prayer, a two-edged sword

We are instructed by the Lord to put on His armor because the devil has come to kill, destroy and steal.  God’s armor consists of the obvious; a breastplate, shoes, a shield, a helmet and a sword.  Let’s focus on the sword and pursue some understanding.  The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God and this Sword represents all of the prayers God has made available to His saints.  The devil throws fiery darts which are various temptations.  We overcome these temptations with the shield of faith.  When we take up the Sword of the Spirit, the devil has no defense against such a force.
 
Ephesians 6:17-18 Take the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
 
Faith created the devil and faith will control him.  When Jesus defeated the devil He made him subject to His Word.  The Word of God issued, with the Name of Jesus, is the only thing the devil must adhere to.  The devil has no choice, he must obey God’s Word.  We on the other hand can ignore it if we choose.  This is what makes faith so special, men of their own free will choose to obey God.  The devil has to obey God, we choose to.
 
James 5:16 The earnest heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in it’s working).
 
We may enter our closet kneeling down and with great reverence, quietly praying the Word of God, but in the spirit realm God gives commands and the angels are put on assignment for our sake.  The natural course we were walking on is cancelled and a supernatural course is set before us.  The devil loses his grip on us and his plans of torment get cancelled and turned off.  Our quiet, unassuming prayers, reverberate across the heavens.  Angels move and devils quake in their failed effort.
 
Jeremiah 1:12 Thus saith the Lord: I will hasten My Word to perform it.
 
The word hasten means sleepless, God performing His Word is His priority.  If I got this thing right, we take the Word of God praying and then we enter into His rest.  Our part is to pray the Word and His part is to bring it to pass.  Can you see how foolish it would be to enter into warfare and not have on the armor of God?  Every piece of God’s armor is special and each serve a specific purpose, but it all works together to make one suit.
 
1 John 4:4 Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
 
The devil desperately wants to enter our lives but if we are full of the Spirit he has no place, no room.  If we wear God’s armor, the devil has no chance of overcoming us.  He has no prayer.  Don’t just stand there and let him beat on you.  Take the Word of God, which is the Sword of the Spirit, and dice him like you would an onion.  Let the Word convince you that we have the upper hand, God has declared us to be more than conquerors.  We don’t just defeat the devil but we keep everything he stole and gain more besides, because the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.   

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