Prayer Serves As Protection From the Enemy

My boys call me into the bedroom because they have found a praying mantis hanging on the screen of my bedroom window.

She maintains her posture as we move in to take a picture, she confidently stands at attention, relying on her camoflaged body to blend into the screen, giving her the protection that she needs to stay alive.

The praying mantis gets it's name from  it's prayerful posture.  It is a master of disguise as it even moves it's body in a jerky motion as if it were a leaf being blown in the wind.

As we posture ourselves humbly before God in an attitude of prayer, we are protected by Him.

Prayer serves as a posture but also as a line of defense against the enemy.  As we maintain a posture of prayer, as the enemy approaches, we find that often times it is the very thing that camouflages us in the shadow of God's wings.

Psalm 91 gives us evidence of this protection;

He who dwells in the shelter of the 

Most High 

will abide in the shadow of the 

Almighty.  

I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my 

fortress, 

my God, in whom I trust."  

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;  his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.  You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, not the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.  

A thousand may fall at your side, 

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

You will only look with your eyes

and see the recompense of the wicked.

Because you have made the LORD your 

dwelling place--

the Most High, who is my refuge--

no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.  

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

You tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion, and the serpent you 

will trample underfoot.

"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name, 

When he calls to me, I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble; 

I will rescue him and honor him

and show him my salvation."

I started this post yesterday morning, not realizing that it would actually play out in my life in a profound way in the afternoon.

I was driving in a residentail neighborhood, preparing to turn left, as I started to turn I was struck on the left side of my van by a car that was traveling in the same direction as me.  He had come up from behind and tried to "pass" me on my left side.

Had I made that turn quickly, I would have been broadsided.  The other driver's car was incapacitated, but I was able to drive away.  Praise God no one was hurt in the accident.

 As I was contemplating the course of my day, I realized that this Psalm had been evidently played out before my eyes.

When we make the Lord our dwelling place and our refuge, He will keep us from trouble and He will deliver us the destructions that waste at noonday.  He surely is our refuge.

Abiding in Him means holding fast to Him in love.  Loving Him with all that He gives us to love Him with.

John 15:7-10,12

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, 

ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit 

and so prove to be my disciples.  

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  

Abide in my love.  

If you keep my commandments, 

you will abide in my love, 

just as I have kept my Father's commandments 

and abide in his love.  

...

This is my commandment that you love one another

as I have loved you.  

Earlier in the day I was feeling disconnected and restless in my heart,  not able to rest in His love  so I began to listen to I Thessalonians 2

As I read how Paul ministered to the Thessalonians lovingly, I began to ask the Lord to help me love people in the same manner.

As I read from the Message I prayed and wrote in my journal;

Lord, forgive me for speaking to gain crowd approval.  Help me to only want Your approval.  Help me not to have mixed motives or hidden agendas.  Help me never to use words as a smoke screen to take advantage of people.  

I am sorry Lord for throwing my weight around and trying to come across as important.  Forgive me for being aloof with Your people.  Help me to accept people as they are.  Help me not to be patronizing and never condescending.  

Help me to always care for people the way a mother cares for her children.  Help me to love people dearly.  I want to give freely from my heart the same love that propelled You into action on the cross.  

Prayerfully posturing our hearts to humbly receive the truth about our lack of love toward others, as we read the word of God, is key to abiding in His love and keeping His commandments.

Without the manifest power of God working in our hearts we are incapable of loving Him or others rightly but when we dwell with Him, by meditating on His word and applying it to our sinful hearts, He takes note.

I Thessalonians 1:4-5

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.  You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

We know and realize God's love for us when we read the word of God when it comes to us in power, bringing conviction.  This is not a horrible thing but a loving event by which God speaks to us, giving us the ability to abide in His love.

Father, thank you for your word that cuts to the quick of our hearts and discerns our thoughts and attitudes.  Help us to receive the cuts with grace so that we can know Your love and therefore love others well by Your power.

Thank you Lord that as we humbly posture our hearts to love You that you deliver us from our loveless hearts and birth in us a supernatural love for others.

Thank you for protecting us from ourselves and delivering us from the snares that the enemy sets for our lives.  You are our refuge and our fortress and we trust you to do the work in us that will bring us to maturity in Christ.