Robert Morris - The Purpose of Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer gives us a pattern to teach us how to pray so that we can stand in the midst of spiritual warfare.

As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we all experience spiritual warfare. If we place our focus on Satan’s attacks against us, we give the devil too much credit. Instead, when spiritual warfare increases in our lives, we need to go to a new level of prayer so we can release God’s power and will. The Lord’s Prayer gives us a pattern to teach us how to pray (Luke 11, Matthew 6).

We must take prayer seriously because we are in a war, and our Enemy wants to kill us (Ephesians 6:12; John 10:10). One type of demon that comes against us is called a principality, which is a prince over a geographic region. The prophet Daniel in the Old Testament battled principalities (Daniel 10:12– 13, 20–21). Jesus’ healing of the demon-possessed man in Mark 5 also reveals the reality of territorial principalities (Mark 5:9–10). We fight principalities every time souls are saved, every time we plant a new church in a new city and every time we stand for righteousness in our nation.

We also battle demons called familial spirits. These are spirits that have strongholds in our families through the sins of our ancestors. We can recognize a familial spirit in areas where family members have a strong tendency toward a certain sin. We overcome principalities and familial spirits by prayer and by walking in the opposite spirit. For example, greed is overcome through prayer and generosity.

While we must take prayer seriously, the good news is we don’t need to take it too seriously. God designed us to pray so we can transfer the burden of our battles to Him (Philippians 4:6; 1 Peter 5:7). We can give Him every concern and know He will sustain us (Psalm 55:22). Jesus, our Prince of Peace, is Lord over every principality and every spiritual power.