Which Way Do You Turn?

“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, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” Eph 6:18-20

In our daily walk with the Lord we come across many stumbling blocks that keep us from growing in our spiritual maturity (e.g. Friends, television, work, finances, marital problems, facebook) Just to name a few. I ask the daunting question why? The answer! As Christians today, we normally do not walk with the Spirit. I don’t know about you! But I personally find it difficult at times to have a spirit- filled life when I allow all the temptations of Satan  and this world to distort my walk with the Lord. When I allow things (or stuff) to distract me from the most important thing in my life, a growing in righteousness; a walk of holiness; my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Where can we find help? Where do we turn to? Let me ask you this. Do you ever ask someone to pray for you in this area difficulty? So that you can have victory over it……..If not! Why?Are you too prideful to seek the help of others? Because you might think they will see your weaknesses. We serve an almighty sovereign God who cares for His children and what’s even better! He gave us brothers and sisters in Christ, to help one another as we wait for His glorious return. The Apostle Paul was a gifted, courageous, and morally upright man of God, but he too relied on and freely requested personal prayer. Paul himself was in a similar situation when he asked fellow believers to pray for his victory in spiritual warfare that this ministry provoked from Satan. Paul being humble servant he was confronted the enemy face to face and knew he was not able to win his own resources. We can learn a great deal from Paul about asking people to pray when we are at battle. Remember Satan is roaming around to see whom he can devour (1 Pet 5:8; Eph 2:2). The power of prayer is a way for us to get through each day because we greatly need God’s help and help of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul knew this! He knew the power and blessing he had were not of own doing but the power of prayer. We sometimes need to remind ourselves that it’s not the self- righteous but the humble heart that we need to bring to our prayer life. If we can’t be encouraged by the request for prayer from a man who was in a Roman prison cell being persecuted for preaching the gospel, then there is something wrong in our Christian walk! Praying for others with sincerity and perseverance is, in God’s immeasurable grace, a great blessing and strength to our own souls. It’s so important o ask people to pray for your spiritual needs because we are only weak sheep who are in a battle with the Prince of the air (Eph 6:12; 2 Cor 10:3). Because of Christ’s dying on the cross for my sins and the sins of the whole world, we can look to Him for answers of sovereign protection and supervision for our lives (Luke 12:30-31; Ps 18:2; Isa 25:4). I thank God every day for men who we can read about and know that we too can ask people to pray for us when we are in spiritual battle. When I am weak in my battles I know He is there to see me through. Samuel Chadwick once said “There is no power like that of prevailing prayer - of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heart-broken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat and blood. Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience, and always there is cost of passion unto blood. Such prayer prevails. It turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God.” Find the victory today through prayer! To Him be the glory for giving us the privilege of prayer and the prayers of the saints…..