012. The Requirements For Battle (by Josh Meyer)

This is the 3rd part in the 3 part series titled, "Partnering with God on the Battlefield".

"The Perfect Prayer" Matthew 6:5-15 1. How, why, and when to pray: The personality of Jesus is so beautiful! Please read: Matthew 6:5–8 here we see that Jesus is addressing all people in His masterful sermon on the mount. In these three verses, He offers insight into how we should pray, why we should pray, and when we should pray. Have you ever thought about your personal prayer life and relationship to these three critical parts to prayer? 2. “Say it like you mean it and mean it as you say it.” Jesus expresses that we should pray with meaning. Say it like you mean it and mean it as you say it. These comments were directed towards the Gentiles in their desire to solely get what they want out of prayer, almost bullying their god. Jesus desires intimacy and relationship and it first starts with authentically meaning everything that you say when you reach out to God in prayer. Are there ways in which you need to slow down your prayer life and make it less like a drive-through restaurant and more like an opportunity for intimacy, creating space for God to unveil His will for you? 3 “For some, it was better not to learn of the father at all than to have learned of Him incorrectly.” Have you struggled with the horror that this world has seen? Have you struggled with unexpected and unforeseen death and illness? Jesus asks us to pray that God’s kingdom will come, and His will to be done. In my message I shared that there are two powerful takeaways from this line of the prayer. The relief of the statement that God’s will is not always done and that His Kingdom is not always present helps us to know that the pain that we experience in life is not directly from God. Some things can be explained because of the sin in this world. Does that help you knowing that your Father in Heaven is not responsible for past atrocities and your personal pain? Do you see the love in the fact that Jesus is inviting you to be a part of enforcing His Kingdom by doing His will? Is it hard to fathom a God that would love you so much that he would invite you into doing His work? 4. “Prayer is all about Him and everything that you need from Him to make it all about Him.” We see that the Lord’s prayer is broken down into two unique petitions. The first petition is that of exalting God and making it all about His name, His will, and His kingdom. The second petition is all about how the believer requesting provision and protection so that they can in turn continue the journey of making it all about glorifying God and successfully doing His will on this earth. Is that how your prayer life has been? Do you find yourself more often than not going to God when you have a personal need due to your own struggles and trials? How can you go about changing your prayer life to be intentionally putting God at the forefront? How can you surrender to God’s will when you ask for His assistance in your struggles? 5. You have 3 Enemies: In this weekend’s message Josh spoke of the fact that you have three enemies. The daily desires to be disobedient and do your own will (your flesh), the temptations of the secular world (desecrated), and the evil one (Satan). The devil is not always present in your environment but your temptations to be disobedient to God and the temptations of a desecrated world are most certainly present every day. Have you ever thought of how you can ask God to lead you away from the things that tempt you every day? We see a lot of examples of counterfeit Christianity in the world today. The number one place that we see counterfeit Christianity is secular organizations doing Kingdom work without the King. Can you see how this would be a temptation in your own life? Anytime we do an act of good without doing it in the name of Jesus there is a temptation from the enemy saying, “You see! You were able to do that thing without G