| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Mighty Prevailing Prayer” Our Bible verse for today: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” Ephesians 6:12 (CSB) Our thought for today: “There’s a battle being fought” This morning I want to continue our thought from yesterday regarding the truth that one of the reasons the answer to our prayers is sometimes delayed is that there’s a battle being fought over it in the spiritual realm, a battle we aren’t even aware of. In 1986 author Frank Peretti published a Christian novel with the title “This Present Darkness”. The story takes place in a small college town called Ashton. On the campus and in the town, there’s a secret society taking root known as “The Universal Consciousness Society”. They’re a New Age group which is determined to spread its evil influence in the college, in the town, and then eventually nationwide. The Christians in the town sense the evil but they don’t fully understand it. However, throughout the course of the story they resolve to take a stand against it and therefore, a battle rages – in the physical realm but also in the spiritual realm simultaneously. The crux of the story, and the primary lesson Peretti is teaching through it, is that there’s a direct correlation between events in the physical realm and corresponding events in the spiritual realm. Angels and demons in the spirit world are competing for influence in the lives of people in the physical world. As the people in the physical world give-in to the influence of the demons, the demons are strengthened in their battle with angels in the spirit world. And as Christians pray in the physical world, the angels are strengthened in their battle with the demons in the spirit world. The influence the angels or demons are then able to have in the physical world is directly related to how much power they have at any given moment in the spirit world. The books are a work of fiction, but they’re based on Biblical truth. As Paul teaches in Ephesians chapter 6, and as we saw yesterday from Daniel’s experience in Daniel chapter 10, our prayers on earth are directly related to, and have a corresponding impact on, events in the spiritual realm. And sometimes the reason we experience a delay to the answer to our prayers here on earth, is because there is business that needs to be taken care of first in the spiritual realm. But it’s business we’re usually not even aware of – we don’t even know the battle is raging (except for the fact the Bible tells us it is). The thing for us to do then, is to just keep praying. Persist in prayer so you can then prevail in prayer. Tomorrow we’ll consider another reason the answer to our prayers is sometimes delayed and therefore requires mighty prevailing prayer. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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