This is Michael Brown. This is the line of fire, and we are continuing in the school of prayer. Class is now in session. So glad you could join me as we continue digging into the Word and encouraging each of us to press in deeper to become more men and women of prayer, people for whom prayer is a lifestyle, is a mindset, is foundational to who we are and what we do. I'll say it again.
You'll hear me say it many times in the days ahead. There is no more effective ministry that we can engage in than the ministry of prayer. And every day, it's our goal to infuse you with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong in the front lines. We're in a hostile world. We are in a world that is not friendly to God or the Gospel.
That has been the case since the fall. There is a real devil. There are demonic powers that want to take us out, that want to take you out, that want to destroy you, that want to hurt you, that want to hurt your family, that want to get in the way of God's calling on your life. We want to stand together to equip you, to strengthen you so that in that day of attack, as it says in Ephesians 6, that day of evil, that day of hellish attack, those seasons of difficulty that we all go through, you will be able to stand strong.
And having a foundation of prayer is essential in that. Hey, just a reminder, one other way we equip you is once a month, our frontline newsletter. It is powerful, it is inspirational, it is informational, and it's free, and it's digital. If you're not getting it, what are you waiting for? Go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click subscribe.
We will send it your way, put you in our welcome tour, let you know about the thousands of free resources we have for you. It's our goal, it's our vision to stand with you and equip you and strengthen you. We're going to continue laying foundations in prayer and ask the question, how real is the devil? How real is the devil? Well, try and establish a new extended daily time in prayer and see what happens. The enemy will fight to keep you from a powerful prayer. I don't mean that Satan will visibly walk into your room, but if you want to experience spiritual opposition, if you want to find out if there's really an enemy of your soul, seek to deepen your prayer life. It was one of the Puritans who said that when we go to pray, the enemy knows that we're fetching strength against him, and therefore he opposes us with all that he can. When we start to pray, distractions will rush into our lives.
Where does it come from? I remember as a new believer, when I'd go to pray, I'd suddenly think, oh, wait a second, I'd look at my nail, oh, I need to trim my nail, oh, I forgot to do it. All these things just would flood through my mind.
And then once we were married, we had a checkbook, and I'd be praying, you need to balance the checkbooks. Why now? Why this moment?
Or, well, you forgot this, you forgot this. I don't think it's just our minds that start racing. I believe there's spiritual opposition. Again, seek to extend your prayer life, seek to deepen your prayer times every day, and see if you have some opposition to it.
Why? Because prayer is the most effective thing you can do, along with getting the Word in your heart and mind to arm yourself against the work of the devil. And when you're praying, you're asking God to move, you're asking God to work, you're putting things in his hands. There are many things he will not do if we don't pray.
He says in James, Jacob, the fourth chapter, you have not because you ask not. There are many things God would love to do if we invited him in. In fact, we're going to do a whole lesson or more on how prayer makes us co-workers with God.
Here are some directives in the Word. These are exhortations in the New Testament. Romans 12 12. Romans 12 12. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Again, if I bring a word that challenges, it's not condemnation, it's invitation.
It's saying, okay, maybe we're not doing this, maybe you're not doing this, but here's an invitation to go deeper. Are you faithful in prayer? Does God look at you and say, that's my boy, that's my girl. They are faithful in prayer. Ephesians 6 18. This is at the end of Paul's passage on putting on the full armor of God.
Ephesians 6 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray in the Spirit. Some would take that to mean praying in tongues, praying through the language of the Spirit. Others understand it more broadly, and I believe you can pray in the Spirit, praying with your own understandings, praying your native language. So I look at it as both and, but pray, not just getting yourself worked up, but in harmony with the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, being helped by the Spirit.
You say, how? Well, you invite the Lord. You say, Lord, empower my prayers, lead me in my praying, be with me as I pray. And pray in the Spirit.
When? On all occasions. On all occasions. Good times, bad times, high times, low times, mundane times, exciting times, bedtime, morning time, meal time. Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
It's not one size fits all. Maybe praying the Lord's prayer is part of your daily routine. Wonderful. Pray it from the heart.
You got this by rote. But that's only one part of praying. Maybe you spend time every week just pouring your heart out to God. This is what's on my mind. This is what troubles me.
Wonderful. Maybe other times you say, Lord, I'm praying for this one. I'm praying for this situation. All kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Be alert. Prayer is something where we need to be on watch, where we need to be conscious. Okay, here's an eve. Here's an attack.
Here's a situation. I should be in prayer. I've been to South Korea I think 13 times. The Korean church has been famous for its prayer tradition.
This has been for many decades. I remember talking to a pastor there, one of the national leading pastors, and he told me that for many, many years, for decades, he led the church a 6 a.m. prayer every morning. He was there to lead prayer 6 a.m. every morning. Wow.
Oh, oh. And he also led the early morning prayer at 4 30 a.m. What? The 6 a.m. prayer, that was the later prayer meeting, the early morning prayer meeting, and he led it for decades was 4 30 a.m. And these are busy people.
These are hard-working people. You say, when did he sleep? Well, you're in the car and they've got a driver wherever he's going so he could sleep.
Well, he'd get driven around and we'd be talking and then, you know, get quiet and driving and he's dozing. In other words, they were busy people and they worked lots of hours. We talked to some of the elders that were driving us around. So church elders, they were businessmen. They weren't full-time ministers. They weren't bivocational.
They were full-time business people. But they were at early morning prayer every day for years. It was just part of a tradition in which you can be trained to live differently. Your mindset can be different.
What you prioritize can be different. But what impressed me was that prayer was just weaved into their lives. That I'd get picked up at the airport by one of the workers and we'd get in the car and before he'd drive off, I'd notice him close his eyes in prayer. He was praying for the trip. And then you have a meal and you pray before the first course, the second course, then after. And I know things can get legalistic.
I know people can just put on a religious display. But if prayer is just like breathing, if prayer is just like talking, if prayer is just part of the flow of our lives, oh praise God, how beautiful, how wonderful, how natural it can be. So pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Okay, maybe this is some kind of prophetic sign as I'm recording from my hotel room with our recording equipment in San Diego.
You may have heard in the distant background some alarms going off or some sirens going off. That's a reminder that there's always a crisis out there and that many times the Lord will move on you to pray. Colossians 4-2. Colossians 4-2. These are to all believers.
These are not to the super saints. Prayer is level ground, friends. I don't care if you pastor a church of 5,000 people or if you're barely making ends meet, working three jobs and raising a family or if you are if you are shut in and sick. Prayer is level ground. We all have access to the same God and the same God hears our prayer. Many times the more we recognize our weakness, Matthew 5, blessed, truly happy are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The more we recognize our weakness, our dependency, the better we can pray.
So just to all believers, Colossians 4-2. Devote yourselves to prayer. Being watchful and thankful. There's something to being alert and then being thankful we're reminding ourselves of who God is and we're encouraging ourselves to his faithfulness and rather than just complaining we're thanking him for his goodness and grace even in difficult times it changes our attitude. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17 Paul says pray continually. Pray continually. Again we shared on this verse earlier in the week. It doesn't mean that 24-7 we have to pray.
I remember teaching classes in ministry schools and I would see students with their mouths moving as they're listening well because they were praying all the time. He doesn't mean you pray 24-7 but prayer is lifestyle. It's lifestyle. It's lifestyle.
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Call 1-800-771-5584 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. This is Michael Brown. This is the Line of Fire and we are continuing in the school of prayer. Class is now in session. So glad you could join me as we continue digging into the word and encouraging each of us to press in deeper to become more men and women of prayer. People for whom prayer is a lifestyle, is a mindset, is foundational to who we are and what we do.
I'll say it again you'll hear me say it many times in the days ahead. There is no more effective ministry that we can engage in than the ministry of prayer and every day it's our goal to infuse with faith and truth and courage to help you stand strong in the front lines. We're in a hostile world. We are in a world that is not friendly to God or the gospel.
That has been the case since the fall. There is a real devil. There are demonic powers that want to take us out, that want to take you out, that want to destroy you, that want to hurt you, that want to hurt your family, that want to get in the way of God's calling on your life. We want to stand together to equip you, to strengthen you so that in that day of attack, as it says in Ephesians 6, that day of evil, that day of hellish attack, those seasons of difficulty that we all go through, you will be able to stand strong and having a foundation of prayer is essential in that. Hey, just a reminder, one other way we equip you is once a month our frontline newsletter. It is powerful, it is inspirational, it is informational and it's free and it's digital. If you're not getting it, what are you waiting for? Go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org and click subscribe.
We will send it your way, put you in our welcome tour, let you know about the thousands of free resources we have for you. It's our goal, it's our vision to stand with you and equip you and strengthen you. We're going to continue laying foundations in prayer and ask the question, how real is the devil? How real is the devil? Well, try and establish a new extended daily time in prayer and see what happens. The enemy will fight to keep you from a powerful prayer life. I don't mean that Satan will visibly walk into your room but if you want to experience spiritual opposition, if you want to find out if there's really an enemy of your soul, seek to deepen your prayer life. It was one of the Puritans who said that when we go to pray the enemy knows that we're fetching strength against him and therefore he opposes us with all that he can. When we start to pray, distractions will rush into our lives.
Where does it come from? I remember as a new believer when I go to pray I'd suddenly think, oh wait a second, I look at my nail, oh I need to trim my nail, oh I forgot to do, all these things just were fled through my mind and then once we were married we had a checkbook and I'd be praying, you need to balance the checkbooks. Why now? Why this moment?
Or, well you forgot this, you forgot this. I don't think it's just our minds that start racing. I believe there's spiritual opposition. Again, seek to extend your prayer life, seek to deepen your prayer times every day and see if you have some opposition to it.
Why? Because prayer is the most effective thing you can do along with getting the Word in your heart and mind to arm yourself against the work of the devil. And when you're praying, you're asking God to move, you're asking God to work, you're putting things in his hands. There are many things he will not do if we don't pray.
He says in James, Jacob, the fourth chapter, you have not because you're asked not. There are many things God would love to do if we invited them in. In fact, we're going to do a whole lesson or more on how prayer makes us co-workers with God.
Here are some directives in the Word. These are exhortations in the New Testament. Romans 12 12. Romans 12 12. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Again, if I bring a word that challenges, it's not condemnation, it's invitation.
It's saying, okay, maybe we're not doing this, maybe you're not doing this, but here's an invitation to go deeper. Are you faithful in prayer? Does God look at you and say, that's my boy, that's my girl. They are faithful in prayer. Ephesians 6 18. This is at the end of Paul's passage on putting on the full armor of God.
Ephesians 6 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray in the Spirit. Some would take that to mean praying in tongues, praying through the language of the Spirit. Others understand it more broadly, and I believe you can pray in the Spirit, praying with your own understandings, praying your native language. So I look at it as both and, but pray, not just getting yourself worked up, but in harmony with the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, being helped by the Spirit.
You say, how? Well, you invite the Lord. You say, Lord, empower my prayers, lead me in my praying, be with me as I pray. And pray in the Spirit when? On all occasions, on all occasions, good times, bad times, high times, low times, mundane times, exciting times, bedtime, morning time, meal time. Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
It's not one size fits all. Maybe praying the Lord's prayer is part of your daily routine. Wonderful. Prayed from the heart, not just by road. But that's only one part of praying. Maybe you spend time every week just pouring your heart out to God. This is what's on my mind. This is what troubles me.
Wonderful. Maybe other times you say, Lord, I'm praying for this one. I'm praying for this situation. All kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Be alert. Prayer is something where we need to be on watch, where we need to be conscious.
Okay, here's an eve, here's an attack, here's a situation. I should be in prayer. I've been to South Korea, I think 13 times. And the Korean church has been famous for its prayer tradition.
This has been for many decades. And I remember talking to a pastor there, one of the national leading pastors, and he told me that for many, many years, for decades, he led the church's 6 a.m. prayer every morning. He was there to lead prayer 6 a.m. every morning. Wow.
Oh, oh. And he also led the early morning prayer at 4 30 a.m. What? The 6 a.m. prayer, that was the later prayer meeting. The early morning prayer meeting, and he led it for decades, was 4 30 a.m. And these are busy people.
These are hardworking people. You say, when did he sleep? Well, you're in the car and they've got a driver wherever he's going so he could sleep while he's getting driven around.
And we'd be talking and then, you know, get quiet and driving and he's dozing. In other words, they were busy people and they worked lots of hours. We talked to some of the elders that were driving us around. So church elders, they were businessmen. They weren't full-time ministers. They weren't bivocational.
They were full-time business people. But they were at early morning prayer every day for years. It was just part of a tradition in which you can be trained to live differently. Your mindset can be different.
What you prioritize can be different. But what impressed me was that prayer was just weaved into their lives. That I'd get picked up at the airport by one of the workers and we'd get in the car. And before he'd drive off, I'd notice him close his eyes in prayer. He was praying for the trip. And then you have a meal and you pray before the first course, the second course, and then after. And I know things can get legalistic.
I know people can just put on a religious display. But if prayer is just like breathing, if prayer is just like talking, if prayer is just part of the flow of our lives, oh praise God, how beautiful, how wonderful, how natural it can be. So pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Okay, maybe this is some kind of prophetic sign as I'm recording from my hotel room with our recording equipment in San Diego.
You may have heard in the distant background some alarms going off or some sirens going off. That's a reminder that there's always a crisis out there and that many times the Lord will move on you to pray. Colossians 4, 2. Colossians 4, 2. These are to all believers.
These are not to the super saints. Prayer is level ground friends. I don't care if you pastor a church of 5,000 people or if you're barely making ends meet, working three jobs and raising a family or if you are shut in and sick. Prayer is level ground. We all have access to the same God and the same God hears our prayer. Many times the more we recognize our weakness, Matthew 5, blessed, truly happy are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The more we recognize our weakness, our dependency, the better we can pray.
So just to all believers, Colossians 4, 2. Devote yourselves to prayer. Being watchful and thankful. There's something to being alert and then being thankful. We're reminding ourselves of who God is and we're encouraging ourselves to his faithfulness and rather than just complaining, we're thanking him for his goodness and grace even in difficult times. It changes our attitude. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17, Paul says pray continually.
Pray continually. Again, we shared on this verse earlier in the week. It doesn't mean that 24-7 we have to pray.
I remember teaching classes in ministry schools and I would see students with their mouths moving as they're listening, well because they were praying all the time. He doesn't mean you pray 24-7, but prayer is lifestyle. It's lifestyle.
It's lifestyle. All right, important announcement and we will be right back. This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to TheLineOfFire.org, TheLineOfFire.org and click donate.
