Prayer and Fasting: Our Weapon in Warfare
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· 459 viewsPrayer and Fasting is our weapon in spiritual warfare because it builds our trust in Jesus and calls upon heaven to intervene, rather than relying on our own abilities to perform miracles. Jesus is the miracle worker, not us.
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Subject: The Concept of Spiritual Warfare (Mk 9:14-29)
Precise Theme: A Study of the Concept of Spiritual Warfare in Mk 9:14-29
Precise Theme: A Study of the Concept of Spiritual Warfare in Mk 9:14-29
Please stand and make a few declarations with me. I will read the black print and you respond with the red print.
Please stand and make a few declarations with me. I will read the black print and you respond with the red print.
THE SAME SPIRIT THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD LIVES IN ME. I AM NOT ALONE.
THE SAME SPIRIT THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD LIVES IN ME. I AM NOT ALONE.
GOD IS WITH ME
GOD IS WITH ME
I AM EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK
I AM EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK
THROUGH CHRIST JESUS MY LORD
THROUGH CHRIST JESUS MY LORD
EVEN THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH
EVEN THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH
I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME; YOUR ROD AND YOUR STAFF, THEY COMFORT ME. AMEN.
I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME; YOUR ROD AND YOUR STAFF, THEY COMFORT ME. AMEN.
INTRODUCTION: In high school, for every class, they give you a syllabus. Included in the syllabus is the course description and the many assignments and their due dates. Although, the syllabus was provided, my teachers would still remind us of the assignments and necessary readings. But when I arrived to college, my professors didn’t remind us to read. When we got to class the day after the syllabus had a prescribed reading, the professor would give a “pop quiz”. A few students, mostly myself, asked “how is this fair?” The professor responded, “the reading was in the syllabus.”
INTRODUCTION: In high school, for every class, they give you a syllabus. Included in the syllabus is the course description and the many assignments and their due dates. Although, the syllabus was provided, my teachers would still remind us of the assignments and necessary readings. But when I arrived to college, my professors didn’t remind us to read. When we got to class the day after the syllabus had a prescribed reading, the professor would give a “pop quiz”. A few students, mostly myself, asked “how is this fair?” The professor responded, “the reading was in the syllabus.”
In Mark 9, Jesus’ disciples were bombarded with a “pop quiz” or a spiritual battle. Do you think they prepared themselves for what is taking place? The title of today’s message is “OUR WEAPON IN WARFARE”.
In Mark 9, Jesus’ disciples were bombarded with a “pop quiz” or a spiritual battle. Do you think they prepared themselves for what is taking place? The title of today’s message is “OUR WEAPON IN WARFARE”.
Proposition: A Study of the Concept of Spiritual Warfare in Mk 9:14-29 will motivate us to live a life of prayer and fasting
Proposition: A Study of the Concept of Spiritual Warfare in Mk 9:14-29 will motivate us to live a life of prayer and fasting
Spiritual Confusion is evident in verses 14-16.
Mark 9:14-16 “14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?””
v.14 My wife Leah and I were attending a church here in WA when I was enlisted. I was on the praise team which seemed to argue every time we met for rehearsal. This same spiritual atmosphere of confusion would carry into the worship service. A discombobulated worship team or a spiritually confused church is bound to be defeated in matters of spiritual warfare. Have you ever been in a situation where there was so much spiritual confusion that the peace of God was suffocated or God could not get his message across because the people of God were not on one accord?
Try marching into a battle with Soldiers confused about the mission. This is the goal of the enemy; to have you spiritually confused so that you would rather argue than seek the miracle worker. I am praying that the spiritual confusion in any of your circumstances would not rule over you and your families. I pray that you would be able to discern the enemy’s tactics. He wants you arguing with flesh, so that he can defeat you with confusion. People are not the problem because we are wrestling in the realm of the spirit.
Ephesians 6:12 “12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
If only the crowd knew that this was a spiritual matter and not something that can be solved by human methods. I wonder how many people listening to me are confused about the the reality that you are in spiritual warfare everyday you put your clothes on and leave your home.
Spiritual Destruction is evident in verses 17-22.
Mark 9:17-22 “17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.””
v.17- “the spirit that makes him mute.” This shows us that not every disease or weakness we have in life is tagged by a certain a specific spirit. Many people have been abused by this terminology. the verse does highlight the importance of recognizing the effects of demonic oppression. The spirit caused the boy to be mute! How many people have been spiritually hurt by someone calling your sickness or weakness a demonic spirit?
v.18- I can imagine the disciples afraid and unprepared for the request that was brought to them. Are you spiritually prepared to wrestle in the spiritual realm?
A soldier who regularly performed satanic ritual would try to antagonize his Battalion chaplain. This chaplain would support the Soldier as needed but also pray for him in his own personal time. He was so deep in his satanic rituals that he became severely depressed and desired to take his own life. Who do you think he called? He called that chaplain and asked him to pray because the darkness was overcoming him. The chaplain prayed and the Soldier received Jesus. He did not experience anymore torment from that day forward.
v.21- This boy has been wrestling with demonic influence since childbirth. I find it amazing though that his life has been preserved till the very moment that he met Jesus. This gives me hope for those of you in this room who have been battling something in the spiritual realm and you feel like you have been battling it for so long that your change is not going to come. It just takes one encounter with Jesus to change your life forever.
v.22- John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus said that satan comes to destroy. This demonic spirit wanted to destroy this poor boy.
Spiritual Power is evident in verses 23-29.
Mark 9:23-29 “23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.””
v.23- I can only imagine the Dad’s faith deteriorating each day, considering the young boy had been under demonic influence since he was born. Have you ever gone through something so long that your faith started to get weak?
v.25- Jesus waited for the crowd, he wanted everyone to see God at work! This would surely help the mans unbelief. The abundant life is not the duration of life but the quality of life. It is Jesus’ desire that we are not ruled and controlled by the kingdom of darkness. Hence, get out of him and never return.
v.27- I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have been pulled up by the hand of Jesus. They thought he was dead, but it would only be Jesus to defeat the enemy in a battle of death! Jesus has the power of life in his hands. Life doesn’t Exist without Him.
John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
v.28- ILLUSTRATE WATER BOTTLE AND PRAYER: Spiritual Power is does not come from a magic formula but from real faith and communion with Jesus. I could imagine the disciples thinking they are really doing something.
v.29- The battle does not belong to us. The power to overcome evils forces in not in us but in God. This is why it is necessary to be rooted in prayer and fasting before the battle comes. Prayer and Fasting is not a work to get God to do something, it is the vehicle in which God uses to get us to go the distance. In other words, We do not fast to get God to move, we fast because we recognize what we are incapable of doing anything without God’s intervention. Fasting and prayer submits our own will to God’s will. Therefore, when the evil forces come to battle, we realize that our strength, wisdom, and rituals are nothing. God is the one he comes out with the victory.
The New Revised Standard Version The Early Victories of Judas
19 It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven.
It is not our resume, our muscles, or our good looks that gives us spiritual victory, it is submission to the Spirit of God
CONCLUSION: We must be ready for spiritual warfare. At any moment, we may have a “pop quiz.” Demonic forces will test us but Christ has equipped us with spiritual weapons of warfare; that is prayer and fasting. We our spirit is surrendered to Jesus we experience spiritual victory over demonic forces.
CONCLUSION: We must be ready for spiritual warfare. At any moment, we may have a “pop quiz.” Demonic forces will test us but Christ has equipped us with spiritual weapons of warfare; that is prayer and fasting. We our spirit is surrendered to Jesus we experience spiritual victory over demonic forces.