By Evangelist John "BJ" Hall
At various times in the life of any church there is a need for workers. This could be a pastor, music minister, youth minister, children’s minister, custodian . . . etc. As a result some churches put Want Ads in the state Baptist newspaper. In Oklahoma that would be the Baptist Messenger. Sometimes the ads are for fulltime positions. Sometimes they are bi-vocational.
One job I have never seen advertised is “Prayer Warrior.” In reality one of the most important needs in the life of the church is prayer, consistent, persistent prayer. Churches sometimes have prayer chains whereby they can notify the members of prayer needs. There is nothing wrong with prayer chains, unless they become “gossip chains.” But what we are discussing here is not a prayer chain whereby people pray for the sick, hurting members of the church and its extended family.
Prayer Warriors are a different breed altogether than prayer chains. Prayer Warriors are people who spend a significant portion of their time praying for specific needs. Most often those needs are spiritual in nature. Prayer Warriors fight battles that others never see.
The first thing a Prayer Warrior need to do is pray about their own spiritual relationship with the Lord. As in the days of the wanderings of the people of Israel in the Priests had prescribed rituals of washings and cleansings before they could offer sacrifices in behalf of the people. Prayer Warriors need to be “prayed up.” It is essential that they keeping their lives pure and their relationship righteous before the Lord. As James wrote, James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
Second, Prayer Warriors need to be sure they have put on the full armor of God. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:11-13 “Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”
Rest assured that if you become a true prayer warrior Satan will unleash his hounds of Hell and attempt to distract you or cause thing to take place in your life that will discourage you from the task. He does not like it when God’s people get down to the work of prayer.
Third, Prayer Warriors must be persistent. We must be aware that we are invading occupied enemy territory. Satan is the “prince and power of the air.” (Ephesians 2:2) When my father was serving our great nation during World War II, he was among the first troops to land in North Africa. He and his fellow warriors fought Rommel all the way across the northern part of the continent. They didn’t just fight one battle, but many. They would prevail and then they would take their losses. But they finally persevered and chased him back to Europe.
Prayer Warriors must fight many battles. Some battles may need to be fought again. There will be times when we win the battle. And there will be times when we will be beaten back, but we must persevere in the battle for the Lord’s Kingdom. We do this by remembering that the war is over. Christ won that war on the cross. We are fighting the skirmishes that make up the end of the war. Prayer Warriors win our individual battles by praying as if everything depends on God, for it does.