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Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
God's Word is a defense against Satan, temptation, etc., but there are other defenses available to us as well. We will take a look at two other – prayer and the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
In the previous study, we saw the importance of the Word of God and the necessity of it bing a part of your life. Prayer should also be a vital part. God longs for our fellowship, and this is accomplished through prayer, which is simply talking with God. Many of the great men of God , whose names you may recognize have been men of prayer. John Wesley, George Mueller, David Brainierd to name a few. Christ himself regarded prayer as important and took time to be alone with God in prayer (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16),
Taking time to be with God in His Word or have a quiet time, was discussed earlier, however this is also a good time to pray. After God has spoken to you through His Word, we can speak to Him in prayer. It is good to have a definite time for communing with God. Without a definite time, our day my become crowded and you will miss a day or two. As time passes quiet times become fewer and fewer. Be sure to set a definite time aside, or schedule a daily appointment with God, and keep it.
We speak of a definite time, but this does not mean we can not pray at other times also. God would have us pray any time and any place. When special times of need arise we can ask God immediately for His help, (Heb. 4:16). Remember, also, that God is interested in the little things as well as the big, in your life, don't hesitate to pray about everything or anything (James 4:2; Philippians 4:6).
What things should we pray about or what things should be included in prayer? There are at least five parts of prayer, they are as follows:
During you quiet time, it may be helpful to maintain a prayer calendar. This is a list of request you wish to pray about. It will help to keep your mind from wondering and from forgetting. You may also want to keep a prayer journal to record answered prayers.
Do not become discouraged if your requests are not answered immediately or even if they are not answered according to your will. God sometimes has a reason for not answering immediately and at times sees fit, not to answer based on our will, but, His answer will always be according to His will (2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Romans 8:28).
When you pray, do so from the heart and mean what you pray rather than simply saying words. Be yourself and not what you think you should be.
Never, never say you are too busy to pray. Susanna Wesley had a large family of nineteen children and always had a time set aside for prayer. Did you ever think of praying while walking to and from work, while doing housework, or while doing other things that would also allow you to pray? Let's use those extra minutes and “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16).
The Holy Spirit
Another resource available to us is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is as much God as are the Father and Christ the Son. It is He that calls us to salvation and then seals us (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30) and indwells us (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is He by His presence and power that aids us in living an effective Christian life. The Scripture exhorts us to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). There has been some misunderstanding about this experience. It has been taught, based on Acts 1st chapter, that we must tarry to experience the filling of the Holy Spirit. If we use all Scripture in light of each other, we learn, we receive the Spirit at the moment we accept Christ as our Savior and we become filled as we yield our life to Him (Romans 6:13-14). You cannot experience this filling if you are living a self absorbed and worldly existence. You are not allowing God to control your life according to His will. When we yield our lives to His control; when we give more of ourselves to God, He gives more of Himself to us. Then we will experience the energizing and empowering of the Holy Spirit. We do not have to live a defeated and unfruitful Christian life but can instead experience victory and an effective Christian life!
The Holy Spirit does other things for us as well. He causes us to understand the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:11, 12). He guides us (Acts 16:6) and makes intercession to God for us (Romans 8:26). He is our helper or comforter (John 16:7). [The word comforter in Greek means one “called alongside to help”.] He is with us at all times to help us when we are in need.
Another purpose for the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Christ (John 16:13, 14). As we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to control our lives, the results will be that we will come to love Jesus Christ more and the Spirit can then work through us to exalt and glorify Christ.
Just as we can displease God by the life we live, we can also grieve (Ephesians 4:30) or quench (1 Thessalonians 5:19) the Holy Spirit. Quenching the Holy Spirit does not mean He has left us but that He has no control over our lives for we are running them ourselves, according to our will and desires; not allowing Him to have any part in it. May we not be guilty of grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit, but instead allow Him to run our lives that His fruits will be manifested in us (Galatians 5:22, 23).
May you be faithful in your prayer life and then allow the Holy Spirit to control. If we do these things we will find additional power to overcome Satan, temptation, fears, discouragement and defeat.