Mensa Otabil - The Good Warfare
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1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 18: This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. Paul was aware of the prophecies that had been made concerning Timothy, and he encouraged Timothy to pray and live his life according to those prophecies. He told him to wage a good warfare based on those prophecies. He actually considered them a commission or a charge. That was a strong instruction that this is how he was supposed to live his life.
So, as Christians, we must learn to pray God’s word and pray God’s word into reality. The life of the Christian must be built around the word of God and prayer. Our prayer should not just be the expression of our desires, our intentions, and our wishes. Our prayer should be seeking that God’s will will be manifested in our lives. Many times when we pray, we just talk about what we want, and we never think about what God wants.
Now, what Paul is telling Timothy is, «Don’t just pray according to what you want. Pray according to what God wants for you, what God has in store for you, God’s will for your life.» That is what the prophecy is supposed to be: it is God’s will for your life. The Lord Jesus Christ lived his life in the light of God’s word. When you read the Gospels, you see that every step He took was in line with prophecy, with the word of God, with what had been written in the scriptures. He was very conscious of living His life that way.
Now, although the Gospels do not tell us much about the content of Jesus’s prayer life, we know that He prayed a lot. Now, what was Jesus praying for? How did Jesus pray? We don’t know everything about how He prayed, but there are two instances that give us some insight into Jesus’s prayer life. One is the prayer He taught His disciples when He said, «When you pray, pray: Our Father who art in heaven.» And the first request is, «Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.» So, Jesus taught us, and obviously that was how He prayed: «Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.» Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, we hear Jesus praying, and He prays something similar: «Father, not my will, but your will be done.»
So, we see from these narratives that Jesus’s prayer was not about His wishes coming true, but about God’s will coming true. And that is what praying prophecy is all about. God has given us His will in His word. When we read the Bible, we see the will of God. Sometimes, through a gift of prophecy, God can tell us what His will and His wish is for us. When we know that either through the scriptures or through a prophetic word, our prayer becomes based on the prophecy or on the written word of God concerning us. And that is what Paul is telling us in 1 Timothy 1:18: pray according to the prophecies that have gone ahead of you.
Now, somebody says, «Well, but no prophecy has been spoken concerning my life.» That’s fine because a prophecy does not create the will of God; it only reveals the will of God. And the will of God, whether revealed or not revealed, is still the will of God. So, if you don’t know the will of God, just pray, «Father, let your will be done in my life on earth as it is in heaven. Let your divine purposes be seen in my life. What you have written concerning me be manifested.» And if you pray that prayer constantly, you are praying prophecy. You’re praying the word into manifestation. And that is the charge that Paul gave to Timothy, and that is the charge that God gives to you today: pray according to the word of God concerning you.
Let’s pray together. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I accept your word concerning me. By your word, I overcome every adversity in my life, in Jesus’s name. Amen.»