God's family — who is also his army, his kingdom, his ambassadors, and his body — is charged with rooting out the presence of the enemy, and establishing God's kingdom in the world. The question becomes: what does this form of "combat" look like? How do we carry out our assignments?
Like a modern army, God's family has different people carrying out different assignments, and different functions. (Hence, the body analogy.) So, what one person's assignment looks like does not necessarily mean that another person's assignment looks the same. But there are areas where functions overlap.
One common area is proclaiming the gospel. Simply, God's army drives out the enemy's army by capturing the captives. One person — an enemy of God, a rebel, and a slave of sin — hears the gospel, and becomes convinced of its truth. He gives his allegiance to the Father. He is forgiven, and redeemed. He becomes a part of God's family. God begins the restoration process. One person begins to live as he was designed. And the world moves a little closer to following its design. God's kingdom has claimed a little more turf.
The actual communication of God's message is essential. It is like the rifle in an army. It is the most foundational weapon in the God's armory.
But it is not the only weapon. God has others. And these need to be used for the Gospel message to be effective.
Jesus prayed for the unity of those who believed in him. He prayed that his family would have the same unity that he and the Father had. Jesus said that the unity of God's people is a demonstration that God sent Jesus.
Unity is an expression of love; and love is a larger expression of God's nature. Jesus said that love demonstrates who are his true disciples.
Love moves in a direction that is contrary to the world. Love proclaims who God is. Yes, God will judge the world for its sin. But Scripture describes judgment as God's unusual, and extraordinary, work. Gould wold rather give love.
And since, God is love, and love is contrary to the ways of the world, love is a strong witness for God, and God's life. God's family does need to stand for what is righteous, and just. We often see Christians standing for what is just, or standing for what is loving. God is not one, or the other. God is both. And God calls his children to be both.
And, just as God designed, and created, the physical realm, he designed, and created, the spiritual realm. There are laws that govern how the physical operates. There are laws that govern how the spiritual operates. And there are ways the spiritual can invade the physical.
Prayer is probably the most common, perhaps the most important, way to connect the spiritual to the physical, enabling the spiritual to impact the physical. Which means that some of the spiritual laws affect how prayer functions. If you will, there are rules of prayer.
That makes prayer seem to operate mechanically, by formulas. Which is not true, because prayer is an expression of relationship. But, there are "rules" about how people people relate to each other. In Korea and Japan, there are specific ways of addressing older people. I "tease-insult" my brothers. (And they "tease-insult" me in return. Or initiate it.) So, I relate to my brothers in ways that would never be proper with strangers, or, even, certain friends. Husbands and wives have ways to address each other that build the relationship, and prevent fights. Sometimes, my wife will make a statement, and I will have information that makes her statement not quite accurate. If I value this relationship, I will need to introduce this information in a way that does not seem to insult her, or seem to inflate my own self-importance. Just as there are correct, and effective, ways to approach people, there are correct, and effective, ways to approach God. And there are ways that effectively connect to God, and allow him to impact the physical on our behalf.
Two of the simpler to understand "rules" are: repetition, and agreement. I have written recently about insistent prayer. Jesus encourages us to keep asking. God has perfect love, and perfect patience. His heart is for us, so he urges us to consistently bring issues to him, again and again.
And God works with issues, where a number of people agree about it, and pray together about it.
Another "rule" is abiding. Jesus urged his disciple to abide in him, as a requisite to bearing fruit.
Abiding is, in part, a yielding to Jesus. There is a one-time yielding, where we choose to follow Jesus, when we give him our allegiance. There is also a daily yielding. The one-time yielding affects our salvation, our inclusion into God's family, and our eternal destiny. Our daily yielding affects our ongoing fellowship with the Father … and, therefore, our prayer.
Because we are human, we are inconsistent. We drift. We are forgiven, but we are still affected by sin. So, we introduce "pollution" into our fellowship with the Father. The daily yielding clears out any pollution, re-aligns, and re-focuses, our connection, and creates a proper atmosphere for effective prayer. Worship, and confession of known sin, can be proper yielding activities.
Prayer is a vital part of establishing God's kingdom in the world. Prayer is as much a part of completing God's mission as proclaiming the gospel, and serving in love.
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