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the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. (KJV) We know that our God is no respecter of persons. Why was James killed and Peter set free? I believe it was the prayers of the church. The scripture doesn't record anything about prayers for James and as a result, the demonic power working through Herod had its way. However, the church was praying specifically and continuously for Peter with the result that God sent His angel to free him from the prison. This was warfare style praying because the evil powers working through Herod were frustrated in their desires and the victory went to the believers. There are a couple of interesting side notes about the prayer in this chapter. First, Peter wasn't too concerned--he wasn't praying--he was sleeping! Second, the church wasn't praying with great faith--they didn't really believe Peter would be free because when he appeared at the door they didn't believe it was really him! We can learn two lessons from this. 1. We can rest in bad circumstances if others are praying for us. 2. We don't have to "feel" full of faith to pray for others. God stills acts on our prayers. Warfare prayer uses the Word of God as a sword. When Jesus was tempted of the Devil in the wilderness, He used the Word--"it is written"--to cut off each temptation. This was a spiritual power encounter of the first magnitude and provides us with the proper example of how to deal with the enemy. It is with the Word of God--the only purely offensive weapon given to us by God.
DRESSED FOR BATTLE The scriptures also speak of the armor that God has given, however, we still have to put it on! This is done when battle conditions exist and a fight is anticipated. Armor is for our protection when we are fighting. In the analogy given in the scriptures, the offensive weapon is the sword. When fighting with a sword, you are vulnerable when you are swinging your sword aggressively. The armor protects you from the counter-attack of the enemy you are fighting. Some commentators have made a big issue of the fact that there is no armor for the back and have interpreted this to mean that the armor is defensive. Not so! The armor protects you as you march forward. There is no protection for the back because you never turn your back on the enemy. Some would then say that the enemy can sneak around you and come up on your back! However, God expects us to be in rank and file. We have our brother soldiers on each side of us as we march toward the enemy. Not breaking ranks is a very important issue for ground troops. It was said of Zebulun in the Old Testament that besides being expert in war, they could keep rank with the result that they were not double minded. 1 Chr 12:33
Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart. (KJV)
Š 1998, 2004 Lifestream Teaching Ministries
Art Nelson
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