Don’t Call Me a Prayer Warrior

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11

Prayer Warrior

It’s a term we all recognize. I have used it, my pastor has used it, and probably every Christian I’ve been blessed to schmooze with through the years, has used it. We use the expression because it best describes the actions of those of the faith who earnestly lift others in prayer; who consistently and persistently go before the Lord with all requests, supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings, and often time while possessing prayer lists and maintaining prayer logs. They are classified as our  ‘go to’ people within the body of Christ when an appeal, a plea, or petition is desired. That brings me to a twofold question:

“Is the label right (and by ‘right’ I mean Biblical), and is it harmful?”

I’ll explain. First…

Is it Biblical?

The short answer is, I don’t believe so. While there are certainly folks in the church who fit the definition, I’m not convinced God would concur that a special designation is called for. Is being a prayer zealot a gift of the Holy Spirit? If so, I’m not seeing it. The Bible records three main passages regarding spiritual gifts: Romans 12:6-8;1 Corinthians 12:4-11; and 1 Corinthians 12:28. According to the list, we see…

Prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, mercy, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues, helps, governments, and diversities of tongues.

But, I don’t see prayer warrior on the list.

I suppose you could make an argument that tenacious prayer falls under one (or more) of these categories, but I sense that’s when we begin to stretch the doctrine a little too thin. Let’s be honest, prayer is a vital component of each of these giftings, but is not the actual gift.

Is it Harmful?

Yes, I believe it is, and I’ll tell you why — our Father in Heaven desires that we all pray in this manner. Could we really believe that the Lord would want us to delegate our conversation to somebody else; someone who we perceive is better at it then we are? Where in the Bible does God suggest to us to go find a prayer warrior, or even to make a separate distinction? Nowhere that I can find, but I do see this…

“In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” Acts 10:34

Elevating someone to the status of prayer warrior may encourage the believer who happens to fit the mold, but it simultaneously sends an erroneous message that this person is gifted in a way that we are not, and therefore, we have been relieved of this duty. Do we really believe that? Aren’t prayer warriors doing the very thing that we are called to do? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that prayer warriors are obedient, rather than gifted? Finally, should we be seeking out a prayer mediator when the Father has already provided us one?

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” 

Haven’t we also been given a Helper in our pursuit of prayer?

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26

Here’s the truth — God desires all His children pray in this manner! The fact that you don’t now is not the point. God never intended that in your discouragement (in this regard) you turn to another Christian, but rather you turn to Him. Therein lies the point!

Look at these directives from God’s word…

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

There is nothing in there that remotely suggests we find a prayer warrior to do this for us.

Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17-19

Do you see anything in there that implies this is somebody else’s job? Me either. The one thing that does jump out at me [is] that if we’re not praying like this, we’re throwing water on the fire that is the Holy Spirit. That cannot be good.

One more…

“Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” Ephesians 6:17-18

The Last Word

Try to look at like this — it’s the church (not God) that has created a prayer warrior status. When we serve to encourage others with the moniker, it is a wonderful, Christian gesture, but what we’re really saying (when we use the term), is that we recognize there is a great void within the body Christ that only very few are filling. It might be better to recognize this Christian’s faithful obedience instead. May I suggest that the next time we sense the need to identify another believer in this manner, that we also ask the Lord to examine our own hearts to determine why the title is not befitting for us. The question should not be, “Lord, why am I not a prayer warrior,”  but rather, “Why am I not submitted to Your will in my life?”

Am I suggesting we should not seek out others to pray for us?

Heaven forbid!

We are called to pray for one another. I’m saying that there is not a circumstance to ever shy away from being the type of communicant the Lord wants us to be or to relegate the duty to someone else. God wants to talk with us directly and has fully equipped us to be fervent communicators.

Talk — God is listening.

These articles may or may not be related:

• The Power of Prayer & The Spoken Word (walkingwithawarrior.com)
• Unanswered Prayer ~ (poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com)
• The Incense of Prayer (shawnethomas.com)
• Types of Prayer – 3 (Thank Him for What He Has Done and Will Continue to Do) (watchandprayblog.wordpress.com)
• Girls With Swords: Chapter 6 – “Becoming A Warrior” – “Saul’s Warrior Son” (Pgs 90-98) (girlfriendscoffeehour.com)
• I Got My Name (kelund.wordpress.com)
• The Pros and Cons of Being a Prayer Warrior (rosemichels.wordpress.com)
• Urgent Prayer Need Calling All Prayer Warriors! (deweymoede.wordpress.com)
• TALKing with God (via Kindling) (thesovereign.wordpress.com)
• I GET to go again. (heatherlconrad.com)

If you enjoyed the post please like it, share it, comment on it, or subscribe to it. Frankly, I am blessed that you stopped by to read it today. God bless you too!

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Finessing the Blessing

And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Then he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. 1 Kings 8:54-56

Thank you Father, you’re timing is perfectly magnificent. These past few weeks You have been doing a wonderful thing in me. One particular joy [to me] is that as I’m growing spiritually, I am not feeling the pangs I normally encounter. All that is to say that my personal Bible study is marvelously in line with how You have been moving me and I do not for one moment believe it is coincidence. In light of that, today’s focus revolves around the subject of blessings; not receiving them, but bestowing them on others.

Bestowing the Blessing

Sharing a blessing is simply conferring happiness and prosperity upon another. While there is a prescribed order and method that I want to examine, the Christian should rest comfortably that he or she has the God-given authority to pronounce blessings. How do we know this? We know this because Holy Scripture reminds us:

(We are) a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5b

Having been given the right to bless one another, we should come to recognize the privilege and responsibility associated with it. As we read the 1 Kings passage we note that Solomon had prepared himself through sacrificial prayer. Why is that important? Prayer prepares us to bless; in continual prayer we come to discern God’s will so our blessings will not be arbitrary or spiritually illogical. Furthermore, God, through prayer, provides power. In other words, prayer puts us in a position to be empowered by God. We see the ‘formula’ repeated time and time again in the Bible; we must go in before we can go out.

And Moses said to Aaron, “Go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.” …Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. Leviticus 9:7 + 22

The altar always speaks of sacrifice and believers acknowledge that there is an expenditure one makes when we come before the Lord in prayer. Have you ever noticed that practically every single person you bless, regardless if they are saved or not, always say, “Thank you?” The reason is, whether they’re conscious of it or not, that they perceive there was a cost involved, a cost that included more than just your time. Sadly for some, it is that cost-factor that keeps them from praying and pronouncing blessing. Prayer time can be draining, challenging, and strenuous, but for the prayer-warrior and the blessing-giver these are seen as privileged opportunities to serve God and viewed as a very reasonable sacrifice.

What’s Our Motivation?

What motivated Solomon’s blessing? 1 Kings 8:60 tells us, ‘That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God (and that) there is no other.’ The blessing wasn’t selfish, nor was it selfless; in the long run it was purposed to bring recognition, glory and honor to the only One who could deliver on his words. Did it work; was anyone of the earth drawn by the Holy Spirit to know the Lord? The Queen of Sheba was! In 1 Kings 10:1 we read how this African queen heard of Solomon’s reputation (particularly as it related to the Lord) and how she came to investigate. In her own words Sheba concludes:

Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” 1 Kings 10:8-9

I don’t know about you, but I have never seen more clearly how blessing others is evangelical. I am purposed in my heart to do it more and do it more effectively, with Solomon (and many others) as my example. How about you? Go pronounce a blessing upon someone today, in the name of the Lord and with an expectation that the blessing will come to pass!

It’s my blessing to you that your day is Jesus-filled to the point He overflows upon everyone you encounter.

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