“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground…And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Eph.6:13a,18)
Yesterday, I was at a prayer meeting where we regularly pray for our city. One of our group shared how someone had a dream in which they saw prayer functioning like an umbrella or dome of protection. That made me think of the “iron dome” that intercepts the hundreds of missiles being fired into Israel’s territory. That dome is crucial for protecting the country. It helped me to see how our prayers were like a dome of protection over our city.
Sometimes, we don’t see the effects of our prayers, but they are doing the invisible work of protecting us from the fiery darts of Satan. Prayer is one of the primary ways we “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph.6:16). As James so pointedly said, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” (Jm.4:2) and Jesus taught, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Mt.26:41), we must continue to be vigilant and work at improving the prayer coverage over our lives, our families, our church and our movement.
Why not make a commitment to add attending a prayer meeting in your local church and/or being part of one of our national prayer times, to help strengthen “the dome of prayer”?