We are continuing on the series: THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, we have looked at two keys already from the introduction: we looked at the word of God key number one, key number two we observed the bond of love, and we identified yesterday by the teaching of the Holy Spirit that the bond of love is the handle of all the keys; the key holder that actually binds and bring perfection to all of those keys. Today we are going to key number three, by the leading of the Holy Spirit and we will be looking at PRAYER. The keys of the kingdom by way of writing, The Keys of the Kingdom: Prayer.
We are going to go back to the text of this series, Ephesians 6 and we will read from verse 10 to 18, as we read at the introduction. But we are going to pay attention to some verses in that particular chapter. Ephesians 6:10-18, the Bible says:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which, you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saint”
Verse 18 is our emphasis this morning. Praying always haven put on the whole armor of God, it says stand therefore putting on the whole armor of God and haven put them on, praying always. If you will do a pause, you will see that there is a strong connection between verse 14 to 17 and verse 18. Verse 14 starts by opening a new sentence—stand therefore haven girded; then when you go to the end of verse 17, you will see a semi colon meaning that that statement is not ended. There is a connection between verse 18 and verse 14 to 17. As you are putting on those things, you are praying. So you are prayerfully girding your waist with truth, you are prayerfully putting on the breast plate of righteousness. And you are prayerfully shoving your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. All these things listed from verse 14 to verse 16 links us to how we should do it.
How do you make sure you put on the breast plate of righteousness? By praying always with all prayer. So prayer is central to putting on the whole armor of God. You can’t put on the whole armor of God without prayer. You are prayerfully putting them on and we will see the meaning of this as the Lord guilds us in this. But I want to read to us in that verse 18 in other translations so that we understand what the Lord is saying to us. In the good news Bible, it says; do all these in prayer. Verse 18 of Ephesians 6, it says “do all these; putting on the breast plate of righteousness, holding the sword of the Spirit, do all these things in prayer. You can’t put on the whole armor of God without arming yourself in the place of prayer. It is even in the place of prayer that you are able to put them on. It says do all these things in prayer asking for Gods help.
The Bible says the weapon of our warfare is not carnal but mighty in God. How do we access the mighty armor that is in God? It is in the place of prayer. So you are able to access the arsenals in the place of prayer. We access spiritual things spiritually, and the spiritual means or mode of access is through prayer. Do all these in prayer, asking for Gods help, pray on every occasion. These words are important because they will form the body of the thought line that we are using to understand prayer as a key of the kingdom. It says pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. I particularly love this good news Bible translation, it says do all these in prayer, asking for Gods help because, it is not an armor of man.
It is not the armor of flesh it is the armor that is mighty in God. So to access it, you must access it in God. Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads, the Spirit of God. For this reason, keep alert and never give up, praying always for Gods people. Prayer is essential in this on-going warfare. The Bible says; we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Verse 11 says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against, that you may be able to stand. Standing is a current posture, it is not a past posture when you are standing in the kingdom, it must be your current continuous posture. And that is why for you to be able to stand, you must pray currently and continuously. Prayer is required for you to stand.
So, for you to stand currently and continuously, you must be praying currently and continuously. The Bible says; that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness in this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. “Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able” what gives you the ability to stand, is not because you come one day and you disappear the next. Imagine if you are asked to man the gate of a very big facility that holds a lot of treasure and people have been eyeing that place, they keep passing, they are checking to see whether the guard will be off duty. So that the minute the guard is off duty, they can access the place.
The Bible says the devil does not rest, it says; he goes to and fro the earth. He keeps going on and on like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour. The devil is not resting, He is not off duty, how comes you are off duty? If you are currently standing and will continue to stand is because you treasure what you are guarding. The minute you stop treasuring what you guard, you will lose heart. And that is why you will see when Jesus was saying in Luke 18, I want us to go there. Luke 18:1, when He was going to give a story about prayer. “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart” let’s not go into the story, that verse 1 is so apt, He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not to lose heart. Meaning that if you don’t pray, you will lose heart. If you don’t pray, you will faint.
So if you are not praying, you are fainting, if you are not praying, you are giving up, if you are not praying, you are quitting. So if you are praying you are standing. Prayer in the kingdom is not an event, it is a standing posture. When you are praying in the kingdom of God, you are standing guard. And you are always standing. But the minute you stop praying, you are giving up your position, and you have given access to the devil. The Bible says men always ought to pray and not to be cowardly. And not to faint, not to lose heart not to give up, never quite, never lose hope, never become discouraged. The minute you stop praying, discouragement will set in. You will start losing hope, you will start to lose what you have been holding. When you are praying, you are holding something, you are standing in the gap.
That is why in the kingdom, you don’t pray without holding the sword of the Spirit—the word of God. The minute you are not praying, you are no longer holding it because we will understand this when we go into the word more. When you are holding on in the place of prayer, you are standing. You are not just standing; you are standing with the whole armor of God. So this Ephesians 6 we read verse 10 to 18, is a picture of how to stand and pray, it is not a picture of how to stand and look, you don’t put on the breast plate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit, the helmet of salvation and all that to be looking. You must be doing something. So, what do you do when you put on the whole armor of God, you are praying.
So, prayer is an important key in the kingdom. You put on the whole armor of God to pray and not to faint. You can’t be kitted up for battle and you go to bed to lie down haven kitted up. Is it normal? You wear the whole armor and you go and lie down. It doesn’t make sense. The same way it doesn’t make spiritual sense. That you put on the whole armor of God, only to be found snoring in your room. That is why Jesus said in Luke 18 verse 1, men always ought to pray, you don’t kit up to sleep, you kit up to pray. Prayer is an important action in the kingdom. No wonder in the book of Revelation the Bible says there is a particular incense that carries the prayers of the saints, that is burnt, so prayers of the saints is not wasted, prayer is an investment. If you have an important investment, you guard it.
The same way the kingdom is such an investment for us, we must guard it. The Bible says the devil goes around looking for what to steal, kill and destroy. What is he looking for? Treasure! He is looking to steal the treasure, kill the person guarding it, and destroy it all. That’s why you must pray, that’s why you must stand your guard in the place of prayer. Now let us see the example of Jesus and apostle Paul.
PRAYER IN THE KINGDOM AND THE EFFECT OF IT
Luke 6:12. “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” This verse is talking about Jesus our Lord and savior, Jesus the Son of the living God. Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray. He didn’t go to the mountain to sleep, He went to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. The first thing that will readily come to our mind is; how did Jesus do it? What was He talking about? But this is the secret of prayer in the kingdom. You cannot see God as He is and not pray that was the secret of Jesus. How did I know this?
John 5:19 to 21, see the statement of Jesus, so that you will understand the effect of prayer in the kingdom and how you must posture “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, the Father do” so when He goes to pray what is He doing? He is seeing the Father. What He sees the Father do, for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. So, Jesus was letting us in the secret of what happens when He goes to pray. Jesus goes to the place of prayer, and what He sees the Father do, so He is going to see the Father. When you go into the lace of prayer, you are going to see the Father. And if you see Him, you will pray. Because prayer is communication with God. Prayer is not an activity, it is a communication, effective one at that. Because there is a message and there is feedback.
God shows you who He is and you give Him a feedback, God I am not there yet take me there. That’s what you do in the place of prayer. You see God. It says whatever He sees the Father do, for whatever He does the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him. Did we see that? So, in the place of prayer, Jesus goes to see the Father, and the Father shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. So when you go to the place of prayer, you are going to see God. So you are not going to joke around, you are not going to play, and that’s why you cannot do prayer in 5mins. You want to see God; do you really want to see Him? Then it requires time.
Remember the Bible says Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and He continued all night. What was He doing? He was seeing the Father; the Father was showing Him. No wonder when Jesus comes in the day and He is moving around, how God anointed Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost and with power who went around doing good because God was with Him. He has so seen God that the presence had rubbed off on Him. When Moses went to the mountain to meet God, he was playing he was praying. And the presence of God so robbed off on him when he came down the Israelites could not behold his face. He had changed. Something had happened to Him. He had seen something. God had showed Him something.
So effective prayer in the kingdom is when you go and see the Father. You go and see Him and let Him show you things that will cause your world to marvel. So, you continue to pray and not loose heart because you continue to see Him, your hope is in Him, your faith is in Him, your love is on Him, when you continue to see Him, you will remain in faith. You will continue to have hope; you will continue to love on Him. That's what prayer does for you, you see God. The result is that God will show you things that will cause your world to marvel. You will so see God that His presence follows you everywhere, you carry Him as an atmosphere. You stay in the place of prayer to the point where Gods presence becomes your atmosphere. You carry Him. Acts 16 let's see the example of apostle Paul and Silas. Acts 16:25-26.
“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”
Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and God showed up. The presence of the Lord filled the place and there was an earthquake and there was access, the doors were opened. Prayer gives you access to the supernatural. That's why it's an important key on the kingdom. If your prayer life is focused the way Jesus taught us because we are going to see that prayer, the prayer of the kingdom and how that it's important that we key in into this. Now we are going to see James 5 first we will read 16 to 18.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. It creates access. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again.
Jesus said I have the keys of David, I open and no man can shut, I shut and no man can open and He said I give you the keys of the kingdom, whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Is He not saying the same thing? Whatever door you close is closed, whatever door you open is open, so you can deny access and you can give access, that’s what prayer does. You use prayer in the kingdom to give access and deny access. Whatever you bound on earth is bound in heaven. That’s why prayer is so important. It said Elijah is a man of like passion like us, He prayed that there would be no rain. He closed the door of rain to that city for three and half years and he prayed again and the door was opened. And the Bible says; and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced it fruits.
Prayer gives you access, you are able to lock doors and open it, now this is the definition of prayer in the kingdom; Matthew 7:7-11. So that you will understand what we are reading in James. From what Jesus said about prayer in Matthew 7:7-11. “Ask, and it will be given to you; where do you ask? In the place of prayer. And it says; the access will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you” This is prayer. In prayer you ask, you seek, and you knock, and you will receive it. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
So the reason why you have not received is because you have not asked. The reason you have not found is because you have not sort, the reason why the doors have not been opened is because you have not knocked. The Bible says in James that Elijah was a man of like passion like us, he prayed, He asked that the heavens cease rain, and it happened. It said the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man: now that’s the clause, it is not everyone that can effectively and fervently pray. It is only the righteous. Are you the righteous? The righteous are those that have Gods approval. As many that believes in Him, they have been given rights, privilege, authority, to become children of God. And if you see that Matthew 7:7-11, it says if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more your Father in heaven will He not give good gifts to those who ask.
So are you righteous? If you are righteous, then your prayer will avail. Your prayer will produce tremendous results if you will ask. The heartfelt, persistent, continued prayer of a righteous man makes powerful effect. The reason the devil does not want you to pray is because he is afraid of the powerful effect of your prayer. The reason why the devil will stand against your desire to see God and pray is because he knows that there would be tremendous results.
Prayer is dynamic in its working, if you will pray correctly. Because it is possible to pray amiss. The Bible the Bible makes it clear for us. Lack of access in prayer, makes it happen is when you pray amiss. But praying correctly, produce tremendous result, it is dynamic in its working, it’s amazing. When you pray as a righteous one, there is result. Because God is not wicked, God is not a man that He will lie, He will not say ask and you will receive and you will now ask and you won’t receive. No! God is not like that, He is not a man that He will lie, He doesn’t change His mind. I asked them to ask yesterday, today whatever they ask I won’t give them. No! God is not given to mood swings, He is consistent. And you must trust Him for it. That’s why when you pray, you must pray in faith believing that whatever you ask you will receive because God is consistent.
But what can deny you from receiving? Let’s see that scripture in James 4:3, you ask and do not receive, remember where we read in Matthew 7:7 ask and you shall receive. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss. So it’s possible to ask amiss. That you may spend it on your pleasures. You ask and do not receive, you seek and do not find, you knock and the door is not opened because you asked amiss. So that you can spend it on your pleasure, that is what denies you of your answered prayer, if you are righteous, but if you are not righteous, you are already denied from the beginning. But if you are righteous and you pray and you don’t receive it is because you have asked amiss to spend it on your pleasures and that is not in accordance with the will of God. And that is why Jesus teaching His disciples to pray, in Luke 11:1-4, His disciples went to Him and said teach us to pray, and He said when you pray, say; our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. so there is a protocol. You enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. You must know who you are praying to, is He your Father? Because He has to be your Father, for Him to respond to you. It must be our Father in heaven, you must have that approval, you must have qualified for you to pray.
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. So the first thing after acknowledging Him, is to pray for His will to be done. When you pray against His will, there will be no response. So your first attention must be for His will. That’s why when you come to the place of prayer, you must not be so desirous of God seeing you, you must be first desirous of you seeing God. And that’s why when you come into the presence of God, it’s good you come in worship, you come with thanksgiving and praise. You must first desire to see God. You don’t come murmuring and complaining, no that’s not the prayer that gives attention. Heaven don’t attend to such. It says when you want to pray say Our[a] Father [b]in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come is the next thing you must ask for? [c]Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Are you praying in accordance with the will of God? Because there are three important things that you must pray about that are kingdom centered and kingdom based. Number one: you must pray for spiritual wisdom when you enter the presence of God. Remember were we read in James 4:3 it says you pray amiss because you want to consume it on your own pleasures. God wants you to pray selfless prayers. That’s the first step, pray for spiritual growth, because it is spiritual growth that gives you access to the treasures of the kingdom. You must pray according to the principles that guild the kingdom of God. Your spiritual growth first. And I want us to see that particular verse we read previously. Because when Jesus gave this to His disciples, He gave it to all of us because it’s a prototype of kingdom prayer.
It says; So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” What is the will of heaven concerning you? You must pray it first. So when you are praying, you must first pray the will of heaven concerning you before you come further. So what is the will of heaven concerning you? Have you found it out? Because those are the things that gives you entrance, that gives you audience, pray for your spiritual growth, it is the will of God. If you read Ephesians 1:15-20, you will realize when apostle Paul was praying for the Ephesian church, and also prayed the same prayer for the Colossian church. He was praying that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened, that they may know the hope of their calling, the riches that God has made available, all the things that Christ died for, so that they can grow into it, so that they can know it, so that they can be able to get their own allotment.
That was the prayer he was praying for them. And you must constantly pray it for yourself. When God sees that you are growth conscious, He will go as long as you want Him to go for you. You must be conscious of praying for your spiritual growth. For spiritual wisdom, it’s so important. The second one is to pray for others, intercession. God is so big about this. And I am sure we all know this Scripture in Isaiah 42:22, that the people were robbed all of them were ensnared in holes. The Bible says there was no one to say restore. No one to pray for the restoration of people. And God is so keen about it. The Bible says in Psalms that God looked down to the earth looking for a man, a man that will stand in the gap, a man that will pray and no one was found.
When God finds a man that will stand in the gap, that will intercede, there is nothing God cannot do, while you are taking care of the business of God, the will of God, God will take care of yours. Intercede for people, pray for others, and if you see in that Luke chapter 11, the model of prayer, it says forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. So you pray, and one of the things Jesus said; He said pray for your enemies, he said by so doing you are heaping a coal of fire, you are bringing the judgement quickly on them. Because prayer is a means of judgement in the kingdom, because when you pray, you are passing judgement, that is why it is an important key.
You can’t be a believer and you don’t pray, in fact you are abusing your privileges, in fact you are just abandoning all the rights that God has given to you when you don’t pray. Because when you pray, you legislate, when you pray you judge, when you pray you pronounce restoration, blessing on people. You enforce the will of God on the earth. When you pray for yourself you are asking Lord let your kingdom come, let your will be done in my life as it is in heaven. What has been scripted in heaven concerning me, your scripted word let it come to pass in my life that’s what you do when you pray. And that’s why the Bible says you should pray as the Spirit leads. You don’t know how to pray as you ought to, but the Spirit makes intercession for us, so when the Spirit of God is busy making intercession for you why not intercede for other people. The Bible says Jesus is at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. If God is concerned about you, then He wants you to be concerned about His own business. When you take it as a duty to intercede for other people, you will see the tremendous benefits, it will speak forth for your life, you will see how God will handle your business, how God will change your own story, things that you did not pray for, you will see how God is handing them over to you, because he is making intercession for you.
The Bible says when job prayed for his friends, God restored him double fold, he interceded for his three folds and God restored him, he had been praying for restoration for years, God restored him because he prayed for his friends. It’s a kingdom principle, it’s such that gives God pleasure when you pray for other people. Pray for others, and pray according to the will of God. Praying for others is the will of God, praying for spiritual wisdom is the will of God, pray for the will of God in your own life. God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said ask what should I do for you? And he prayed for mercy, he prayed for wisdom, he prayed for knowledge. And the Bible says; it pleased God that he asked for these things. So there are things that you ask for that will please God.
It is not everything that pleases God. That’s why you must be careful to know what the will of God is. And God said because you did not ask for the head of your enemy, because you did not ask for this and that, He said see I will give you the wisdom, you will be so wise, I will give you knowledge and understanding and I will give you riches, the things that you did not ask for. Prayer is important but we must do it right. Don’t be consumed with yourself. And that’s why when we were looking at love, the first commandment is love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your might, with all of your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. When you love your neighbor you will ray for your neighbor and when you do that, the love of God will be shared abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit.
God will take care of you, you can’t pray for other people and God will neglect your business, no! so always seek to know what the will of God is, and especially when you come to a place of worship, and God says the way you have entered my presence today, what do you want me to do for you? Don’t be too quick to answer. When God says ask, whatever you want me to do, it’s a test, because He wants to see your heart. How important is my will to him/her? And that is why you should rely on the Holy Spirit completely when you are praying. If you rely on yourself, you will miss it. When you rely on yourself you will pray amiss. The prayers that will be coming from your flesh is the one that you will spend on your own pleasure but when you pray in the spirit, you will connect to the will of God.
The Bible says “who knows the mind of God saves the Spirit of God”, He is the one. He knows the will of God concerning you. So when God is asking you, you have so worshipped me, what do you want? The Holy Spirit will say this thing your Father is asking you, this is what you should say. Because if you don’t say that, you would have missed out on His will. Because see what God does, when you do His will, He ask seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and every other thing, that’s the secret.
When you seek first the kingdom in your request, every other thing will be added. So, you must be careful, seek to know what the will of God is; that’s why you can’t pray without the word, you must sit down to know what the will of God is and depend solely on the Holy Spirit to guide you, to help you navigate through your life, so that when you are making request you are not asking amiss, you are asking in synchrony with the will of God and you will see how much tremendous power and result will be at work in your life. Prayer is an important key in the kingdom, when you don’t pray you are fainting, when you don’t pray you are losing, you are already quitting before the Battle starts. For you to engage in the continuous battle that is going on in the earth, you must continue to pray. Prayer must be a continuous posture.
I believe you have been blessed!
