Over the last few days we have begun discussing the authority believers in Christ have. We are continuing that discussion today. But before we do if you have missed the opening Scripture section or the beginning of our discussion they can be found at

Opening Scriptures

or

Discussion Pt. 1

For many years one of my lead pastor’s chief prayers has been that the body of Christ would come to be like the men of Issachar who understood their days and knew what to do in them. The truth is,that unless we gain an understanding of what is going on in the Heavenly realms, those realms not seen with the eye, we will never truly understand our days or know what to do in them.

Now I know many of us are very nervous about getting too deep into the spiritual realm. Most of us are far more comfortable with the things we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell but the sense of the Spirit and an understanding of what He can reveal is going to be far more important in the days ahead than any news broadcast on BBC or CNN or any other news agency. Being able to key into the Spirit of God and His voice is far more important than being able to discern things with our ears or eyes.

The enemy is setting things up a powerful delusion in the world that is geared to confuse the natural senses even of believers

Paul the apostle said it this way to his protégés among the Thessalonians,

1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness^a is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

5Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.”- 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11

It is not our eyes or our natural senses we will be able to trust but the voice of the Spirit and that alone. His voice is found in His Word first but also in His direct commands to our hearts that are framed from Scripture. Jesus said it this way.

27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all^c ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.” John 10:27-30

What has to change in your life so that you can hear the voice of the Shepherd more clearly in the days to come?

We started yesterday with our discussion on Spiritual Authority. If you missed the beginning you can find it

Here:

Now let’s move on to today’s discussion

Whether we realize it or not the church is in a very great battle in our time. I am not talking about the things that are going on in our culture or in the governments of the world. The battle goes much deeper than that into a spiritual place that we cannot see with our eyes or hear with our ears. The true battle of the church is not to change laws or fight against Presidents or Kings. The true battle of the church is not fought on a picket line or even in a soup kitchen although many of us are called by God to do these.

The battle of the church is fought in the spiritual unseen realm. We only ever truly engage in it when we pray. In the end as Paul said “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers which are unseen in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6). Prayer is the chief weapon of the Christian and always shall be. For it is in prayer that we connect to the power of the Spirit of God and wring the power of God’s blessing into our lives to make our natural work resonate with supernatural power.

On a level from 1-10 1 being not at all and 10 being excellent how would you rate your prayer life at the moment? What would it take to move that number up two increments?