Step into the ancient lineage of spiritual giants and discover the critical role of a Prayer Warrior in today's faith landscape. Unearthing the wisdom from 1 Chronicles 8, we explore the rich genealogies that shape our spiritual heritage, revealing how embracing our ancestors' legacy can ignite an inspiring path for our own lives. As Pastor Brandon, I invite you to join me in examining the powerful connection between our prayers and the battles we face, both seen and unseen. Whether it’s praying for our leaders in an election year or interceding for personal relationships, this episode promises to awaken the Prayer Warrior within you, equipping you with the unseen shield of faith to stand firm in spiritual warfare.
Delve into a heartfelt call to action as we discuss the transformative potential of prayer in every believer's life. Just as a sniper's precision can turn the tide of battle, so can the focused intercessions of a steadfast Prayer Warrior. Your prayers are more than whispers; they are the strategic strikes in an unseen realm, underpinning the very fabric of God's kingdom. Join me, Pastor Brandon, in a prayer of solidarity, as we embrace the integrity of heart God desires and stand in His omnipresent assurance. Together, we'll recognize our valuable place in the grand tapestry of faith, one prayer at a time.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Step into the ancient lineage of spiritual giants and discover the critical role of a Prayer Warrior in today's faith landscape. Unearthing the wisdom from 1 Chronicles 8, we explore the rich genealogies that shape our spiritual heritage, revealing how embracing our ancestors' legacy can ignite an inspiring path for our own lives. As Pastor Brandon, I invite you to join me in examining the powerful connection between our prayers and the battles we face, both seen and unseen. Whether it’s praying for our leaders in an election year or interceding for personal relationships, this episode promises to awaken the Prayer Warrior within you, equipping you with the unseen shield of faith to stand firm in spiritual warfare.
Delve into a heartfelt call to action as we discuss the transformative potential of prayer in every believer's life. Just as a sniper's precision can turn the tide of battle, so can the focused intercessions of a steadfast Prayer Warrior. Your prayers are more than whispers; they are the strategic strikes in an unseen realm, underpinning the very fabric of God's kingdom. Join me, Pastor Brandon, in a prayer of solidarity, as we embrace the integrity of heart God desires and stand in His omnipresent assurance. Together, we'll recognize our valuable place in the grand tapestry of faith, one prayer at a time.
SOAP Bible Study Method- https://www.brandoncannon.com/soap/
Bible reading plan- http://www.experiencerlc.com/the-bible/
Free weekly newsletter- https://www.brandoncannon.com/
Social:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebrandoncannon
Instagram: https://instagram.com/brandoncannon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandoncannon
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theBrandonCannon
The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Well, hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Chronicles 8, and we're going to call this one today the Definition of a Prayer Warrior. The Definition of a Prayer Warrior. We're going to come out of this kind of from left field, but it was exactly what really spoke to me when I was reading this, and so we're going to do this together and see what a prayer warrior is today. But, of course, before we do any of that, make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel, make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and also where we all gather together at the Bible Breakdown discussion. On social media, I'm so honored that we have a team of people who are writing those devotions every day and I look forward to them every single day. If you read those with me, make sure you are sharing those on your social media feed so other people can join our community, and also on the YouTube channel. Make sure you are leaving us comments, make sure you're engaging with us. And I want to know today have you ever heard the phrase prayer warrior before? Have you ever heard that before? If so, what was the context? And I would love to talk with you more about that, because it's an old phrase. But I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea that there are old phrases that, in the Christian community, people used to use, and it's okay if they go away. There's other things, there's other ones. I don't know why they've gone away, but it's time to bring them back again, and this is one of those I think would be great is the idea of a prayer warrior.
Speaker 1:Well, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to 1 Chronicles 8. We're going to get to what that means, but first we've got some more names to read. But remember the reason why Ezra, who is most likely the guy who put these together. He is reminding the nation of Israel where they come from, what their heritage is, and, as we said, the overall theme of 1 Chronicles is when God is with you, there's always hope, and so he's reminding them that we were a great people once. Look at our family heritage, look at all this stuff, and if we were before, we definitely can be again, and so it's important that we read these names, because this is our spiritual family. These people are our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great great aunts and uncles right, and so we're reading them together and we're going to read something at the very end that really spoke to me and I want to give it to you today, so if you're ready.
Speaker 1:1 Chronicles 8, verse 1 says this Benjamin's first son was Bela, the second was Eshbel, and the third was Ahara, and the fourth was Neha and the fifth was Rapha. The sons of Bela were Adar, gerai, ebehud, ebeshua, naaman, eloah, gerah, shephu, hufan and Huram. The sons of Ehud, leaders of the clans living in Geba, were exiled to Mehetan. Ehud's sons were Naaman, ezzah and Gerah. Gerah, who led them into exile, was the father of Uzzah and Elhud From after Shemahiam divorced his wives Husham and Berai, he had children in the land of Moab. His wife Hodesh, gave birth to Jobab, zibaiah, mishah, malchum, jehuz, zechiah and Meriah. These sons all became the leaders of clans. Sheshurayim's wife Hushim had already given birth to. Abtub and Elpal were Eber, misham, shemed, who built the towns of Ono and Lod and their nearby villages, and Beriah and Shemai. These were the leaders of the clans living in Ajalon, and they drove out the sons of Elpal.
Speaker 1:There's Ojobab, halal and Halanani An E word, an A word, an I word, a P word, and these were all sons of Shashak Shashak's fun to say. All right, just for these I'm going to say there were three people. Two's name began with an S, one began with an A, another began with a J. Elijah and Zichri were the sons of Jotham. These were the leaders of the ancestral clans and they were listed in the genealogical records and they all lived in Jerusalem. Now it's important to say all these names, but those names were really hard. The reason why it's important to say all these names is because these were people and they got listed in the Bible. I didn't get listed in the Bible, you didn't get listed in the Bible. So they're important, they're worthy of their names, but their names were hard. But here we are.
Speaker 1:We're back on it again, verse 29, jelial, the father of Gibeon, lived in the towns of Gibeon. His wife's name was Machah and his oldest son was named Abdon. Jelial's other sons were Zer, kish, baal, nir, Nadab, gador, ahol, zechariah and Mekoth, who was the father of Shemim. All these families lived near each other in Jerusalem. Nir was the father of Kish. Kish was the father of Saul.
Speaker 1:Saul was the father of Jonathan, mechaliash, abinadab and Sheshbal. Jonathan was the father of Meriabbal. Meriabbal was the father of Micah. Micah was the father of Pithon, melech, teriah and Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Jada.
Speaker 1:Jada was the father of Elameth, azameth and Zimri. Zimri was the father of Moza. Moza was the father of Benaiah. Benaiah was the father of Rephiah. Rephiah was the father of Elisha. Elisha was the sons of Ezel. Ezel's brother, eshek, had three sons. The first was Elum, the second was Jeush, the third was Elipheth and Ulam's son were all mighty warriors Listen to this expert and expert archers. And they had many sons and grandsons, 150 in all. These were the descendants of Benjamin.
Speaker 1:Now, what I want you to pay attention to is back in verse 40, it says Elum's sons were all mighty warriors and expert archers. Now, I know that's lost on us in our modern context, but the reason why they wanted you to know they were expert archers was before the invention or the discovery of gunpowder. The most feared person on the battlefield was not the guy with the biggest sword. Now, I know we've watched all the movies and we've seen the things, and if you've watched Braveheart, he had that massive sword and so therefore, it looked like he was the one that everybody feared the most. But in real battle, the person you feared the most wasn't the guy with the biggest sword, it was the guy who was the best with a bow.
Speaker 1:Just like in today's time, they say that on a battlefield, the person that everybody loves the most and the person that the enemy hates the most is not the guy on the front line, it's the sniper, it's the sharpshooter from behind, because you don't see him, but he will kill you. You don't see him coming, you don't see what's going on, but he's the guy. He's the guy who's going to get you right. So when they're going out on patrol, if they know they've got a sniper who's watching them, that's the hero, that's the guy that everybody loves. And on the other side, if they know that a sniper is out, the enemy hates you.
Speaker 1:It was said in World War II, you would get extra awards and extra accommodations if you killed a sniper, because a sniper was worth a hundred soldiers because of what they were able to do. Well, that was an archer. Back then they were the most feared person, even though most of the time you didn't see them straight on. And the reason why that's important is in Ephesians, chapter 6,. The Bible says that we have a shield of faith, and the number one thing that a shield would do, because in close quarters combat once again, we're thinking of people who had armor from much later than this time. The shields that they would have, they weren't really as much to stop blows from swords because they were made out of animal hides and stuff like that. A lot of times you could just stab right through it, but what they would do is, from a distance they could stop an arrow, and so one of the things that they would use is they would use these to stop these fiery arrows that would come through, and many times in the Bible the Bible used fiery arrows to talk about these bad thoughts or bad things that the enemy would try to push our way. And so, on the other side of that, one of the things that we think of as prayers, we think of prayers that are able to be prayed for people that you're not always in contact with, and that is the definition of a prayer warrior. The reason why, a long time ago, we named people who would pray as a warrior is because, in the kingdom of God, an intercessory prayer person is much like a sniper in the military. They're not always in the thick of the battle, but they are some of the most effective fighters that you have spiritually, because, while other people are on the front lines, they're on the front lines, but a different kind of way, and they're praying.
Speaker 1:Can I ask you to do me a favor? If you have a prayer time right now, every day, please continue to pray. But one thing I'd love for you to do can you become a prayer warrior? What I mean by that is is to be a prayer warrior means you continue to pray but turn some of your prayers toward others. I know a lot of times we have a lot of needs, we have a lot of things in our life, and that's okay. So let's say, you pray 10 minutes a day Out of your 10 minutes. Would you take two or three of those minutes and pray for whatever nation you live in?
Speaker 1:Most of the people that listen to this podcast or watch this YouTube channel you're in the United States of America. Right now it is 2024. I don't know when you're going to listen to this in the future. It could be who knows when. Right now, we're in election year. You know what a prayer warrior can do. Now we're in election year.
Speaker 1:You know what a prayer warrior can do A prayer warrior. You can't go to the White House today, most likely, and go talk to our current president, but what you can do is you can pray for him. You can pray for him right now. You can't go to other countries and pray for our military that's all over the world but you know what you can do as a sniper. You can pray for them from a distance. You know in your own life, maybe you're someone who your kids don't live with you anymore, they live in other places and they're doing other things. You can pray for them. Maybe you have younger kids who are going to be in school today. You can be a prayer warrior and pray for them. Be an expert archer, but in the spirit world that means a prayer warrior.
Speaker 1:If you don't currently pray right now, every day, I want to encourage you to begin praying and join the army of God as a prayer warrior. We need prayer warriors. I tell people all the time because at Real Life Church we have a prayer service on Tuesday nights and I tell people so much anything good that happens on Sunday doesn't start on Sunday, it starts on Tuesday, and those prayer warriors are praying for us and they're praying over us and even though they're not there yet, they're praying into the future. They're praying over us in a way that they're already. There's no telling what the enemy probably had planned that day. But the enemy didn't get to do it because our snipers, our prayer warriors, are already praying. And so can I tell you, no matter who you are, no matter what age you are, no matter how long you've been a Christian, you can be a vital part of the kingdom of God if you will turn your prayer time into battle and declare victory.
Speaker 1:Become a spiritual sniper and pray, because we need you In the world we live in today. We need you If nothing else. Pray for me, pray for Brandon Cannon, because I need some spiritual snipers praying over me, picking off the enemy all around me, and I love it when we get a chance to do that together. Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much, lord. We all have a place in your kingdom and some of the greatest people in the kingdom are people that they're not always on the front line, but they are causing the front line to be able to move forward because of their prayer and line, but they are causing the front line to be able to move forward because of their prayer and Lord, just like in our text today.
Speaker 1:It said they were skilled expert archers. I pray, lord, that we will become skilled expert prayer warriors, interceding for others. People will never meet, people will never know. You know, and that's what's important we celebrate you today, that everyone can make a difference by praying for others. In Jesus' name. We pray Amen, amen. Well, god's Word says in 1 Chronicles, 29, 17,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. God sees you more than you realize and he's for you more than you can imagine. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 1 Chronicles, chapter 9.