The devil wants to keep you from praying any way he can

The devil wants to do whatever he can to keep you from praying.

He wants you to think you're too tired, busy or full of doubt to pray.

And if he can't keep you from praying all together, he wants you to be weak in prayer, to think it doesn't work or Gods not listening or he's too far away.

He wants to do anything he can to keep you from the kind of prayer where you know that you can go boldly to God with anything, that ANYTHING you ask for will be done.

And if the devil works so hard to keep us from bold, effective prayer, there must be a reason. And that reason is that when we get connected to God, we really do have the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, to overcome ALL the power of the enemy.

If the devil knows our authority, so should we. Don't let him keep you from it.

Go boldly to God. Pray without ceasing.

More than a Humanitarian

Jesus was moved with compassion for people, and then he did something about it. That is an admirable thing to emulate, to be moved with compassion, to care deeply about the suffering of others and do what is in our power to alleviate it.

What was within Jesus' power was quite significant; it was more than natural power, it was more than running a food drive and handing out blankets; it was supernatural. He healed people, he drove out demons, he raised people to life.

But if it ends at that, that just makes Jesus a humanitarian. A supernaturally gifted humanitarian, but just that.

He was more than that, though. The miracles he performed weren't just to relieve physical suffering. What is the relief of physical pain if the person is still in the dark?

Jesus was all about saving people's lives - but life in the sense of the living word, living waters, the abundant life found when we enter the kingdom of God. The life that is available to experience here and now.

He raised people physically to life, but his whole ministry was pointing people to how to be raised spiritually to life.

As Christians we should of course be in many senses, humanitarians; we should have compassion for people, be moved to help them and care for them. But we should be remembering the ultimate gift we can give people is not physical. Alleviating poverty, or even seeing miraculous works, is not our end goal.

We are not interested in merely an outward imitation of Jesus, but to show how are lives and hearts are truly changed by his love.

Speaking their language

You don't have to be qualified to speak the good news.


At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came and filled those gathered in the room, and the crowds heard them, they were amazed because they were hearing their own languages. These were people from all over, and the Galileans were speaking their languages.


This was not just unusual, like "Hey, I didn't know you spoke Cappadocian!"They were 'utterly amazed'. (Acts 2:7)


Utterly -completely and without qualification; absolutely. In other words - completely, totally, absolutely, entirely,wholly, fully, thoroughly, quite, altogether,one hundred percent, downright, outright, in all respects, unconditionally, perfectly, really,to the hilt, to the core;


Amazed -surprised greatly; filled with astonishment. In other words -astonished, thunderstruck, speechless, at a loss for words, dumbstruck; aghast, taken aback; bowled over, flabbergasted, blown away.


Entirely flabbergasted, thoroughly bowled over, unconditionally thunderstruck. The Amplified Bible says they were 'beside themselves'.


Get the picture?


These were Galileans - not exactly known for there high brow education or broad multilingualism. And yet here they were, speaking in all these different languages. And all declaring the wonders of God.


You don't have to be qualified to speak as a witness. God can use you to speak anyone's language. That may not mean the languages of different countries for you. It may mean the language of your neighbour, a person in the supermarket, a young person in your church, and old person in a home...all those people who have a different culture to you. Those people with a different life, age, gender, personality, education or interest to you. Those people with whom you normally have nothing in common and nothing to say. People not of your own 'kind'. Even people who normally look down on your or ignore you.


God can give you the words to say, and those words come with power.


Those people hearing the wonders of God spoken in their own languages probably could have understood other languages. They didn't have to hear it those particular dialects to be able to comprehend what was being said. But it was more than the words; it was witnessing the power of God to transcend the natural, to go beyond boundaries and borders. To speak right to the heart.


God isn't limited by your social circle, your education, your knowledge (or lack of it), your conversational skills, your age, race or occupation. So why do we insist on limiting ourselves? Why do we say 'I'm too old to talk to young people', or 'I have nothing in common with that person', or 'People will probably think I'm stupid'?


When we let God get a hold of us, when we receive the Holy Spirit, the words we speak will have power and impact. People will notice that you are speaking their language. They will notice the difference. They will be 'flabbergasted' by the power and wonder of God.


Perhaps some of them might think you are strange (or drunk - Acts 2:13) - but there will be plenty more who ask "What does this mean?"


Be ready to tell them.

We don't just have bigger weapons

Sometimes I think we look out our authority in Jesus like we just have the bigger weapon. Like the demons have little guns, but we have a bigger one.

Or in the words of Crocodile Dundee we say
"You call that a knife?" and think we've pulled out our big Jesus sized knife to the enemies switch blade.

But I don't think that's good enough. That still leaves room for someone to have a bigger weapon. Even if we had a bazooka to their water pistol, it leaves room for someone to come along with a tank.

Or someone to use the weapon better than us. We might have the giant knife, but we're still afraid they slip in there and get us in the ribs.

In Mark 3:11 it says Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

They fell down before him and cried out. They recognised him instantly. They didn't wait for him to say anything to them, to pull the God card. They saw him and recognised him as the son of God. As the ultimate authority under which they have no power. None. It doesn't matter what weapons they thought they had, what they thought they could get away with, as soon as they saw Jesus they knew they had already lost.

And you know what, Jesus is in us. We now have the authority too. And that's not just a bigger weapon than the enemy, that's the absolute assurance that God has already won and the devil has no power. And he knows it.

He just doesn't want you to.