Praying with Paul: New Territory
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Intro:
13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
14 Let all that you do be done with love.
Tonight, we will continue [Praying with Paul]. The subject of my message is, [New Territory].
I once read a book entitled, Canoeing the Mountains, it discussed the adventures of Lewis and Clark.
The excursion lasted over two years: Along the way they confronted harsh weather, unforgiving terrain, treacherous waters, injuries, starvation, disease and both friendly and hostile Native Americans.
Nevertheless, the approximately 8,000-mile journey was deemed a huge success and provided new geographic, ecological and cultural information about previously uncharted areas of North America.
They thought they knew the intensity of the trip, but it was much different encountering new territory. Some of the people on the trip did not make it to the end.
No matter how well they planned, being in new territory provided new challenges that they could not foresee.
As I read our text in 1 Corinthians, I thought of going to new territory. The Corinthian church was about to enter a new level in their relationship with the Lord.
Paul had addressed their many mistakes:
Their challenges to spiritual authority
Their blatant sin
Their lax attitude toward sin
Their desire to sue each other
Their acceptance of fornication
Their confusion about marriage and divorce
Their acceptance of idolatry
Their misuse of the gifts of the Spirit
Their misuse of communion
Their misinterpretation of the coming of Christ
Now, the slate was clean. They had the chance to learn from what they did wrong and enter a new dimension in their walk with Christ.
The problem?
Satan would do whatever he could to stop the Corinthians from walking in the plan of God for their lives. Therefore, Paul gives a few instructions to pray about.
Watch
Stand Fast
Be Brave
Be Strong
Show Love
I want to look at these instructions and see how they affect our prayer lives.
When we go to a new place in God, the enemy will attempt to stop us. We must pay attention.
Let’s look at what we need to do in prayer as we go to new place in the Lord. [Watch], [Wait], and [Witness].
Let’s begin
1. Watch
1. Watch
13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
To watch also means to be on guard. A guard is someone who protects something of value.
Why would Paul instruct them to watch and be on their guard?
Paul knew the attacks of the enemy very well. Every place he went to spread the Gospel, he encountered intense spiritual warfare.
24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
When read all that Paul faced, it is easy to wonder, why did he keep going? What kept him entering new territory that often had spiritual and physical attacks?
Paul knew the source of his problems. It was not the unbelieving Jews, it was not the pagan Gentiles, and it was not the infighting within the Church.
Instead, Paul’s problem was the one no one could see.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
But Paul also knew that even though he had a real enemy and adversary, He had one on his side who was greater than Satan.
Here is why we must be watchful in prayer. When we live a life of consistent prayer, we have hope that God will protect us and walk with us.
We need to be watchful for spiritual enemies threaten to destroy us.
When we face attacks from the enemy our first response is to pray.
Through prayer, we will stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit, who will help us watch and be on our guard.
2. Wait
2. Wait
13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
Notice those words— stand firm.
When I hear stand, I think of waiting, or not doing anything.
As a child and teenager, if I began to get lazy, I might hear, stop standing around and do something.
If we were all honest, we do not like standing around. When there is something going on, we normally spring into action and start working.
But Paul reminds us, in new territory, while we are on our guard, we need to wait. In other words, we are on our guard and we sense that we’re facing an attack, what should we do first?
WAIT. Stand fast in the faith.
Perhaps Paul had Moses in mind when he wrote this.
13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.
14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
The Israelites were about to enter new territory and on the way, their enemies came in from behind and drove them to the Red Sea.
In the natural, all hope was lost. But the Lord spoke to Moses, STAND STILL, JUST WAIT AND SEE WHAT I WILL DO TO THE EGYPTIANS.
It is hard to overemphasize the importance of waiting on God. Sadly, we often get in a hurry. We are on our guard and we can sense something is off and we rush to fix the problem.
When we stand still and wait, God will strengthen us and give us the courage to know what to do.
31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Let’s always remember that entering new territory will bring new attacks from the enemy. WE need to watch and be on guard, then we wait and watch as God renews us and strengthens us.
3. Witness
3. Witness
14 Let all that you do be done with love.
Paul shows what follows watching and waiting, we will witness God’s love come to us.
We hear that and might think, how can I show love to those who are making my life difficult?
Remember, the enemy generally surfaces through people. It seems that just when we feel that we are getting used to the new territory and life is going great.
We are on our guard and we are daily waiting on the Lord, THEN, seemingly out of nowhere someone shows up to rub us the wrong way or push our buttons.
Does anyone know what I am talking about?
Paul has an answer for this issue— DO EVERYTHING WITH LOVE!
How is this possible?
It starts by remembering how much God loves us. How many times have we witnessed his unfailing love toward us?
With that in mind,
We need God to help us show love to those we encounter as we go to a new place in God.
And here is something I have noticed, I have watched people really get close to God, they will get saved, filled with the Spirit, and fully surrender everything to God.
When they do this, those in their church and their friends who are sold-out to God generally rejoice and desire to help.
But, the ones in their lives who do not want to sell-out to Jesus will often make things difficult. I have a relative who experienced this.
They explained that their old friends make comments like:
there is something different about you
your just not the same person
you’re acting like your better than us
that is good for you, but I do not want that
In those times, it is vital to be on our guard not to pick up an offense, wait patiently on the Lord and then help us witness to others by showing and sharing the Love of God.
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
When we watch and wait on God, we will witness Him pour out His love on us.
Close:
New Territory. I believe that
God wants to take us to a new place in Him.
It is always my personal desire to draw closer to Him.
With that said, we must not be naive to what happens when we choose to go to new places in God. New places in God include:
new revelation
new experiences
new understanding of Scripture
new opportunities to share Jesus
new heights
new depths
and new love
But it will also include a real enemy who will try to stop us and discourage us. Why? Satan is content as long as Christians are not growing in their walk with God.
The moment we begin to desire to grow in Christ, the enemy will want to stunt our growth. Thankfully we have the solution:
watch and stay on our guard
wait and grow in grace and strength
witness God’s love poured out in our lives.
This comes from a lifestyle of prayer.