“THE PRAYER FACTOR”

12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:12

We can't discount the importance of prayer in our mission of taking the Gospel to the world. In tonight's blog, Let's find out why.

In our previous blog, we learned that evangelism is a Christian undertaking that each believer should get involved in.

In this miniseries, we will learn 5 proven ways to take your witnessing to the next level. Here’s our first tip:

Pray and let others pray for you.

Jesus had a widely successful ministry because His life was marked by prayer and intercession. The same was Paul’s strategy.

We must acknowledge that our fight is not against flesh and blood but against powers and spiritual forces. The real battle is in the spiritual realm. Evangelism is spiritual warfare. Therefore, we need prayer.

In today’s verse, Paul uses the imagery of wrestling to describe the Christian’s struggle with evil. Wrestling was a popular event in the games held in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and all over Asia Minor. Paul uses this analogy to communicate the directness of the Christian ongoing battle with evil. He illustrates the personal and individual nature of spiritual warfare, both waged against the believer and the church.

The Ephesians’ enemies are countless, powerful, and evil. The adversary is described as rulers (“arche,” “the first place of angels and demons”), authorities (“exousia,”), cosmic powers (“kosmokrator,” “lord of the world”) and spiritual forces (“pneumatikos,” “a being higher than man but inferior to God”).

Some scholars argue that these words are names for different classes of evil spirits. On the other hand, others are convinced that the terms are simply different words that refer to the same enemy: Satan and his demons. The battle is against battalions of fallen angels and evil spirits who possess tremendous power. They are the spiritual forces behind the world systems that oppose God.

Because of this reality, we should take the battle to where it happens: in the spiritual realm. We do this by praying. Not only we should pray ourselves, but we also need to have people who can commit to pray for us. I know of a missionary couple who have an army of intercessors praying for them, backing them up because we know their battle is in the heavenly places. Prayer can change the atmosphere and make a difference. You can be an effective witness because not only do you have God on your side, but you also have an army of intercessors praying for you.

Pursue the Savior today!