Your Greatest Weapon

When you hear of a family member or close friend who is going through a hard time, do you feel helpless and don’t know what to do?

Have you offered to pray for them only to walk away feeling powerless because you just want to fix it but can’t?

I used to feel like this until I discovered the greatest weapon that we have access to. The best thing is that you don’t have to buy it as it’s totally free to you, you can use it wherever you are at any time – day or night, and it is the most powerful weapon in the entire world.

This weapon can move mountains into the sea (Mark 11:23). It can heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8). It can feed 5000 men, aside from counting women and children (Matthew 14).

What is this weapon?

PRAYER!

One of my favourite stories in the Bible is when Paul and Silas were in prison in Acts 16. The dumbest thing for the city officials to do was to put these two powerful men in a cell ….. together. In Deuteronomy 32:30 it says that when God is behind what we are doing, one person can put 1,000 enemies to flight but two people can put 10,000 enemies to flight. Paul and Silas prayed and sung to God and there was a great earthquake. The prison was so shaken that all the prison doors were opened and the chains on every prisoner fell off! Just from praying and singing. Fantastic!

Prayer Gets Answers

I needed an answer for a problem in the last week and the Lord led me to the story of Gideon in Judges 6-8. I had heard and read this story many times but when God leads you to it, new insights and revelations appear.

The people of Israel were being horribly oppressed by the Midianites so the the Israelites cried out to the Lord. The Lord answered them by sending His angel to a man named Gideon. Gideon was going about his day and the angel told Gideon to go and defeat the Midianites. As we do, Gideon made excuses about why he couldn’t and how he wasn’t strong enough. Like this would be a surprise to God. God knew what He was getting when He called Gideon.

In chapter 7, the angel of the Lord told Gideon how to defeat Israel’s enemies. He only had 300 men with him and all they were to take with them to war were jars, trumpets and torches. Weird huh. But … “The Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army,” Judges 8:22 (ESV). The Israelites didn’t have to fight at all. The Lord caused the enemy to destroy itself.

May I encourage you to read the story. It’s miraculous and amazing.

My point to this story is that the Israelites didn’t have swords, or any fighting weapons.

The Lord came to their rescue because of prayer.

Of course, we must remember that “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies (people), but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”   Ephesians 6:12 (AMP)

This is why prayer is the greatest and most powerful weapon that you have. It’s the only weapon, as well as praise and thanksgiving, that is effective in the spiritual realm.

God gave His people a strategy on how to defeat their oppressors. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), then He still wants to give you a strategy for your problem or challenge today. I wrote about praying ‘upside down prayers’ here and this is a strategy that I use all the time and see wonderful results.

Just last week, a friend rang to ask me to pray for a situation. The Lord very graciously showed me the situation in the spirit realm and gave me a strategy for my friend to pray. Just this morning I received an email sharing the exciting news of the troublesome situation being resolved and great things are now ahead. Praise Jesus!

Pray the Word.

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword,” Hebrews 4:12 (ESV).

For the last few weeks, each time I pray and envision Jesus in my mind, I see Him with a two-edged sword coming out of His mouth, like in Revelation 1:16. He is reminding me of the importance of reading the Word (the Bible) and praying the promises that are found there. (You can can google “declarations from the bible” and begin speaking them over your life each day.)

Last but not least, we are always to enter into God’s presence with thanksgiving and praise.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.”   Psalm 100:4 (NLT)

Remember, the Lord God is not Santa Claus. This may sound obvious but we do treat Him that way sometimes. We need to come into His presence and treat Him with the respect and honour that He deserves. We only have our next breath because He allows it. How would you feel if a friend kept coming to you and instead of saying, “Hello”, they just continually launched into their ‘to do list’ of what you can do for them? I would imagine you wouldn’t stick around for long and that you wouldn’t be inclined to fulfil their requests. God is WAY more gracious than we would be but we still need to remember that He IS the Lord of all and that He is due all of our praises. He IS good all the time!

There are many Scriptures on prayer that promise answers. Here are just a few:

“For where two or three are gathered in My (Jesus) name, there am I among them.”    Matthew 18:20 (ESV)

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”    Matthew 7:7 (NLT)

“You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”    Matthew 21:22 (NLT)

What Is Prayer?

The simplest answer is that it is just a conversation between yourself and God. It’s trusting that when you ask God for something that He WILL answer in the best way. It may not be in the way you expect because you don’t have the big picture but you can bet it will be for your absolute best, however He answers.

Prayer is so powerful. Believe that God wants to answer you ….. because He does!

I would love to hear some ways that God has answered your prayers. God’s answers always increase faith so please share your experiences below so that we can be encouraged together.

Many blessings and answers to prayer for you this week.

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