Lesson 33: The Power of Prayer, part 3

Ephesians 6:18 - praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

We pray all the time because we are being attacked all the time. The battle never stops, and we must constantly be on the alert. No soldier can afford to close his eyes to the enemy. We are to persevere like the soldiers guarding a camp at night. Sometimes they took drastic measures to keep alert and hold fast to their work. Can we as Christians at least do the same in prayer for the sake of our Lord and for the benefit of others?

Notice also how Paul says in these verses how this "Power of Prayer" is not only for my good and my support, but also for the support of our fellow Christian soldier. We are not in this battle alone, and therefore we need to stand by each other as believers, holding each other up in prayer as well.

We have a personal interest in winning: 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 - Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my
body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.


Our battle injuries are not deadly to us: 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 - Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Our victory is assured: Romans 8:31-39 - What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the One who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.