A Solid Foundation (part 6)

Make Sure You Have a Proper Foundation of Prayer This Year

3.13.2022

I’ve been addressing what we need to do to prepare for life in a changing world.

It seems as though we are entering into the last years prior to Jesus’ return.

They will be different than what we have experienced in the past.

To get ready, we must prepare our hearts.

We do life from the inside out.

2 Corinthians 4:16 (NKJV)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Planning is an important part of your future – financially, in your marriage, with your children, and with your interior life.

God’s Word must be our foundation for living if we are going to navigate these next few years well.

Matthew 24:35 (NKJV)

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Psalms 119:89 (NKJV)

Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.

Psalms 119:105 (NKJV)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Last week I talked about how our nation has left the foundation of God’s Word as a foundation upon which we build relationships, morals, business, and family.

What happened to Israel in Hosea 4:1-6 is what is happening now in America. We are in a downward spiral of judgment.

God will use you to help people who are trapped in all kinds of problems because of their sins.

Today:

I want to take a diversion today and address the importance of prayer during this season of life.

Most people think that everything that happens is God’s will.

And they mainly get this from Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:28 (NLT)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

So many believers do not see the urgency of praying seriously about all of life because they think it’s all going to work out the way God wants it to anyway.

But that is not the way it really is.

Most people think – good or bad – whatever comes is allowed by God, and we just need to suck it up and endure.

The Bible sings a different tune from this fatalistic approach about life on earth.

1. Romans 8:28 is taken out of context unless it is seen right along with the previous verses.

Romans 8:19-25 (NLT)

For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Romans 8:26-28 (NKJV)

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

2. The reason all things work together for good is because a person prays and gets God involved in their life stuff.

If a person does NOT pray, then things may not work out well.

God gets the blame for many things that are not His fault.

3. We are in the middle of a war between God and His arch-enemy Satan.

Bad things that happen are not God doing them; they are Satan attacking and hindering God’s will!

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NLT)

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

Satan and his army of demons and fallen angels are loose seeking to wreak havoc on this world in every way possible.

If you or your family get in the way of what he is doing, you could be attacked by some really negative stuff.

Satan gained legal authority to be here on earth. He uses that authority to hinder life and create destruction; he steals, kills and destroys with his position on earth.

John 10:10 (NKJV)

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10 (NLT)

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Luke 4:5-6 (NKJV)

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”

Luke 4:5-6 (NCV)

Then the devil took Jesus and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. 6 The devil said to Jesus, “I will give you all these kingdoms and all their power and glory. It has all been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.”

Luke 4:5-6 (AMPC)

Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time [in the twinkling of an eye].

6 And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will.

John 14:30 (NKJV)

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

John 14:30 (NLT)

“I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me,

John 14:30 (AMPC)

I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV)

whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT)

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

Ephesians 2:1-3 (NLT)

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

1 John 5:19 (CEV=Contemporary English Version)

We are certain that we come from God and that the rest of the world is under the power of the devil.

1 John 5:19 (TPT)

We know that we are God’s children and that the whole world lies under the misery and influence of the Evil One.

Satan has a legal right to be here. He rules over the unsaved masses of humanity.

He rules in Christian that are ignorant of their authority in Christ.

4. God is only good. He wants to bless and help you. He is not the reason problems come into your life.

John 10:10 (NKJV)

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Help, not harm, comes from God.

Malachi 3:6 (NKJV)

For I am the LORD, I do not change.

James 1:17 (NKJV)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

God does not change like the seasons in how He acts towards us.

Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

5. You must exercise authority in prayer to keep Satan out of your life and circumstances.

If you do not, he will invade your family, your kids, grandkids, your marriage, your thoughts, and everything about you!

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Ephesians 1:15-23 (NKJV)

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 2:6 (NKJV)

And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:6 (NLT)

For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

Revelation 1:18 (NKJV)

I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death.

Colossians 1:13 (AMPC)

The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Colossians 2:15 (NKJV)

Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Colossians 2:15 (NCV)

God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.

Action Points:

1. Do you rarely pray, thinking that God is handling everything without your help?
2. Do you actively resist Satan’s stealing, killing, and destroying in your life by praying and exercising your authority in Christ.