John K. Jenkins Sr - Principles of Powerful Prayer - Part 4

For the last several weeks, we have been preaching and teaching on the principles for the power of prayer, and we have been looking at Ephesians 6, where Paul the Apostle writes to the church in Ephesus. He tells them that many of the battles we face in life are, in fact, spiritual warfare. We are not wrestling against flesh and blood; your struggle is not with your kinfolk, your boss , or your neighbor . It is with spiritual entities that are engaged in your life but are unseen. You cannot see the spiritual warfare principle , nor can you see the principalities, powers , rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places, according to Ephesians 6. Yet they are out there battling against you . In fact , the closer you get to your destiny , the more intense the spiritual warfare becomes. Some of you need to learn to shout when you face spiritual challenges because it means you are getting closer to your destiny. Every major achievement in my life has always been preceded by drama . Amen! So, the more intense the battle, the more frustrating and discouraging it may become. I know that once I get on the other side of the drama, the higher and more magnified the benefit will be . Did that resonate with you all ?

So Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, "We are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness , and spiritual wickedness in high places." He tells us how to combat this; he discusses putting on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6 . We need to put on the whole armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. He gives us all these weapons to utilize, and he concludes in verses 18, 19, and 20 with what I consider to be the most significant weapon, which is prayer . When you're going into battle with the devil, you have to pray. Some of you never achieve victory because you don't know how to pray. We must be a people of prayer ; prayer is a discipline. You have to discipline yourself to pray. How many of you know your flesh doesn 't always feel like praying? I wonder how many of you will tell the truth about that? Your flesh does not often feel like praying .

So, the reality is we have been examining the instructions on prayer and how to pray . Beginning at verse 18, there are seven points of prayer I'm going to cover. I have already discussed five today; I want to present number six. Here 's number one for review : verse 18 states, "Praying always." We call that the " posture of prayer." Somebody say, "The posture of prayer." This means we are always in a position to pray . I don't have to be in a particular position, face a specific direction, or be in a certain location ; I am always postured to pray. That 's the posture of prayer.

Number two is the petition. We need to be people who petition God. He states right here in verse 18 that we are to pray always with all prayer and supplication. The word " supplication" means petitioning God; it means to beseech Him, to approach Him. I'm trying to teach people to stop looking to others to solve your problems and start talking to God. We need to stop expecting Capitol Hill and the government to fix our issues; we have to look to God. How many of you know God can do what the government cannot? We must look to Him and petition Him. We want to pray in the Spirit, which I call the power of prayer . I addressed that in verse 18 : "in the Spirit." We must allow the Spirit to pray for us, not what your flesh wants to pray. Your flesh often asks for things you don't need , which are not in God 's will. However, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us according to God's will. He knows God's will and prays for us accordingly. Amen !

A few weeks ago , you admitted that sometimes you pray for things, and years later, you look back and say , "God, thank You for not giving me what I asked for ." Come on, tell the truth! Thank God He didn't give you that person you were asking Him for or that job you wanted that is now out of business. Come on, give God praise for not giving it to you! We want to pray in the Spirit, which we call the power of prayer .

Then verse 18 also states that we pray watchfully. Somebody say, " being watchful ." Being watchful means I am practicing prudence, which shows care and thought for the future . Being watchful signifies looking ahead and expecting God to resolve what I am praying about. We must be people who expect. Somebody say, " expectant!" We are looking for Him to act. So if I have no food and no money to buy food , I will go ahead and set the table because I am prudent and expect God to somehow provide the food . We need to be prudent people...