How Does Prayer Fit into This?
There are bad things out there in the world. This is evident with all the evil things that happen. This evil is nothing new. It’s been happening since the beginning. Consider what Cain did to Abel. Once sin entered the garden we live in a messed-up world. It would be easy to just lock ourselves in our rooms and hide. But this is no way to live.
Just like soldiers going into battle choose to go fight to keep us safe and free, we need to be willing and prepared to fight against evil. Soldiers wear bulletproof vests and helmets for protection.
We need to put on the armor of God for our battle.
This armor includes – the belt of truth, justice as your breastplate, shoes so that we’re ready to spread the good news, the shield of faith so that we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word.
It’s easy to understand putting on a physical bulletproof vest and helmet. But God’s armor is a little harder to wrap our heads around.
Like soldiers getting instructions from their commanding officers, these commands are passed down through the ranks and are communicated in different ways. It may be examples from others in training—written or verbal.
We get our instructions from God, our Commander, in the same ways. We get training from good Christian examples. We have a battle plan written in the Bible. God shares His plans with us verbally.
This is where prayer comes in.
Prayer is how we get our marching orders. It is how we communicate with our Leader and He communicates with us. It is a way to connect and get to know Him better.
Prayer is often thought of as something formal and proper. Like an official action that is hard and above us. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for this kind of prayer. It’s a way to honor and elevate God in a group.
However, this isn’t all it is. Prayer is a conversation with God.
Conversation goes both ways. There is talking and listening. Too often, we tell God what we think, what we want, and what we need. We forget to listen to what God wants.
Good communication is more about listening than talking!
Battles in war aren’t won hiding in a foxhole … winning requires action.
Our spiritual battle is the same. Hiding in our room hoping it will all go away isn’t going to win the war.
Listening to God is how we’ll know what to do. Maybe this kind of conversation with God is new to you. Maybe praying is something that’s scary. Start by taking a small step and remember that God has a plan and He wants to share it with you.
We’ll be talking more about the armor of God in upcoming posts.