Today we had our monthly Men's Prayer Breakfast and we focused our discussion on 'preparing for prayer to a Holy God.' Some of the Word we discussed was from the famous lines in Ephesians 6:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Naturally we talked about God's Armor, and the thought occurred to me as to 'how' do we check our armor? I am a believer that all things spiritual have a physical context that it can be referenced too. Having been in the military and worn modern day armor-you knew you were wearing it by its weight. You could also tell when you were missing something by the change in weight of your gear.
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. 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. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
So here is my thinking: do we-in preparation for our daily walk-wake up and put the armor on before facing the world? To test this we must feel the 'weight' of our spiritual armor. If we don't feel the weight of God's Word as we walk through our day-then we are not wearing our armor and therefore we are unprepared and exposed to spiritual attack.
I instantly thought of these verses to illustrate my point in preparing oneself to put on the armor:
Romans 8:6, Romans 12:3, I Thessalonians 5:8, Titus 2:12, 1 Peter 1:13, 1 Peter 5:8
Sober = Nepho #3525
A: To be sober, to be calm and collected in spirit
B: to be temperate, dispassionate, circumspect
So before we can begin to pray we must be: #1 sober minded and #2 prepared with the armor. We should feel the weight of God's Word and His righteousness before we approach Him. We should have an understanding about the Power that we stand before and will be subject to in judgment.
Anyone like to contribute to my madness?