A TUTORIAL ON EFFECTIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Teaching, Training & Commissioning
Chapter 13
PRAYER AND THE “GOLDEN RULE”
Becoming a disciple of Jesus requires much of a person, as we have already learned. And, prayer is an indispensable activity of the disciple. But, praying, just for the sake of praying, is never enough. We saw, in chapter 12, episode 7, that praying in order to be recognized, will achieve nothing in the Kingdom of God.
Furthermore, the Apostle James tells us that, “When you do ask you don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that is so that you may spend it on your own pleasures.” (James 4:2-3)
Read and hear what Jesus says, in Matthew 7 verses 7 through 12, about the requisites of prayer. And, remember, this is for His disciples:
Matthew 7:7-12, says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
“What man is there among you, who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
“Therefore, In everything, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
It is important, first, to know the Greek word for ‘ask’ is in the Greek, is “aiteó”, and, it means to ask, to beg, to call for, to crave, to desire and to require. This word strongly implies an urgency and a fervency in prayer.
Additionally, it is in the Greek, aorist tense, which means the ‘asking’ has no regard for the past, present or future.
It is the same for the words, to “seek” and to “knock”. In other words, it is continuing; it is not a simple “one and done” request.
Secondly, Jesus establishes the fact that if you continue to ask, seek and knock,” it will be opened to you”. This phrase is emphatic, and is in the future aorist tense, meaning “it will continue to be opened to you”.
Finally, the requisite. “THEREFORE, In everything, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
This is an oracle of the Word of God. A ‘golden key’ which opens the Kingdom’s treasury to you. ” Treat people the same way you want them to treat you”.
You will have to do this with the right attitude. This cannot be contrived to reach your own ends, “so that you may spend it on your own pleasures.”
You must give, so, as it says in Luke 6:38, “it will be given back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
For this is the “Laws and the Prophets”, which were meant to teach and guide the Jewish people in all their thought and conduct in order to live a life pleasing to God to have success in their affairs.
You cannot successfully complete the training, nor function as a fully devoted disciple of Jesus, until you learn and master the secret of this Golden Key of the Kingdom. Neither, can you engage effectively in the spiritual warfare, which will inevitably ensue.
Trust His Words. Believe Him. Do His Words. Practice His Presence. And, by faith, we will overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of your testimony! (Revelation 12:11)
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
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Please bookmark this page and watch for our next chapter, “RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT”
(The previous episode can be found at “Removing The Obstacles of Worry and Anxiety”)
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