by writing them down. I have one notebook for the prayer requests of others, one notebook of my most intimate prayers for God’s eyes only, and one notebook of praises and blessings that He has given to me. I love going back to flip through these prayer journals, remember what I prayed for, and now know what God has done with these prayers that I offered. Recording my prayers has made me eagerly look for prayer requests, pour out my heart to God more passionately, and has helped keep me focused and alert while praying.
4. Schedule a time and place for your prayer. We pencil everything else that is of importance in our lives. You may think, “Oh that doctor’s appointment, my time at the gym, and dinner with that one family is important and immovable! I can pray when I have free time.” You can, but will you? Prayer is every bit important and nonnegotiable as our everyday activities, so daily block out time for praying. Keep this consistent, and make sure nothing else encroaches on it, just as we are careful that nothing encroaches on our gym time, we don’t answer phones during doctor’s appointments, and we don’t typically cancel last minute on that dinner with friends. For me, I take time each morning to eat my toast and coffee and study my Bible, use my prayer journals, and read devotional book. This helps me start my day off right. If I miss this time (which I guiltily do), I try my best to make it up each evening to end my day by sharpening of my weapon.
We must regularly sharpen our weapon of prayer and use it to fight with valor and truth as we proudly wear the colors of Christ and glorify Him! Laxness and dull weaponry is not an option for a soldier of Christ.
~ Abi Gordon serves as Special Projects and Care Coordinator at LIFE Fellowship. She enjoys watercolors, photography reading, writing, and spending time outdoors and is a native of Colorado.