They thought themselves righteous

'In this study however, we turn our thought to one phase of prayer -- that of importunity; the pressing of our desires upon God with urgency and perseverance; the praying with that tenacity and tension which neither relaxes nor ceases until its plea is heard, and its cause is won.

He who has clear views of God, and Scriptural conceptions of the Divine character; who
appreciates his privilege of approach unto God; who understands his inward need of all that God has for him -- that man will be solicitous, outspoken and importunate. In Holy Writ, the duty of prayer, itself, is advocated in terms which are only barely stronger than those in which the necessity for its importunity is set forth. The praying which influences God is declared to be that of the fervent, effectual outpouring of a righteous man. That is to say, it is prayer on fire, having no feeble, flickering flame, no momentary flash, but shining with a vigorous and steady glow.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 67)

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Jas_5:16 '...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.'

Fervent prayer.

Yesterday we talked about striving in our praying for each other, today we are talking about being fervent in praying.

Do you EVER pray fervently?  Seriously, you need to ask yourself this question.

Fervency- noun- warmth or intensity of feeling; ardor; zeal; fervor

Praying with warmth, praying with intensity of feeling, praying with ardor, praying with ardor, praying with zeal, praying with fervor- do any of these sound like you and your praying?

If we pray only half-heartedly we really can't expect our praying to avail us much, seriously, we can't!

If we pray as a matter of form, a ritual we enact regularly are we really praying? Do our words rise any higher than the ceiling? Do we rush through those words we say and console ourselves with the belief that at least we did pray, we took time to say those words. We made an effort even if there were no fervency. How many priests in Jesus' day went about their daily rituals in the same manner and had no real love with God? Their words were empty.

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

They OUTWARDLY APPEARED RIGHTEOUS!

You KNOW they thought themselves righteous!

They prayed too.

Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

TRUTH!

They prayed! We pray! And we need to pray fervently in truth from the heart!

'The praying which influences God is declared to be that of the fervent, effectual outpouring of a righteous man. That is to say, it is prayer on fire, having no feeble, flickering flame, no momentary flash, but shining with a vigorous and steady glow.'

All by the GRACE of GOD!

Striving in prayer

'In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul indicates the nature of his soldier-life, giving us some views of the kind of praying needed for such a career. He writes:

"Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea."

Paul had foes in Judaea -- foes who beset and opposed him in the form of "unbelieving  men" and this, added to other weighty reasons, led him to urge the Roman Christians to
"strive with him in prayer." That word "strive" indicated wrestling, the putting forth of
great effort. This is the kind of effort, and this the sort of spirit, which must possess the
Christian soldier.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 66)

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Are we to pray for one another? YES, a thousand times, YES!  How are we to pray? STRIVING!  How do you strive? Have you ever strived for anything? When you strive for something you want it desperately. You want it so much you are working hard for it. When we strive in prayer we are praying hard! We are praying desperately!  Striving with someone in prayer is both of you praying for the same thing, both of you seeking the LORD.

Beseeching someone, really wanting someone to do something for you. And Paul did this why? For the LORD JESUS CHRIST'S SAKE and for the LOVE OF THE SPIRIT.   We must LOVE the SPIRIT, we must  LOVE the LORD JESUS CHRIST! And when we LOVE the SPIRIT and LOVE the LORD we will strive with others in prayer.

Do we need to pray to be delivered from unbelievers? Yes. Maybe not as Paul had to, or others in countries where even having a Bible is illegal, but we do need to pray for the same deliverance from unbelievers, they surround us all the time.

Praying for each other, striving together, working together… we MUST. Prayer is so incredibly important so much more important than we may have been taught. PLEASE HEAVNELY FATHER, please help us to learn to pray as we need to PRAY.

We desperately pray for the LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST to RETURN, to DELIVER US from the evil that exists in this world and bring us to live with HIM in HEAVEN!

Please LORD, bless us! Keep us! Save us! By YOUR righteousness, YOUR love!

Are you asleep while at war?

'It is just at this point in much present-day Christian profession, that one may find its greatest defect. There is little, or nothing, of the soldier element in it. The discipline,  self denial, spirit of hardship, determination, so prominent in and belonging to the military
life, are, one and all, largely wanting. Yet the Christian life is warfare, all the way. How comprehensive, pointed and striking are all Paul's directions to the Christian soldier, who is bent on thwarting the devil and saving his soul alive! First of all, he must possess a clear idea of the character of the life on which he has entered. Then, he must know something of his foes -- the adversaries of his immortal soul -- their strength, their skill, their malignity. Knowing, therefore, something of the character of the enemy, and realizing the need of preparation to overcome them, he is prepared to hear the Apostle's decisive conclusion:

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

All these directions end in a climax; and that climax is PRAYER. How can the brave warrior for Christ be made braver still? How can the strong soldier be made stronger still? How can the victorious battler be made still more victorious? Here are Paul's explicit directions to that end:

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

Prayer, and more prayer, adds to the fighting qualities and the more certain victories of God's good fighting-men. The power of prayer is most forceful on the battle-field amid
the din and strife of the conflict. Paul was preeminently a soldier of the Cross. For him, life was no flowery bed of ease. He was no dress-parade, holiday soldier, whose only business was to don a uniform on set occasions. His was a life of intense conflict, the facing of many adversaries, the exercise of unsleeping vigilance and constant effort. And, at its close -- in sight of the end -- we hear him chanting his final song of victory, a I have fought a good fight," and reading between the lines, we see that he is more than conqueror!'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 65)

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This is truth! I can't stress it enough. Anything I could add to this would probably only take away from it. Read it again and again!

We are in a WARFARE! And so many soldiers are SLEEPING!

In what logical war do the soldiers sleep while the battle is raging around them? Yes, soldier's have to sleep, but ask soldiers who have been in war if they sleep when the are in active warfare, when the enemy is right at their door, right in their face, do they sleep? No. How could they?

If an enemy enters your camp, do you sleep, no matter how tired you are? If you do that enemy will slit your throat, that enemy will put a bullet between your closed eyes, that enemy will slip a pillow over your face all while you sleep.  It's NO different in our spiritual warfare. When we know the enemy is attacking us outright we need to PRAY! Truly, pray!  When the enemy is working his wiles deviously we have to be on guard, knowing that he is about even when our life seems to be going better than ever, we must PRAY!

Pray without ceasing.  1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

By the grace of our Lord we WILL pray without ceasing! Please LORD, all in YOU!

Do you believe you are under constant spiritual attack? You are.

'What a misconception many people have of the Christian life! How little the average church member appears to know of the character of the conflict, and of its demands upon him! How ignorant he seems to be of the enemies he must encounter, if he engage
to serve God faithfully and so succeed in getting to heaven (((when the Savior returns))))and receive the crown of life! He seems scarcely to realize that the world, the flesh and the devil will oppose his onward march, and will defeat him utterly, unless he give himself to constant vigilance and unceasing prayer.

The Christian soldier wrestles not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places. Or, as the Scriptural margin reads, "wicked spirits in high places." What a fearful array of forces are set against him who would make his way through the wilderness of this world to the portals of the Celestial City! It is no surprise, therefore, to find Paul, who understood the character of the Christian life so well, and who was so thoroughly informed as to the malignity and number of the foes, which the disciple of the Lord must encounter, carefully and plainly urging him to "put on the whole armour of God," and "to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit."

Wise, with a great wisdom, would the present generation be if all professors of our faith
could be induced to realize this all-important and vital truth, which is so absolutely indispensable to a successful Christian life.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 64)

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Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

You can be dressed in all the armor of God and fail to pray, then what? If a soldier in a physical battle is all geared up and yet has no communication with his commanding officer, then what? He's all dressed up but he is clueless. He doesn't even know who the enemy is unless his commander tells him who it is. He can guess at it, but in truth a soldier takes orders. A soldier has a leader. And it does a soldier NO good have a leader and not talk with him. Say if you like that God doesn't speak with us, but He does! We have His Word! When we pray HE LISTENS, HE HEARS. And speaks to us to and we KNOW HIS will He's told us HIS will!

We are in a REAL battle, but maybe because we don't have physical armor to put on for this battle, or a foe we can see all the time- I say all the time because often we struggle internally with our own thoughts, our own reasoning. We don't see the evil angel whispering in our ears, we don't hear him, but the influence of those evil angels are all around us. God can protect us, God will protect us but only if we CHOOSE HIM, only if we become His soldiers.  And it is through PRAYER we place ourselves with God, it is through prayer we keep the evil at bay. We are told to PRAY always with ALL PRAYER and SUPPLICATION in the SPIRIT.  

Prayer is so incredibly important, and the realization of its importance is truly lost on so many, please LORD help it not be lost on me, lost on us, please!  Help us to learn to pray as we ought- praying always!

All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE, ALWAYS.

'The life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest'

'Christian soldiers, fighting the good fight of faith, have access to a place of retreat, to which they continually repair for prayer. "Praying always, with all prayer," is a clear statement of the imperative need of much praying, and of many kinds of praying, by him who, fighting the good fight of faith, would win out, in the end, over all his foes.

The Revised Version puts it this way:

"With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplications, for all saints, and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me, in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am in bonds."

It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 63)

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'From start to finish, it is war.'  TRUTH!

Satan loves to blind us with our own feelings. We feel love, we feel contentment and Satan allows us to believe this means we are right with God, when in truth our feelings do NOT matter at all!

Seriously, our feelings are irrelevant and yet we are told they matter so much more than anything else. If we aren't happy then leave our job, leave our spouse, search for happiness at all costs because we all have a right to it. That's NOT TRUE! It's a lie that Satan has fed us and we've devoured.

Step out of the Western world culture and into a third world culture and ask them about happiness.  Yet we here in the Western world have a constitution that tells us we have the right to pursue happiness.  And we've done that often at the great expense of many. It is NO lie that big corporations have become what they are through a lot of deceit. I'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them have.

When we live for ourselves and our feelings we are living a life that Satan can toy with at his leisure. How easy it is to manipulate those who rely on their feelings for their guide through life. Induce a bad state of mind and instill doubt in them, perfect. Satan has an arsenal filled with such tactics, such weapons to use against us. And Satan is the head of his grand army of evil angels who have learned well from their master.

C.S. Lewis wrote of small book called, 'The Screwtape Letters'.  Here read a bit about it from wikipedia-

'The Screwtape Letters comprises thirty-one letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood (named after a star in Revelation), a younger and less experienced demon, charged with guiding a man toward "Our Father Below" (Devil / Satan) from "the Enemy" (God).
After the second letter, the Patient converts to Christianity, and Wormwood is chastised for allowing this. A striking contrast is formed between Wormwood and Screwtape during the rest of the book, wherein Wormwood is depicted through Screwtape's letters as anxious to tempt his patient into extravagantly wicked and deplorable sins, and often reckless. Screwtape, on the other hand, takes a more subtle stance, as in Letter XII wherein he remarks: "...the safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts".
In Letter VIII, Screwtape explains to his protégé the different purposes that God and the devils have for the human race: "We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons". With this end in mind, Screwtape urges Wormwood in Letter VI to promote passivity and irresponsibility in the Patient: "(God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them".'

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Satan most assuredly will do all he can to keep us from ever realizing we are in a war. Satan wants us passively going through life totally unaware of the great battle, the great controversy we are all immersed in daily.

Read this again-

'It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."'

Wrestling, struggling, demands all our energy of the Spirit - that's what this warfare demands.  It does not demand a blindness. If we are truly engaged in the war between good and evil - it is an ACTIVE warfare, not something that calls for absolutely no thought on our part.

Satan doesn't want us to realize him as a REAL enemy. Satan does NOT want us to recognize his tactics in our lives he much more prefers it if we attribute all of his tactics to something else, something we call ' that's life', or 'a bad break',  or 'terrible luck', he does NOT want us to call him out for what he is- the destroyer who will stop at nothing to get us away from the love of our Savior.

Please Heavenly Father, please help us to comprehend the reality we live in, keep us from living blind lost to the true reality of the spiritual war that is our life until our Savior returns for us.

All by Your grace, Your mercy, Your amazing LOVE!

Fulfilled Prophecy

'What is the Fulfilled Prophecy of Jesus Saying?

The very least that this fulfilled prophecy of Jesus is saying is that God is no longer restraining the power of Satan in his control of the nations of earth. Even though Satan declared that he possessed such power and could delegate it to whomever he chose (Luke 4:6), the book of Daniel draws the curtain aside and reveals that God "ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will" (Dan. 4:17). When kings and rulers resisted His purposes, Michael, to whom all earthly authority is given (I Cor. 15:27), comes Himself to influence the outcome of human events (Dan. 10:13). That time is now past, and God has stepped aside and Satan is working his will in the nations of earth.

We have not been left in doubt as to what Satan is seeking to accomplish. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the picture is drawn. "The spirits of devils go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14). But you respond, that is the sixth plague after the close of probation. No, it is the CAUSE for the sixth plague, NOT the plague. Consider the first plague: a "grievous sore" on those who had received the mark of the beast (16:2). Was not the mark of the beast received prior to the close of probation? Just so, the sixth plague. Verse 12 describes the plague - the drying up of the great river Euphrates, and verses 13-14 give the cause in probationary time.
Note the use of this text in The Great Controversy, pp.561-62. Observe the context - "the last remnant of time."

The location of this gathering is given as a place in the Hebrew tongue, called "Har-Magedon" (16:16 ARV). This transliterates back into the HEBREW as Har-Mo'ed - Mount of the Congregation. Here Satan will seek to realize his objective - "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north," or Jerusalem (Isa. 14:13; Ps. 48:2).

Even as the sanctuary "was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment" in 1844 (See, Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, p. 268), so also it gives a further understanding as to the significance of Jesus' prophecy as recorded in Luke 21:24.

During the daily ministration, confession of sin, both individual and corporate was made in the court of the sanctuary. The distinct difference between these two ceremonies was WHERE the blood of confession was placed. For the individual, the blood of his sacrifice was placed upon the horns of the Brazen Altar of the Court, while for a corporate sin, the blood of the sacrifice was placed on the horns of the Golden Altar of Incense in the Holy Place. (See Leviticus 4). In the yearly service on the Day of Atonement, the ministration of the High Priest involved ALL three sections of the sanctuary. He moved from the Most Holy to the Holy, and then to the Court to complete the atonement at the Brazen Altar where the individual confessions were recorded. (See Leviticus 16).Thus the prophecy of Jesus would indicate in its fulfillment that the corporate bodies of earth have been weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting. The time of judgment has passed to the very last act of the Final Atonement - the cleansing of the living.

What Warning Has God Given? -- When God told Moses, the nature of the Coming One, that He would be a Prophet raised up in the midst of the Children of Israel like unto himself, and that He would put words into His mouth, He also sounded a warning:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (Deut. 18:19)

It was that Prophet who declared that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the nations until the times of the nations be fulfilled."

Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:34-36)'

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Do not lay down your spiritual weapons, your spiritual armor - not for a moment!

'THE description of the Christian soldier given by Paul in the sixth chapter of the Epistle
to the Ephesians, is compact and comprehensive. He is depicted as being ever in the conflict, which has many fluctuating seasons -- seasons of prosperity and adversity, light and darkness, victory and defeat. He is to pray at all seasons, and with all prayer,
this to be added to the armour in which he is to fare forth to battle. At all times, he is to
have the full panoply of prayer. The Christian soldier, if he fight to win, must pray much. By this means, only, is he enabled to defeat his inveterate enemy, the devil, together with the Evil One's manifold emissaries. "Praying always, with all prayer," is the Divine direction given him. This covers all seasons, and embraces all manner of praying.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 62)

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

Ever at war.

Every waking moment is spent in spiritual warfare.

When we have lulls in our battles, even those can be used as tools of the enemy.  While we are regrouping the enemy does the same.

All our physical wars are nothing compared to the spiritual wars. I don't say that lightly, I say it with truth. Because even as our men and women fight the physical battles they are also simultaneously involved in a spiritual war.

The spiritual battle NEVER ends. Physical battles can end. You can come home from a physical war, but you cannot come home from our spiritual battle, you are in it until our Savior returns.

Can you afford to take a day off from the fight? No.

Can you take a day off? Yes. You can lay down your spiritual weapons, and you can take off your spiritual armor. Will the war pause for you while you set aside your warfare gear? No. It won't pause for even a single moment for anyone. The spiritual war never paused for our Savior as He walked the earth, it's just not possible.  When you choose to lay down your armor and weapons you are leaving yourself exposed to be attacked.  How often do we do this? How often are we left vulnerable by our own choice?

Truly being told this…

'Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit'

… we have to comprehend that it is TRUTH! We are to pray ALWAYS.  Ever ready in prayer.

Can we stress it enough? Never enough.

More tomorrow by the grace of GOD.

Please LORD, please Father in Heaven, please help us to comprehend, help us to be fully Yours in all things.

Help us as we continue to study prayer, bless us, help us please, by YOUR GRACE! In YOUR LOVE ALWAYS!