The Offensive Pre-emptive Strategy used against the adversary to thwart plans and options. This strategy is advised throughout the Word of God but our very nature and emotional makeup keep us from using this viable and reliable tactic.
A passage that us oft used to extend the metaphor of warfare as the way of life for believers is Ephesians 6 where Paul describes all of the implements used to defend against our adversary. The array of implements is defensive including the shield of faith. its use characterized in the King James version as “above all”. The admonition for prayer is left for after the discussion of the defensive implements. It reads this way:
18 Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people). [AMP]
Prayer changes things, you may be tempted to think that “the God of the Universe can’t be bothered with such trivial things or this is something that I can handle on my own. I’ll save prayer for a real emergency”.
This is human-based thinking, we think that our reliance on God is fleeting, situational, limited. This is fallacy. God made us to be totally dependent upon Him. There’s no limit to our dependence on him nor on how he will help us in time of need. There are no requests that are too small. One of my favorite verses from Luke 12: 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
or again from Second Peter 1:3: His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. . .
He’s given us all things but we have to ask for them. He wants to help us through tight spots, but we need to ask him, He wants to help us every day but we have to talk with him and solidify our relationship with Him, regularly.
Essential Knee-ology may also call for a season of prayer that is “in the Spirit” i.e. spoken in an unknown tongue as referenced in I Corinthians 14:14:
14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
In that instance, one prays without even knowing what the prayer is about. I tend to think and focus on what I pray about but try to remain yielded to the Spirit who is doing all the work. Why would we do this?
Romans 8:28 rendered in The Message:
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
If you have never experienced speech or prayer in an unknown tongue, just ask for it. It is a gift (Luke 11). Essential Knee-ology is spiritual warfare done through prayer as if one is an instrument working to serve the will of God.