LET US PRAY - Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 2)

Last week we looked at the first of the three aspects of prayer: YOU. Today, in a shortened lesson (due to the tornado alert), I focused on the remaining two aspects of prayer: God and Satan.

1) You - Praying for your needs and wants.

2) God - His will be done for His glory.

3) Satan - The evil one who opposes God's work, will, and interest.

The carnal Christian (the believer who is living in the flesh and trusting in the power of his own will) even his sensible prayer lays stress solely on the one aspect of his own welfare. His motive in prayer is to benefit himself. What he has in mind is merely his own needs and wants. If only he can have the Lord answer his prayer and give him his heart's desire, then he is satisfied. He does not recognize that there is such a thing as the will of God, nor is he aware of what the glory of God is. And of course he does not have the remotest concept concerning the aspect of making Satan suffer loss. Most, who pray, rarely pray for the sole purpose of asking for God's will to be done for His glory. Nor do they pray for the sole purpose of asking God to bind Satan and his army of dark angels and demons.

The Christian who is surrendered and desiring to walk in God's will prays not only for their personal needs, but will pay great attention to the glory and will of God. They expect Him to answer their prayer not because they only want to get something for themselves but because, additionally, God will be glorified in the answer to their prayer. In praying, they do not insist on having what they pray for because they are fully surrendered to the truth that everything they could ever want exist in God's will. Hence their prayer covers the two aspects of both God and man.

Very few Christians consider the third aspect--that of Satan--in their prayer. The aim of a true prayer touches on personal gain, but more importantly on the glory of God and the loss of the enemy. Prayer that resists Satan is highly successful if it will cause Satan to lose and God to be glorified. When God's will is done and Satan suffers loss the believer will unquestionably be profited. The spiritual progress of a saint can therefore be judged by the emphasis to be seen in his prayer.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY: The common image of Satan with pitchfork and horns, or some evil-looking, dark, creepy character is totally untrue. Matter-of-fact, Satan/Devil/Adversary is quite the opposite. Satan was created a cherub and he originally was "the anointed cherub that covered" the very throne of God. He was perfect and "blameless". He was "full of wisdom and beauty", but his pride lifted up his self-worth and he became "unrighteous" before God. Read below how God described Satan in Ezekiel 28:12-15:

"You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone...all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you."

 Today we learned that our most effective weapons against Satan are PRAYER, FAITH, WISDOM, and KNOWLEDGE. As we approach each test (cross), we must turn to God in prayer with faith and search His Word. With a surrendered heart, we search His Word for Truth as it applies to our particular test. Day-after-day, year-after-year, we grow in wisdom through each test (cross) as we are "sanctified through they truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17)

We learn to pray for God's will and His glory. We learn how to pray for God to bind Satan and immobilized him from causing God's children unnecessary suffering or loss. We pray, as Jesus taught us: "deliver us from evil" while always surrendered to God's will standing ready to accept what He allows for the ultimate purpose of accomplishing His will and glorifying His Name.

Next week we will join with the "Something Else" class for breakfast and fellowship. On May 3rd we will continue with "Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 3).

LET US PRAY - Prayer That Resists Satan (Part 1)

There are three aspects of prayer:

1) You - praying for your needs and numerous requests.

2) God - the petitioned is God, hearing your prayers and ultimately answering according to His will.

3) Satan - The evil one who opposes God's work, will, and interest.

Every true prayer is related to all three aspects. When we come to pray, we naturally pray for our own welfare. We have needs, wants, and expectations; and so we pray. We pray for the sake of fulfilling our requests. Even so, in true prayer we should not simply ask concerning those things pertaining to our own welfare, we should also pray for the glory of God and for heaven's rule over the earth. Answer to prayer gives the Lord much glory, for it reveals the exceeding greatness of His love and power in fulfilling the request of His children. It also indicates that His will is done, because He will not answer prayer which is not in accordance with His will.

We know that the ruler of this universe is God. yet Satan is called "the prince of the world" (John 14:30) since "the whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:19). Hence we see that there are two diametrically opposing forces in this world, each seeking for ascendancy. God in truth has the ultimate victory; nonetheless, in this age of ours before the millennial kingdom, Satan continues to usurp power in this world to oppose God's work, will, and interest. We who are children of God belong to God. If we gain anything under His hand, it naturally will mean that His enemy suffers loss. The amount of gain we make is the amount of God's will done. And the amount of God's will done is in turn the amount of loss Satan suffers.

Any prayer that does not take into consideration all three aspects is superficial, of little worth, and without much accomplishment.

Today we focused on YOU - the first aspect of prayer. As you evaluate what defines your life, honestly ask yourself how you define your life: by a ladder or by the Cross? Are you daily being crucified with Christ? (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:5-7) Are you vigilant as you experience your daily activities and encounters with situations and people and standing ready to deny yourself for the sake of Christ? Is your identity founded in a oneness with God? Is your idea of freedom being surrendered to God's perfect will? Are you living in the world but not of it? (John 17:14-15)

Sanctification is the process of becoming holy and separated. "For this is the will of God, your sanctification." (1 Thessalonians 4:3) We are sanctified positionally, progressively, and perfectly. We are called to be holy as Jesus was holy. (1 Peter 1:13-16)

As you journey down the  road of sanctification there will be many crosses where you are challenged to deny yourself and take another step closer to becoming more like Christ. (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23). I have always likened  the pain of "dying to self" as to the pain of removing a barbed fish hook from the flesh. The tearing of flesh when the barb is pulled out is much like the pain we experience when we put our own flesh to death on the Cross.

Becoming one with Christ requires that we face many crosses (deaths to self). The call is tough; the reward is matchless.

Next week, we will continue with "Prayer That Resist Satan".

LET US PRAY - Divine Institutions & Volitions

Today's lesson was an overview of the Doctrine of Divine Institutions, categories of Volition, and the ways God's will is expressed.

The Divine Institutions (Volition, Marriage, Family, and Nationalism) are the most basic practices that God set up for the human race in order to protect them, preserve them, and allow them to enjoy blessings on earth.

The #1 and most important Divine Institution is Volition (which include human responsibility and accountability). All other institutions are designed to protect Volition. It is crucial that one understands the importance of and the responsibilities and accountability associated with volition. When one demonstrates responsible behavior through the exercise of positive volition, then this strengthens the marriage, strengthens the family, and strengthens human government and the nation. But when an individual fails to understand responsibility and accountability it destroys marriage, destroys family, and ultimately destroys government and the nation. That is why it is crucial for parents to teach the importance of volition/responsibility and to have consistent accountability with their children as they grow up. 

Each of these Divine Institutions is under incredible assault today. There are all kinds of attacks on human responsibility from humanistic psychology and sociology—it’s not my fault, it’s my parents’ fault, society’s fault, the education system’s fault, or somebody mistreated me and it’s their fault. It is never my fault that I make bad decisions; it is somebody else’s fault.

Secular humanists are attempting to redefine the #2 Divine Institution, Marriage, as simply being “a loving relationship between two people”. That is not how the Bible defines marriage. Marriage in the Bible is a relationship between a man and a woman to fulfill certain responsibilities under the authority of God.

Next, we briefly summarized how God’s will is expressed (Directive Will; Geographical Will; Permissive Will; Overruling Will; Revealed Will). To know the will of God, we should immerse ourselves in the written Word of God (His Revealed Will), saturating our minds with it, and praying that the Holy Spirit will transform us through the renewing of our minds, so that the result is what is good, acceptable and perfect—the will of God. (see Romans 12:2)

I believe what makes it most difficult for us to understand God's will is our linear view of time (past, present, future) as compared to God's omniscient view of time (complete view of total knowledge and of all time--beginning to the end--as the present). We only see the present and the past. God sees all of time as thought it were the present with full knowledge of the fullness of eternity. We often question God's will concerning events in the present when we only have a finite view of time that includes the years we have been alive. God told Jeremiah (1:5), "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." In Revelations 22:13 we read, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." In Matthew 10:30 we read, "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." Every event--good and evil--God allows. There is nothing that happens that is outside of God's sovereign will and perfect plan (Ephesians 1:11). There is nothing that happens that is beyond His control (Job 42:2). We have only to trust Him completely, surrender to Him fully, and love Him wholeheartedly.

In summary, we boiled the lesson down into three main points:

1. God’s ultimate goal is that we love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and that everything He wills and permits is to that end.

2. God’s great love for us is the reason He gives us volition (right to make choices). Unless volition is without coercing or force are we free to express genuine love for God.

3. God’s permissive will (allowing us to sin and for evil to exist) is used to refocus us on His perfect will. God will always trump evil and use it to multiply His purposes as He fulfills His perfect will.

Next week we will look at a very important lesson in our study on prayer: “Prayer That Resists Satan”.