Spiritual Warfare 1 Peter 5:8 (NLT) “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” Ephesians 6:10-10 The Armor of God
Spiritual Warfare The Prayer Saturated Church (by Cheryl Sacks) Pastors are under spiritual attack (p. 123): • In addition to being on call twenty-four hours a day, a pastor is often plagued with unrealistic expectations and criticism from his flock. • Many pastors battle feelings of loneliness, stress, inadequacy, and depression. • Pastoring a church is often a thankless job. • Focus on the Family estimates that 1500 pastors leave their assignments each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention with their local congregations. • 40% of pastors say they have considered leaving their pastorates in the last three months, and half of pastors’ wives are severely depressed. • Satan knows that if he can strike a shepherd, the sheep will scatter, and the impact of the ministry will be diminished.
Spiritual Warfare Pastors need SPECIAL prayer for the following reasons (p. 124): • God gives pastors more responsibility and accountability than others. • Pastors are more susceptible to temptation. The higher one goes in Christian leadership, the higher one goes on Satan’s hit list. The heat is turned up, particularly in the areas of money, power, and sex. • Pastors are more direct targets of spiritual warfare. It has been widely reported that Satanists, occult practitioners, witches, New Agers, and others have covenanted with each other to conjure up satanic forces specifically to break up the marriages of Christian leaders.
Spiritual Warfare • Pastors have more influence on others, so when they fall, they take more people with them. • Pastors receive more scrutiny, gossip, and criticism. People like to pull them down to their size, and the enemy uses these openings to move in and destroy. • Most of us have no idea pastors are under satanic attack, and many have never even thought to pray for their pastor.
Spiritual Warfare Three levels of commitment to prayer you can have in your church (p. 78): • Prayer- lite – No focused effort to pray. • Prayer ministry – Prayer is one among many ministries. • House of Prayer – Prayer saturates all that the church does. ( See Prayerwalking – An Orientation Guide in Appendix)
Spiritual Warfare The difference prayer makes: In a Southern California test group of 160 homes, 80 were prayed for over a 3-month period, 80 were not. At the end of three months, each was called. The request was to come over and pray for them, without coming in and without inviting them to church. • Of the non-prayer group, only 1 accepted the invitation to come and pray with them. • In the group prayed for, 67 agreed, with 43 inviting them into their homes. (Source: Rodney Harrison) Spend some time in prayer right now!
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