Fighting Prayer

 

    Before you defend yourself or get ready to go into battle, take a minute to think and pray over the situation.  It is always better to be proactive versus reactive, but you cannot foresee every possible option or what other people will do.  You need God to fight your battles for you.  

    When you allow God to fight your battles He will deal with the people or events in the way that is best.  It will work out for you, but it may just reach the person(s) that are causing you distress, anger, or hurt.  Another benefit is that you can relax.  You don't have to hold onto your anger, fear, anxiety, or anything else that eats away at your peace. 

    It can be hard to fight through prayer because it makes you feel vulnerable.  It is a test of faith.  It can be hard to let go of control.  You may only have a now mentality and this requires looking toward the future and even the eternal.  It can feel passive, but it does demonstrate you trust God.  You can either trust yourself or you can trust God.

    Fighting your battles in prayer takes strength.  You have to humble yourself and realize you can't do everything on your own.  You can't fight the unseen supernatural world.  You have to let go of your pride and lean on faith.  If you are a Christian, then you are no longer bound to your sin, guilt, shame, or doubt.  Let go of that to make room to pray honestly, transparently, and openly about who you are, what you need, and what you want.

    God will use your weaknesses as a strength to serve His purpose.  Do not beat yourself up on what you can't do, but be grateful for what you do have and have a willing heart to go wherever the Holy Spirit leads you.  Prayer is a way to unlock God's power in you through your weaknesses, vulnerabilities, or insecurities because you trust Him.  Be bold and confident in your prayers to fight your battles.  God will come through.

Exodus 3:1-10, 4:10-13, 13:1-16, Judges 6:11-16, 8:22-35, John 18:25-27, Acts 2:37-42, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Ephesians 6:18-20, & Hebrews 4:14-16

Pray for Grace

 

    Praying for grace is praying for God to take control of your heart and desires.  You step of your personal throne and give it to Him.  It is not natural.  Sin and selfishness is natural.  Giving that up takes faith because you see the grace that God has given you.  You understand that life is better when you stop pretending you are in control of everything.  You only have control of your choices and attitude.

    When you put yourself on a pedestal you are making yourself a god even if you don't mean to.  God will not share His throne with anyone.  He wants your whole heart.  He will not share it with idols.  If you chose idols over Him, then He will allow it, but you will deal with the consequences.  

    Salvation is the ultimate gift that comes from God's grace.  You accept or deny it.  It is your choice.  If you accept it, then your heart starts to change.  You start to surrender your will to God.  It is not giving up or giving in.  It is giving to yourself, God, and the people in your life.  It is learning how to love God's way and seeing life in a new perspective that changes everything.  It all comes down to what you value.  When you value your relationship with God over everything else, then that is what you will pour yourself into.

    You get this grace when you pray to God accepting His gift and continue to seek Him.  The Holy Spirit helps you form prayers as time goes by and you mature in your faith.  Prayer comes more naturally when you crave God more than anything.  It brings you joy and peace in all circumstances.  Grace does not come naturally for people.  You have to pray for it to possess it abundantly.  Be grateful for God's grace and that He wants to give it to you.  

1 Samuel 5:1-8, Matthew 13:44-46, Mark 8:34-38, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, Ephesians 2:8-10, & Hebrews 4:14-16

Prayer to Give Grace

 

    Grace is not something that comes naturally.  It goes against human nature.  To be sincere and transparent with grace you need to pray for it, through it, and accept it from God.  Grace is getting something good when you do not deserve it, so giving grace can be hard.  The person you choose to give grace to may not even be aware that they hurt you, care, or repentant.

    The power of prayer can transform your life.  Making prayers to be able to give grace is powerful.  It will transform your heart even it the motivation never changes.  It frees you to be able to love like Jesus.  Jesus loved sacrificially and with a servant's heart.  He taught up how to give of what we have and get more so you do not burn out or go empty yourself.  Prayer and time with God is the key.

    Grace will sustain you because it gave you your salvation.  It helps you build your faith.  With grace you can face your enemies and know that you are not alone.  You understand that the Holy Spirit will put the words in your mouth as you need them.  You understand that you are not perfect, but God is and you trust that.  He lovingly gave you grace, so you want to at least try to give grace to other people.  After all love covers all kinds of sin.

    It is your prayer life that brings your salvation alive.  Prayer along with Biblical study helps you leave your sinful nature behind.  You won't do it perfectly, but you know you will not be alone.  In your faith you became righteous through grace.  You can do anything with Jesus by your side.  You can even forgive the unforgiveable.  You can give second chances when they are not deserved.  You can have everything taken and know you will be okay.  You can embrace how much you are loved and give grace to other people even if they do not love you.  You can give grace because you are friends with God.

Romans 3:23-26, 5:6-11, 6:20-23, 8:1-4, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, & 1 Timothy 1:15-17

Prayer of Grace

 

    To embrace grace it takes an open and prayerful heart.  You have to allow the Holy Spirit transform your heart by accepting the gifts from God and embrace how much He loves you.  Condemnation will steal the grace that God is trying to give you.  It comes from before your salvation.  After salvation, you have to let it go so you can live a better life with Jesus.

    Satan is the enemy of the mind.  He wants to keep you trapped by your past mistakes.  He wants them to cripple your ability to do good in the world.  You have to accept God's grace to be strong enough to move forward and not become arrogant in the process.  Embracing grace is removing the past's control over you and embracing the person that God is making you.  He makes you a new person, so turn away from the past sins and do better.

    Salvation has nothing to do with how good or bad you are.  It is about your faith and willingness to follow Jesus.  Your salvation gives God the glory and you the grace to be a part of His family.  Jesus sanctifies you, but you have to live it out.  Grace is a beautiful gift that will change your life forever.  Does your life represent the grace that God has given you?  Have you taken the time to really think about it?

    Pray to see the grace that God has given you.  Pray over how you can give grace to others so that they can see Jesus in you.  Pray that grace fills your heart so you can see people the way God sees them.  Ask for grace to enable you to forgive those that do not deserve forgiveness because God forgave you when you did not deserve forgiveness. Do not disregard what is good and pleasing to God.

Lamentations 3:22-24, Romans 6:20-23, Ephesians 2:4-10, 4:20-32, Colossians 3:12-17, & Titus 2:11-14

Gospel Prayer

 

    There is power in the Gospel.  If you prayer over the Gospel in faith, then you will be empowered.  It saves your eternal soul.  It also transforms your heart to live a holy lifestyle.  It sanctifies you in God's grace.  You only have to learn how to read and pray over it to apply to your life.  It all starts with faith and salvation.

    God's grace is the loving gift of salvation.  He shows you kindness to offer you adoption into His family.  He enriches your life.  He meets your physical and spiritual needs.  You have not earned nor deserve this, but He gives it freely to you.  All you have to do is accept His grace, then you will become worthy.

    Christianity is separate from any other religion because it is a living relationship with your creator.  It is based on love and life, not death or fiction.  Do you really understand how much God loves you?  Are you able to really accept and embrace being loved like that?  God's love is kindness not niceness.  It does come with expectations on how to live going forward.  That is why you need to pray over the gospel.  

    Prayer helps you learn how to forgive the unforgiveable.  It helps you love where your heart use to be hard.  It changes everything.  You pray when you are in pain.  You pray when you are angry.  You pray when betrayed.  You pray when you are happy.  You pray for protection.  You pray for love, forgiveness, and peace.  You pray in confidence because you know God is listening and cares.  He wants to hear from you and give you your purest heart desires.  He will give so generously that you will have plenty to share with other people.  You can learn how to pray for and over everything in the Bible.  

Psalm 4, 17:1-2, 20:4-5, 86:1-7, 2 Corinthians 9:6-9, & Ephesians 2:4-10

Pray for Freedom

 

    If you are a Christian, then you are a part of the church.  Can the world see the church in you?  Does the world see Jesus in your life?  To pray for the church is to pray for yourself and other believers.  You pray for people by name, but you pray generally too to cover what you do not know or see.

    If you are an active member of a local church, then you have people to hold you accountable.  Christians need each other.  Life is distracting.  The people in your church can help you stay focused on what matters.  They help you mature and become a disciple.  If you start to slip, then they are there to catch you.  If you do not have that at your church, then you need to look inwardly to see if you are the problem.  If it is not you, then you need to find a church that is Biblically sound.

    As a Christian you have certain freedom.  You are free to live without bondage, but that life should be righteous.  You should have integrity and do right by everyone to the best of your ability.  You need to pray for what is beyond your ability.  Sin enslaves you, so do not insult Jesus' sacrifice by turning back to it.  If you do sin, then do not avoid consequences.  Do what you need to to make things right with God and anyone you may have offended.

    Being accountable to God is freedom.  You don't have to go through anyone else to get right with God.  Jesus showed us how to be obedient.  The Holy Spirit leads you toward obedience with a right attitude.  It is your choice to do so in love.  Your freedom to follow Jesus is the mark of your Christianity.  

    You understand sin and what it means.  When you choose to avoid or flee from it you embrace your freedom.  Freedom comes with responsibility to step up and be a leader, do what is right, and serve God.  The Holy Spirit transforms you every time you enter into prayer and time with God.  It doesn't have to be hard work.  It is one step at a time.  Prayer holds yourself accountable to live freely like God always wanted for you.      

Leviticus 26:9-13, Psalm 119:41-48, Proverbs 16:17-21, Matthew 18:15-20, Luke 17:1-4, John 8:34-38, Romans 6:20-23, 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, & Galatians 5:1-6

Prayer Partner

 

    Prayer partners are close friends that you can bare your soul to.  That means being completely honest and vulnerable.  You need to be able to tell them when you sin and take their response.  If a person responds judgmentally, then they are not your person.  They need to be able to call sin sin and not condone your sin, but they need to do it in love with the purpose of redirecting you.

    A prayer partner holds you accountable in your everyday life.  Your spouse should be a prayer partner, but you need people of the same sex too.  It is hard to be vulnerable.  It is one thing in the marriage, but to be vulnerable to people that are not bound to you in some way is more difficult.  It takes time to build a true relationship, so don't rush it just because you need a prayer partner.  Pray for God to bring the right person(s) into your life at the right time.

    As a prayer partner, you need to be a safe person for your person too.  They need to be able to confess to you and trust that you will not turn against them either.  Honesty is a form of vulnerability.  The gift of honesty is when it is kind.  You find a way to tell the truth in love.  You do not try to control the other person or situation, but you do not allow a lie to thrive.  

    Benefits of a prayer partner is having someone to pray for and over you in areas that you can't see in your life.  You do not have to struggle alone.  They help strengthen your faith and walk with Jesus.  They help you find healing.  You may learn better communication skills.  You don't have to feel alone.  You know if you need anything you have someone to call.  You are not left in the dark trying to figure out everything on your own.  Your business becomes their business because they care not because you owe them anything.  

    Ultimately a prayer partner gives you a healthy relationship(s).  If your are going down a dangerous path, then they will try to stop you.  They are willing to walk with you in the difficult times.  That alone makes them special.  Not everyone will do that.  They help you stay accountable to God, so that your walk stays strong.  They work with you not against you to do good.  

Job 6:14-30, Proverbs 11:12-13, 18:20-24, Isaiah 29:15-16, John 15:9-17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, Ephesians 4:28-5:14, James 5:16-18, & 1 John 1:5-10